In the Right Direction

During my time in HSU’s Environmental Studies Program, I have been assigned readings and presented ideas that have challenged nearly every piece of knowledge I’ve ever had. My plans for the future had been set for as long as I could remember, and transferring was just the next logical step to acquiring a piece of paper that stood between me and my dreams. I needed a degree to go with the rest of my collected resume-boosting experience and it didn’t matter to me what path I took to get there. I understood that this discipline pertained to the environment and that was all that really mattered to me.

Little did I know the reality of the choice I had made and the earth-shattering experience that would ensue. I came to be the person I am today rather rapidly by being offered the tools to unpack my own perspectives and experiences as well as the space and support to grapple with those changes in understanding. Looking back at the best decision I ever made, I am thankful for this unique opportunity.

I recognize this access to resources is rare outside of academia and the just, community driven approach of the ENST Program is rare within it. These rapid personal changes are common within the degree but leave many of us hoping for the ability to incite change in the world at the same pace. From experience, it can be incredibly disheartening to put in work or participate in movements only to be met with obstacles or opposition.

As part of the senior curriculum, we were assigned “The Impossible Will Take a Little While,” an accumulation of stories and essays from authors experiencing feelings powerlessness and the power of community to usher in feelings of compassion and hope. After cycling through the phases of personal change within the major, this piece necessarily touches on the importance of patience, perseverance, and community support for creating lasting impacts on the world.

I have had to take these sentiments to heart with the work I chose for the Service Learning portion of my degree. Partnering with the Sequoia Park Zoo, I am working to complete a youth program I had previously been working on. After implementing the program for the past few years and having numerous ideas fall short, I am now being allotted the time to create a sustainable, impactful program that could be comprehensively implemented with the use of a binder. Finally, after years of contributing to this facility I feel like I will finally have something to show for it, however small. I have really come to realize that the speed of the impact doesn’t matter anymore, it’s just the trajectory of the change. If I can leave relationships, interactions, and facilities better off than when I joined them that is good enough for me. 

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“Moments of doubt are inevitable, especially in a culture that embraces cynicism and mocks idealism as a fool’s errand. But if we look at life through a historical lens, we find that the proverbial rock can be rolled, if not to the top of the mountain, then at lease to successive plateaus. Indeed, simply pushing the rock in the right direction is cause for celebration” (Loeb, 3).

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