Alison Schuettinger
Alison Schuettinger
New York, US
I’m not sure if there was one ‘eureka’ moment but rather many moments compounded whereby my calling to work for Nature has been an organic naturally evolving relationship. I fell in love with nature at age 4 or 5 napping on Hearthaven beach at Martha’s Vineyard. Those memories of complete awe form the foundation of a deeply spiritual relationship for me with Nature. I studied human nature through psychology and somehow while completing my BA and Masters I created a position as a Sustainability Coordinator at The New School where I designed student-led programs to implement sustainability initiatives funded by the Green Fund. It just made sense and was built upon my engaged commitment to the university. I remember watching the Home Documentary my senior year of undergrad. I walked out with one very clear commitment, I devote my life to work for the Earth.
I work as a Sustainability Coach for the Greenpoint EcoSchools Program with the National Wildlife Federation in Brooklyn, NYC. The goal of the program is to transform 4 public schools in Greenpoint to Green Flag EcoSchools by applying the EcoSchools USA framework. As PS 31’s Sustainability Coach, I work with the students, teachers, admin and city agencies to embed sustainability into the curriculum, guide efficient infrastructural changes and create student based systems to ensure a happy, healthy and just school culture. Within a year we have increased the diversion rate of waste from the landfill by an average of 86%, decreased our electricity consumption by 12.6%, decreased our water consumption by an estimated 45% by retrofitting the toilets to low flow, increased our green space with expanded garden beds and vertical farming and improved our air quality with the use of non-toxic products.
A sustainable future is one of happiness, health, and justice, where all beings and the planet thrive and evolve peacefully in balance with natural conflict. The biggest obstacle, I think to overcome is listening to our own intuitive nature. When we are happy, healthy and understand the systemic development to injustices we create with each other and the planet, well then our choices, decisions, professions, relationships will much more likely reflect that of happiness, health, love, and justice. If Nature is our essential guide, we are reminded that change is incremental, intimate and begins locally. The biggest and most universally rewarding obstacle to overcome is being still with ourselves.