I grew up along the Hudson River in a small town with a rich history of environmental activism. Over 20 years ago my elementary school was teaching us about the environment and sustainability and left a life long impression of the importance of sustaining our people and planet. In college I was an Environmental Policy/Sustainable Development major and had the opportunity to learn deeply about the economics of global sustainability. My impression of sustainability changed. Rather than promoting a return to nature I began to understand sustainability as reinvigorating our existing infrastructure and systems to upbuild and last. This brought me to the world of the sustainable built environment, a field I am excited to be pursuing my PhD in.
My mother works in sustainable fashion and that also changed my view of sustainability. Like construction, fashion generates alarming waste and emissions. It takes a supply chain to change the world.