“I’ve always been interested in lemonade stands:” a student profile on Isabel Baron
To Isa Baron, the Sustainable Mineral Resources minor offered by the School of Mining and Mineral Resources is the perfect bridge between her majors, Environmental Studies and Operations & Supply Chain Management. Baron knew she always wanted to be involved in business. Growing up, she was interested in lemonade stands, and learning about different aspects of business, but she began to grow curious about the field of sustainability and how it impacts business decisions.
Originally from Dallas, Texas, she decided to go to the University of Arizona to study supply chain management, where she could “make the most concrete change as far as climate impact” was concerned. Baron was drawn to the scenery and natural environment in Arizona, compared to her hometown’s concrete and flatlands. She loves being outdoors. “My favorite hike is Tanque Verde Falls,” says Baron. “Especially this time of year.”
Baron was drawn to the minor when she saw a poster advertising it and was intrigued by the title. After speaking with Mario Muñoz, Recruitment Outreach Coordinator for the School, she realized how flexible the minor was and how much it aligned with her career goals. Baron hopes to be a Sustainability Consultant in the future. She hopes to work with businesses to make their practices more sustainable towards a cleaner future.
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Deans Carmela Garzione and David Hahn with three of the scholarship awardees for the interdisciplinary minor in Sustainable Mineral Resources
Last summer, Baron interned for Sustainable Investments Group, where she worked with companies on getting their buildings “green” certified. She earned her LEED Green Associate certification in the process, a professional certification denoting her ability to certify buildings as sustainable and green. This summer she will intern with a consulting firm.
“All my classes blend together like puzzle pieces fitting in with one picture,” says Baron. But throughout her experiences in the sustainability field, she’s learned “the biggest hurdle to most sustainable challenges is a culture shift.”
Baron also works with Compost Cats, a project with the University of Arizona’s Office of Sustainability to divert food waste. Baron highlights is their bucket program, in which students drop off their food scraps, doing their part to mitigate their carbon footprint.
“Environmentalists are hesitant about mining,” says Baron. But being a part of the minor cohort and one of the scholarship recipients, and going to different events, she’s learned that renewable energy is “literally not possible with the resources we have in circulation.” In order to move to a green future, we need mining.
Baron encourages others to learn more about mining. She learned a lot from one of the Lundin-Snider seminar series, which solidified in her mind the need for mining for renewable energy.
“Listen to the experts!” says Baron. “A lot of mining companies are being proactive and setting sustainability policies in place, putting more effort in than a lot of companies are in that regard.”