Somebody with a passion for the environment may feel torn between pursuing a scientific degree or a political one. Both are extremely important: science allows us to understand the nature of the issues we’re facing, but policy is essential if we want to do something about it. It’s the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy after all!
Wilkes Scholar Izzy Chick understands the importance of both, so she didn’t choose just one. Izzy is double-majoring in Environmental & Sustainability Studies and Political Science.
Naturally, Izzy stays pretty busy. She’s so busy that in order to carve out some free time, she wakes up each morning at 6:30 just to read! Then she gets to work on her to-do list, which she employs to strategically plan every day.
She divides her time between school and working with the U Service Corps, where she’s stationed at the Humane Society. “It’s such a fulfilling job, and I work with a lot of the volunteers at the Humane Society of Utah, which is so wonderful because they’re all such kind and good-hearted people!”
When she can find the free time, Izzy chooses between cozying up and knitting a sweater (her latest obsession) and getting outside. “I’m big on outdoor recreation; I love to ski, hike, trail run, climb, backpack – pretty much anything outside with friends!”
In fact, Izzy serves as Treasurer on the board for the Women’s Outdoor Leadership Initiative (WOLI), “a community of women and nonbinary people on campus working to support and empower each other to gain leadership skills and confidence in the outdoors” (@woli.utah on Instagram).
Izzy’s family roots are in Campo, Colorado, a staggeringly small town of around 100 people. If you google it, there are more photos of tornadoes than civilization.
Still, Izzy deeply cares about small cities like hers. Small, rural towns are acutely affected by climate change and drought. Unpredictable weather patterns and a shortage of water can be detrimental to agricultural communities. Another risk factor is their awareness of the issues they’re facing; Izzy says, “These are also really republican communities where environmental issues are not at the forefront of their minds, so it’s important to me to be able to explain the patterns we’re seeing that put agricultural communities at risk, and potential solutions, without attacking people’s ideologies.”
It’s precisely this motivation that gets Izzy up in the morning. She understands the urgency of environmental issues, and she wants the vital solutions to pass through any ideological filters vulnerable people might have. In order to make that happen, she needs to learn more about how people react to climate issues.
Working with Dr. Juliet Carlisle at the Department of Political Science, Izzy’s research project examines the gender gap on various social/political issues over time, especially environmental ones. “Prior research has found that men and women tend to be split on certain social and policy issues, with women typically taking more liberal stances and men typically taking more conservative stances on these issues,” says Izzy. Although this gap shifts over time, it never disappears. Even on topics heavily divided by partisanship, the ideological gap according to gender remains significant.
Through her research, Izzy hopes to explain and clarify this striking phenomenon.
Izzy’s valuable research will hopefully help her on her way to further aspirations where she can put it to good use. Izzy is extraordinarily passionate about protecting lands and people from environmental harm. “Environmental justice is extremely important to me, especially looking at the public health impacts of certain environmental injustices. I want to pursue a career that protects the wellbeing of our planet and our people.” She sees the path to that career running through Law School, where she hopes to study environmental policy.