Why?

When I was a baby, a stray dog gave birth to puppies right outside our apartment. One of them formed a strong bond with baby me. Over the next 13 years, Jespa and I doggedly protected, comforted, and supported each other. He raised me into a dog whisperer and an animal lover. The boy in me still wants all living things to feel that same kind of physical and emotional security. Unfortunately, this security has been stripped from so many species already. Over the last 50 years, wildlife populations have plummeted by 68% due to habitat loss and our unsustainable lifestyles. Reversing this change will take all of us. However, my own experiences have taught me that those who are struggling today, simply cannot afford to care about tomorrow. Modern society must first be able to satisfy everyone’s needs so that together, we can then ensure that this is achieved in a sustainable manner. I believe that this is the path forward and am unrelentingly motivated to realize it.

Since my childhood, my instinct has been to live sustainably, that is, to prioritize long-term efficiency and overall wellbeing. I prefer to buy experiences rather than possessions. For example, I have lived and backpacked around the world, which allows me to build cross-cultural solutions to global problems. These adventures were necessarily low-budget. I buy what I need, and it is mostly second-hand. Instead, my lifestyle stays balanced and fulfilled thanks to a variety of activities. Activities like dance, art, and music fuel my creativity, while activities like martial arts and sports strengthen my spirit. These activities energize me whereas activities like meditation, writing, and therapy bring me peace. Having grown up in a communal culture, I enjoy sharing and teaching. This mindset also motivates my love of teamwork, to the extent that my default approach to achieving an ambitious goal is to either join or form a team. This lifestyle forms the basis from which to continue exploring my interests – in nature, spirituality, cuisine, physics, philosophy, psychology, and every aspect of the human experience. In these explorations, my open minded curiosity allows me to generate creative solutions by drawing connections across different disciplines. Maintaining such a diverse and sustainable lifestyle feeds me with constant inspiration so that I can find the “f-u-n” in “fulfillment” while creating my vision of the future.

I envision living in a circular economy with equal opportunity where all forms of life thrive, and pollution is obsolete. To realize this vision, I am conducting research, building strategies, developing technologies, and engaging communities. My holistic approach is to grow systemic solutions from the individual to the global scale, which are facilitated by interconnected socio- economic, environmental, and technological innovations. By innovating ways to improve how we treat our planet and its inhabitants, I believe that both society and nature can support each other to flourish. Only then can we build a world in which every living thing feels the same security as a boy with his dog.

How?

Although most of us want to put our money where our values are, only a few of us actually manage to do it. We find it more difficult to choose an item (i.e., product or service) which matches both our needs and values, than to actually acquire it. On the other side, store owners who adopt sustainability practices also find it difficult to attract customers. These pain points show that both conscientious consumers and sustainable stores need a way to find and support each other. To solve this ‘green gap’, I had the idea for Stocate in 2016 and began building it in 2020. Stocate (i.e., store+locate) offers a crowdsourced, online platform (Android, Apple, and web) to help people buy sustainably.

So, we’re building a shopping assistant for conscientious consumers and a sales funnel for sustainable stores. We want to give both sides a sense of agency in supporting our mission to “harness the financial power of consumer purchases to fund the transition to a sustainable society”. This leads to the vision of equal opportunity in a circular economy.

To make it happen, I’m currently doing full-time post-doctoral research in sustainable consumption and supply chains. My position is a collaboration between Stocate, Mitacs, McGill University’s School of Urban Planning, Bioresource Engineering department, and the McGill Engine. In parallel, I’m writing a book, The way of Life, which empowers people to resonate with living sustainably. 

Let us show you how living sustainably can be easy, cheap, cool, and fun!