Name: Charlie Kregsman

Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Ocean Health

Date of Fieldwork: December 18, 2018

Name of Organization: Senator Dianne Feinstein of California

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Alexis Segal, Legislative Assistant for Water and Environment

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We interviewed Alexis Segal, a friend of my mother’s who is the Legislative Assistant for Water and the Environment for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. Since she is based in Washington, D.C., we were not able to meet with her in person but did set up of a FaceTime call/interview.

What I learned:

We learned several key facts that helped us gain further knowledge about our topic. First, many people do not have access to clean water. Although we are lucky now in the US, other parts of the world have already been experiencing the harsh reality of lack of viable water. Eventually, Planet Earth will run out of water and it could be as early as sometime during our lifetime. Another important fact that we learned, is that there has already been irreversible damage done to our planet. Global warming can be slowed down but some of the damage already done can never be fixed entirely.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

We learned that every little thing can make a difference. Some examples include, do not leave water running longer than necessary and do your best to always recycle. Specifically, California has two state laws that help prevent climate change and pollution. The first law prohibits the usage of plastic bags and the second law monitors car emissions such as gasoline.