- August 10, 2023
Greetings UPEC followers and supporters. I hope you are all having a fantastic summer!
UPEC has been on a bit of a summer social media hiatus. But now we hope to be back in full force starting with this blog. I hope you find it informative and relevant.
That being said, it was decided amongst the board to have each member craft a blog about their personal reasons for joining the UPEC organization. My reasons, briefly, for joining UPEC nearly ten years ago (October 2013) are as follows: I had recently retired from my career and knew I needed to make my retirement years meaningful and productive. I thought to myself “I need to give back to the local community and the planet”. It occurred to me that the best act of giving (in my opinion) was to find a non-profit organization that addressed some of the local community’s and planet’s problems at the root level.
Being a member of the human family, I realized it was us, we humans, that are the root cause of most of our environmental and social problems.
So, I Googled “population” and UPEC surfaced. I contacted them, joined their board and ten years later, I’m still involved with this wonderful and relevant organization.
At the time (October 2013), I was impressed with UPEC’s mission/vision and values statements. They have evolved since then, but the statements still ring loud, clear and true for me today:
Vision Statement: We envision a sustainable, healthy, and happy human population living in harmony with the natural environment.
Mission Statement: To achieve a sustainable, healthy, and happy human population living in harmony with the natural environment.
Our Values (parentheses are mine, but I believe they are in agreement with the board)
- Reproductive freedom (including full access to abortion [sic])
- Gender equity (including women’s and girl’s rights with full access to educational and economic opportunities [sic])
- Diversity and inclusion
- Quality of life for present and future generations
- Thinking globally, acting locally
- Sustainability and ecological integrity
Another motivating force behind my decision to join UPEC was my educational and career backgrounds. I have a degree from the U of U in Biology and a career in biotechnology (diabetes and cancer drug development) and environmental health and safety. I believe these experiences were the perfect launch into my better understanding of and taking action to help protect our fragile planet and social environments.
That being said, I am passionate about preserving the earth’s natural systems. I believe that the rapidly expanding human population is the root cause of most, if not all, environmental and social problems.
I am certain that educating society and bringing it to an awareness and a consciousness of the unsustainable population/economic growth and other social challenges is paramount to sustaining a healthy planet with an acceptable quality of life for ALL.
Educating local politicians, stake holders and the general public at large with relevant and effective messaging is currently the top priority for the UPEC board. We accomplish this primarily through social media, tabling events, round table discussions and special events.
Finally, as you may recall, UPEC is currently celebrating its 25th year. Please reference my blog of January 25, 2023 25 Years of the Utah Population & Environment Council for highlights of many more reasons I joined the UPEC board.
As always, I appreciate your continued engagement and support.
Thank you,
Gray Griffin | Treasurer | UPEC
