​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​My definition of sustainability is a holistic and reflective way of being, on the basis of respect and inclusion of others and a mindfulness of our environment, on the intergenerational and intercultural path towards social equity and harmony. I have come to this understanding through my multicultural upbringing and through my studies here at Dickinson: understanding the contrast of the human experience and the predominant oppressive and destructive political, economic, and social systems. Through my classes, service, praxis, and conversations in the last four years, I’ve had the opportunity to hear and record the voices of the marginalized and oppressed, understand how social, economic, and political structures today developed and how they impact the individual, and experience the power of healing through centralizing the marginal and empowering communities to sustain Life.

In mainstream media, Sustainability is often reverted to things green and relating to technology and the physical world. In academia, we have come to intellectualize sustainability and understand it as complex system of interactions of privilege and power. Although I’ve appreciated better understanding the complexities of systems, I’ve realized that sustainability is just a fancy word to describe the basic and ancient habits I had to learn while growing up around the world in the necessity of resourcefulness to save money and survive. I learned: finish every single grain of rice on your plate; take care of your toys so they don’t break; don’t eat your treats all at once; savor them as long as you can and share the joy with others; don’t take more than you need and give what you can; treat your friends and family with unconditional love and fairness; be honest, truthful, thoughtful, and avoid conflict; treat others the way you want to be treated. In the end, this resourcefulness was to enable space for what was most important in the long run: family and kinship

More than anything, my experience at Dickinson has enabled me to understand how the basic rules of respect and love I learned during my childhood have been forgotten for the pursuit of money, power, and control over their insecurities—on the local, national, and global levels. As a result, a system has been created that has oppressed and robbed the dignity of certain groups of people who don’t embody the hegemonic characteristics that the elite pride. The inequity that subsists as a result, frames the lives of the people I’ve met and their suffering that is ignored because of their excluded political voice and lack of economic resources. This inequity breeds pain, resentment, anger, humiliation, and suffering, which are harmful to wellbeing and cannot sustain any Life. To sustain life is to restore, rejuvenate, heal, and share.

Sustainability is reflection; selflessness; inclusiveness; resourcefulness. Sustainability is creativity, proactivity, mindfulness, and integrity. Sustainability is whole. Sustainability is multiplicity. Sustainability is justice and mercy and truth. Sustainability is humility. Sustainability is enabling future generations to experience laughter, joy, love, livelihood, transcendence, and oneness with the universe.

The opposite is ignorance, selfishness, exclusiveness, destruction, reactivity, mindlessness, corruption, hypocrisy; hegemony and singularity. It is injustice and intolerance; it is burning bridges. It is oppression, colonization, suppression, repression, egoism, arrogance, greed, pain. It is things that blind us from empathizing with others, occupies us from deeply connecting with those around us, and paralyzes us from experiencing our inner being.

This world, particularly this nation, faces a grave challenge of reconciling the relationships between its different and largely segregated identity groups. The politicized hate, fears, distractions, and lies reverberating through our media today are evidence of the danger of ignoring the pain and assuming the viability of such inequities. It is necessity to unpack the historically based unaddressed issues around race, class, privilege, and power, to begin healing and sustain opportunity to life and pursuit of authentic happiness for all.

Thus, sustainability to me is a set of values that guide my choices of the careers I pursue, the causes for which I advocate, and the leaders for whom I vote. I’ve come to value working directly with people, especially with empowerment of low to moderate income communities of color through participatory community planning. I believe the built environment most directly impacts an individual’s life, and that communities should have the right to contribute to the discussion and planning of how their places are designed. I plan to dedicate much of my future to strengthening the resilience and agency of marginalized communities—to let someone know that someone really cares. Sustainability is not an additional part that I carry with me, but rather the engine that drives my own sense of purpose.
This definition of sustainability is a moral compass for how I treat others, no matter how similar and different their worldviews are. It is a heart for understanding where people come from, and a patience to try and reground the gap between us. Breaking down these inequalities and restoring healing is an intergenerational and intercultural struggle. But to me, this way of being is an integrity and idealism that continues to drive my passion to fight for environmental, economic, and social justice, inclusive of all peoples of all generations, so that they may find harmony and the opportunity to cultivate authentic happiness.