By Cathy Miller

In eighth grade science, Matt Polsky’s teacher showed the class a photo of Earth taken by the Apollo astronauts and warned about deterioration of the planet, suggesting it may not always be here to support its inhabitants. At that tender age, Matt began his ongoing journey into sustainability.

To Polsky, who was born in the Bronx and moved to New Jersey when he was 11, and now living in Belvidere with his wife Sandy, the subject of sustainability remains a major part of his life.  

What exactly is “sustainability” when used in the context of environmentalism and Earth’s health?

Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It combines environmental protection with economics and social welfare. Getting down to the nitty gritty, it raises the thorny question “Can we keep going the way we’re going?”

Matt, who has two adult children (Josh and Noah) and two granddaughters (Micaela and Tatum), cautions, “The pursuit of a sustainable future is the biggest and most difficult challenge of our time.”

Matt has a BA in Psychology from Rutgers College, an MBA in Economics and an MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. He’s acquired one or two Certificates and myriad graduate and other courses as a Perpetual Student. He’s received 18 awards and resolutions, including being inducted into the Hackettstown Area Senior Hall of Fame in 2018, and receiving a “Proclamation Thanking Matthew Polsky For His Diligent Work On Washington Borough’s Sustainable Jersey Bronze Certification” in 2019. He understands his strengths are not the traditional entry points for environmental work, being neither scientist nor engineer. His strength lies in communicating clearly between different disciplines.

Thoughtful, analytical and confidently outspoken, Matt said, “There’s so many directions we could go with all of this,” but sustainability and mindset barriers are a start. “There are many barriers to transformational sustainability or big societal changes, like powerful political interests happy with the way things are and don’t want to change.”

“One of the ways we make things more difficult for ourselves is the way we think, the mindset barriers that we create. I’m focusing on people who are leaders, or visionaries, in the sustainability field (or subsets like Sustainable Transition and Sustainable Transformation, which are primarily dominated by Europeans) who are exhibiting mindset variants.” Matt said. For a portion of his Ph.D., through self-reflection and critical thinking, he’s identified as many as he could brainstorm.

Matt majored in psychology 45 years ago, but left because he thought it offered nothing of value to anything he might do. He now feels it’s evolved, he’s evolved, and he’s re-entering the field.

He’s had seven or eight careers, including professor, teaching 28 courses on sustainability, or related topics, through the years. He doesn’t teach regularly, just when impulse meets invitation. This Fall he’ll be at NJIT. Matt hopes “that some student I had will take something I said in ways I probably will never know and make some great use of it that is way beyond anything I could have done.”

Another career? He recalled, “Back in the late 70s, I was a liberal arts student and did some market research for an uncle at a big advertising agency. I remember asking him, ‘How is this of any value to the world? Who cares if we can get higher top of mind awareness with this toothpaste than its competitor?’ His answer, though indirect, stuck with me. “It’s not so much that, but it’s the curiosity to ask those kinds of questions, to figure out how to dispute the answers.”

After college, Matt felt the world was telling him he didn’t have any real skill sets. It started a process that continues to coalesce in different ways. When he became interested in the environment in middle school, it didn’t dawn on him then he could work in this field. In college he’d basically taken all of the wrong courses, so when he revisited some of his professors they said he should essentially start all over. Matt said, “Although I’ve become a professional student, another of my ‘occupations,’ I didn’t want to take a lot of science courses. All the traditional ways to make a living and save the environment were fields that I stunk at. I resolved that, turning it into a competitive advantage, when I realized many fields are non-traditional in their own way. If you’re careful and selective they can help address environmental problems.”

The field began to change and environmentalism evolved into sustainability, incorporating economics and social issues, and suddenly we have this transformed super-field in which nobody is an expert. The world HAD spoken to Matt! “I’d been preparing myself with grad programs, choosing certain courses and professors, building up a very non-traditional skill set. By figuring out how to utilize my skills with the right people and the right initiatives I could be helpful.”

Matt never considered this unexpected bump in the road a waste of time. Aspects of his story find their way into his teaching. He said, “I tell my students there are paths open to you most people or other professors aren’t going to tell you about. Be aware of that. I am NOT recommending that you do what I did, that comes with a lot of negatives. I’ll tell them this is my personal path, don’t follow my personal path unless you do it better than me.” He continued, “If it goes well, that’s great. If doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world, it’s a learning experience that probably opened some doors.”

Matt explained, “That’s how I think and how I feel. And that’s another mindset barrier. Thinking and feeling are not the opposites we portray them to be. We tend to consider things as opposites that aren’t necessarily so. We may believe we think with our heads and we feel with our hearts. More and more science says that we’re actually thinking with our guts.”

Matt has experimented with ways to reach out to people and knows we must get past our mindset barriers and see each other as individuals in order to solve these tough problems – environmental, societal, and economical. If you find yourself at loggerheads with a friend, pick some easy questions: should everybody should have enough to eat, should everybody have electricity and heat, should everybody have access to medical care. Hold off on the how-tos, agree on the principles and build on commonalities. 

Two of Matt’s truths include, “If it doesn’t fit my goals, it gets in the way of my goals” and “Nobody has a monopoly on the truth.” In academics, especially on the social science side, the goal is to always be open. Social scientists are supposed to model themselves after science, to always be open to being wrong. 

During the last class Matt taught at Ramapo College, the college invited a climate change skeptic to speak at the school. He explained, “I told my students nobody is thrilled about bringing a climate change skeptic to a liberal place like Ramapo. But it’s a wonderful opportunity because if we just talk to ourselves about this stuff, what good comes of it? What do we say to other people who don’t get it or refuse to get it? Let’s go hear what he has to say. Afterwards we reflected on his presentation. Was there anything that got you thinking? If we’re afraid of that academic journey, what are we doing here? We’re academics in training, we have to be open to challenge, have civil discussions and ask questions.” After the forum, a couple students agreed the speaker was thought provoking. Even though people were nervous, it broke a mindset barrier.

Matt hopes his students become lifelong learners. Most academic theories never hit the mainstream, but everything should be under the microscope, he says. And then there is science.

“Even though it’s not always perfect in practice, science is still the queen of how we gain knowledge. There’s nothing that’s ever been better than science, in part because there’s nothing that’s ever been better at saying we’ve been wrong. Scientists are actually open to being wrong; it’s built into their field.” Matt added, “Their track record is so much better than anyone else’s.”

Sensing that Matt is a constant observer and always engaged, how does he unwind? Matt laughed. “Every so often I’m asked if I’m working on an article. Most of the time no, I only do a few a year. I may not be writing, but I’m taking in the world around me. Who knows how it will crystallize and when that impulse will hit. I’d go crazy without the gym for lots of reasons. Being silly with my grandchildren is relaxing. The one time in life I’m allowed to do that. There’s not a whole lot more than that.”

What does want to do that he hasn’t done? “I guess the biggie is to be more successful. I’m not anti-success. I’d be fine being more influential in helping sustainability happen more quickly and more deeply. I applied for a fellowship to spend a year in Europe studying these issues with a think tank. A few things I proposed in my Ph.D. are mostly European, so I’d be there, able to facilitate my research, while also talking with other think tank participants about their projects and offering my help.”

Determined to “make people and organizations around me better,” Matt makes good use of his uncommon skill set. He works to bridge the gaps between disciplines with differing views on sustainability. He acts as liaison between lesser known fields and potential sustainability partners. He influences a broader green economy for those open to an unconventional concept. Any advice? “Be prepared to think differently, even if it’s hard, and it’s almost always hard to make big changes. Give people what they want, keep things simple, have a local angle, understand that one person can truly make a difference. The Earth is telling us we don’t have forever.”

Cathy Miller, an award winning photographer, is the woman behind the camera in Warren County, and everywhere, it seems. Her Person of the Week is a regular column written for Inside Warren.