Our Climate Journey with Sari Miller
“I think an overlooked part of sustainability at an individual level is just doing what we can with what we have, so even the small things—like picking up trash when hiking, eliminating food waste by eating what’s been bought, and purchasing from local producers—can also add up.”
Sari Miller
Brand Marketing Designer
Sari has been working with Zum as a graphic designer since 2023, where she has been integral to standardizing and establishing the company’s visual look and feel. A Montana native, Sari’s hobbies include backpacking, gardening, and playing board games (in the colder months). When she is not outside enjoying nature, she can be found crafting visuals as a freelance graphic and motion designer.
At Zum, we’re revolutionizing student transportation in order to build a green, sustainable future. What does sustainability mean to you?
To me, sustainability means being a good steward of the earth’s resources and protecting and fostering its health in a way that benefits current and future generations. In my own life, that means holistically looking at the impact of my existence and living in a way that positively impacts the environment and all beings in it.
I am fortunate to live in a place where homes generally have more land than they do in larger cities. Over the last four years, I have converted half of my half-acre property into a food forest: a self-sufficient ecosystem consisting of a diverse range of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, herbs, and perennial vegetables, interconnected to each other just like a natural forest. Besides providing food for me, it also provides habitats and food for birds and insects, conserves water, and perhaps most importantly, sequesters carbon.
I eat a whole foods, plant-based diet, which has one-fourth the climate impact of meat-rich diets. Food scraps, like orange peels, get composted, which I then use in my garden beds to increase soil health. When purchasing consumables, I choose to support sustainable brands where I can. In the same way that I can “vote with my dollar” in purchasing products, as a freelancer, I also get to vote with my time and choose to work with and support companies I believe in, like Zum.
I think an overlooked part of sustainability at an individual level is just doing what we can with what we have, so even the small things—like picking up trash when hiking, eliminating food waste by eating what’s been bought, and purchasing from local producers—can also add up.
Climate change is the single greatest threat to our way of life, but it can sometimes feel abstract, far away, a problem for another time. How has climate change affected you personally?
In Montana, climate change manifests as extremes in each season. In winter, we have more extended periods of below-zero temperatures, which have killed some of my younger, more susceptible trees. In the summer, we get the opposite—extended periods of extreme heat, along with severe thunderstorms and fires. In spring and fall, sudden frosts or snow can wipe out entire garden beds. Much more care has to be taken every year to try to mitigate the effects of the extremes, even just for my small-scale food production.
What can Zum do to be a leader in sustainability, to spearhead the charge in the fight against climate change?
If we think of the earth as a ship, and climate change as a hole in the bottom causing us to sink, I think an individual’s efforts are like bailing water out with a spoon. Lots of spoons together can make a difference, and I think it’s important we keep bailing individually, but what we really need are buckets (and eventually we need to patch the hole). As a disruptor in an industry that’s historically fossil-fueled, Zum is providing both a bucket and a piece to patch the hole.
To spearhead the charge in the fight against climate change, Zum should continue carrying the mantle as a thought leader in school transportation and environmental responsibility, striving for the greatest possible benefit for both those we serve and the planet.