Where is the empathy? Or, like The Black Eyed Peas would say, Where Is the Love?

For years, I’ve claimed that passion is what led me to pursue a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree and now a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, and that same passion is what kept me here — away from family, from the comfort of hearing my mother tongue every day and from the warm feeling of belongingness. But now I think, was it really passion or was it a deep sense of empathy?

My soul hurts when I hear news about chemical pollution affecting wildlife or Indigenous communities fighting for their land and their rights. You can ask my CEE 6590: “Partitioning and Transformation of Organic Contaminants in Environmental Systems” professor about the day he saw tears coming down my face as he introduced his “Solid-Water Partitioning” lecture with a story on microplastics in albatrosses. While my mom warned me not to become a veterinarian for this exact reason, I have to say, I’m sorry to break it to you, Mom, but I am in engineering and I am still crying.

Now, imagine how I feel on a regular weekday when the Rocksteady music I queued to subdue the perpetual Ithaca........

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