if we know something is wrong, why should we wait until the state tells us to do it? at the grassroots level, let’s go ahead and make the changes we need to make.”
MADHAVI VENKATESAN MELP’16
“I really want to start making things happen,” she said. And so she did. Armed with a MELP degree from VLS, Venkatesan founded a not-for-profit organization, Sustainable Practices, which has done meaningful work reducing single-use plastic in her home community of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, making the popular Wellfleet OysterFest a plastic-free event in 2019. How does one go from working for organizations to founding their own impact-driving nonprofit? In Venkatesan’s case, methodically, with a small staff, and by finding mission-aligned volunteers.
Next up was banning the commercial sale of single-use, non-flavored, non-carbonated plastic bottled water of less than a gallon in size. This has passed in seven towns on the Cape since September 2020—and Venkatesan says there’s support for more, though some towns have put the matter on hold while dealing with COVID. She and her organization are optimistic that municipal and commercial bans will be adopted across the Cape this year. Venkatesan’s efforts show that it’s possible to make a direct difference without relying on people in power to initiate.
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Venkatesan got to work on a plan to incrementally reduce single-use plastic bottles on the Cape.
“At the grassroots level,” Venkatesan said, “let’s go ahead and make the changes we need to make.”
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“That movie was moving to me,” Venkatesan said. “I recognized the limitations too. One town of 7,000 doesn’t make a significant enough impact.” She thought, why not do this on Cape Cod, which is comprised of 15 towns?
As she puts it: “If we know something is wrong, why should we wait pa until the state tells us to do it?” ct Venkatesan said her fellow classmates at VLS were similarly passionate and dedicated to making real change. Being surrounded by a supportive group of like-minded individuals allowed Venkatesan to thrive, and she continues to stay in touch with her classmates as they cheer one another on.
LOQUITUR
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Sustainable Practices incorporated in 2016, and Venkatesan funded the startup by showing environmental justice films and charging a small fee as a fundraiser. One of those films would have a lasting impact on her and the trajectory of Sustainable Practices. “Divide in Concord” is a documentary about an effort in Concord, Mass., to ban small, single-serve bottles of water. Sustainable Practices showed the film in 2018.
Through Sustainable Practices, she and a group of volunteer members started with the municipalities—proposing a bylaw prohibiting municipal governments from purchasing single-use plastic bottled beverages and eliminating the sale of beverages in single-use plastic containers on town property. That policy is now in place in 13 of the 15 towns on Cape Cod.
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Madhavi Venkatesan is passionate about reducing our negative impact on the environment. Over the course of her career, she’s worked at large organizations, but felt there was too much bureaucracy; it was taking too long to see change.
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