In 2026, I’m 23. In 2062, the year in which the cartoon The Jetsons is set, I’ll be 59, roughly the age of many of today’s executives and political leaders. I often wonder what the next four decades will bring, and what the world will look like once my generation holds the reins. Many remember the Jetsons’ society as a utopia, but consider what it leaves out: the family lives and works in skyscrapers above the smog, removed from trees, rivers, and the earth itself. Unless we are prepared to accept that future, we have work to do. The good news? Plenty of people are eager to roll up their sleeves.
Long before I started my first degree at Colorado State University (CSU), I knew I wanted to study sustainability. There’s no better way to spend a career, I thought, than giving back to the planet that raised me. More than five years later, that conviction hasn’t wavered. However, governments and corporations seem inconsistent in their commitment to sustainability targets, and more than once during college I felt deflated, wondering whether the public and private sectors would match my dedication to protecting the natural world. Many of my peers felt the same way. Even for those of us who are excited about the work, it’s hard to find an organization that treats both its employees and the environment well.
My senior capstone professors regularly invited industry professionals to class, offering real-life examples of rewarding careers in sustainability. Each guest lecture showed us a different path, but none left a deeper impression than Sebastian Africano’s visit. He sat down with all 40 of us, answered our questions, and talked candidly about the state of the world and the work of Trees, Water and People (TWP). I was drawn to their community-oriented approach and saw a seat with my name on it in this field. Before the discussion ended, I was already searching their website for job openings. I found none.
Later on, a classmate suggested I email Sebastian. “Just to make sure,” he said. So I did. Within a day, I had a reply: TWP preferred to get to know people in person, and would I like to come by the office the following week? That straightforwardness, I would learn, is typical of the people there, but at the time I was surprised by how quickly they invited me in. Mostly, though, I was elated.
When I arrived at the Fort Collins office, I met almost everyone within minutes. I immediately felt at home in the colorful, dog-inhabited space I would come to know so well. After a few more meetings, I found Hope—the feeling, yes, but more importantly, the person. Hope Radford was just getting started on a project funded by the Ford Foundation that aims to identify, enable, and connect alternative economic models, all with environmental co-benefits, across Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. As a sustainability major with a sociology minor, I couldn’t have asked for a better fit, and together we shaped an internship around it: over the next year, I would help her build a map of these models, sharpening my data analysis, communication, and visualization skills along the way.
In the succeeding months, I learned everything from complex Excel functions to building geographic information systems (GIS) to communicating across cultures and languages. We partnered with CSU, regional consultants around Latin America, and people developing or running alternative economic models of their own. TWP trusted me with real responsibility and put me in the room with partners from across the project, and I went from hoping I could make a career of this work to seeing that I already was. With the backing of every department, the flexibility I was granted, and the sense of purpose it gave me, I had never felt so well supported in a professional role.
By the end of my internship, the map was complete. Hope and I presented it to an audience of community leaders and partners, many of whom had shared their own alternative economic models for the project. Presenting it to the people behind the data was like watching dots on a map turn back into people. They inspired not only me but one another, and it was one of the first times I could see the tangible impact of my work. It’s exactly what I’ve dreamed of doing since before I started college.
Now, TWP needs another map on a shorter timeline, and I can put the GIS and data skills I built during my internship to work for them in a new position. They gave me the tools, and now I get to use them in return—a true symbiosis. If more organizations motivated, trained, and empowered young professionals to protect the environment the way this one does, I’m optimistic that, in 2062, the only things our society will have in common with The Jetsons are the fun parts. I’ll pass on the flying cars, but I could sure use an instant sleep machine.
