I currently work at PCC Community Markets as a Product Sustainability Specialist. PCC Markets is the nation’s largest food cooperative located in Seattle, Washington. We have high standards for our products, actively support our communities, and engage on important policy issues at the local, state, and federal level. My role as PCC is to work with our merchandising team to review and develop our strong product standards. I’m also a contributing writer to our monthly newsletter, the Sound Consumer, and I take on a number of other department work to keep us running smoothly.
Before coming to PCC, I earned my Master of Arts in Social Sciences from Humboldt State University’s Environment & Community Program. My master’s thesis illuminates some of the consequences of this neoliberal system, as we see exemplified in the current breast cancer awareness culture. I examine breast cancer awareness campaigns within a framework of neoliberalism, which emphasizes individualism and consumption. I argue that by reinforcing the dominant discourse around breast cancer awareness, which emphasizes pink ribbon products to raise money, early detection through mammography, searching for a cure, and individual risk and responsibility, these campaigns dismiss and deflect discussion about environmental causes of cancer.
I am passionate about climate change and social justice in relation to public health concerns. I belief strongly that many environmental and human health issues are rooted in exposure to toxic chemicals and pollution caused by fossil fuels. I have an interdisciplinary and whole-systems mindset that shapes how I understand the world and the many problems we are dealing with today. My desire to change the world for the better, in even a small way, drives my work and my personal interests.
I believe that in order to improve human well-being and the planet, we must move away from our current model of neoliberal capitalism, which has produced immense social and economic inequities, environmental degradation, and normalized hyper-consumerism and commodification. A strikingly applicable quote for our current market-driven system comes from the political economist and philosopher Karl Polanyi, who stated that unregulated free enterprise results in:
The fullness of freedom for those whose income, leisure and security need no enhancing, and a mere pittance of liberty for the people, who may in vain attempt to make use of their democratic rights to gain shelter from the owners of property.
To address climate issues, we must also address socioeconomic, gender, and racial inequalities produced by a system that prioritizes industry and business over human welfare and environmental protections.