My name is Alysha and I am going into my final year of my HBA with a growing interest in sustainability. Growing up in a small rural area has given me an overwhelming appreciation for the environment as well as taught me a sustainable way of living. From hiking to canoeing and everything in between, I grew up in nature and want to do everything in my power to preserve it for the future generations. This is what motivated me to pursue both the sustainability certificate as well as a career in sustainability consulting.  

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

When I think sustainability, many things come to mind. Most prominently, I think of making changes to modern practices to increase the longevity of the planet. These changes can range from small individual acts to industry-wide and global changes to policy and governance regulations. I also believe working towards sustainability means working toward a world where worrying about the future doesn’t exist. Meaning everything individuals, companies, industries and countries do does not negatively impact the planet, but instead maintains or increases its longevity. 

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career?

I hope to see sustainability as a main focus in my career. When I think about the personal steps I take toward sustainability, they are much smaller than the steps I hope to take toward sustainability in my professional career. Many companies are able to make big actions toward more sustainable operations and I hope to be part of that change. More specifically, with an interest in sustainability consulting, I hope that a core part of my role is finding ways to create change. Working with companies who want to be more sustainable but aren’t sure what they can do and helping companies who aren’t necessarily looking to change realize the importance of these actions. The more companies I am able to work with, the more sustainable a variety of businesses can become.  I hope to both see and be a part of a revolutionary change where more companies are sustainable than those that are not during my career. 

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in? 

I have been involved with individual sustainability actions as well as group efforts. I try to incorporate as many small-scale actions as I can into my lifestyle. Some of the individual activities I partake in are bottle drives and can return centers, recycling and composting, and participating in a variety of outdoor activities. When I look at group efforts, I have helped in a clothing drive where I worked with a group to collect used clothing from the community and bring it back to the local non-profit thrift stores. Here we helped sort articles for the thrift store. Donating old clothes and buying used help to reduce fast fashion as well as the emissions caused by producing new clothes and getting rid of old clothes. The other group initiative I have been a part of are annual earth day garbage clean-ups. I started by going out with my family or friends to clean our neighborhood from a very young age. As I got older, I started to take on a larger role, helping to recruit people to participate, and plan where we would clean.