This fall, two CU-Boulder students were treated to an aerial view of the effects of oil, natural gas, and coal development on some of America’s most cherished lands— national parks.
INVST Community Leadership Program students Xavier Rojas and Ashley Basta were selected for Flight Across America, a trip that invites students to join local leaders on a multiday, environmental analysis of a particular region. The annual program was offered by EcoFlight, an Aspen-based non-profit that advocates the protection of wild lands and wildlife habitat through aerial perspectives provided by its six-seater, Cessna airplanes.
Rojas and Basta were selected as students in the INVST Community Leadership Program, a CU-Boulder program that develops community leaders who pledge to engage in compassionate action as a lifetime commitment.
Before he discovered INVST, Rojas, a sophomore in evolutionary biology, had considered adding a double major in environmental studies, but as it turned out, the INVST Community Leadership Program provided the environmental emphasis and service learning experience he craved.
“I was looking for a way to get involved with the community, but I didn’t know how,” he said. “I got an email about INVST and it was exactly what I was looking for. It focuses on building strong relationships with the community and working toward environmental and social sustainability. The idea behind it is you can learn with a close family and cohort.”
The Flight Across America was not Rojas first flight with EcoFlight. During INVST’s Domestic Summer Service Learning Experience in July, EcoFlight sent the 16-person INVST cohort up in the air for brief overviews of the beautiful Thompson Divide and the oil and gas development in that area.
INVST’s partnership with EcoFlight continued when the non-profit solicited applications from CU-Boulder students to partake in its annual Flight Across America, which this year focused on iconic national parks in the Four Corners region. Rojas and Basta were selected from CU-Boulder, and they joined two students from Colorado Mountain Colleges.
“We help students like Xavier and Ashley become environmental stewards,” said Sabrina Sideris, INVST program director and INVST alumna. “Another educator I respect said, ‘Teaching at its best urges voyages.’ INVST breaks down barriers between the classroom and the community by offering first-hand learning opportunities about contemporary environmental issues. INVST literally offers voyages. We’re so glad that Ashley and Xavier got to go on this voyage with EcoFlight.”
During the October voyage, the students flew over four states in four days and witnessed the environmental and social threats related to energy consumption and development in close proximity of five national parks.
For example, the students observed the effects of coal-fired power plants on air quality at Mesa Verde National Park, oil and gas development effects on the land and wildlife near Canyonlands National Park, and multiple uranium mines in close proximity to the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.
“It was so amazing to see the Grand Canyon and its immensity from above, but then we saw a uranium mine and its proximity to the Colorado River, a major water source for so many people,” Rojas said. “It’s sad we (as a society) would even think about doing that.”
From above, the students observed various environmental threats. On land, they explored some of the parks and spoke face-to-face with policymakers, activists, Native Americans from impacted tribes, and others dedicated to protecting their region’s environmental health.
As a whole, the experience left a lasting impression on all the students involved. Basta was invited to speak to the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. in November, and Rojas and Basta’s photos from the trip will be on display at Innisfree, an independent, Boulder bookstore, in January.
“At first I left the experience a little depressed, because I was surprised by the low regard we have for the land we treasure. But I was also excited that there are people who have dedicated their lives to protecting the land,” Rojas said.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have a bird’s eye view of the landscape and to get to talk about it from that perspective,” he added. “It really opens your eyes.”
For more information, watch this video about the students’ trip from Aspen Public Radio News.