The Green Graduate series is a collective of interviews and conversations with environmentally-minded and eco-conscious NYU graduates. As these students move on to the workforce, graduate programs, and other opportunities, we are struck with how different the world seems today than it did a few months ago. Our hope with this series is to inspire, motivate and most importantly, honor the class of 2020. 

This is Chu Jia Sing. Like many graduating students, she’s finishing her senior year back home. For her, that’s Singapore. She moved to New York four years ago to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in economics and environmental studies – disciplines that couldn’t seem more relevant with everything going on in the world. I asked her if this pandemic has transformed how she’s thinking about sustainability and environmental justice? Her mind goes to the localization of supply chains, “Will we cut down on emissions, are we going to minimize the environmental harms we inflict on small indigenous communities?”

Before moving to New York, Chu worked at an urban agriculture farm in Singapore. Growing up in a city, she was disconnected from nature. But there, she was immersed in the physical environment, able to see the symbiotic relationship between people and place. If more people understood this parallel existence, we might have less apathy and more action. “People think about immediate convenience” said Chu, “that’s understandable. It’s hard to look past the here and now. But when it comes to thinking about education and environmental studies, what excites me most is how it connects to people – can we find creative solutions to solve food insecurity, uneven resource distribution, or the political realities of today?” 

My conversation with Chu always circled back to interdependence – how are we dependent on the environment, how are we dependent on each other? This is perhaps best articulated through an anecdote she shared about volunteering with We ACT for Environmental Justice. Founded in 1988 and based in Harlem, NY, We ACT is a non-profit organization seeking to address environmental racism, food insecurity, and the political neglect felt by black and brown communities. As a volunteer, she helped canvas the streets, asking the community to be a part of participatory budgeting. Participatory budgeting is a process by which ordinary people, like you and me, vote on how a public budget should be spent. “There were so many people who didn’t want to vote because they had lost faith in the government – this was a turning point for me. I realized that people won’t care without a certain level of trust.”

“People think about immediate convenience. That’s understandable. It’s hard to look past the here and now. But when it comes to thinking about education and environmental studies, what excites me most is how it connects to people – can we find creative solutions to solve food insecurity, uneven resource distribution, or the political realities of today?” 

Chu continued her research on food insecurity and environmental racism through her senior project, specifically looking at Soul Fire Farm. Soul Fire Farm is a BIPOC-centered community farm whose purpose is to “raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid,” training the next generation of farmer-activists. In regards to food sovereignty Chu says, “The project of food sovereignty is deeply interconnected. These organizations exist as networks of micro-resistance, contesting the corporate food regime by starting local. Soul Fire Farm shows us that cooperative economics and regenerative agriculture are viable. They actively build the conditions and relationships that are crucial for reimagining what our world can look like.”

“The project of food sovereignty is deeply interconnected. These organizations exist as networks of micro-resistance, contesting the corporate food regime by starting local. Soul Fire Farm shows us that cooperative economics and regenerative agriculture are viable. They actively build the conditions and relationships that are crucial for reimagining what our world can look like.”

I asked Chu to reflect on her time at NYU and identify what she thinks has been her most valuable tool. “Being with the right people,” she said, “having conversations with people of different perspectives, and finding professors and friends who changed my ideas.” Her advice to incoming freshmen? They should do the same. Find the right people, form deep connections, and allow them to shape you.