Turner Campbell and Zach Haring
Students and Partners in Sustainability
Western student Turner Campbell and his partner Zach Haring took some time to reflect together about what it means to live sustainably.
Turner and Zach, what drives you to engage in sustainability work?
“Need. The world has a lot of challenges that need to be addressed, and so there are many opportunities to do good. We are driven to do what we can to address these needs and place our good where it can do the most.”
So, what does sustainability mean to the two of you? Who introduced you to sustainability, and how?
“Sustainability is love made real. It is the connection of life to our planet; our endurance and proliferation in a system defined by entropy. We were first introduced to it by our family, who taught us how to love one another. We re-learn it every time we make a new friend or care for someone in our community, when we embrace fresh air or smile at the sun. We teach it to each other when we ask how the other’s day went and when we try a new recipe together. We’ve come to understand that sustainability is a universal empathy, and that everyone deserves a slice.”
How do you incorporate sustainability into your daily life? Has that changed in the past month?
“We practice sustainability by following the cause and effect of our decisions. Each decision is a value statement on our priorities; do we want to support a local organic farmer, or do we need to cut costs so we can afford our essentials? In the past month, these values have been refocused, shifted to prioritize survival and the people we care about. There isn’t enough time in the world for us to care about every little detail, and this current global health crisis has helped us identify where our efforts are most important – at home.”
Finally, what will a more sustainable world look like to you?
“A more sustainable world is one that is based in empathy. By loving each other, our planet, and ourselves more fully, we can begin to create more tools to defy the apathy of entropy and make lasting change for our world.”