Shannon Sandberg
Sustainability, Equity, and Justice Fund Project Coordinator
Western student Shannon Sandberg is enrolled in the Woodring College of Education and serves the campus community as a Sustainability, Equity, & Justice Fund Program Coordinator. She offered thoughts on her intentions and experiences as a Sustainability Storyteller.
Shannon, what does sustainability mean to you? Who introduced you to sustainability, and how?
“Even though I was formally introduced to sustainability when I came to Western, I had grown up with an understanding that I have a responsibility to take action to make my community, self, and world as healthy as they can be. Even though my values and some of my actions reflected a sustainable mindset, it has taken me some time to claim that I care about sustainability. It can be daunting to want to claim this title if, like me, you aren’t in what is considered a typical sustainable field. It has been empowering to broaden my definition of sustainability and to think about it on multiple levels outside of how it is normally interpreted. Through my job in the Sustainability, Equity and Justice Fund grant program, I have been exposed to a multifaceted realm of sustainable work which has influenced my understanding of all that sustainability can be. Sustainability can be any action whose goal is to meet the needs of the present without hindering the ability to meet those needs in the future.”
How do you incorporate sustainability into your daily life? Has that changed in the past month?
“One of the biggest lessons that I’ve been trying to remind myself is that my productivity and my worth have nothing to do with each other. Before COVID-19, the days on my calendar seemed to be constantly overflowing. The story that I’ve been telling myself for a while is that I thrive when my schedule is packed. With this past month forcing everyone to reconfigure how we live, it has forced me to sit with this story that I’ve been insisting is true. Because I’ve been repeatedly praised for my productivity, I’ve made the connection that if I’m not productive I am also not good. I’ve had to pay attention to this hindering mindset I hold because my productivity looks completely different now. I’ve been attempting to put more effort into sustaining my emotional and mental health. For me, this has looked like being intentional about the quality of time I spend with my dear roommates, calling my parents more, and surrendering routines that used to bring me so much comfort. I’ve had to admit to myself that I can’t have the same expectations for myself that I had in the past. In order for me to even think about how I want to show up in the world and the choices I can make to protect others and the planet, I need to first take steps to meet my needs. I feel grateful to work and live with people who help me to remember to act on my priorities and be patient when they naturally shift.”
What will a more sustainable world look like to you?
“A more sustainable world looks like an equitable distribution of power. In my opinion, there are two parts for this process to unfold. First, institutions and capitalism should be held responsible for their role in reinforcing power structures that benefit the privileged. Only once responsibility is taken off the individual for the corruption of the planet and its people will healing begin to take place. I do believe that if power was either in different hands or more people were empowered for their ability to make positive change, our world would quickly be a more sustainable place. I believe we have the tools to make a sustainable world, it is just about giving people who have already been doing the work the power to make broad changes.”