A Different Perspective on Sustainability

Sustainability is a big buzz word lately. In the U.S., many schools are competing to become the most sustainable, showing off their "green" features, and boosting their image through caring for the environment. College students in various majors are being trained to develop new technologies to lessen or mitigate greenhouse gasses, address the disproportionate impact on certain communities of weather patterns caused by global warming, and navigate the changing political climate that a warming earth will lead to. Students come from different countries and cultures and experience how much of higher education is focused on making sure we leave a habitable world behind for subsequent generations. In many ways, colleges and universities in the U.S. are preparing this next generation to think about the environment as critical to their field.

But there is another side to this. What is missing from the conversation is the people in their own country and across the world who never followed the economic-gain-at-all-costs model either by choice or because they were not given access to it. It is missing the fact that our market here in the U.S. is in large part to blame for the dire need for this focus on sustainability and perhaps the solution can’t come from the source of the problem. 

I recently spoke to a student who studied abroad in Bhutan (A. Miller, personal communication, February 8, 2019). Bhutan is perhaps most well-known for its focus on gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product (https://ophi.org.uk/policy/national-policy/gross-national-happiness-index/), which gives a first insight into where the country's priorities are. This student had the opportunity to go to Bhutan and stay there for an entire semester learning about their mindsets and outlooks. From her accounts, the country turns down grants that would boost the economy and sees 96% of the people who leave in order to gain a higher education come back. And, the country is carbon negative, some even saying that it is carbon negative several times over. The reason for this lies somewhat in their Buddhist faith, but mostly in the fact that connection to the environment and self-sufficiency is at the core of every citizen's being. This inner commitment gets expressed outwardly in their constitution, stating that every citizen is responsible for the sustainability of the world, and how about 50% of the Bhutanese government is involved with the environment or sustainability in some way.

There could also be a long discussion about the economically disadvantaged, and in particular people groups that have been denied access to economic progress such as people of color in the United States. While cheap fossil fuels were being exploited for economic gain, they were systematically prevented from benefiting from it. Now that the exploitation is becoming less profitable and producing more and more tangible dangers, we're suddenly turning to sustainability as the new trend and we expect them to jump on board. This happens on the international level, too. Although it is now turning to renewable energy sources, India resisted for a long time citing that coal and oil brought other world powers economic prosperity, so they should also be allowed to profit from them (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/14/india-says-paris-climate-deal-wont-affect-plans-to-double-coal-output). 

So, sustainability in United Stated is often missing something big. It's a new trend that is being capitalized on. It still produces benefits for the planet, but I believe that we should be focusing less on ourselves as the hero in this scenario and more like the villains-turned-sidekicks. With a "record number" of 60% of U.S. Americans stating they believe that the climate is warming and humans are at least partially causing it (http://closup.umich.edu/files/ieep-nsee-2018-spring-climate-belief.pdf), the U.S. should not be leading this fight. The examples above are focusing on environmental sustainability, but this critique is equally an issue when "social sustainability" is the focus. Western white people have put a new face on, and given new terms to, a tightrope that has long been walked by a large portion of the world's population. And, I believe that now we should let them lead the way. 

So, leaders of students, what can you do? My suggestion is to give voices to the students on your campus, and the students in other parts of the world, who have practiced sustainability the longest even if they haven't used the term. Ask questions to as diverse of a student population as you can about what impact they have seen from the changing climate. Seek input about what aspects of U.S. culture might have to change in order to maintain a habitable earth. Get to know what questions you should be asking from the people you don't normally interact with.  Perhaps most importantly, seek to elevate the voices of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds to see what is important to them when it comes to the environment and climate change, because that is where the answers have been all along. 

Cody Rosenbarker first started in the field of international education by befriending the exchange students at his rural New York state high school.  He became an exchange student himself and spent his first significant experience abroad in Belgium, where he fell in love with exploring cultures and sharing experiences.  Since then, he has sought out opportunities to continue interacting with and learning from people of different cultures.  Some experiences include teaching English in China and the rainforest of French Guiana, directing a Summer camp in France, and working in student affairs in Hong Kong.  Most recently, Cody worked in southeast France at a study abroad campus helping students navigate and appreciate cultural differences.  Currently, Cody works as the Sustainability Learning Coordinator at Dickinson College helping create a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable environment.

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