Oh, and P.S.: This is Inextricably Linked to Everything.

While I’m going to town getting hyper defensive about my intentions with SoS, I may as well explain the “why” that brought me here. There’s the obvious: I wanted something to do with my summer, I wanted to be busy, I wanted to learn, make connections. I could even slap on “ I care so deeply about this” for a more skeptical audience.

Honestly, however, I do want to say some things that, in my experience, have been overlooked by people who are not directly involved in this movement. There’s a face that goes charmingly words like sustainability or environmentalism. Think upper middle class, typically white, with an amount of disposable income that can be devoted to promoting “a good cause.” And this is where I’d like to make my point: this vague nature thing, glorified by hippies and politicians alike, is not a good cause, it is the good cause. Sound biased? Read on:

This is linked to EVERYTHING.

Something that frustrates me most about the image that goes with environmentalists is the assumption that we’re doing this for one specific reason. Allow me to refute that argument: I’m not here to save the polar bears. Or protect forests. All these things are important, certainly, but I’m not spending 30 hours a week on this because I love nature. While that may be true, it's irrelevant. I’m an advocate of going green because I believe that the unsustainable economy is linked to every single aspect of our lives. Our dependence on a single energy source is why wars are being fought worldwide. It's why people living in urban areas face dozens more health risks than those who don't. It's one of the reasons the poor are exploited. It’s why women, and minorities like American Muslims (like me), face discrimination.

Do I even need to mention the gulf of Mexico? Ok, so the water there does not look pretty after the BP oil spill. Tons of wildlife is being sacrificed, but I want to redirect the focus towards the people who are suffering. Businesses that will never recover. Families that will starve because they don't have a stable income. It terrifies me to think of what will happen when hurricane season comes around. Are we equipped to deal with another disaster, when the Katrina cleanup is still taking place?

Last Friday, Majora Carter, an environmental and social activist, came to the Twin Cities to speak at a forum titled "Green the Ghetto." She was emphasizing the role of low income, minority communities (like the one she grew up in) in sustainable practices. Honestly, I thought it was a pretty awesome idea because she's essentially trying to change the face of environmentalism so that it applies to more people. Majora talked about the South Bronx, her childhood neighborhood, an area that has felt the repercussions of the unsustainable economy more than others. She talked about how banks made the decision not to give out loans within a certain area covering the South Bronx. They just named that area a "no loan zone." Sounds like institutionalized racism to me. It made me nauseous. So instead of new businesses forming in this area, waste management facilities started to take over the neighborhood.

Majora went on to explain how fossil fuel emissions actually affect children's learning capabilities, crime rates, and jobs. And this kind of thing is happening in neighborhoods all over America. It brings me back to my main point. Environmentalism is not just for people who love nature. It's about stopping exploitation, oppression, discrimination. It's about lifting people out of poverty, which, as Majora stated, "knows no color." Until we rethink things, people will suffer because of a lack of global consciousness. So that's a (not so) short explanation of why I chose to be here.

What I learn this summer and what I do with that knowledge is going to have a global ripple effect, or at least I hope so.