Resourcing the Revolution

Writing

We Are Power Shift (and the Leadership Team)

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power-shift_640You may have noticed that I have alluded to being selected for a national Leadership Team for the We Are Power Shift online community in a couple of my previous posts. Well, this week marks the official launch of the team, and the point at which I can start sharing information about what I’m up to!

We Are Power Shift is a grassroots-driven online community that seeks to empower and serve as a hub for the youth climate movement. The site offers activists a forum for discussion and a platform to share resources, swap stories, strengthen relationships, and showcase our diverse movement to the media and the world. The community we create helps us to build political power, harness our collective energy, amplify our message and advance our vision of a clean, just and sustainable future.

The Leadership Team started meeting back at the beginning of the year, and even got together in Washington, DC last month for a long weekend of team building and brainstorming. During that time period, we have laid the foundations for the work we’ll be doing, including putting together our vision of what the team is about.

We’re here to make sure that the batteries are charged and the volume is turned up on our movement’s megaphone. The We Are Power Shift Leadership Team supports the development of this grassroots community and ensures that the site provides the space, structure, tools, and climate (no pun intended) for the growth of our movement. We work with the community to keep the site as dynamic, agile, and engaging as this movement’s leaders. By responding to the community’s needs and providing resources, references, and training, we hope to catalyze activism and solidify an online foundation for future victories.

Any time I blog over at the WAP site, I’ll be cross-posting here. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t go visit the site – you definitely should! What you’ll find there are lots of great, motivated and empowered young folks who are kicking ass and taking names (environmentally speaking).

My introductory post can be found here:

http://www.wearepowershift.org/blogs/meet-jessica-can-one-person-really-make-difference

And, more about my other superstar teammates can be found here:

http://www.wearepowershift.org/leadership-team

Until next week, happy world-changing!

An Alliance of Awesome (or: Peeps – they’re not just for Easter)

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peeps_640I spent the past two weekends surrounded by world-changers.

Two weekends ago, it was four 12-hour days in Washington DC with the WeArePowerShift.org leadership team.

This past weekend was three 12-to-16 hour days in Minneapolis MN with the 350.org National Leadership Summit.

I’ll admit it – I’m exhausted. I’m drowning in work, overcommitted and maybe even *thisclose* to collapsing into bed for a couple of days.

And, this might sound crazy, but I’m loving every minute of it!

What makes these weekends different? Why would I push myself this hard?

It was all about the people.

While I did reference those disgusting artificially colored marshmallowy Easter candies in the blog title, what I’m really talking about is the folks who were with me these past two weekends.

Last year, I wrote a post about surrounding yourself with people doing amazing things. This week, I’m bringing that concept back to the table, because it bears repeating.

Surround yourself with the people you admire – the people who are doing the work you want to be doing – the people who are doing the seemingly impossible – the people you want to be like someday (when you grow up) – even the people who intimidate the hell out of you.

After a while, you might just find yourself being one of those people.

It’s amazing what a little bit of outside influence can do.

Give it a try. And while you’re at it, let me know how it goes!

Unplugged (or: getting away from it all)

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unplugged_640“Somebody stop the world. I want to get off!”

How many times have you or someone you know uttered those words, even in jest?

In this constantly-connected, on-the-go world we live in, sometimes it’s all we can do to just keep up.

If you’re a small business owner, a freelancer just starting out, someone who lives from project to project, you never quite know where your next paycheck is going to come from. Therefore, you always hesitate to say “no” to just one more thing.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about calling “uncle” – finding the place where you draw your line in the sand. Today, I want to take that idea one step forward, to when you find yourself needing to hit the “pause” button.

I have been in an ongoing twitter conversation with Matt over at The Outage about human nature and the need to “disconnect” from this technologically bustling world – the need to find our real selves in the wilderness – the need to reconnect to our roots.

He and I stand on two different sides of this issue. Note that I use the word “different”, and not the word “opposite”. I whole-heartedly agree that we need to take time to stand with our faces in the sun, away from the noise and chaos of the modern world. Where our opinions differ is that I don’t want to live in that world 100 percent of the time.

While I do occasionally need to get away, I thrive in that connected world. I love the adrenaline-fueled “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” push of the final days of a big project or campaign – there’s no feeling quite like it.

I’ll admit, though – sometimes it gets overwhelming. I am smack in the middle of a month that just won’t stop – in fact, I’m fairly certain that I’m in go-mode until at least the end of April. I just got back from a 4 day weekend in DC, and I’m gearing back up for another week full of projects and meetings and exciting opportunity.

So how do I get away? How do I find the peace and silence that Matt describes?

Well, for the time being, I find it in small doses.

I find peace on the yoga mat. I find stillness in the quiet morning air while I walk my dog. I find it in that first quiet moment when I lay down to sleep, as my body sinks into the mattress and my whole body sighs.

And, sometimes when the outer world gets too noisy, I slip away to the mountains; my parents live in rural Virginia, on a 40 acre farm. I am drawn west and I sit, face to the sun, breathing in the peace of the natural world, and I smile.

Tomorrow, I can begin again.

I would love to hear from you in the comments – where do you fall in this discussion? Are you tied to the chaos, would you rather get away, or are you somewhere in the middle?

#noKXL (or: why Keystone XL’s got to go)

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nokxl_640I don’t usually get into politics on this blog, but after spending three days in jail this summer for the cause, I have a personal tie to what is going on right now in Washington.

Whatever side you may take on this issue, my real goal in this post is to make sure that everyone becomes educated.

The very briefest of summaries is this: there is a fight in Washington about building a proposed pipeline that will originate in Canada and snake its way across the US, ending up in Texas. This pipe would carry caustic tar sands (mined out of the boreal forests of Alberta) across the Ogallala aquifer (which provides clean water for about 2 million people in the US) and to a refinery in Texas. This project is being proposed by a Canadian company, who are threatening US land owners with eminent domain, and the oil is slated for export.

What does this mean for the US?

  • This project will not reduce dependence on foreign oil.
  • Chances are, it will actually raise gas prices.
  • All the job creation that is being touted? The figures are vastly inflated, and only include temporary work.
  • A bad deal for our planet, any way you hack it.

The past few days have seen a flurry of activity, as legislation has again been introduced to try to force the issue through the Senate. In response, a number of environmental organizations stood together to organize a 24 hour media blast, garnering almost 800,000 signatures against the pipeline.

So what does this have to do with you?

My request to you is simple: pay attention. Government by the people, for the people only works when the people aren’t asleep at the wheel. Vote. Contact your representatives. Take an active part in your democracy.

Like I said, it’s not which side you choose – it’s about taking an active and educated stand for what you believe in.

If you’re intrigued (and I hope you are), here are some resources for additional fact-gathering:

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/spread-the-word/key-facts-keystone-xl/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/joe-nocera-keystone-pipeline_b_1263231.html
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/keystone-xl-pipeline-just-the-facts-20111208
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/18/six-reasons-keystone-xl-was-bad-deal-all-along/

Uncle! (or: when enough is too much)

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too-much_640If you’re anything like me, you tend to take on new, cool and exciting projects fairly often.

One at a time, they find their way to your plate. And one by one, you find time in your life for each of them. You move something here, and squish something there.

All of a sudden, you find yourself with your arm twisted behind your back. Sometimes, you just have to admit defeat. Admit that the pain is too much, that if your arm gets twisted any further, it might just pop out of its socket.

(I had a guy as a best friend when I was little, and we used to beat the crap out of each other – fighting until the other cried “uncle!” – “enough!”)

It doesn’t hurt so much right at this moment, but then it happens: one more project drops into view, one more thing to try to squeeze into your already packed life, one more thing that’s just so awesome, so right, that you can’t turn it down.

You find yourself stuck, caught at that intersection of “ouch” and “holy-crap-you’re-breaking-my-arm”.

What do you do?

Where do you find the balance between the stuff you want to do and the stuff you have to do?

Do you push through the pain, and take on just one more thing?

Do you clear some of the other, not so perfect projects, say goodbye to them?

And, what if all the perfect projects aren’t paying your rent? Do you settle for paying the rent with crappy work, or do you scrape by on passion projects?

More than anything, it comes down to what’s right for you.

At this moment in your life, what do you want to be doing? What is your hell yes?

And, if for some reason you can’t pay your rent with your hell yes right this moment, how can you point yourself in the right direction?

That’s where I’m sitting today – and if I’m telling the truth, it’s actually where I’ve been sitting since the beginning of this year. I’d be a big, fat liar if I told you I had all the answers, had it all figured out.

Is there anyone who really does have it all figured out? I would like to think that life is all about finding our answers, finding ourselves.

If you need to find me this evening, I’ll be out there in the world, finding my answers.

Say Yes More (or: how to step outside the skin you’re in)

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say-yes_640When I was a senior in college, one of my roommates and I made a pact.

Given the post title, you might be imagining some crazy blood-brother style, spit-and-shake agreement; we were in college at that point…

Alright – enough with the crazy ideas. It wasn’t that kind of pact!

We were both newly single and tired of business as usual, and needed to break out of our respective ruts. We were both upperclass music majors, so we were up to our ears in school obligations. But, despite our otherwise full calendars, we made a decision.

For one whole month, we would both accept every social invitation we were offered.

Every. Single. One.

Now I know that you’re thinking that the two of us were nuts. There was a high likelihood that we would have some negative experiences, and there was a lot of uncertainty as to how the experiment would turn out.

(To be clear, we drew lines – this was more along the lines of saying yes to a date with a guy who wasn’t really our type. Axe murderers and homicidal maniacs need not apply. We weren’t stupid about the way we proceeded with things, and we were sure to take our safety and health into account.)

The result of our month long social experiment?

My first required “yes” was the random non-student at a party who asked for my phone number. I hoped that he wouldn’t call, but he did. We went on a date to a pizza place in town; he had a suspended license, so I had to pick him up; the date was mediocre.

There were a few more instances like this between the two of us, but we also expanded our horizons. We had experiences that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

We attended concerts that we might otherwise have skipped. We joined friends for meals that might have been passed over. We connected with people who we might never have met.

Yes, we both had a few bad dates. However, what we really took away from that month was the power of saying yes.

When we say no all the time, we close ourselves down – seal ourselves away from the world – and we never experience anything new.

While sometimes it’s nice to put on my pajamas, fix my favorite meal and re-watch a movie I’ve seen multiple times, it’s not what I want to spend my life doing.

I usually advocate only doing the things in life that are a “hell yes” – but there’s a caveat.

You might be missing out on a new “hell yes” without even realizing it, if you say no too quickly to an untested idea or experience.

Where is all this going?

My challenge for you this month:

Go out and say “yes” to more new things in your life. If you want to recreate the “month of yes”, I would encourage you to do so (mindfully), and I would love to hear about your experiences.

And, as always, feel free to share your stories with me. I would love to hear how an unexpected experience had an impact on your life!