I am delighted to introduce myself as a candidate for Coordinator-Elect of SustainRT. The opportunity to connect my lifelong engagement with sustainability with an aspect of my present work in academic libraries is very appealing.
I have been thinking a lot lately about sustainability. In some ways I prefer to use the phrase, living responsibly—being responsible with our individual and collective stewardship and use of earth’s resources and being responsible with our interactions with one another. Living “responsibly” feels like it conveys a message that we each have a role to play, no matter how small or large.
Like many others, sustainable living–responsible living–was part of my childhood. Whether it was working in our organic garden (the only one in our neighborhood) or recycling the few things we could recycle back in the mid 70’s or line-drying all of our clothes (we had a dryer but didn’t use it), my parents were showing my siblings and me that there was a different way to be in the world. I didn’t like being different back then but those early lessons stayed with me and now serve me well as I embrace the search for ways to reduce my negative impact on this earth.
In spite of my efforts, I was recently shown during the Master Recycler class I completed that there is always more to learn and so many more ways to apply that knowledge than I, alone, understand. I welcome the challenge, particularly when it involves working with a group of committed and passionate library professionals who are also challenging themselves to do better. If elected as SustainRT Coordinator-elect, I offer the following to the effort to grow SustainRT as an organization and grow its impact on our profession: my experience (as President of ACRL’s Oregon chapter) with leading member-driven organizations, my experience starting new initiatives (a compostables collection program at Oregon State University’s Valley Library), and my willingness to continue learning to live more responsibly.
Uta Hussong-Christian
Oregon State University Libraries & Press
