May 21, 2012 | 02:18
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Sep 03, 2009
Working for sustainable planet now drives her, ex-celebrity model tells students
An engineering student speaks with former model Heather Mills, who lectured during a class on her projects to promote recycling and other sustainable projects. Photo by Amita Makdani.
Mills came to UCLA on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to speak to students enrolled in Sustainable Product and Service Design (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 188). Taught by lecturer Sanjeev Jain, the class trains would-be engineers, designers and entrepreneurs to consider environmental and lifecycle factors at every step of industrial production. Mills, who is the former wife of Sir Paul McCartney, came to campus at the invitation of a friend, Susan Sims, executive officer of Summer Sessions.
Mills' first sustainability project, she explained to students, was organizing the recycling of used prostheses. An amputee herself who lost her left leg after a road accident in 1993, Mills appealed to amputees worldwide to donate their discarded artificial limbs. She had them reworked and then redistributed to victims of war in places like Croatia and Cambodia.
Cleverly, she was able to marshal the help of Great Britain’s prison population to do the labor of dismantling the prostheses for reuse.
Mills went on to describe her most recent projects and the analytical process that inspires all her work.
“I think of simple solutions for complicated problems,” she said.
As an example, Mills talked about her new clothing line which involves buying large quantities of used clothing from charity shops. She then refashions each item according to basic patterns that she’s created.
This way, Mills contributes to the charities, keeps old clothing out of landfills and discourages her customers from creating waste by buying new clothes.
“Society throws away over a million tons of clothing and textiles into the rubbish bins annually. Many of these items could be resold or remade into something new and exciting,” she once wrote.
Mills also spoke at length about her devotion to veganism. She explained the health benefits of a plant-based diet, which she credits for her recovery from the accident, and its importance to environmental protection.
“You can’t be an environmentalist and eat beef,” she said. According to Mills, 60% of greenhouse gases come from meat production and dairy farming.
As a witness to the health benefits of veganism, Mills called upon her bodyguard Ron Ayala. A carnivore for many years, he was “converted” to veganism, lost 35 pounds and claims to feel much better.
Mills also owns an organic food company which has just produced a plant-based omega-three tablet, thereby debunking the commonly held perception that this popular health food can come only from fish.
Mills encouraged students to do their own sustainability work and told them that they could change the world.
She told them to “go out, find your cause, focus on it and make a difference.”
The students listened with rapt attention and peppered Mills with questions after the lecture. Many were interested in details of her diet and how it could be integrated into societies that suffer from poverty or that rely on meat consumption.
Zeta Yu Peralta, a UCLA staff member and environmental engineer, said she was impressed by Mills’ ability to motivate her audience.
“The lecture was inspirational, especially for those who eat meat," Peralta said. "She also pointed out that you should go out and find what’s important to you and focus on it. Finally, she has demonstrated that people with a disability can achieve a lot.”
