By Angela Cormican
Intern, Center for a Sustainable Future
Looking Forward:
How is my internship helping people meet their needs? I do not know how to answer this question except to say that I am not doing enough. I am trying. That is my goal. I have a plan.
I want to develop a Boy’s and Girls Club sort of thing, outside of Prairie Vista Elementary…a conservation club where we learn about planting, physics, the Earth, life, an escape from the non-real pressures of the artificial outside, the contrived nature…I want little bio domes for these kids…It is relevant to low income families, as this article suggests is the main boundary of understanding and grasping a large population of people! When speaking with a local developer on these issues, he was, and I quote in speech for effect, “BORED!” It will take benevolent people or governments to come to fruition, but, behind those grand things are little people, with little visions and aspirations for humanity, or movers and shakers like Van Jones.
People Meeting Their Own Needs:
This is where the airplane attendant or pre-recorded spiel goes on to tell you to put the oxygen mask over yourself first, then assist younger children accompanying you…You must meet yourself first, especially about all of this new, fangled, sustainability, what? stuff…..right?!
You have to breathe it in first before you can help others.
This is how I will continue to help people meet their own needs…by continuing to learn, be credible, stay credible, breathe it in, live it, discuss it, engage others, show them, not tell them, be available, be patient, be the difference. I need to learn how to identify it for multiple audiences, teach it to multiple audiences, answer critics without getting upset, and vision and fund what is next…worried…things are good at PV, but, lol, no joke, not exactly inner city/urban restraints/opportunities…ready to move forward…want to enthuse that communal actions and language and music enjoyment and expression, communication, beyond understood words, best assets for human understanding. Want to make poor cool, in other words, want to turn all the rich kids on their heads (my own children included), want great music and great thinkers to be the thing, fiscal rivalry ousted…growing stuff and watching it grow, and talking about poetry and writing it, learning differently…the person with the worst clothing gets recognized for being sustainable, wearing things to their use, not being a jerk about it, being cool…being real.
This is how I help, and I want to continue to help on a grander scale.
To Be A Titan of Sustainability
To be a champion of sustainability is to be a titan, a warrior. A protector of what is right and a defender of what is good and just. A Titan of Sustainability is not afraid to stand out in a crowd, and proudly wear a crimson shirt with the Center for a Sustainable Future’s shield and logo, the identification of a new idealism and movement. A Titan of Sustainability is a fighter of the ordinary, a proponent of the extraordinary, the face of collective reasoning, and the promise for a united future. A Titan of Sustainability listens, strategizes, brings in others, is an organizer, the most valued team player in the game of life. A Titan of Sustainability respects Earth, respects life in all forms, fights for its survival and continuity. A Titan of Sustainability is trained at IU South Bend….Maybe we won’t have to war for it…maybe we can have peaceable reconciliations between action and policy…And I believe, quote me on this someday: “The pessimism of politics can be balanced with the optimistic solutions sustainability promises…let’s grow together and make some commitments.”
Leave a Reply