Introducing our new Communications Intern of the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed!
By: Revathi V. Machan, Communications Intern, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed
I’m excited to announce that as of January 2021, I’ve joined the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed as Communications Intern! I currently study at Rutgers University - New Brunswick as a sophomore, double majoring in Environmental Policy and Environmental Planning & Design. I’m excited to meet with and work with you all, but let me tell you a little bit about myself and how I got here first.
I’ve been passionate about the natural world for as long as I can remember but ironically that’s not the reason I joined the field. Over the past few years as I’ve been transitioning my way into adulthood, I’ve become more exposed to the extent of miscommunication about environmental issues. More specifically, I learned how the lack of connection between environmental groups and the widespread public led to dismissive or conflicting attitudes about serious global issues. It was this realization that pushed me to pursue a field that would help bring back the connection that people felt with the environment.
As someone who is deeply passionate about restoring the connection between humans and their surrounding environment, I’m pursuing a double major in Environmental Policy and Environmental Planning. There are so many ways to improve existing streetscape to really draw in and connect with the daily pedestrian, from using simple water features to building new green elements to holding weekly farmers markets. In the future, I aim to design sustainable community spaces that incorporate existing natural landforms as visual features, but for now I would like to build a strong background in other environmental fields. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but I like to have high ambitions for myself.
I also enjoy my position as Public Relations Chair of Active Minds at Rutgers, a mental health advocacy organization. During these times, it’s more important than ever to be aware of and take care of your mental health, and I really enjoy being able to create that dialogue with students across my university. Through this role, I’ve built expertise in graphic design, social media management across different platforms and web content development. I’m particularly excited to bring this skill set into this role to better spread CDRW’s mission.
Although this is my first professional experience in watershed policy, I have a great deal of academic experience. I’ve taken several classes and worked in projects addressing water management. In one class, I coordinated with my group to run analyses on different watersheds around the university, looking specifically at wastewater treatments and pollution in the areas; while in a different class I learned about the differences in water accessibility and treatment across the world and how to eliminate those inequities. Through those classes, I learned why water management is so important, and moreover why taking care of our watersheds is vital to creating a more sustainable environment to live in.
I’ve been looking for ways to advocate for better water conservation since then, and my involvement with this organization is just the beginning of that journey. I’m excited to be working here and with you all, in hopes that we move towards a cleaner, better protected Delaware River Watershed!