Meet Kyle Galkin | Student & Founder of SustainSD

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyle Galkin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyle, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Doing the right thing means the world to me. I strive, day to day, to be a mensch and a positive role model to the future generations. Whether it is in my personal life or the decisions I make for SustainSD, the benefit of the common good is at the forefront of my mind. To me, there are many layers of doing the right thing. We may choose to do something small like hold the door for someone or something larger in scale like encouraging and educating our residents to recycle properly. This decision making process has led SustainSD to focus on low income schools such as those in the promise zone.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have a slightly unconventional story. I moved to San Diego from Maryland 6 years ago to live in paradise. I have worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years, where I unfortunately see an excessive amount of food waste. The restaurant I work at is located on San Diego Bay and it saddens me to see the amount of trash along the water. I would clean up trash roughly every two weeks and it would be just as gross as it was before every time I would clean up. At the same time, I was taking a sustainability class and learned about composting and all of its benefits. I instantly knew that this was something that I needed to do. Food2Soil provided me with the composting education i needed and I took off running, focusing on San Diego schools. This process has not been easy, trying to obtain funds and getting schools to buy in to waste diversion. Despite the challenges, we are growing and expecting to be composting at 10 schools by mid 2023! What I am most excited about with SustainSD is searching out closed loop systems and providing the 3 E’s of sustainability to my community: Economics, Equity, and Environment.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
San Diego is such an amazing city, the week would be packed full of activities. My heart resides in Pacific Beach where I currently live. Mission bay is beautiful and the beach is full of endless fun. Some of my favorite food spots in PB are Pacific Beach Fish Shop, Ambrogio15, and Bayside Landing. Old Town San Diego is the best place to get the local culture of our region. They have various shops and amazing Mexican food. One of my favorite things to do is to hand out with the sea lions of La Jolla, they are adorable but be ready for a little smell. San Diego offers farmers markets everyday of the week in different neighborhoods. I would bring my friend to either the Hillcrest or Ocean Beach farmers markets as they are the most extensive.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give thanks to my parents and my brother for being so supportive in this endeavor. My wife, Kristin, has been my rock throughout this process, helping with everything design and social media. Emily and Christina have been my biggest supporters, with their extensive knowledge on gardening, sustainability, and social equity. San Diego Unified School District and their schools deserve special thanks for being open minded and forward thinking with their willingness to adopt sustainable practices on school campus.

Website: www.sustainsdca.org

Instagram: @sustain_sd