Environmentalist shares her passion with Lawrence
This environmental journalist and professor-in-residence was appointed to the city’s Climate Protection Task Force last week
Simran Sethi has a long list of experiences: a host for MTV, an NBC correspondent, a Sundance Channel writer and now, a Lawrence resident who focuses on sustainability.
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
When it comes to working with environmental issues in the media, not many people have as an extensive résumé as Simran Sethi, the Lacy C. Haynes professor-in-residence in the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas.
Sethi, an environmental correspondent for NBC News and former MTV News anchor, has found her home in Lawrence and works to lower greenhouse gas emissions on the city’s Climate Protection Task Force, a position she was appointed to last week.
“She’s very knowledgeable and has a lot of connections around the country.”
—Daniel Pool, director of sustainability advisory board
“I just want to bring the knowledge I have to improve the quality of life here in Lawrence,” she said.
Sethi attended Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and like most college students, had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.
Sethi, a journalist who covers environmental issues, said she never took a journalism class and failed the only environmental studies class she had enrolled in.
“I just wasn’t that interested at that point,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘this has nothing to do with me – I’m only 19-years-old.’”
Sethi landed her first internship at MTV working in its documentary division when MTV was in its infancy.
At MTV she learned the art of storytelling, she said.
After earning her Bachelor of Arts in sociology and women’s studies in 1992, MTV’s management wanted her to work full time.
Sethi returned to MTV where she produced and anchored the news for MTV Asia and created several documentaries including “Sex in the 90s,” “Help Not Wanted,” and “Hate Rock.”
“My goal was to always talk about social issues from the rise in Neo-Nazism to HIV testing,” Sethi said.
She returned to school to receive her Masters of Business in sustainable management from the Prestidio School of Management in 2005.
While earning her master’s, she also worked as a writer and host for the PBS series, “Ethical Living,” a series about sustainable business practices.
After the show was cancelled, she was a host for a weekly podcast for TreeHugger.com, which won the 2006 Vloggie award for “Best Green Vlog” under her management.
“The purpose of the podcast was to show people that you can care about the environment and still be cool,” she said.
Today, Sethi is a contributing environmental correspondent for NBC News, and is featured on the Today Show, CNBC and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. She also hosts and writes for Sundance Channel’s, “The Green and EcoBiz”.
In her spare time she is writing a book about the effects of American consumption.
“It’s about looking at how we consume things in our everyday life from tennis shoes to water bottles,” Sethi said. “It’s about how those things are created, how we use them and where they end up when we’re done with them.”
Sethi came to the University about a year ago to teach as a professor-in-residency for two years in the School of Journalism.
In Sethi’s short time at the University, she’s started a media and the environment class. She has worked as a volunteer for the city’s sustainability advisory board and recently she has been appointed by the mayor to work on the city’s Climate Protection Task Force.
Daniel Pool, director of the sustainability advisory board, said Sethi was one of mayor Sue Hack’s best choices for the job.
“She’s very knowledgeable and has a lot of connections around the country,” Pool said. “She’s a very strong person and I think she could reach contacts far and wide that can really help us in our cause.”
Now that Sethi is on the Climate Protection Task Force, she said she plans to live here for a long time.
“All of the environmental change that needs to happen needs to happen on a local level,” Sethi said. “And I don’t mean to sound too precious about it or anything, but I want to give back to Lawrence what Lawrence has given to me.”
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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