At the end of the day, Sustain DuPage stands for an unwavering faith in the goodness of the human species and our ability to not only live in harmony with the rest of the ecosystem to which we belong, but to serve as the immune system for Planet Earth- enhancing the capacity of life here to thrive.

We are fascinated by and take delight in the awe of our Universe.

We believe in being *for* something, rather than *against* something.

We are a group dedicated to nonviolence and peacemaking.

We believe in building each other up, holding each other to our goals for self improvement and self acceptance.

We understand that by transforming ourselves we are transforming society and altering the course of history.

We know that no one person can liberate another person, but we can help each other to find the power that we already have.

By living our lives together and making small steps toward our visions for a better world every day, we will get there some day!

We are a community.

The Sustain DuPage community envisions a bioregion (and world!) where humans are living in balance with the rest of the ecosystem. We envision a world where our needs and the needs of the ecosystem are being met- not at a cost to each other- but rather in generative symbiosis! We envision a DuPage County where the actions of daily human life are actually creating more biodiversity, more biomass, more soil,  more water retention, and more renewable energy retention.

We will know we have attained our vision for bioregional sustainability when our regional economies can remain viable without ties to economies outside of our bioregion; when we are living within the energy, water, and nutrient limits of our bioregion; and when we have installed equitable social programs, reconciliation, and reparations for historical harms.

Why do we envision this new world?

Our community does this lovework to give a better world to the children of our community, and all the children who will live here for the rest of time. We do this lovework to honor what is good in ourselves and to honor what was good in our ancestors.

Why draw the boundary of our focus around the borders of DuPage County?

 Focusing on a single municipality felt too small, and focusing on the entire state felt too big. DuPage County has a million people, a sizable population! The boundary of our focus being DuPage County’s borders does not mean that our organization is calling for a mentality of isolationism (much the opposite!) By building up our bioregion/county, we can become better planetary citizens. As a humble grassroots organization, limiting our focus to our bioregion allows for us to be more empowered through a hyperfocus over what is actually under our control: our communities. This prevents us from getting spread too thin.

Sustain DuPage is a community of Organizers working toward the common aim of growing sustainability in DuPage County. Each of our mission projects has quantifiable goals for attaining our vision of bioregional culture shift.

Sustain DuPage removes barriers for passionate DuPagers who would like to take on a leadership role within the community by creating access to our Sustain DuPage infrastructure. Any Sustain DuPage Member who logs 50 hours of volunteering with us can apply to form their own project under the Sustain DuPage banner. If their application is approved by the Leadership Committee, the volunteer will be trained and instated as an official Organizer. We help the Organizer design a page on our website, train them on the use of social marketing, and assist them in organizing their first community action. Organizers may apply to the Organizers Committee for community funds to jumpstart and maintain their project.

Respect

We believe that the world we are building toward should be imbued into our every day processes. If we cannot achieve mutual respect in a group of six people, surely we will not be able to achieve inter-community, inter-state, nor inter-national respect. Honoring each other’s boundaries is critical for healthy community life.

Intersectionality

 We understand that ecosystem liberation exists at the intersection of all social justice causes, and all facets of society affect our ability to live sustainably. To that end, we commit ourselves to radical inclusion and intersectionality. We boldly and proudly celebrate people of any race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, religion, class, educational background, political affiliation, immigration status, belief structure, and physical or mental ability.

Active Listening

At times when people are coming to the same conversation from a different place, it can be difficult to truly hear where someone is coming from. We are committed to listening without a filter based upon our beliefs or values, opening our minds to the idea that each person has a completely different experience of reality.

Horizontal Organizing

 At Sustain DuPage, we don’t believe in a hierarchy shaped like a pyramid. We believe in a circular center that we are all trying to grow and uplift- within the circle is the commonly-shared vision that every human can agree to: working toward a Planet Earth at peace (without war), where all humans live with access to clean water, clean air, clean soil, education, mobility, medicine, shelter, and belonging. We resist any model imposed upon us that requires an inequitable power hierarchy. 

Appreciative Inquiry

We aim to expand projects that are successful, to maintain a focus on building resilient alternative communities rather than focusing on tearing down the entrenched status quo. Appreciative Inquiry is a practice of reorienting ourselves toward what we are for, rather than what we are against.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term that has many layers of meaning. One meaning is, “I am because we are” or “I need you in order to be myself.” It’s the understanding that each of us brings an important and unique worldview to our community, and that they are all valid. That each of us has value in our diversities. This term is helpful when community members have a different approach toward achieving the same goal, or when they have conflicting understandings of the world than we do. “Ubuntu” is a spiritual posture that helps us realize that our life experience is made richer by those who disagree with us- and that those who disagree with us are a potential source of learning for new ways we can understand the world.

Abundance Mentality

An abundance mentality, (in contrast to a scarcity mentality), is the understanding that we are empowered human beings who can manifest a world where all our needs (and the needs of the ecosystem) are met. It is the understanding that there can be plenty enough to go around. Abundance mentality challenges the enforced and self-perpetuating culture of competition in industrialist/capitalist/extractive cultures all around the planet and replaces it with cooperation and mutualism.