Junior Lydia Touloumtzis’ interest in the environment extends beyond the classroom. Her most recent project is a website that aims to help people make more sustainable shopping choices. Touloumtzis is passionate about sustainability and finding practical ways to make a difference.
The website, though still in development, has many features, including directories for the types of stores, contributed researched articles about how to consume more ethically, ratings of different brands and certifications to show credibility for retailers.
Lydia Touloumtzis’ inspiration for the website is rooted in helping others understand the effects of their choices.
“A lot of people want to make more environmental and ethical decisions, but don’t exactly know what changes they might make in their life, so I figured if there was a website that compiled a lot of the things that people could do, then a lot of them might make those changes,” Lydia Touloumtzis said.
Lydia Toulomtzis’ father Michael Touloumtzis, who works as a software engineer, has been helping her with website development and design.
“Mainly, I’m supporting her by helping her with the website administration. I helped to get the websites running on Amazon Web Services,” Michael Touloumtzis said. “I helped set up her account and the web server and deploy the content to it.”
Lydia Touloumtzis also said that through her website, people can learn to be more conscious of the choices they make.
“Not only will people be able to look at these directories or certifications and see evidence for their trustworthiness, but they will also be able to look at them through a bit of a critical lens,” Lydia Touloumtzis said. “I’ll have a lot of tips and articles about how to make changes in one’s own life instead of just shopping at different places.”
Michael Touloumtzis said that Lydia Touloumtzis has a very unique and creative point of view on how to become more environmentally conscious.
“I think her perspective is that it takes work to be better about the environment, but that it’s not necessarily always a sacrifice,” Michael Touloumtzis said. “There’s ways of being in that mindset where it’s a positive.”
Junior Lil Kuklewicz said that Lydia Touloumtzis applies her own advice in casual settings.
“I feel like Lydia displays care for the environment just so much even in everyday life,” Kuklewicz said. “Lydia’s always the person who, if there’s a piece of trash on the ground or something, she’s the one that’s going to pick it up.”
Michael Touloumtzis said that Lydia Touloumtzis always comes up with innovative solutions to everyday problems, ranging from the classroom to even her own home.
“She suggests that instead of consuming a lot of things and discarding them, if you have fewer things that you buy, but they’re really high-quality, then instead of driving enjoyment from acquiring something, you can get enjoyment each time you’re using it,” Michael Touloumtzis said.
Kuklewicz said Lydia Touloumtzis’ passions are driven by her thoughtful nature.
“Lydia’s a very caring human being, and I think that’s reflected in care for the environment but also just care for other people being treated well,” Kuklewicz said.
Lydia Touloumtzis said that she hopes that people will talk more about sustainability after seeing the website.
“My main goal is basically to get people to engage with the website,” Lydia Touloumtzis said. “I also hope people will share things that they have done in their own lives to consume things more ethically or environmentally and how they’ve changed their habits.”
