On a national level, 18-year-old Arjav Rawal is known for being featured in a New York Times story about how he scooped CNN, The Des Moines Register and other media outlets — three times — by releasing poll results for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses earlier this year.
In California, Rawal is known for his work on political campaigns. He volunteered for Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and served as the vice chairman of the California High School Democrats.
But in Allen County, Rawal wants to be known for his efforts on climate change and sustainability. He’s an intern at Thrive Allen County, working on environmental issues. He’s also a freshman at Allen Community College, studying political science.
“Climate is really the root cause of everything we care about as organizers or activists or whatever you want to call me,” Rawal said.
“I started looking at ways I could make a difference, and I think that Southeast Kansas is going to be one of the last places that’s going to get hit by climate devastation, but that means we’ll be the most complacent. We can’t really afford that. We have to be ready.”
RAWAL was born and raised in the Bay Area in California. His parents are from India but came to the United States for an education. In India, his mother worked with UNICEF and taught in rural villages.
He was just a child when Barack Obama was elected president, but the moment ignited his passion for politics from that point on. In middle and high school, he started volunteering for political campaigns and grassroots organizations.
His most prominent activity, though, came after he discovered the poll results of the Iowa caucuses. He manipulated a website URL and found pdfs of the results, releasing them on his Twitter account before they were released to the public.
He did that three times, which led to the New York Times article.
“People were kind of shocked that a teenager would be able to do something like this, but frankly I’ve never understood the hype behind it. It’s just finding a pdf that’s available publicly and sharing its contents,” he said.
The article brought national attention that led to speaking engagements at a journalism conference and at cyber security classes at a community college.
It was his work with the California High School Democrats that led him to Kansas. Rawal is now registered as an independent.
He worked with Iolan Alley Utley, communications director for the Kansas High School Democrats, on ways to bridge the urban/rural divide within the party. That led to a discussion on sustainability issues in Southeast Kansas, and eventually to the internship at Thrive.
“It made sense to come here,” he said.
His family worried about him taking a job in the middle of the country during a pandemic. He moved to Iola on April 6, at the height of the shutdown.
“It definitely was a weird introduction to rural life,” he said. “It felt kind of like a ghost town when i got here.”
He’s spent the past four months introducing himself to the community and establishing areas of focus.
His decision to enroll at ACC surprised his friends and especially his family, who encouraged him to attend a four-year university.
“I’ve got so much in mind for what I want to do. It only makes sense for me to stick it out here for the long haul,” he said. “My family is supportive but they do wish that I had taken a bit more of a conventional path. I think conventions are meant to be broken and that’s why I’m here.
“And in a community that was built on natural gas and fossil fuels, I think conventions can be broken for the better.”
ALLEN COUNTY’S industrial history fascinated the environmentally conscious Rawal.
More than 100 years ago, the county was known as a leader in the areas of natural gas, zinc smelting operations, metal foundries, oil refineries, cement factories and more. Southeast Kansas also has its share of industrial manufacturing and mining history.
At the time, leaders of those operations gave little thought to their impact on the environment. When companies failed, they often neglected to mitigate the damage they caused to the surrounding land. It was only decades later that activists persuaded government leaders to atone for such sins. The EPA has designated Iola as a Superfund site and is currently involved in a multi-year soil remediation process.
Even today, attitudes and traditions can be slower to change. Some industries, like Monarch Cement Co., have implemented procedures to improve sustainability and reduce the negative effects on the environment, Rawal said, but there’s much more work to be done.
“I think we can move forward in a better way,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of finding a seat at the table and making the case to factor the environment or sustainability or climate into whatever decisions are being made, both in the world of governance or the corporate boardroom.”
DURING HIS first trip to the grocery store in Iola, Rawal was struck by the friendliness of those he encountered.
People waved to him. They smiled. They said hello.
It was quite a change from going to the grocery store in large cities in California.
“That excessive Midwestern hospitality is something I fit well with. That’s more of who I am as a person,” Rawal said.
He’s long been fascinated with Kansas politics, and the differences between California and rural Midwest states.
He’s excited about the opportunities to learn more about Kansas and its people. He’s already visited the local water treatment plant to learn about that process. He traveled to Greensburg to discuss the sustainability changes in that community when it was rebuilt after a devastating 2007 tornado.
He’s still working with Thrive to determine goals and how to best achieve them. Among issues Rawal wants to address are”
— Helping farmers. Regenerative agriculture is important, he said.
— Wind energy. Allen County can take advantage of its strengths like the wind energy program at the Regional Rural Technology Center at LaHarpe, and ACC to focus on the potential of wind energy education, he said. He would encourage manufacturing companies to produce wind turbines in the region.
“Growing up in San Francisco, you’re taught to be an idealist. You think, ‘Oh, we can do this anywhere, 100% clean energy.’ All these broad, ambitious goals. You come here with big dreams like electric vehicles everywhere,” he said.
“But I didn’t come here with that in mind. I knew how hard it was going to be. Part of it is awareness. It’s talking to people and listening and trying to understand how climate change affects their lives.”
Small, rural communities often get overlooked in the climate discussion, Rawal said.
“I think we can really be a leader on this as opposed to being put on the backburner.”
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