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Green for Beginners, Phase Five
If you have read this little five part series, my hope is that your thinking has shifted on the subject of what it means to be green. Yes: it is trendy. Green is all the rage. If that is what brought you here, to phase five, that is great. But what about taking a step further, and become a green leader?; Now, or later!
If you have read this little five part series, my hope is that your thinking has shifted on the subject of what it means to be green. Yes: it is trendy. Green is all the rage. If that is what brought you here, to phase five, that is great. But what about taking a step further, and become a green leader?; Now, or later!
Phase Five is taking your green knowledge and becoming a leader.
Are you thinking of all the ramifications of what being a green-leader means to you? Does something stick out in your mind? How about your condo association and the fact that you may not have recycling in your building? What if you are a parent and you share a common bond with other families because your children have asthma? It is just quite possible that people keep asking you why you have worm composter in your kitchen? (That's me!)
Okay, maybe you’ll never have a box of worms to eat your veggie-garbage. But most of us green people end up helping other green groups or starting our own groups from our own experience and out of our personal need to share it with others.
Are you thinking of all the ramifications of what being a green-leader means to you? Does something stick out in your mind? How about your condo association and the fact that you may not have recycling in your building? What if you are a parent and you share a common bond with other families because your children have asthma? It is just quite possible that people keep asking you why you have worm composter in your kitchen? (That's me!)
Okay, maybe you’ll never have a box of worms to eat your veggie-garbage. But most of us green people end up helping other green groups or starting our own groups from our own experience and out of our personal need to share it with others.
“Something must be done…,” comes up a lot in conversation when anyone talks about the environment, health, conservation, families, children and the waning sustainability of the Earth itself. There will be a time when you heart tells you that you are just the right person to be doing the things that must be done.
My own journey and green leadership came about because I was a member of a green group at my church called, The Green Ministry. We were to assist and help our members and minister to be more of a green-movement organization. The Bodhi Spiritual Center paid my $75 tuition to the Chicago Conservation Corps 3C program. In this program, I learned all-things about water, land, air & energy around Chicago. And the four week four day course also taught me how WE, as a city, relate to the world in our struggle to lower our carbon footprint.
Because of this course I became educated and enlightened and took the helm of The Green Ministry and eventually became a writer-activist for green. I also realized that the more I knew about the world and the green groups trying to save it, that I was just part of many other green leaders who can sleep at night because I know that we will achieve our individual and collective green-goals.
If you have some of that mind chatter going on in your head (pressure!), that I have mentioned in Phase one, and that voice is screaming “do something:” STOP THE NOISE!
My own journey and green leadership came about because I was a member of a green group at my church called, The Green Ministry. We were to assist and help our members and minister to be more of a green-movement organization. The Bodhi Spiritual Center paid my $75 tuition to the Chicago Conservation Corps 3C program. In this program, I learned all-things about water, land, air & energy around Chicago. And the four week four day course also taught me how WE, as a city, relate to the world in our struggle to lower our carbon footprint.
Because of this course I became educated and enlightened and took the helm of The Green Ministry and eventually became a writer-activist for green. I also realized that the more I knew about the world and the green groups trying to save it, that I was just part of many other green leaders who can sleep at night because I know that we will achieve our individual and collective green-goals.
If you have some of that mind chatter going on in your head (pressure!), that I have mentioned in Phase one, and that voice is screaming “do something:” STOP THE NOISE!
I KNOW that my way of leading may not be your way. But you are already a leader; by doing and passing on what you know. You are a leader when you sign a petition to save ocean turtles. You are a leader when you teach your child to use cloth napkins or tell your neighbor why you unplug your appliances or keep the inside of your microwave spotless. (Clean microwaves use less energy and last longer.)
Yes, you can start a recycling program at your work. And you can start a viral letter writing campaign to get your favorite yogurt to stop using non-recyclable containers. It is all good. All you have to do is step up to the plate when you think it is your time to do so. There are plenty of green people to help you do what you need to do.
In Chicago, you can become a C-3 Leader: http://chicagoconservationcorps.org/blog
You can also request a C-3 speaker to come to you apt building to tell you how you can save water, compost, save energy and more.
Join an online Chat: www.Ecochatonline.com
Take a group of your friends to the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum: http://www.naturemuseum.org/index.php?id=104
Or you can be an accountant or letter stuffer for an organization that helps put solar power in Chicago Schools like: http://www.climatecycle.org
Maybe you can just post on Facebook, email your group of friends or tweet or blog about what you have learned and keep the green dialogue going. This is part of what I do. It is one way that I have been a leader. I do not know what Phase 6 will be for me, but I will step up when it calls me to.
Although we all have to stay on the green path, YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS ARE YOUR OWN.
Yes, you can start a recycling program at your work. And you can start a viral letter writing campaign to get your favorite yogurt to stop using non-recyclable containers. It is all good. All you have to do is step up to the plate when you think it is your time to do so. There are plenty of green people to help you do what you need to do.
In Chicago, you can become a C-3 Leader: http://chicagoconservationcorps.org/blog
You can also request a C-3 speaker to come to you apt building to tell you how you can save water, compost, save energy and more.
Join an online Chat: www.Ecochatonline.com
Take a group of your friends to the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum: http://www.naturemuseum.org/index.php?id=104
Or you can be an accountant or letter stuffer for an organization that helps put solar power in Chicago Schools like: http://www.climatecycle.org
Maybe you can just post on Facebook, email your group of friends or tweet or blog about what you have learned and keep the green dialogue going. This is part of what I do. It is one way that I have been a leader. I do not know what Phase 6 will be for me, but I will step up when it calls me to.
Although we all have to stay on the green path, YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS ARE YOUR OWN.
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