This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is on Clarisse Estebar.

From a young age, Clarisse Estebar has always felt strongly about environmental and social issues and spent her time volunteering to help her community. Clarisse explains that in high school she surpassed her 40 volunteer-hour requirements with over 1,500 hours completed. “You can submit it all, but the computer stops inputting the data,” Clarisse added with a chuckle. 

Currently, Clarisse is the Finance and Program Officer at the International Development Institute, part of Humber’s International Centre. In her role, Clarisse supports and manages the customized training portfolio, which includes writing proposals and creating relationships with potential partners for international development programs and experiential learning opportunities for students. Clarisse is also in charge of community engagement and events between the local community and Humber.

Sustainability has always been important to Clarisse, as she explains, “it's something that you become aware of depending on the environment that you grew up in. But I think it's important to me because being aware of what's at stake makes it real.” She believes a lot of people in North America don’t understand the impact of climate change because they don’t see the impacts on their front door. “I think recently with all the wildfires, [climate change] has become more apparent and real to people,” said Clarisse.

As a child growing up in the Philippines, Clarisse experienced climate refugees and poverty firsthand, “I've always been conscious that everything we do impacts [others] elsewhere. If people don’t see the impact firsthand, it’s hard for them to make the connection,” she said. Clarisse credits that sustainability is important in everything she does. “Frankly,” she said, “I just want to live beyond tomorrow.”

To read Clarisse’s full feature story and learn more about the International Development Institute’s commitment to sustainability, click here.