Green Team Academy

The idea that social ills will just work themselves out over time is a myth. In his March 31, 1968 speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., explains how we must use time for the good of society or it will be used to our detriment by those who are using it for ill will. We can’t be “too busy” to stand up to protect each other and our planet.

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Somehow, protecting and caring for the planet has come to be seen as a luxury if/when we have time and resources to do it.

[1:20] The idea that we don’t have time now, but maybe we or someone else in the future will: “myth of time”

[1:40] Martin Luther King, Jr. speech given on March 31, 1968, four days prior to being assassinated

[2:00] Speech excerpt: The Myth of Time (below)

[4:50] Takeaway: We can’t be too busy to stand up for the injustices. We can’t assume that time is going to work things out. Time is neutral. It’s how we use it that will determine the outcome.

Excerpt

The hour has come for everybody, for all institutions of the public sector and the private sector to work to get rid of racism. And now if we are to do it we must honestly admit certain things and get rid of certain myths that have constantly been disseminated all over our nation.

One is the myth of time. It is the notion that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice. And there are those who often sincerely say to the Negro and his allies in the white community, "Why don’t you slow up? Stop pushing things so fast. Only time can solve the problem. And if you will just be nice and patient and continue to pray, in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out."

There is an answer to that myth. It is that time is neutral. It can be used wither constructively or destructively.

And I am sorry to say this morning that I am absolutely convinced that the forces of ill will in our nation, the extreme rightists of our nation—the people on the wrong side—have used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time."

Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

Resources:

Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution

Martin Luther King Jr Reseatch and Education Institute Stanford University

Speech delivered March 31, 1968 at the National Cathedral, Washington DC

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/knock-midnight-inspiration-great-sermons-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-10

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a thriving Green Team in your community at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com! Get your free Green Team Essentials with access to our private community, a guide to avoidable mistakes, and access to our Podcast Discussion Group.

The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Before giving a presentation, tell your Hero’s Journey story. Include the beginning, middle and end of your journey to show how your experiences have perfectly prepared you to help your audience now.

[1:00] Advocating for environmental actions is all about change. There is a lot of built-in resistance.

[1:30] Tell your story before launching into a presentation.

[1:45] Joseph Campbell and others talk about Hero’s Journey. Plot of every adventure story.

[2:00] Hero’s Journey: start where you are, go on an adventure, then return home and share wisdom.

[3:30] Design your Hero’s Journey story to be as short as 30 seconds to 1 minute, or as long as you like.

[3:45] Example: weight loss coaching story

[4:35] Example: anxiety coaching story

[5:20] Climate Reality Training: Tell your story before you start your talk

[6:05] Example: climate action story

[7:00] Leave a comment: What’s your Hero’s Journey?

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a thriving Green Team in your community at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com! Get your free Green Team Essentials with access to our private community, a guide to avoidable mistakes, and access to our Podcast Discussion Group.

The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Explore the revolutionary act of making food at home with poetry and research.

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Intro

[1:30] Poem by Joan: Just Go Home and Eat

[3:05] As a kid, rarely went out to eat.

[3:20] Constantly tempted to eat crap. Why is that?

[3:35] Fast Food Facts 2013 published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

[5:05] Wow! That’s why it’s so hard to resist!

[5:30] Eating home is an act of revolution

[5:50] Investing in the future we want

[6:00] How can we do this? Anywhere on the engagement ladder

[6:25] This could be the focus of a green team. Example: Vegan dinner night

[7:00] Can you impact policies around food in schools, local, state, and federal levels?

[7:45] Mindful eating is a way to change how we eat. Helps us make deeper, better choices.

[8:35] Hope this has inspired you to explore how eating at home can be a revolutionary act

Complete poem and research links at http://www.greenteamacademy.com/blog/008-food-advertising-and-poetry-just-go-home-and-eat

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a thriving Green Team in your community at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com! Get your free Green Team Essentials with access to our private community, a guide to avoidable mistakes, and access to our Podcast Discussion Group.

The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

This is a beautiful story about two girls who started at age 10 and 12 with the initial goal of being significant. Through their efforts, the Governor of Bali agreed to help Indonesia be plastic-bag-free by 2018. It’s a story of determination, creativity and commitment. They formed a youth organization, collected petition signatures, gave educational talks and went on a hunger strike. Their takeaway is that youth can make change. And my takeaway is that there is no reason that any of us can’t also be significant now.

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Many of us think that we’re not the ones to be eco-leaders. Someone else would be better.

[1:30] Melati and Isabel Wijsen, sisters, age 10 and 12 in Bali

[2:00] Decided to become significant now.

[2:30] Decided to focus on plastic bags

[3:10] Learned that most plastic bags end up in the ocean, the others are burned or litter.

[3:25] Lesson 1: You cannot do it by yourself Formed the Bye Bye Plastic Bags youth group. Started online petitions Give educational presentations to raise awareness Distribute alternate bags, made my locals Goal: petition with 1 million signatures

[4:00] Lesson 2: Think outside the box. Bali airport handles 16 million

[4:20] Lesson 3: Persistence. Got permission to collect signatures behind customs and immigration

[4:30] Lesson 4: Need champions at all levels of society: Ban Ki Moon, Jane Goodall

[5:15] Learned patience, how to deal with frustration, leadership, friendship, teamwork, Balinese culture, commitment

[5:40] Decided to do a hunger strike after learning more about Mahatma Gandhi.

[6:05] 24 hours later we were picked up from school and escorted to the Governor. He signed a promise to help the people say no to plastic bags in Bali by 2018.

[6:20] Not the end of the journey

[6:30] Working with stakeholders groups in different regions. Still on this journey today

[6:40] Kids can do things. We can make things happen. Don’t need a business plan or agenda.

[6:55] Kids have a boundless energy and motivation to be the change this world needs.

[7:10] Youth are 25% of the population but are 100% of the future.

[7:20] Engagement ladder: no matter what your initiative is, you will have to engage at all different levels to be successful

Resources:

Melati and Isabel Wijsen: Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali

TED Talk, September 2016

https://www.ted.com/talks/melati_and_isabel_wijsen_our_campaign_to_ban_plastic_bags_in_bali#t-375318

Bye Bye Plastic Bags

http://www.byebyeplasticbags.org/

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a thriving Green Team in your community at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com! Get your free Green Team Essentials with access to our private community, a guide to avoidable mistakes, and access to our Podcast Discussion Group.

The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Pioneered by Janine Benyus, "Biomimicry" is a way of looking at nature and life as our mentors to find solutions for every aspect of life. Recommended resources include the 26-minute Biomimicry video on YouTube and the book.

[1:10] First read the book Biomimicry cover-to-cover in 1997. It changed my life.

[1:20] Basic idea is that life has already solved all the complex design problems through 3.8 billion years of trial and error.

[1:40] How would you make a super-strong adhesive underwater: non-toxic, biodegradable, self-assembling

[2:00] Best shape for something strong and stretchy?

[2:20] Cable stronger than steel and as elastic as rubber, Non-toxic, ambient temperature?

[2:35] Resources: Biomimicry book and a gorgeous video on YouTube (Janine Benyus talking with nature photography)

[3:10] What is biomimicry? Innovation inspired by nature.

[3:20] The natural world has already solved any problem that we are trying to solve.

[3:30] There are some 30-100 million species. In this diversity there is also unity.

[3:50] Life’s operating instructions: how to be an earthling. Life’s principles (see below)

[4:50] As a young species, consider ourselves as apprentices to masters.

[5:00] Replace industrial chemistry with nature’s chemistry as an Apollo Project.

[5:50] Organism make chemicals in and near their own body, so can’t afford high temperatures or toxicity.

[6:00] Nature is good at making hard ceramics.

[6:10] Example: mother-of-pearl inside of abalone shell using protein, with calcium and carbonate in seawater to self-assemble inspiring chemists to learn how to make hard ceramics without a kiln.

[7:35] We can be humble apprentices learning from our biological elders.

[7:50] This is a big shift from the egotistical view of thinking that we as humans have all the answers, know what’s best and can outdo nature.

[8:00] If we can flip our thinking around, it makes our job easier because the blueprint is in front of us.

Life’s Principles:

Life runs on current sunlight. (We run on ancient photosynthesis trapped in fossil fuels.)

Life does its chemistry in water as the universal solvent. (We tend to use very toxic chemicals like sulphuric acid.)

Life depends on local expertise. Organisms have to know the limits and opportunities of their places.

Life banks on diversity and rewards cooperation.

Life wastes nothing, upcycles everything and most of all does not foul its home.

Life uses a small subset of the periodic table: the safe elements. (We use all elements.)

Life uses low temperatures, low pressure, low toxicity. (We force elements to bond or break with high temperatures and pressures.)

Quotes:

The best ideas might not be ours. They might already have been invented.

Janine Benyus

As a young species, our best stance is to be apprentices to our biological masters.

Janine Benyus

Resources:

Video Biomimicry with Janine Benyus

Published by TreeTV on September 11, 2015

https://youtu.be/sf4oW8OtaPY

Book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

Janine Benyus, originally published in 1997

http://a.co/hvu175v

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a green team in your community. Suggest a topic, get the free Green Team Essentials including online community, avoidable mistakes guide and podcast discussion group at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate and review!

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Taboo subjects not only restrain discussions, but they constrict solutions too

[1:30] All of us can have more conversations about climate action, and that could be the most important climate action we can take.

[2:00] Climate Change in the American Mind report from Yale and George Mason Universities

[2:35] 70% of Americans think global warming is happening

[2:50] 58% believe that global warming is caused in part by human activities

[3:05] Only 15% of Americans understand the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.

[3:20] We can have more conversations to increase that number.

[3:35] 62% of Americans are at least somewhat worried about global warming.

[3:45] 62% are interested, 45% feel helpless, 41% feel hopeful

[4:00] 61% say global warming is affecting the weather in the U.S. right now

[4:05] 41% say they’ve personally experienced the effects of global warming

[4:15] 71% think global warming will harm future generations

[4:20] 63% feel global warming is important to them personally

[4:30] So, the majority of American adults feel it’s important. You’d think people would be talking about it, but no :-(

[5:10] Only 35% American adults say they discuss global warming with family and friends “often” or “occasionally”. More say they “rarely” or “never” discuss it (65%).

[5:30] One in three don’t talk about it because “it never comes up”.

[5:45] Spiral of silence: We don’t talk about it because it never comes up.

[6:20] Only four in ten Americans (43%) say they hear about global warming in the media at least once a month

[6:30] In the U.S. federal administration, we have people proactively deleting mention of climate change.

[7:00] As individuals, the place we need to start working is having conversation to change hearts and minds.

[7:20] When I drive for Uber, I find ways to talk about climate change through hurricanes, wildfires or changes since youth.

[8:00] Let’s work together on ways to have more conversations. Please leave a comment or question.

Resources:

Climate Change in the American Mind

This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (climatecommunication.yale.edu) and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication (climatechangecommunication.org), Interview dates: March 7 – 24, 2018. Interviews: 1,278 Adults (18+). Average margin of error +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-american-mind-march-2018/

Is There a Climate “Spiral of Silence” in America?

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, September 23, 2016

http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-spiral-silence-america/

The most important thing you can do to fight global warming: End the climate "spiral of silence."

Joe Romm, Apr 19, 2018

https://thinkprogress.org/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-to-fight-global-warming-b0cbe1fdf775/

How Much Has ‘Climate Change’ Been Scrubbed From Federal Websites? A Lot.

Coral Davenport, Jan. 10, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/climate/climate-change-trump.html

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a green team in your community. Suggest a topic, get the free Green Tea

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Today’s episode is about my experiences trying to get eco-actions going in Niwot and Longmont, Colorado. In retrospect, I can see mistakes I made and strategies that worked.

[1:45] Niwot - worked solo to get recycling center in

[2:30] Longmont - offered job in Longmont to start just after 500-year flooding event.

[3:20] Found one person to join me and we started Sustainable Revolution Longmont

[3:35] Started working toward Earth Day 2015. Writing grants. Got fiscal sponsorship. Started youth leadership council.

[4:30] Had 70 exhibitors, 35 of which were youth booths

[5:00] Mayor and City Council members attended

[5:10] Link to Sustainable Resilient Longmont 2015 Youth of the Earth Festival photos http://www.srlongmont.org/photos--videos-2015.html [5:20] Youth and adult attended city council and school board meetings. Got much of what we wanted

[5:40] Non-profit is still going forward even after I left: Sustainable Resilient Longmont

[6:20] If you’ve tried and didn’t have success in the past, it might have been timing but it might be that there are other strategies that will work better.

[6:30] List of strategies to use, to avoid mistakes when starting a green team:

• Embrace leadership
• Build a core team
• Dream of a better world
• Find partners
• Plan an initial big event
• Get ready to take money
• Become an official group
• Promote, promote, promote
• Hold an initial big event
• Document and re-evaluate
• Celebrate your successes
• Include youth in leadership and families
• Include art and music

Thank you for listening!

Discover how to launch and grow a green team in your community. Suggest a topic, get the free Green Team Essentials including online community, avoidable mistakes guide and podcast discussion group at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate and review!

The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Green Team Academy Episode 3

Handling Overwhelm with wisdom from the film: Joanna Macy and The Great Turning

Time-stamped notes:

[1:00] Handling overwhelm is the foundational skill, the foundational challenge of being an eco-leader

[2:45] Introducing the film

[3:05] Gustav Young: Running through each life is a question

[3:30] Excerpt 1: The biggest gift we can give is to be present to our time

[4:15] Excerpt 2: Dealing with the pain of these times

[5:55] Don’t be afraid of your heart breaking open. The heart that breaks open can hold the whole universe.

[7:45] So, that’s what I wanted to share with you! A framework for handling overwhelm

Film: Joanna Macy & The Great Turning

Available on FMTV Joan’s affiliate link: http://fmtv.go2cloud.org/SH1Z3

Affiliate link includes 10-day free trial to watch this film and any of the other 100’s of documentaries, yoga and pilates classes, recipes videos and expert interviews.

Gustav Young had said that running through each life like a thread is a question that you come to answer. The big question is more important than the answer by far

Excerpt 1:

How do we be fully present to our world when the suffering and the prospects for conscious life forms are so grim. How do we look straight into the face of our time, which is the biggest give we can give, to be present to our time. It’s so tempting to want to just pull back, like a turtle inside its shell. It’s so tempting to close your eyes. Busy yourself with other things. How do we be with our world without going crazy. I think, For the past 40 years, that’s been the question that’s pursued me. I’m actually grateful for it. When you find a question like that, it’s good news.

--

Excerpt 2:

Dealing with the Pain of these Times

In every myth, the hero or heroine are called to look the monster straight in the eye and not turn to stone.

We need each other in ways that we never have before. Because All through human history there was this tacit assumption that life would continue on this planet. Oh yeah, there were wars, there was poverty, there was plague and pestilence and death of course and illness and old age and all that. But always there was this tacit assumption that life would continue. That the work of our hearts and hands would go on for future generations. And that’s what’s lost now. And that loss of certainty for the ongoingness of life is the pivotal psychological reality of our time. So my way of dealing with the overwhelm is to look it straight in the eye and and say, there you are again. To realize that we are suffering with our world. And not try to pave it over or apologize for it. And not see it as a personal weakness, a personal craziness. But almost to bow to it, you are suffering with your world. It’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s the most wholesome, healthy thing in the world too. Don’t be afraid of your heart breaking open.. The heart that breaks open can hold the whole universe. It’s that big. I want so much to feel sure. I want to be able to tell people don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. But I realize that that wouldn’t be doing anybody a favor. First of all, we can’t know. But secondly, if somehow, we could be given a pill to be convinced, don’t worry it’s going to turn out ok. Would that elicit from us our greatest creativity and courage. No. It’s that knife edge of uncertainty where we come alive to our truest power. So we do ourselves the favor. We honor ourselves to live with sufficient realism and dignity to know we’re right with that knife edge of uncertainty. We don’t know how it’s going to come out. There are no guarantees. Then we realize, wait. There aren’t any guarantees anyway. There are no guarantees when you fall in love that you’re going to have a lasting relationship There are no guarantees when you go into l

Find out what a “green team” can be and what green teams can do.

[1:00] Where can you participate in or start a green team?

[1:30] What can green teams do?

[2:10] School green teams

[2:40] Faith communities

[3:05] Workplaces

[3:30] Neighborhoods

[4:10] Green teams can be driven by passions, skills and needs of each community

[4:30] Look for city or community program to help you

[4:50] You don’t have to go it alone!

List of activities for green teams:

School garden

Urban garden

Earth Day Festival

Energy audit

Keeping lights out when not in use

Bicycle repair workshop

Recycling or composting

Transportation initiatives

Pollinator gardens

Keeping cars from idling near buildings

Farmers market

Speaking at City Council meetings

Advocate for changing laws

Changing the pesticide use policy

Eco book club

Wildlife protection activities

Nature walks

Healthy, sustainable food

Urban farms

Give excess garden produce to the homeless

Tours of water-conserving landscaped homes

Tours of homes with solar energy

Use a city or community program to become a certified Green School, Business, Faith Community or Neighborhood.

What's in a name?

Green team, eco-club, climate action committee, sustainability team are all commonly used. Choose a name that fits your needs.

Discover how to launch and grow a green team in your community at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com. Suggest a topic, get the free Green Team Essentials including online community, avoidable mistakes guide and podcast discussion group at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate and review! The time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Free Resource at: www.GreenTeamAcademy.com

Welcome to the Green Team Academy Podcast with your host, Joan Gregerson, Author, Coach and Eco-Nut!

[0:55] Welcome

[1:15] My story: family, nature, engineering

[2:55] Fun and creativity of starting green teams

[3:35] Importance of developing emotional and spiritual strength to do this work

[4:05] Podcast format: daily 5-10 minute episodes

[4:40] More resources at GreenTeamAcademy.com

[4:55] You are my Green Team!

Quote: Remember the time for action is now because there is no Planet B!

Discover how to launch and grow a green team in your community. Suggest a topic, get the free Green Team Essentials at www.GreenTeamAcademy.com for access to our online community, the Podcast Discussion Group and to get your free guide of avoidable mistakes.

If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate and review!