Samantha Worden is the program manager at Sustain Dane, an environmental education nonprofit focused on holistic sustainability in Dane County. For almost two years, she has coordinated programs connecting community members with sustainability resources and each other. Her work across waste reduction, energy efficiency and affordable housing initiatives inspires action.
Worden is most interested in local food systems and circular economies, and she says the diversity of niches are what make the collaborative adoption of sustainable practices successful.
What do you think is the biggest challenge our community faces?
My mind goes to what we can have more of — more collaboration, more conversations and more engagement in and around sustainability. We like to talk about sustainability holistically. This includes a healthy environment, a just economy and equity and social well-being. We really believe that one can’t be done without the other. Sometimes it’s also referred to as the “triple bottom line” of people, planet, profit. I think now more than ever we need to get involved locally and be more engaged with sustainability. Folks can do that at various things throughout the community but they can also come join us at Sustain Dane to connect with others and take what they learn in our conversations and bring it back to their family and friends and at their workplace.
What do you wish people in our community understood better?
We often get the question “Does our individual actions make a difference?” We always want to emphasize, Yes — individual actions do make a difference. I always like to say we don’t need a community where a few people are doing sustainability perfectly, but rather, many people are trying to do it imperfectly.
Sustainability isn’t just about recycling, although recycling is an important piece of it. It’s about creating that overall healthy and connected community. When we invest in public transit and supporting our local food systems and reducing waste — or just individual actions of taking the bus and choosing local farmers markets and farmers to support — we are also improving our public health, strengthening our local economy and fostering that sense of community well-being and belonging. It’s very interconnected, and the individual actions that people have do matter.
What is one change you would make if you could that would make life better for people in
our community?
The one thing that came to mind for me was accelerating the sustainable actions and programs that we already have. There are so many things happening in Madison and in the surrounding area, just to be able to expand those benefits. So one example of that is Sustain Dane’s Efficiency Navigator Program. This program helps small- to medium-sized apartment buildings become more efficient through energy efficiency upgrades, thereby reducing energy bills and that cost burden for residents and the operating costs for owners. They can keep rents low, folks can stay in that housing and they don’t have to move more and adjust more based on their financial situation. This is just one example of a program that is happening in Dane County…so I think the change would just be to accelerate the benefit of all the programs that we already have just to reach a wider group of people.
What in our community gives you hope?
I think the conversations I have with folks in the community and at Sustain Dane programs give me hope. People care right now. People are seeking ways to support local initiatives that make a difference in our lives and everybody has their areas of expertise and knowledge. For instance, I’m really interested in circular economies and local food systems. I don’t have as much expertise in architecture or engineering or different energy sources. But everyone has their area of interest — in fashion, composting, electric vehicles, whatever it is — and we need folks in each of those areas. Whenever I meet someone that is super interested or has a lot of expertise in a certain area and they teach me about it, I’m learning more and then I can share it with others.
Collectively, we need folks to have their little niche that they are interested in and can bring sustainability into because we can’t do it all. Then you would be spread too thin. It gives me a lot of hope to see folks just having their little niches and incorporating sustainability into those conversations because that will help drive lasting change. At Sustain Dane we like to say change happens when inspired people take action. Seeing hope in the community really inspires me.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
