For the past seven months Sarah and her family have been experiencing life in her home town of Shepparton.
Speaking to community groups in the Goulburn Valley since COVID-19 restrictions eased, Sarah saw the contrasting view of different demographics at two keynote speeches in February.
It’s something she sees in her role as director of the Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh — exploring how businesses respond to, and impact on, climate change.
“The older Shepparton figures were trying to convince me why business as usual was fine and/or politely dismissing these ideas,” she said.
“The Dookie undergraduates were palpably worried about their future because they’ve got decades ahead of them.
“If we keep pretending everything’s fine ... we get to a tipping point where we can’t act anymore, and I fear that’s what has happened a bit in Australia.”
Sarah grew up on a north Murchison farm with siblings Sam, Emily and Hannah.
She was a student at St Brendan’s Primary School and Shepparton High, before a scholarship took her to Presbyterian Ladies' College in Melbourne.
She has four university degrees, has lived and worked around the world — meeting her husband Mark while they were both on rugby tours in Hong Kong.
They meant to go to Edinburgh, where Mark is from, for two years but have been there 12, with their children Lachie, 12, and Amy, 6.
As a lover of learning, study and homework as a child, Sarah found herself on the outer at school.
But it’s an experience that shaped her, growing resilience from sitting in a classroom and “everyone laughing” at her.
Teaching first year university students has opened her eyes to the effects of what she calls “lawnmower parents”, who walk in front and clear the way of any challenges for their kids.
“It’s become acute because of COVID — students are living at home for longer and haven’t had to make decisions for themselves,” she said.
“I can pick the kids whose parents allowed them to grow up. Can you cook for yourself? Do you know how to use a washing machine? Can you budget?
“My children pack their suitcases no matter where they’re going ... and they’re proud of that.”
Sarah aims to help teach students to think for themselves through her other focus — critical thinking.
It was born out of the shock of walking into a class of undergraduates, asking a question and getting silence in response.
She realised that, while smart and enthusiastic, the students knew only how to learn information and repeat it back — a by-product of the school system.
So, she wrote a book, Becoming a Critical Thinker: for your university studies and beyond.
When people can’t, or don’t, think critically, is when Sarah says we start seeing extreme views, “the sense that if you’re on a particular ‘side’ you believe everything on that side”.
Critical thinking also encourages reviewing your stance when the context or evidence changes, something rarely seen in public for risk of being criticised as a backflip or weakness.
“There’s a great quote, ‘When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’,” Sarah said.
Sarah describes academia as a “harsh career” — despite the heights she’s reached she still feels a sense of imposter syndrome, constantly feeling she hasn’t done or achieved enough.
Climate change is a particularly difficult topic to work in day to day or even hear about in the headlines.
“It’s emotionally draining because we can see the solutions and they’re not happening,” Sarah said.
“In the UK, climate change is not a political issue ... in Australia, it is.
“In Australia, people are still being asked, ‘do you believe in climate change’, as if my belief changes things — it’s like being asked if you believe in gravity.”
Sarah hopes to make an impact on people’s lives, particularly young or marginalised people.
“If I’ve inspired someone to go on a similar journey to me and end up at Oxford or Harvard, fine, if I’ve inspired someone else to stay in Shepparton and be a leader in the community, that’s fine as well,” she said.
“We can end up revering people for symbols of success. What about the people who are running the Ethnic Council in Shepparton or who do roadside clean-ups for Rotary?
“We as a community, globally, can focus on impact in different ways.”
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