Greetings, Future Me
Next semester, when you’re at Michigan, I hope you’ll read this and remember Hyderabad, Singapore, and even London.
I’m currently sitting in my tiny Singaporean rental room, reflecting on how odd it is that I’m here at all. Last September, I moved away from Hyderabad for the first time. London follows. This study abroad exchange is now ongoing. And the USA soon.
I went to the wet market this morning, as I do every morning here, to buy some vegetables. I’ve only eaten vegetarian food because I grew up eating it and because I know that plant-based diets can reduce carbon emissions from food by almost half. (I keep saying that to myself as I eat another variety of dal-chawal after reading it on a UN website.)
However, I am aware of the contradiction even as I do this. To get here, I flew a long distance. It wasn’t truly “sustainable.” I cannot make up the carbon footprint of a single round-trip flight from London to Singapore, even if I eat only plant-based food for the rest of my life. And I’ll be adding London-Detroit to the list in a few months.
For class, I take the MRT to Singapore Management University; I always use public transportation and mentally calculate the grams of CO2 saved, as if it were a moral scorecard. However, the lectures are where the real learning takes place. The sustainable tourism industry. AI for Social Change. Our class met with sustainability managers from Sentosa and Capitaland last week. I thought, “They’re not saints,” after listening to them discuss ESG tactics. They are entrepreneurs who aim to cause less harm and occasionally even good. I aspire to be that.
I wish to recall Hyderabad. While I worked in the laptop department at Vishal Peripherals, I persuaded employees to reduce aging inventory, switch to paper packaging, and stock refurbished models. Climate activism is not glamorous. Simple, frequently uninteresting business decisions that were more profitable and environmentally friendly. I learned that sustainability doesn’t have to be charity; it can be a strategy.
The heat is the first thing I notice when I return to India, which I did in June. It’s hotter than I recall. Every home’s air conditioner hums louder. It seems like a warning.
It’s quieter here in the evenings. My usual destination is Michigan. How to maximize the business and marketing courses offered there. How to find out what genuinely persuades a large corporation to reduce emissions without going bankrupt. I might open my own consulting business someday to assist Indian companies in profitably lowering their carbon footprints.
None of this is something I want to forget. The small daily decisions that seem so insufficient. Because even if my personal decisions are modest, I am aware that the true impact will be to assist other companies and individuals in making different decisions.
With hope (and a little remorse),
Bhuvit
