The dry, hot, and muggy summer is slowly coming to an end as we prepare for football, a new semester, and buying overpriced school books. I am a little sad that my internship will also be ending soon but I have learned so much this summer I could not be happier.
The readings required to complete my internship were great tools and very relevant to what it is we are all trying to accomplish. Although they were related, they were very different interpretations on how sustainability can and should work. There are so many issues dealing with each system condition that one person may only be able to focus on one or two issues within one condition at a time.
In one reading, activist Van Jones spoke about class discrimination and the environment and in another, Scott Russell Sanders focused on family, neighbor relationships and accountability. These are two very different men with very different outlooks that shared the same common goal. The goal for both of them as well as the other authors from the readings was and is to become a more sustainable society for the good of the people and planet now and in the future.
To accomplish any goal we must continually educate ourselves. Working for a “green” publication I have been learning about Indiana’s eco-system, plant life and animals, organizations dedicated to creating sustainable communities, and environmental legal battles. Indiana has many more people dedicated to sustainability than I could have ever imagined.
This experience has taught me how important this field of study is and the tremendous impact all of us are making by learning, teaching, and sharing knowledge that will help create a more sustainable society. Awareness is one of the first steps to real change and by learning we see what is happening. If we don’t realize there is a problem it can never be fixed and maybe ignorance is bliss but, once the cat is out of the bag our human condition makes it hard for us to ignore it.
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