WashU Intellectual Interest Essay Anonymous

Growing up in a Taiwanese household, my whole life revolved around the term “buyaolangfei”, or don’t be wasteful. Everything from empty egg cartons to used sauce jars are all to be used with gratitude and never wasted. In fact, we have a Chinese proverb, “yinshuisiyuan”, that translates to “when one drinks water, one must not forget where it originates from”— something my family lives by. In fact, our life-long devotion to sustainability was what truly sparked my intellectual interest and inspired me to pursue a program in the business field at Washington University in St. Louis.

Simply put, sustainability is a business approach to creating long-term value by taking into consideration how a given organization operates in the ecological, social and economic environment. Sustainability is built on the assumption that developing such strategies foster company longevity. I discovered that living extravagantly doesn’t require using lavish products that ultimately result in being thrown into oceans or sea animals digestive tracts. The pursuit of sustainability goes hand-in-hand with seeking a healthier and more rewarding lifestyle.

Since this past year, I’ve found many alternative methods to achieve that. I often find myself picking...