Valentina Daugherty - Assignment # 2 - Reflection - Discovering Connections Between Economy, Environment, and Human Safety: A Reflection by Valentina Daugherty

Discovering Connections Between Economy, Environment, and Human Safety: A Reflection by Valentina Daugherty

As our group was preparing to present the People Matter project, I was excited and slightly intimidated. "People Matter" seemed like such a simple title, but the more I thought about it, the complexities of our topics and relational aspects made more sense. Each group member reflected on a different aspect of well-being such as environmental safety, economic stability, and a global lens of well-being. My focus was on The Economy and Cost of Living, and through this, I came to understand economics was more than numbers on a page and graphs on a chart. Economic data is the daily lives of individuals, their health, and sense of stability.

Understanding the Topic: The Human Side of Economics

Before starting this research, I thought economics was about market trends, inflation rates, and government spending. As I read and discussed articles with my group, I began to see economics as a personal issue: whether families can afford a safe home, whether students can pay tuition, whether communities can flourish or face hard times.   

When I was developing my slides, I used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide concrete evidence with statistics displaying the cost of living increasing faster than wages. While I was affected by the general facts of the numbers in this research, what resonates most with me is the fact that people are struggling financially to meet basic needs. Inflation impacts all of us, but it is most challenging for those making minimum wage and those college students living from paycheck to paycheck.

I demonstrated the reality of tuition costs exceeding the growth of income, and how student debt has become a tremendous burden for my generation. There are many students who experience food and/or housing insecurity, and this effects not only their education, but also their mental and physical health. After preparing these slides, it became clear to me that economic inequality is not an abstract idea. It is a neural thing we can see in the expressions and stories of people we see every single day.

Including the Interviews: Real Voices and Real Struggles

A significant aspect of my role in the project was speaking with individuals. I wanted to incorporate actual voices into our presentation, as opposed to only statistical evidence. I spoke with two people who had differing and competing but equally compelling voices on how the economy and cost of living impact people's lives.

Originating from Mr. Rosenthal's perspective, he is a communications technology teacher with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and graduated from Florida International University. The first thing he shared was that although he had a scholarship that covered tuition for his college education, the cost of living was challenging. He explained there were costs associated with food, books, and gas costing more money than he anticipated, so he took on multiple jobs during college. He described how he would stagger long hours between classes and work, which left him drained but continued because he was cognizant that his education is an investment into his future.

Mr. Rosenthal articulated his reluctance to be priced out of home due to the high cost of living as a determining factor for the type of school he selected, and was put in a position of commuting for long hours to save money, and in order to avoid having to borrow money through student loans by living at home. His lived experience illustrated how financial barriers shape not only students' educational experiences, but also shape their spatial location for higher education. Mr. Rosenthal shared the pragmatism of focusing on local community colleges and/or regional universities to save money, live at home and transfer after completion of basic courses. He pushed the notion of being frugal with appreciating money, avoiding debt, and seeking out opportunities to pursue an educational degree without taking on significant financial costs of a student loan.

When I asked him how much college has changed in cost since he went to school, he said it was already expensive when he graduated probably 10 years ago, and times are worse now. He noted that it is hundreds of percentage points more than when he graduated in the 1970s, and too many students are graduating with debt that grows much greater than their earning potential. He is still a proponent of education, but he just encourages students to be wise. Listening to him describe these realties shifts my outlook on impacts of cost of living increases, and consequently long-term opportunities, and financial education for students.

My second interview was with Ms. Jessica Loada, a high school social studies teacher, who teaches AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Human Geography. She demonstrated the relevance of classroom economics through the real life challenges faced by students and their families with her insight. She explained, compared to years prior, today's economy makes it even more difficult to afford a college education. Food, housing, and tuition prices have increased significantly and wages have remained stagnant. She highlighted that students used to embark on the "ramen noodle diet" because it was cheap, but even that has become too expensive.

Ms. Loada also discussed the fact that inflation continues to increase prices while wages remain unchanged. Although the minimum wage has been raised in some markets, this also raises prices to the point where working people are no better off than before. She talked about students in part-time jobs in healthcare or other fields who work long hours and just can’t make ends meet, and some of these students struggle to pay tuition, rent, or buy groceries. They might be making enough money to get by from day to day, but they can barely put anything away for savings or planning. 

She then went on to describe how living wage increases are directly related to broader economic systems that involve government policies, inflationary pressures, and corporate dominion. She explained how large corporations can set prices because they supply so much of the market and they don’t have to abide by free market practices of competition that drive down prices and have more options for the consumer. When she mentioned Amazon’s monopoly growing within the marketplace, and that the government was not doing anything to regulate rising costs, it opened my eyes that economic inequality is not personal, but a system.

As I was wondering about the lasting effects of financial instability, she discussed student loans and the decadelong burden they could put on someone. She knew that young adults would fall into debt that stayed with them because they lacked financial literacy. Ms. Loada encouraged students to start creating good habits early in life, by taking a percentage of every paycheck, even just a few dollars, and putting it aside, and she said that students should know where their money is going, and consider their purchases carefully.

In the end, Ms. Loada discussed the connection between environmental and economic issues saying that climate change and coastal flooding will require people to relocate, perhaps places like Miami. As environmental issues worsen on the planet, then housing and food prices will increase even further. Her conclusion was that sustainability and fiscal responsibility must coexist for the benefit of the people and the planet.

Adding these interviews provided depth and a sense of humanity to my presentation. They reminded me that behind every statistic are real people experiencing the effects of economic change every day. When I shared their voices in my presentation, it made the topic more real and emotionally charged for my classmates. I felt combined when I used the live stories as a way to capture the overall ways the economy touches every part of people’s lives.

Connecting the Economy with the Environment

A second major realization surfaced when I started to connect the economy to environmental issues. At first, I viewed these topics as distinct issues, one having to do with finance and the other having to do with nature. In our group conversations, I realized there were connections. The consequences of environmental issues such as pollution, poor air quality, and climate change directly contribute to increasing costs of living. 

For example, if a weather event destroys crops and creates a supply chain issue (resulting in reduction of food), grocery bills will increase. If air quality and pollution worsen, families are likely to incur higher medical bills (due to health impacts). These cycles show us that addressing issues for the planet is addressing economic wellbeing for people. When thinking of it this way, I wanted to create a slide with some ideas that achieve both, such as offering sustainable housing options and renewable energy options. Green buildings will have lower operational costs for utilities (energy bills) and may also improve air quality while creating jobs and reducing emissions from energy sources. I have started to tie in how civic engagement, such as voting or pushing for sustainable legislation, can also provide value back to the economy and environment.

Collaboration with the Group

The best part of this whole project is cooperating with the team members. Everyone possessed different strengths and perspectives, but together, we made something cohesive and strong.

Jenise Castillo Hernandez opened our presentation with a very strong section focused on the relation between pollution, climate emergency, and natural disasters regarding public health. Jenise said, "to protect the planet is to protect ourselves," which brought us to a great place to start.

Next, Jenise was followed by Juan Morera, who spoke to resilience and disaster preparedness, demonstrating how sustainable planning and early warning systems save lives. Gabriela Valdez discussed American and global approaches to sustainability, while Gaitina Barthelemy closed the program on an optimistic note, explaining how green technology can create jobs and reduce damages. Our individual sections together formed one message about how people, the planet, and the economy are linked.

The Experience of Presenting

It was difficult yet rewarding presenting over Zoom. Although I was not standing in front of the class, my nerves were still running as I first started to speak. As I began to present and then shared the interviews, I felt my confidence rise. My classmates seemed engaged, and I was proud that the voices I recorded were being heard. I left feeling both relieved and proud after it went so smoothly.

Lessons and Personal Growth

This project demonstrated that incorporating the experiences of actual people into research increases its significance. The interviews demonstrated how human stories and data combine to produce a deeper understanding. I also discovered that when everyone works together, ideas become stronger.

The most important lesson was realizing how interconnected everything is. Economic difficulties have an impact on environmental policy, and environmental issues have an impact on economic stability, which in turn has an effect on public health and safety. I came to see that any solutions needed to consider the entire system.

Conclusion

As I reflect on the People Matter project, I am grateful for the opportunity and proud of the work our team completed. I learned from the data, interviews, and teamwork that figures are meaningless until they reflect actual lives. The project served as a reminder to me that protecting the environment, the economy, and public safety are all interconnected tasks that contribute to a more sustainable and healthy world.