The only fight that you lose is that which you abandon

By Cassandra Mac

Not a day goes by where I don’t think of my summer study abroad in Brazil – either for the amazing people I came to know and love, the delicious food I tasted, the beautiful cities I explored, or just the adventure itself.

School has been in session for just over a month now and I have been able to tie in my Brazil experience to each one of my classes. In the Policy and Governance that I am a TA for, we were talking about Pope Francis’ recent visit to the United States and his concerns about capitalism, reminding me about our visits to the traditional communities of the Amazon Rainforest that do not live under a capitalist system. What a beautiful and inspiring lifestyle it was. At this point, not only did I feel a deep connection to the Pope, but also to all the students in my class.

My Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness course reminds me of our visit to Projeto Saúde and Alegria, or the Health and Happiness Project. This nonprofit works to develop programs in the areas of social and human rights, environment, health, education, and culture for traditional communities in the Amazon Rainforest. Although the community that we work with in Tempe is completely different, I learned how to talk to people about what makes them happy and sustainable, and this is what has stuck with me.

In my Sports and Sustainability course, we talk a lot about the costs and benefits of sports and the stadiums/arenas built. While the study abroad didn’t look at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in depth, we talked about the corruption and the effect of the games on the various cities. Because of my own personal interest, I visited the various stadiums whenever I could and asked Brazilians about them whenever I was able. I am honored to bring these experiences back to my class to tell people in the US what it was really like and not just what we hear through the internet.

My Brazil experience carries beyond the classroom to my everyday life as well. Once I returned home, I stopped eating red meat. My friends and family are curious as to why, so I tell them of one particular memory in the Amazon. On one side was the beautiful rainforest, healthy and full. This area was an extractive reserve – protected forest that is sustainably harvested. On the other side of the road, everything was completely cut down, either for cattle grazing or soy plantations. This is an image I will never be able to get out of my head: the enormous contradiction, literally directly across the street. Not eating red meat is such a small life change that can make an enormous difference. More importantly, when I tell others this story they rethink their own behaviors. If not cutting out red meat entirely like myself, my friends and family have at the very least reduced their red meat consumption.

Moreover, I become more and more familiar with the unsustainable behaviors in my own life. Last week, I was very sick. I came home one night from a long day of classes and work and the only thing I needed was a hot shower. I spent about five minutes just sitting under the hot water and it felt amazing. And then I had a flash back to São Paulo. We stayed in a hotel that had a constant supply of hot water – which is extremely rare in São Paulo right now because of the severe water crisis. Most people’s water is completely turned off at 4 pm, sometimes even earlier. It was a rainy and cold day in São Paulo, and by the time we got back to our hotel that night, I needed a hot shower. Needed. I sat there for about five minutes in the hot water just warming up until I realized what exactly I was doing, and then I felt even worse than before. Although Arizona is not in the crisis that São Paulo is, water isn’t all too common. Last week, I looked up at my shower head, and it had written on there: 1.5 gallons per minute. I did the math in my head – after 10 minutes, I just wasted 15 gallons because I needed that hot shower to make myself feel better.

Overall, since my return back from Brazil, I have just been questioning myself: “what do I really need?” As it turns out, not that much. And even though it’s been three months since I have been back, I still find the life lessons I learned in Brazil sneaking up on me in the weirdest of times. Life is full of contradictions, and no one can be perfectly sustainable. However, I do believe that if everyone just made a couple of changes, big or small, collectively we can make a huge difference. Even those of us who do extraordinary things in the name of sustainability, there are still ways we can do better. But I have also learned that it is a delicate balance – you can’t expect everyone, including yourself, to be perfect. You have to be okay with making some contradictions yourself, and that’s okay, as long as you try. And this is what powers me through the insanity and doom and gloom of the sustainability world we live in. My favorite quote from Brazil, once again, sums this up perfectly: “The only fight that you lose is that which you abandon.” At the end of the day, as long as we don’t give up this battle, I believe we will be alright.