Sustainability &…Diversity & Inclusion
My husband’s family lives near Houston, so the day before Thanksgiving last year, he and I visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science with a couple other family members. Naturally, we explored the Morian Hall of Paleontology during our visit (because who doesn’t like dinosaur fossils?). A few sections into the Paleozoic Era, a display explained that the mass extinction that ended the Devonian period was caused by a sharp drop in biodiversity that crashed the ecosystem. I was in the final stages of planning this essay series at that time, so I chuckled quietly to myself at what a great metaphor this was for the importance of diversity and inclusion to systemic sustainability. The aptness of this metaphor was confirmed about a week later, when a friend commented on the link to my introductory post that “in biology, ‘sustainability’ is directly related to ‘biodiversity.’”
Diversity is crucial to sustainability, not just because the world would be boring without it, but because we actively need it in all aspects of life. Just as biodiversity sustains an ecosystem, human diversity sustains society — it intellectually nourishes us and helps us thrive. Our differences result in different lived experiences, which lead to different perspectives, and these different perspectives influence how we approach life and problems. It follows then, that increasing diversity in our lives increases our ability to solve the world’s problems, just like adding tools to your toolbox helps you repair your home.
But all the diversity in the world won’t help without good, inclusive practices, much like buying a new tool doesn’t help your home repair skills if you use it incorrectly. Poor inclusion drives away members of non-majority groups and reduces our potential for innovation by reducing perspectives and creativity. When people truly feel included, organizations see a “56% drop in turnover risk, and a 75% reduction in sick days.” Simply put, when people feel included, they do their best work and we ALL benefit from that. In my essay on maternity leave, I discussed how new mothers often feel as though they need to choose between work and family due to a lack of flexibility and resources in balancing their new priorities. This is only one example of how poor inclusion can lead to resignation and an unsatisfying conclusion to all involved.
But what do I mean by “good” inclusion practices? For starters, I do NOT mean big, open displays of “LOOK HOW INCLUSIVE WE ARE TOWARDS [insert ethnicity]” because calling attention to differences just betrays the view that the group being “celebrated” is actually the “other.” Think back to when you were the new kid at school (or maybe it was in a club or scouts) and how it felt to be referred to as “the new kid,” as well as how it felt when everyone stopped calling you “the new kid.” Even when people meant it positively, it didn’t feel very good, did it? Instead, good inclusion looks like using people’s correct pronouns, avoiding known allergens, organizing a potluck where everyone brings a family favorite, and not organizing that potluck on Yom Kippur or during the month of Ramadan. In short, the best way to include everyone is to make it clear that it’s natural for them to be there, not a special consideration.
Diversity is the natural order of the world. Inclusion is how we nurture our society for a sustainable tomorrow.
