For Melissa John, defending the atmosphere is her means of contributing to house exploration whereas preserving the Earth we name dwelling.
Because the sustainability program lead at NASA’s White Sands Take a look at Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, John manages efforts to scale back waste, stop air pollution, and promote eco-conscious practices. Over the previous 13 years, she has helped form a office tradition that values innovation and environmental accountability.
Melissa John
Sustainability Program Lead
By way of consciousness campaigns and outreach occasions, John empowers workers to be aware of their environmental impression. Whether or not she is fostering grassroots connections, main hands-on occasions, or recognizing colleagues who prioritize climate-aware actions, John stays devoted to creating an enduring, constructive impression on the planet.
John credit her Diné heritage and cultural values for fueling her ardour to guard and protect Earth for future generations.
John started her NASA profession at White Sands as a doc specialist, reviewing schedules and environmental studies. She later transitioned into technical enhancing and progressively received concerned in inexperienced initiatives, volunteering her time earlier than finally getting into her present management function.
Now, she coordinates a sitewide working group devoted to decreasing the power’s environmental impression and conjures up others to suppose critically about on a regular basis actions and their ripple results.
John didn’t at all times know the way she would make her mark.
“Rising up, I keep in mind a trainer asking how we may make a distinction on the earth,” she stated. “I by no means forgot that query.”
Through the years she spent working in accounting and within the mining trade, she saved returning to that query. It was not till she joined NASA that she discovered her reply:
“This — that is how I make my distinction on the earth.”
The work additionally helped John develop in methods she didn’t anticipate.
“I used to be painfully shy as a child and fearful of talking in entrance of a crowd,” she stated. “However after I took on this function, I knew I needed to discover my voice. I nonetheless have timid moments, however the satisfaction I really feel on this work helps me push by. I’ve been by quite a bit, however I’m nonetheless right here studying, rising, and displaying up for the group I now name household.”
John credit her sturdy help system for that transformation. “I’m in awe of the ladies I’ve labored with,” she stated. “I hope I can encourage others as they’ve impressed me.”
Whether or not on Earth or past it, John believes that considerate motion immediately results in a brighter tomorrow. She is dedicated to leaving the world a greater place for the subsequent era. Her legacy is easy: “Clear air, clear water, and clear land — that’s what I wish to move on.”