Sustainability Demands Growth That Protects People And Planet with JaQuerra Washington (Japan, USA)

Microplastics in our water, plastics in our food chain, and “development” that drains other countries of the resources they need. That’s not just an environmental problem, it’s a life problem. We sit down with Lady Jacquera Washington, an international business economics student at Temple University, to talk about what sustainability looks like when you stop treating it like a trend and start treating it like a daily practice.

We break sustainability into its three real pillars: environmental, economic, and social. From the frightening reach of microplastics to the way plastic waste can be shipped overseas and burned for fuel, we follow the chain from a simple purchase to global health consequences. Along the way, we talk about practical behaviour shifts that reduce waste, and why mindful consumption is also a form of care for people you may never meet.

Then we widen the lens to sustainable economic development, resource allocation, and the human cost hidden inside supply chains, including modern-day slavery and dangerous extraction. We also explore innovation in a different way, learning from indigenous practices that prioritise long-term stewardship. Finally, we name the emotional reality many young adults carry: pressure, uncertainty, job insecurity, and the feeling that the future is arriving too fast. We also hold space for hope, community, and young people taking the lead rather than waiting.

If you care about sustainability, social justice, ESG, public health, or building a fairer economy, listen through and share your biggest takeaway. Subscribe, leave a review, and send this to one person who wants a future that actually lasts.

Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King

Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....

Transcript

Dr Ariel R King 0:13

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Business of Life with Dr. King. Today we have a very special guest, Lady Jacquera Washington. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. Could you please tell our audience a bit about yourself?

Jaquerra Washington 0:32

An international business economics major at Temple University. I'm from North Carolina, but I moved around my whole life. So I was born abroad in Okinawa, Japan, since my dad was in the military. So I have some international background, but I've mostly lived

Welcome And Guest Background

Jaquerra Washington 0:50

in the United States.

Dr Ariel R King 0:52

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And uh, would you tell our audience what topic we're going to be speaking about today?

Jaquerra Washington 0:59

So today I wanted to talk about sustainability, specifically with economic development and how these two interact and why they're so important for each other.

Dr Ariel R King 1:10

Wonderful. I mean, most people have heard about quote-unquote sustainability and uh economic, well, economic development. So why don't you tell us more about it and why is it of interest to you? And tell us after that, why should we be interested?

Jaquerra Washington 1:26

So, sustainability, like most people think it's just about the environment, which is a huge aspect of it, but there's three sectors

Sustainability Beyond The Environment

Jaquerra Washington 1:36

to sustainability. So you have economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Economic sustainability is basically a balance between economic growth and using the resources we have responsibly and in a sustainable manner. I'm interested in sustainability as a whole, since I'm a business student, and a lot of times businesses can be unsustainable. And it's been talked about a lot in the news and in different case studies. It's sustainability is very important since, again, we have limited resources and we need to utilize them in a way that would not only benefit us today, but benefit generations to come. And so I think that's why everybody should be so focused on sustainability and ensuring that they utilize it throughout their entire life and not wait until the last second. So yeah.

Dr Ariel R King 2:36

I think that's so important. I mean, such a I mean, that that's so important, isn't it? And I'm realizing as you're talking, I'm thinking to myself, well, what does it look like in my life? I'm looking at farmers. I mean, people that even plant crops know that there are certain crops that you plant after others and you let the soil rest. And farmers that use their land do so in a sustainable way. So as a young person, tell me more about what you're thinking about sustainability and development and how you see that affecting the world.

Jaquerra Washington 3:08

Um, so for me personally, within the US, there's kind of well, there has been a pushback against sustainability and sustainable development, which is unfortunate. And a lot of people in my generation have gotten the like the worst end of ignoring sustainability with different um sicknesses that are becoming more prominent and plastic being in almost everything. Additionally, with bad air quality or not having enough resources to go around or to last beyond our generation. So thinking well thinking about sustainability from my perspective, it's kind of a we have no choice but to be sustainable. We're in more of a dangerous situation than we have been in the past, and it's just continuing to get worse. And so looking at sustainability and business, since a lot of businesses are the ones who have become the most unsustainable, especially in the United States, and it's affected people on a global level, not just a national level. I think it's just become more and more important to me, especially as I continue to learn about the CSH and I think that's a very good point.

Dr Ariel R King 4:33

As someone that's been to over 80 countries, I think what you're saying is so important. And believe it or not, it happens in all countries or many countries. But what's most important to me is, you know, as a young person, I hear you saying that it really affects you and it affects young people like yourself, and it literally affects your life. Can you tell us more about how it affects your daily life? I know you're talking about plastics, but I think that people that remember that this podcast is all over the world, people that don't know about plastics don't understand where these plastics might be and why it might affect your health. So can you tell us more about how this is affecting you, you know, the generation that you that that you know and you know that are your friends and your colleagues and and your family and how it really is affecting your life?

Jaquerra Washington 5:23

Well, so with the plastic situation, there's microplastics, which are very, very small pieces of plastic. So let's

Microplastics And Health Risks

Jaquerra Washington 5:34

say you have like a plastic bag, when you dispose of that, you have the microplastics from that plastic bag. And microplastics have been found all over the world. They've been found at the highest mountain, and there's also it's been studied that there's also potentially like a plastic spoon-sized amount of microplastics within us already, and it's in our water, it's in our soil. So, again, that affects our health because microplastics are very hard to decompose, like they don't go away very easily, and so that causes health issues down the road. We I don't think there's like concrete evidence of like how bad it can be, but it does affect our health negatively, and we already have that, and I'm only 22, so I think that's very scary, especially for my family members who are very little and how they already have a lot of microplastics within them, and they're like three or four, so it's very concerned.

Dr Ariel R King 6:42

I I think that's such a good point. I mean, there was a time my generation, which is a long, long time ago, we were talking about asbestos, which is something that's used in order to insulate within houses, and we didn't know how toxic it was, or for example, paint had lead in it, and the chemical lead we thought really would make a difference, but actually we could see that it affects health. So we have asbestos and and lead, and I can see that now that microplastics is is an issue. And for you as a as a 20-something year old, you know, you're in your 20s, how else has a sustainability and development affected you and your life personally or and and those around you? How have you seen it affect those around you?

Jaquerra Washington 7:31

I think from my perspective, sustainability has caused me to think more broad. Just throughout the day, I can think about what I'm gonna eat today or um what I'm gonna do, how much I have to study. But learning more about sustainability, especially on an international level, has caused me to be more mindful of the decisions I make. One aspect of this is again back to like plastic packaging from snacks. The US sends tons of plastic waste

Personal Choices With Global Impact

Jaquerra Washington 8:08

to different countries in Asia, one of them being Indonesia. And the certain people in certain communities use the plastic waste as fuel to light their fires so when they're making tofu, they can cook it well, but it's creating like a film of toxins on top of the tofu that they're consuming daily. So sustainability not only affects my health, but it makes me think about the health of others that I'm most likely never gonna see on a daily basis. And so that forces me to be more mindful of the decisions I make. So instead of going out and buying snacks, maybe I'll just cook at home or I'll have apple slices ready or whatever the case may be, have a reusable water bottle or make tea at home just to ensure that my waste is decreased significantly throughout the day and throughout the week, so that I can be more mindful of the health and well-being of those around the world that again, I'm probably never gonna see.

Dr Ariel R King 9:14

That's amazing. That I really love the fact that you've taken it on as something personal, you know. And I I think that young people are leading the way when it comes to this, not just for health, but also for economics and for environment and so on and so forth. Plastics is an issue. And I know that there are even universities that don't allow plastic straws, they don't allow plastic at all. And now we have these straws that are made from. I remember I went to Singapore and I went to Sunway University and they had a package of sustainability. It had a fork, a knife, a straw, long straw, a bended straw made out of some kind of steel, and something to clean it with, and a little package, and it actually says sustainability package. I thought it was very cute. But I'm saying to myself, oh my goodness, young people are amazing. Actually, young people in a particular course came up with that and then they sold it in the bookstore. But that came from young people. So the fact that you're saying that every day you're looking at what you can do and how you're going to change your behavior and what you do for sustainability. I think that's amazing. That's just amazing. Let's talk a little bit more about development. Now, what interest do you have in development and what why is it important to you?

Jaquerra Washington 10:33

Um, I'm interested in economics in general. I like the I guess the psychology behind it, but I know with economic development that also connects to resources. And with sustainability, you're trying to utilize resources in a way that will ensure that there's resources left over. So just using the resources that you need in the moment and

Economic Development And Fair Resource Use

Jaquerra Washington 11:02

allowing other resources to basically live on afterwards. And so for certain countries, again, with the with US companies or European companies, whatever the case may be, or um more developed countries in general, we use a lot of resources, not only from our country, but from other countries. And obviously that's not entirely sustainable as we're stripping resources from a country that needs it for themselves. And so that's why I'm interested in economic development and sustainability, as they both need to go hand in hand for every country to develop economically or develop in a healthy way.

Dr Ariel R King 11:45

I I think that that's that's quite important. I think that that makes a difference. Do you see that young people like yourself are finding that that this is in this is of interest, sustainability and development? People that you know, I mean, also young people, even though you're in America and you go to school in America, I'm sure you're connected internationally because young people are usually connected to each other internationally in a way that I've never been. So are you finding that some of the colleagues that you have in various anywhere are looking at sustainability and development and it's something that's important to them?

Jaquerra Washington 12:20

I believe so. I I think even with students pushing for sustainability classes to be part of the curriculum or added to our curriculum in general, I think that shows that we have a strong interest in sustainability. And I think that's backed by the fact that we know we have like no other choice but to be sustainable at this point. So I definitely believe that it's it's something we're passionate about and we know it's needed, again, not just for us, but for generations after us.

Dr Ariel R King 12:55

I really love that. Mary asked, what kind of innovation do you think that we're going to need now and in the future for sustainability? And I'm just asking to, you know, go out there on the limb and tell me what do you think that you think that we need in the future that perhaps we don't have now or is not as developed as it could be, that we can use in the future to help all of us all over the world with sustainability.

Jaquerra Washington 13:24

Specific innovation, I'm not entirely sure, but I think going back to some of the processes

Indigenous Knowledge And Future Innovation

Jaquerra Washington 13:32

and I guess processes that people have done in the past, like indigenous groups, I feel they have a strong understanding of how to work well with the environment and with the resources they have. And I think it's very smart when people go to indigenous groups and ask them to basically for help on how to be sustainable or how to reuse certain things. So I don't necessarily know specific innovation things that we can come up with later, but I think the processes that have already worked well in the past, if that's used as the foundation, I believe we can be successful in the future.

Dr Ariel R King 14:13

And uh so that's such a wise thing to say. Do you know that? That's amazingly wise because what you've just showed me and what you've just taught me is that it's important to go back to what we knew before, before all the technology, before all the quote unquote advancements, and to see what we can use now in order to live in the future. What a what an amazing connection. So wow, that that's really that's really interesting. I love the way also that you talk about. May I ask, do you do you have any of these kind of conversations, even if it's you know, small texture in other ways, not exactly this way, but with with people your own age, do you do you do you talk with people your age about this idea of sustainability and you know issues with food or with health or with the environment or not just business, but just with the way that you're living?

Jaquerra Washington 15:10

Yes, I do. I'm and I know a lot of people who are really into social justice. So this is a topic that comes up. And even within my classes or my roommate is very into recycling and how it could be beneficial, but also detrimental since not everything can be recycled or majority of things aren't recycled well. So these are conversations that happen throughout my daily life, and they're very important conversations. I love talking about it, especially when it comes to social justice. I think that's very important too.

Dr Ariel R King 15:47

I think you make a good point. You know, I really didn't think about that, that when you're talking about sustainability and development, there's there's underlining all of that, or the foundation of that is justice, social justice, justice for the people, for the people. And could you tell our audience a little bit about the connection? I know as a young person that you know a lot about this and you talk about this. I mean, it's it's part of your life, but we older people sometimes don't know about that. So can you tell us a little bit about social justice and and how it's important or how it's linked to sustainability and development?

Jaquerra Washington 16:23

Of course. So this is also this is one of the third sectors of sustainability, the social sustainability, which it addresses like issues with social equity, healthcare, quality of life, etc. So when we aren't being sustainable, then we push for things like modern-day slavery when it comes to, again, the resources, just extracting as many resources as we can, but forcing people to basically extract those resources and leaving them to die, basically. There's been so many deaths

Social Justice, Labour, And Equity

Jaquerra Washington 17:01

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of the extraction of resources that we utilize in our day-to-day lives. And so even when it comes to homelessness that I see a lot in Philadelphia, I feel like that also goes with sustainability, as we're neglecting the social equity and health care of individuals within the city. And so that's basically how social justice and sustainability connect. It forces you to basically look at how your actions affect those around you. And I guess how to how to be more equitable in general, if that makes sense.

Dr Ariel R King 17:47

You know, it does. I'm I'm thinking about what you're saying about now they call it unhoused, unhoused homeless or people that don't have homes, and you're talking about social justice. And it occurs to me that part of the issues, even though we're talking about sustainability and development, is the issues around health, especially mental health. Mental health is more than just those that have very serious mental health conditions, but also those that have addictions, those that have phobias and all other types of things, and as a result, find themselves quote unquote unhoused. So sustainability would be having most of these people housed, right? These people in houses. Would that be correct?

Jaquerra Washington 18:32

So it's basically we have a lot of resources, but we're just not using them in the right manner. A lot of resources are going to those who have a lot of money for the resources and neglecting those who might not have the money or the ability to obtain these resources, and that goes to a government level. And the government has to ensure that these resources are allocated in a way that ensures everybody has everything that they need. I think that's the main issue. So, yes, it does connect to the fact that if we did utilize our resources well, then the people who are unhoused or homeless, they would have a place to stay, or they would have the mental health help that they need because we do have the resources anyways. So it's not like they don't exist. It's just we're not utilizing them in a way to benefit everyone.

Dr Ariel R King 19:33

I think that's a very good point. And and talking about that, I mean, just in general, all over the world, one of the issues with sustainability development and social justice is issues with, I don't know what you call it, but drugs, either prescription drugs or non-prescription drugs. And there seems to be a lot of issues now with people trying various types of drugs, which actually lead to all types of issues, including being unhoused. And of course, it's not sustainable. Most of that is not sustainable. Can I ask? I mean, not that you would know anybody, but from what you see in your generation, is this

Drugs, Homelessness, And Public Systems

Dr Ariel R King 20:10

an issue? Is this an issue drugs? And if so, how do you think we can address it?

Jaquerra Washington 20:17

Yes, drugs is a huge issue. I don't know to what extent of my generation, but I know in Philadelphia I see it very often. You can walk around and see people slumped over, or you see people who pass out on the street randomly. It's very sad. And again, I don't know how they started to try the drugs or how they got on there in the first place, or how they're still accessing these drugs. But I think that's also a regulation or again, government issue.

Dr Ariel R King 20:58

But can I ask, pardon me for interrupting? I mean, some of these things government could do, but don't people have families? When we talk about sustainability and development and we talk about social justice, shouldn't that be linked to family in one way or another rather than an unknown person with an unknown name? In I think America has 360 million people responsible. And I know we just mentioned one or two places, but the truth is this is happening all over the world. But that's what I was asking about young people, because I know that this type of thing is is happening. The only other question I want to ask you about is, you know, one of the things that's happening to young people that's really important is sometimes this idea of helplessness and feeling depressed and not knowing that they have a future because everything seems so, you know, like we have to get this done. You know, if if we don't, if we're not sustainable, we're not going to be able to live. You know, we don't have a future. Do you see any of that within your colleagues or your classmates or people? That you know that are your age, that they have this sense of I won't say doom, but uh we have to do something, and how are we gonna do something?

Jaquerra Washington 22:09

Um

Youth Anxiety And New Paths To Work

Jaquerra Washington 22:10

I do see it sometimes, not only with just sustainability, but with other things taking place. I guess lack of job security is one that a lot of people are stressed about. Being told that education will secure you like this great future, and then you're graduating and the job market is crazy right now. So there has been a sense of helplessness, but I think where there's benefit, which a lot of people are turning to social media, creating our own jobs for ourselves or working with each other to create jobs for each other. So, yes, there is helplessness, but I think there's also a sense of hope as well, knowing that we don't have to be stuck with like the traditional way of how things have been because we have another outlet to create something new.

Dr Ariel R King 23:13

So that's amazing. You young people are amazing. There's something amazing, there's something to that that's so important. And I love what you said is the fact that you don't you don't have to, what was before or what was past or what is now doesn't have to be for the future. The fact that social media is a way that you engage with other young people all over the world, you decide what you can build and you build it together, not waiting for government, not waiting for parents, not waiting for people to say it's okay. Basically, young people are taking the lead. I think this. Can you tell us any more about why young people should take the lead? Why is it important that young people take the lead?

Jaquerra Washington 23:54

I think, well, from what I've learned, I feel like in every generation there's been a group of young people who have always decided that the way things are going right now is not benefiting us anymore. So we need to change something in order to survive and be successful. And with something new coming out every year, I feel like it's very important that we do take the lead on things, certain things, so we can

Why Young People Take The Lead

Jaquerra Washington 24:23

ensure that we can grow as a community and we can grow in our careers. I've waiting to see if something will happen, I don't think has ever benefited anyone. So it's very important to get a head start or even looking at the resources you have now and saying, what can I do with these in order to benefit not only myself but the people around me. So I think that's why it's important because again, it's going to change anyways. So taking the lead now can help you get ahead of the game and establish something that may have never been established before that could benefit you in the long run.

Dr Ariel R King 25:06

Thank you. I really, I really love that. That is so telling. And believe it or not, the time has gone by so quickly. We have less than one minute. So, what would you like to tell young people? What would you like to say to encourage young people about how to go into the future?

Jaquerra Washington 25:25

I would say though it could be stressful, still having a sense of hope is very, very important. You may feel helpless at times, but believing that there can be a better future, especially since you're not alone, is very important to remember as you go through life and knowing that it will be okay at the end of the day, even if it's just blowing

Final Hope And Closing Quote

Jaquerra Washington 25:49

now.

Dr Ariel R King 25:50

So thank you. I really want to thank you. What an incredible conversation, and I've learned so much. So thank you so much for joining us. And to our audience, remember if I'm not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when? That's by the philosopher Hillel. And I've added, if not me, then who? Thank you so much for joining us.