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.
***
“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).
***
