By Allison Reser

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFXCkSs9ZSM&w=560&h=315]

This video is the product of Allison Reser’s senior honors thesis. Titled, “Perspectives on Staying Positive,” it is about how faculty in the Warner College of Natural Resources remain optimistic in the face of set-backs and negativity. The inspiration for the video came from the pessimism that echoes through the student body when depressing topics are covered in class. When learning about extinction, climate change, overpopulation, and other environmental issues, it is easy to feel pessimistic and hopeless. Pessimism and hopelessness are not feelings that students want to carry into their careers, and this video reveals that current professionals certainly did not. There’s actually every reason to be optimistic when you balance the negative with positive and get involved. Tom Stohlgren, Rick Knight, Liba Pejchar, Maria Fernandez Gimenez, John Hayes and John Moore star in the video and explore how they stay positive in the face of challenging environmental problems and how students can too.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFXCkSs9ZSM

Allison Reser is an undergraduate in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at CSU. She will graduate in May 2015, and is hoping to work with communities to spark social change and sustainable practices in her future career.