Jade Pearce, an environmental science and sustainability major at George Mason University, knows that being social goes beyond hanging out with classmates or socializing online. Through her studies, the three-time recipient of the Ethan S. Bain Environmental Health Foundation Scholarship looks at how factors in the natural environment, including pollution, waste management and food shortage, directly impact communities.
"I've always been interested in environmental issues and concerns. I had exposure to that in high school through outreach clubs and volunteering, but I wanted to expand on that and make it my career focus," said Pearce.
Last summer, during an internship in Brazil, she worked with a non-profit group assisting lower income recycle "pickers" in their fight for proper compensation. While the local Brazilian workers contribute to the country's sustainability, they are often underpaid or not paid at all.
"My major sustainability role in Brazil was to connect with the recycling collectors and to understand their story and document the social and economic issues they faced in terms of not being recognized as a professional group in their line of work."
This summer, the former Queen's College student is assisting her campus' dining hall with the distribution of surplus food to the surrounding community in Fairfax, Virginia.
"The level of community building and engaging ties into the sustainability perspective because it's creating a cyclical system for the food that's produced, consumed and then redistributed within the local sector."
Pearce hopes to engage in the same level of environmental social activism locally. Ten years from now, she sees herself playing a major role in the social push to change local consciousness as it relates to environmental sustainability, citing issues like the recurring fires at the city dump as a classic example of how environmental factors become social issues.
"I want to inspire Bahamians to rethink the approach to sustainability. There is a need for strong community building around sustainability issues where neighbors within a particular community get together and organize to affect change at a faster rate."
The college junior is continuing the dream of Ethan S. Bain, an environmentalist who was committed to sustainability and creating awareness on the local level. The foundation was started 10 years ago to honor his memory and to provide support to local organizations, students and professionals in the environmental field.
To date, the executive board of the foundation has awarded Pearce more than $5,000 in scholarship money. Beyond the obvious financial donations from the foundation, it's the support from the executive team that Pearce truly appreciates.
"In terms of what I value most, it would be the moral support of knowing that your fellow citizens back the dream of a brighter and more connected Bahamas."
Those sentiments sum up the exact dream of the man whose legacy Pearce carries on today through her education and scholarship opportunity. For more information on how you can contribute, visit the foundation's website at www.ebainenviro.org or find it on Facebook.

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