Cachet Garrett, Chair

Hello! My name is Cachet, I am a graduate student at UAF and I am absolutely delighted to be involved with UAF’s Office of Sustainability! I am a lifelong volunteer here in service to the planet and the earthlings that live on it, and I have the honor of serving as Chair of the Review of Infrastructure, Sustainability, and Energy (RISE) Board for the 2020-2021 academic year. I began serving with RISE in early 2019 as an ASUAF appointee and served last year as the Vice Chair of the board. I enjoy participating in several of our program offerings—notably our student gardening club, called Nanook Grown, where I am expanding my passion for gardening and enjoying the empowerment of growing my own real food. I would love to see this program grow and sustain more UAF students! Just imagine if all of us were growing some amount of food for ourselves… how cool would that be?!

I first realized at the age of 16, growing up in Palmer, Alaska, that I was drawn to a life of attaining a sustainable existence and a sense of connection to the earth, as well as engaging in communication and leadership of these themes. To this end, I have been involved in many projects and organizations over time. In 2005, as an undergraduate student in Juneau, I founded an environmental club at UAS. I was a member of Turning the Tides, a grassroots nonprofit in Juneau that works for the sustainability and protection of our oceans. As a member of the Fairbanks community, I stay tuned in to the happenings of local environmental and sustainability focused work and I am eager to develop RISE’s partnerships with members and agencies in our community. Reach out to me at ctgarrett@alaska.edu!