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Economics student wins UNA-USA competition In September, Ritesh Yadav, an economics student at the College of
campus. I want our campus community to be a leader in adopting sustainability
Business, won first prize in the UNA-USA Sustainable Development Goals pitch
on-campus and set an example.”
competition. In August, the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) sent calls for pitch proposals to over 20,000 members.
After graduation Yadav plans to attain a Ph.D. in development economics and
Eight candidates were selected to present four-minute pitches explaining their
eventually start a non-profit.
proposal to the judges. Yadav was declared the winner and awarded $500 to implement his proposal on campus. Yadav’s proposal focused on two Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-- SDG 13: Climate Change and SDG 14: Life Below Water. His pitch centered around starting an awareness campaign through discussions that would incentivize students to participate and learn about the problems that single-use plastics create. As a board member of the UNA-USA Idaho State chapter, Yadav plans to work with his fellow members to develop a strategic plan to implement his proposal on campus. “We have often learned about the harm plastic causes to our environment,” said Yadav of his inspiration for the project. “Unfortunately, only a handful of universities in the United States have adopted sustainable alternatives on-
