Commencement 2017 speech

 

Finding your voice, and using it for good

Deborah Moore

June 17, 2017

Thank you so much Provost Lipschutz for that wonderful introduction and for inviting me to share this glorious celebration with all of you today.

Thank you to the Helen & Will Webster Foundation, and to Alec and Claudia Webster, for the incredible brilliance and generosity of the endowment and gift to name Rachel Carson College. Thank you to Mark Headley and Christina Pehl, for your generosity in establishing the Robert Headley Chair in Integral Ecology and Environmental Justice.

And most of all thank YOU, the graduates, for your inspiring commitment and leadership to make the world a better place by studying Environment and Society. What an honor it is for me to share in this celebration today with you, your friends, family, and professors at the very FIRST commencement of Rachel Carson College! Here’s to you, Class of 2017!

You are realizing the dreams and vision of a true American hero. And what an auspicious day – on June 16, 1962 – fifty-five years ago almost exactly – Rachel Carson published the first part of Silent Spring in The New Yorker magazine and just this week they re-printed it in full.

Honestly, I have been anxiously pondering for weeks what I would share with all of you today about what this moment means. What can I share with you – who are already smart leaders well on your way to bright futures?

I have spoken in front of large groups before at the United Nations, or testifying in the legislature. But that’s a different kind of speech. I’m not here to give you a lecture on environmental policy. I’m sure you’ve had some of those already these past four years.

What I CAN share is my personal journey to find my voice and use my voice as a scientist and advocate to make positive change in the world. I can share with you what I was thinking at this same moment in my life and five lessons I’ve learned along the way. Because it is in finding YOUR unique voice and using it – in not being silent - that will help you not only find your way in the world, but to leave it better than you found it.

I remember graduating from college – and wondering “what am I going to do now?” In fact – you may have realized by now that when adults ask you “what are you going to do after you graduate?” it’s because they’re looking for good ideas! In any case, I was nervous and scared – would I find a job that I love, would I find a partner to share my life with?

My college degree was in Physics and I thought I’d follow a conventional path to graduate school and a PhD in Biophysics. Along that path, I got an internship at Brookhaven National Labs in Long Island, NY, which turned into a full-time job. At the lab, I conducted research on proteins’ role in plant photosynthesis, trying to figure out how proteins in the cell carried energy from the sun to make carbohydrates and oxygen. Important stuff! Right?

In reality, I spent most of my days alone in a small, refrigerated room with no windows, grinding up spinach in a blender and filtering green goop through a gel to isolate proteins to study under a microscope. The proteins fell apart at room temperature – hence, the cold room. In that dark cold lab, I wondered if understanding how these proteins worked would help make a difference. It seemed so remote.  Would I help solve hunger or create alternative energy sources based on photosynthesis? I was NOT asking myself what experiment was needed next to understand these proteins or what scientific journal would publish my findings. I was asking “how do I get out of this darn cold room?!?!” It was at that point that a light went on and it dawned on me that what I really wanted was to apply my scientific aptitude directly to solving more immediate problems affecting people and our planet. So, off from my list of things to do came “Get a PhD in Physics.” Phew! I was relieved because it was equally valuable to learn what I did NOT want to do, as what I did. (There’s nothing wrong with lab science; it just wasn’t right for me.)

So, my first lesson about finding your voice is to say YES! By saying YES to the internship, I learned that laboratory science didn’t appeal to me, but applied science in the public interest did.

Rachel Carson also said yes! She said Yes to a job at the US Bureau of Fisheries to make money to help take care of her family after her father died. Although taking this job meant stopping her graduate studies, it opened an opportunity for her to write and ultimately popularize marine and fisheries science, which set her on a path to write her seminal books like Silent Spring that changed the world. Many people credit this book with sparking the modern environmental movement. By saying YES to that job, she gained a powerful voice, not just for herself, but for all of us.

When I stopped pursuing a PhD in Physics, my path forward was murky. But I was open to possibilities and I said YES to moving to Berkeley to be with my boyfriend, who was attending UC Berkeley Law School.  

Thanks to my Physics and math background, I got hired as a research assistant at Environmental Defense Fund to crunch numbers and develop a water model to show how water conservation efforts could help protect rivers, fish and wildlife. I didn’t know much about water, but as I spent more time ON rivers throughout the West, collecting and analyzing data for my models, I came to LOVE rivers and how water touches everything in our lives – drinking water, food, electricity, plants, animals, birds, even art and culture. I hope you love rivers too – like the San Lorenzo River right here in Santa Cruz that gives you fresh drinking water. Rivers are the lifeblood of our planet. But I got angry seeing the vast threats to these fragile water systems, and I vowed to protect these rivers I had come to love.

Ultimately, I got a master’s degree in hydrology and economics at UC Berkeley and worked at Environmental Defense Fund for 14 years saving rivers and bringing low-cost water solutions to poor communities around the world.

By saying YES to following my heart and moving to Berkeley, I serendipitously discovered my love for rivers and how to use good science to protect them and solve critical problems affecting millions of people. I became an environmental scientist and an advocate. Oh, and by the way, I married that boyfriend! And we settled in Berkeley and had a daughter.

By saying YES, you can create your own path, make ANY job a “green job” and use your talents and passion for environment and society no matter what you choose to do and where ever you are. So don’t think too narrowly about careers involving the environment and don’t be deterred by attacks on these issues. People everywhere want and need clean air and clean water and healthy, vibrant communities. Businesses and local governments want and need innovative people with your skills and ideas. No matter your role, you can bring in sustainability. Think about the graphic artist and the programmer who create a website or an app to reduce environmental impacts.  Think of the office manager who decides to buy recycled paper and LED lights for their company, or the neighbors who organize a creek clean-up. Think of the medical doctor who educates her patients about environmental toxins. Or community members who get a plastic-bag-ban on the ballot – and win! The voter who regularly calls her elected officials or the entrepreneurs driving down battery prices and making solar unstoppable. And yes, think of the scientist, who studies photosynthesis to understand if it can be used to generate renewable energy. YOU have the power to make positive change through any and all jobs, and any and all roles as citizens, community members, parents, voters, professionals, artists, or educators.  The sky’s the limit!

How lucky for you – that you have gotten to study here at Rachel Carson College - one of the earliest colleges to adopt a cross-disciplinary education that is preparing you well for these many roles. Clearly, you have already been learning to say YES through your service-learning internships, your classes, and your local activism: from Agroecology projects to restoration of peregrine falcons, from conserving energy and recycling right here on campus to the Homeless Garden Project, and more. Even your Graduation Pledge to consider the environment in your job choice. Don’t stop! Continue to say YES to opportunities to gain experience, to try things, to be curious, and to take risks. Whatever you do – please - lead a life of active engagement!

After saying YES, however, you also need to know the importance of saying NO. Not just for what you personally don’t want to do, but to stand up for what’s right.

So, my second lesson is to learn to say NO. I’ve learned to say NO and to say it with facts. I learned to stand up for what I believe in, to use science and evidence to support my stand, and to fiercely defend what I love. I had to say NO to destructive and misguided dam projects that threatened rivers. Working with communities, experts and activists, I used my role as a scientist to analyze the impacts of poorly-planned dams and help persuade the World Bank and private investors to say NO and stop funding ruinous dams and water diversion projects threatening indigenous people, from the Amazon River in Brazil to the mighty Mekong River in Asia. By saying NO to environmental degradation and human rights abuses, I helped protect critical ecosystems that provide life and livelihoods to millions of people that depend on healthy rivers.

Today I work at a national science advocacy organization called the Union of Concerned Scientists. People often ask, “Well, what are you concerned about?” These days, we are concerned about climate change, global security, renewable energy, and a sustainable water future. These days, I am Standing Up for Science and saying NO to “alternative facts” and to fear-mongering and intolerance.  I am saying NO to climate science denial.

Rachel Carson also said NO – to pesticides and toxic chemicals. She had to overcome sexism and poverty, and grapple with illness, along with a constant threat of potential litigation, to get her message out to the world.

We as a country and as a state have said NO to pollution and to bigotry. We have made progress – our rivers don’t light on fire, the bald eagle and peregrine falcons have been taken off the endangered species list, we have protected parks and marine sanctuaries, and we have protected workers’ rights, women’s rights and immigrants’ rights. And in California our global warming pollution is going down while our economy is going up!

But we still have work to do. And we need YOU to find your voice. What will YOU say NO to? What will YOU stand up for?

As local activist, KFOG radio personality, and Buddhist teacher Scoop Nisker says “If you don’t like the news go out and make some of your own.”

And so now that you know why it’s so important to use your voice to say YES and to say NO, how will you go out and make some of your own news? As poet Mary Oliver says, What will you do with your one precious life? Making change is hard. Righting wrongs is hard.

Rachel Carson recognized this. She said: “We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road - the one "less traveled by" - offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

I choose the road of action. And to making that road the one MORE traveled by. I hope all of you will join me. But there are a lot of naysayers out there. How can we get more people to join us? We need to demonstrate that a beautiful and sustainable reality is possible and desirable.

When my daughter Mariah started school in the year 2000, I was shocked that her school, in the “crunchy granola Bay Area” didn’t recycle, used diesel-spewing school buses, was an asphalt jungle with no garden, and had transfat in every food group. It felt hypocritical to be an environmental scientist “saving the world’s rivers” but ignoring what was happening at my own kid’s school.

When I started asking questions, so many people said “well, that’s not my job” or “getting kids outside doesn’t help math test scores” or “going solar – that’s going to be more expensive” – that’s not the purpose of school.  Those naysayers.

So, as a concerned Mom, I got to work: organizing parents, teachers, custodians, the principal and most importantly, students. I kept at it – showing people how getting kids outside DOES help children learn; that “going green” can SAVE money; and that sustainability and environmental literacy ARE part of our educational mission. I had to tell myself many times I CAN DO IT!  WE CAN DO IT! And we did!

We went solar, became zero waste, served food from the new garden, and more. Together we transformed that school and in the process we transformed the whole mindset of this school community.

I got so fired up that I left my job as a water scientist and started my own non-profit called the Green Schools Initiative, to help other schools do the same. I hope that as you were growing up, you got to experience a school with a garden or a salad bar, or a visit to a farm. Or maybe your school got solar panels? We succeeded in greening hundreds of schools and districts reaching hundreds of thousands of students, and both the US Dept of Education and the CA Dept of Education embraced green schools programs.

There’s a saying – supposedly a Chinese proverb – that goes: Those that say it can’t be done, should not interrupt those already doing it.

So, my third lesson is to use your voice and tell yourself I CAN DO IT! Choose the road of action! And prove those naysayers wrong.

I have two more lessons about finding your voice and using your voice. I know that I am the only thing standing between you and your diploma. So, here we go…

SAY THANK YOU!

You may be surprised about what a difference expressing appreciation and gratitude can make. Thank yourself for your hard work and a job well done. Thank your parents, family, and friends for supporting you and helping you make it to this glorious day. Thank your professors for sharing their experience and learning with you. When your Congressperson takes a vote you like, thank them! When you interview for a job, thank the person for taking the time to consider you. Write actual thank you notes on real paper, or better yet recycled paper. Thank the earth and nature for all the bounty and beauty we rely on every day. Thank the bus driver and the check-out person. Even thank people you disagree with for sharing their views and opening your mind to a different perspective. In fact, neuroscientists have proven that gratitude is key to a happy life and healthy communities – where people appreciate each other.

And finally, use your voice to SAY I LOVE YOU. Love yourself. Have confidence in yourself.  Love your parents, your friends, your dog or cat, love nature, and yes, love learning, love your job. When you give love, you get love.

Rachel Carson said: “Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” Love is a better motivator than fear. Love is infectious. Love is wondrous!

So, I’ve shared with you my path and five lessons about how I found my voice and used my voice to make a positive difference. Now we’re going to put these lessons into practice. We are going to use our voices together! So, my last lesson about using your voice is: DON’T BE SHY; DON’T BE SILENT. I’m asking you to join me and use your voice right here, right now. So, follow me…. Students, parents, friends, everyone.

Let’s shout it out together:

SAY YES!!!!! (motion and wave to the graduates and audience to shout out YES!) Say YES to trying things, to creating your own path, to using your talents and passion for environment and society no matter what you do or where you do it!

Now, stand up – c’mon – stand up! On your feet! And SAY NO! NO!!!! Say NO to hate, to fear, to intolerance. Stand up for what you believe in!

Say I CAN DO IT!!!  (Raise up arms and fists) You already ARE doing it – you are graduating! WE CAN DO IT!!! We can be the change we want to see in the world and together we can transform our society for sustainability, peace, and justice!

Say THANK YOU!!! Shout it out – so your parents, professors and friends can hear you!

And finally, what may be the hardest to shout out in public – say I LOVE YOU!!! Share your love with the world. Give the person next to you a hug, or at least a high five. And tell your parents, and family and friends that you love them! I don’t know you all, but I LOVE YOU! I LOVE that you committed to studying environment and society at Rachel Carson College and I love and trust and know that you will go out and make the world a better place.

THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2017!