Featured
Nicole Lee, a second-year Northeastern University student, grew up enjoying the outdoors in beautiful Marin County, California, and binge-watching David Attenborough’s series “Planet Earth.”
“That really inspired me to want to preserve the environment around me,” says Lee, who is majoring in environmental studies with a concentration in the green economy.
Lee wanted to find a co-op that paired her major with her desire for a job advancing sustainable practices and found a perfect match in Zero Waste San Diego, which promotes programs to reuse, repair and repurpose items to reduce waste and pollution.
“It really aligns with my major,” says Lee, who works as a marketing and program coordinator at the organization.
Zero Waste San Diego provides educational resources and outreach programs to teach people about the circular economy, she says.
“The circular economy is about preventing things from ending up in the landfill and stressing the importance of refusing to buy new things, or reusing what you already have,” Lee says.
For example, Lee sorted and cleaned hundreds of used mugs donated by Goodwill Industries to use at Zero Waste San Diego’s annual symposium in February.
Lee produces content for the nonprofit’s social media, including TikToks and Reels on how to gift wrap presents with zero waste and reuse anything from old bricks to spare pieces of lumber.
She also provides tips on an Instagram account on how college students and others can live sustainably by thrift shopping for clothes and household items and recycling objects to give them a new life.
Part of Lee’s job is to promote the Fix It Clinics run by Zero Waste San Diego.
Modeled on repair cafes in Switzerland, the clinics provide volunteer “fixers” who repair everything from lamps and vacuum cleaners to bicycles, toasters and textiles.
“Community members come in with broken items. And then we have a whole team of volunteer fixers that are able to repair them for free,” Lee says.
“If they aren’t able to make the repair, they can at least point to what parts that might be needed or where to recycle the materials,” she says.
Lee says her favorite encounter during a fix it clinic was when a woman brought a malfunctioning snow globe music box to a clinic in Compton.
“Her father had given it to her when she was young,” Lee says. “Unfortunately, he passed away recently and the music box was slightly broken and wasn’t able to play music anymore.”
“So one of our tinkerers was able to rewire it a bit and get the snow globe to play music again. The woman was really thankful and got teary-eyed. It was a really cool thing to see. I was able to film part of it because I help with their social media,” Lee says.
The people whose items are being repaired are encouraged to sit with their fixer to learn how to do the job themselves next time, she says.
Lee has volunteered as a fixer herself, repairing broken bracelets and necklaces.
“I’ve fixed a lot of jewelry, because I’ve made it in the past. So I’m familiar with the little clamps and jump rings and everything,” she says.
Lee also has participated in a waste audit at a charter school and is studying to become a Zero Waste-certified consultant.
After college, Lee says she is interested in volunteering with the Peace Corps for two years doing sustainable development work on the international level.
In the meantime, she is turning her attention to another co-op or fellowship to contribute to a sustainable, non-polluting economy.
“I always wanted to choose a major that had a social impact on not only people but the planet itself,” Lee says.