lessons from our retreat and remembering two great leaders

With the recent passing of sustainability leaders Ray Anderson and Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, the sustainability community is searching for new leaders even as we grieve the losses of these towering figures.

Blogs have bemoaned the need for a unifying, charismatic leader to ignite the masses behind a sustainability vision. While we have good speechmakers who grace our conferences and delight those of us in the choir (for sometimes significant fees), we don't have a populist persona that speaks to the heart of everyman.

So-called leaders with narrow but strongly held messages control the political dialogue, and we lack inclusive vision to unify us. These politics are all about division, not inclusion.   

Indeed, many scan the horizon for an organic, telegenic messenger who connects the decline of our environment with the decline of the economy, and translates that into a hopeful, solution-based vision.    

But I wonder if any inclusive leaders--no matter how charismatic--could get air time in the polarized debate we are now having with ourselves. Perhaps it is unrealistic to think a Big Green Leader will part the seas and guide us to sustainability nirvana.

Is it lazy to wait for one?

With Wangari Maathai's passing I was reminded of her anecdote about a hummingbird who flew tiny drops of water onto a forest fire. The other animals thought the hummingbird was crazy; no way she could carry enough water to put out the inferno herself.  

The hummingbird said 'that's just the point.'  

Together, we can do more. But alone is a start. The only other choice is watching the forest burn.

Here's a leadership paradigm for sustainability: do the best you can. Don't wait for our Martin Luther King to step up. Develop your own skills and become your own leader.    

We talked a lot about personal action and personal leverage during our recent staff retreat. Here were some student suggestions: 

Don't:

• Assume others are right just because they sound authoritative
• Assume everyone is environmentally minded
• Be too busy for people; pursue people (in a nice way) to engage with them
• Assume others know what you do or vice versa. Communicate it. 
• Give up on people. People can and do change

Do:

• acknowledge that we instinctively profile other people. Eons of survival DNA has bred that into our genes. But don't let that profiling erode respect of others
• use positive language; focus on solutions
• be less egocentric---think about the other person first, not your reaction to them. Listen, watch, understand--then respond.
• attract people to the Environmental Center with different backgrounds, majors, paths, not just "environmentals"
• promote the family atmosphere of the Environmental Center; people crave community
• attend more gatherings with diverse people. Eighty percent of life is about showing up...
• identify yourself by who you are, not what you do.

What I glean from this is a sense of grassroots and inclusivity that can change the world. I don't hear calls for charisma or "charge the machine gun, and follow me" leadership.  

Today's students seem to understand that sustainability leadership is an intensely personal issue that can forge new alliances outside the "choir." The "choir" measured its leaders for years by how green their personal lifestyle was.         

The students see that we can't insist our leaders be super-sustainabilistas who don't even exhale CO2.

They see that sustainability must be for everyone. It must be the default choice-not an extraordinary choice.  

And these are the students who will inherit the Earth on fire.

They are the new hummingbirds. They are not waiting for the top of the food chain to lead them. They are too busy carrying water--and leading from the bottom up.

May peace be with you Wangari and Ray--you have given flight to millions of hummingbirds.

 Our new coordinator shares his ideas, vision and experience

The newest member of our staff, Brandon Smith, is a natural transportation manager. He is an avid cyclist, a former mountain bike competitor, and he has sustainability experience in some of the most challenging of places.

Originally from Texas, Brandon began his career as a program and transportation manager at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality-the second largest environmental agency in the world. There he worked to enforce environmental regulations, including those for oil refineries which mandated the production of cleaner diesel.

Brandon moved to Colorado in 2007 to pursue sustainability, land-use planning and recreation.  

After living and working in Winter Park as a land-use planner, he earned a master's degree from University of Colorado Denver in urban and regional planning. Then he joined Boulder County as an employee transportation coordinator/bicycle planner.  

Getting employees out of their vehicles translates directly to his position as Environmental Center's transportation manager, where getting students, faculty and staff to explore alternative transportation methods is key.

Brandon's transportation interests connect with his passion for cycling as he looks at the big picture. Cycling, planning, and transportation all work together, he says.

Noting the development of major roadways and a commuter culture that developed after World War II, he points out that despite the American Dream to have a plot of land, "We've realized we're causing destruction because of that commuting, and wasting a lot of our time."

Ultimately, transportation comes down to our priorities, says Brandon. "It seems a lot of us do really good things, buy organic food, recycle, all the low hanging fruit-those are easy things to do. It seems harder to make lifestyle choices. We really like having our cars and that mobility."

"Our population is growing and this has huge environmental consequences. Planning is a field that should be proactive and not reactive; we need to make sure we have adequate infrastructure in place," he says.

Campus is a great place to turn this around. "Students are creating habits for the rest of their lives," says Brandon.  

Bikes are especially useful tools for creating what he refers to as multi-modal transit. Since not everyone lives close enough to bike to work or school, and not everyone lives next to a bus stop, the two can bridge a gap when used together.

 "Systems are built around that idea," explains Brandon. Boulder County recently installed several "Final Mile" bike shelters for riders to store their bikes and ride the bus to their destination.

Brandon's goals include promoting student use of public transit, the possible expansion of Ski Bus destinations, facilitating a second bike station on campus, and improving pedestrian-cyclist interactions.

Most of all, he wants to focus on the Environmental Center tradition of empowering student ideas. "I am kind of a facilitator to help ramp up those ideas. As a planner, people come to you and you help them make their plans. I can help tweak them, and steer them along."

Of all places he has lived, worked and played, Brandon says Boulder's sustainability-minded values stand out as most influential. "We are kind of ground zero for [sustainability]," he says.

Transportation work means connecting many different ideas and putting them together. "I look forward to innovating, creating new solutions to ongoing problems here, and looking to other schools to see what they are doing. There has been an ongoing conversation between campuses, but I want to increase our communications. There's no need to always reinvent the wheel," he says.

For more information about the Environmental Center transportation program, visit our website.

Events  

October offers tremendous occasions for community and inspiration with author Richard Louv and the three-day Colorado Bioneers forum

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A weekend offering regional speakers, field trips, workshops, arts, and more

• Friday, October 28 through Sunday, October 30
• Eaton Humanities, CU-Boulder
• Additional activities scheduled throughout Boulder

Bioneers is almost here! This local Boulder satellite forum of the national phenomenon is the preeminent gathering of leading scientific innovators & environmental visionaries.     

Boulder is one of just 20 communities in North America with a Bioneers satellite forum. It joins the region's progressive ideas, people and organizations for keynote speakers, workshops, music, arts, field trips, children's eco-activities, and an overall sense of community and spirit.    

Featured Events:  

• "Mother: Caring for 7 Billion"  film screening and discussion with co-producers Joyce Johnson and Christophe Fauchere at 6:30 Saturday, October 29 
• Field trips on Friday, October 28 (pre-register by Oct. 24) to Growing Gardens,  LEED Platinum Residence Hall at CU-Boulder and more
• Workshops include "Dharma and Sustainability," "Mycology and Permaculture," "Finding Your Place in the Family of Things: A Radical Conversation with the More-Than-Human World" and many more.  

2011 Plenaries:

• Joshua Fouts and Rita King, "The Emerging Imagination Age"
• Mary Evelyn Tucker, "The Power of Story"
• Amory Lovins, "Reinventing Fire"
• Anim Steel, "The Real Food Challenge"
• Dayna Baumeister, "Life's Operating Manual"
• Rebecca Moore, "Google Earth-Eye View: Mapping a Future Environment of Hope"
• John D. Liu, "Restoration Writ Large: Unleashing the Potential of Nature and People for Large-Scale Ecosystem Restoration"
• Paul Stamets, "Solutions from the Underground: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World"
• Melissa Nelson, "Revitalizing Indigeneity: Eco-Cultural Knowledge and Reciprocity"
• Karen Brown, "Revolutionizing K-12 Education with Sustainability in Mind"
• Phillipe Cousteau, "Continuing a Legacy: Building a Sustainable World in the 21st Century"
• Gloria Steinem, "When Women Are People...and Corporations Are Not: Why the First Inequality Will Also Be The Last"
• Roxanne Brown, "Blue and Green: Working Together to Secure a Sustainable Future"
• Pam Rajput, "Voices for Peace and Sustainable Development - The First Women's Parliament of India."      

Local Plenaries:

• Hannah Nordhaus, "The Future of America's Honey Bee and the People who Keep Them"      
• Adrian Molina, "Bronze Future: Letters for 2045"
• Adam Brock of GrowHaus "What is Food Justice?" 
• Pieter Oosthuizen "Bio-Intelligence: Utilizing the Essential Salts of Life to Create True Plant-Based Medicine"  

Join us to explore the most pressing environmental and social issues of our time and to connect the dots between these issues and overall health and spirit.  

The CU Environmental Center, Transition Colorado, Naropa University, Center for Resource Conservation, Restorative Leadership Institute and Woodbine Ecology Center with the support of sponsors and partner groups are proud to bring Bioneers to Boulder for the ninth year.   

Register today!

View the full program details at ecenter.colorado.edu/bioneers 

A Presentation by Richard Louv  

• Thursday, October 13, 6:30pm  
• Glenn Miller Ballroom, University Memorial Center, CU-Boulder 

Richard Louv, author of the bestselling book "Last Child in the Woods,"

is a journalist and the author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and community.  

"Last Child in the Woods" sparked a national debate and an international movement to reconnect kids and nature. He coined the term "nature-deficit disorder," has influenced national policy, and has helped inspire campaigns in over eighty cities, states, and provinces throughout North America.   

 His newest book, "The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder" (Algonquin), delivers another powerful call to action-this time for adults.

The event is co-sponsored by CU Environmental Center, The Nature Conservancy, and the CU Children, Youth and Environments Center.  

Free and open to the public.  

Professional sustainability training is now available to unemployed Coloradoans through an ARRA grant

The  CU Sustainable Practices Program was recently selected as an Approved Training Provider with the State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP).  

The SESP is an innovative partnership between Colorado businesses, training providers and government to give businesses the workforce they need to thrive and grow and help Colorado workers have a bright future with a career in the energy efficient or renewal energy fields.

The partnership is governed by the State Energy Sector Partnership Business Advisory Council. It is comprised of businesses that hire a workforce with renewable energy and energy efficiency skills. 

The Sustainable Practices Program is now an Approved Training Provider for Coloradans seeking to train or retrain in Energy and Sustainability topics.  

Grants and scholarships from the partnership will pay for Coloradans to enroll in the Program's Sustainability Management Professional Certificate. An ARRA Grant from the US funds the Energy Scholarships and Training program. Government. 

 Energy Scholarships will be awarded to Coloradans who want to earn certificates or add to their education to meet the demands of renewable and energy efficient employers.  

Scholarships will be awarded through the Colorado Workforce Centers.

For more information, visit  www.wfbc.org/