energy audit

http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=4248

you can get these from the BPL and I'm sure other libraries.

Unleashing potential.

I am thinking about the last time I was unable to truly unleash my potential. There are many different applications to which I could unleash my potential, but I think it was the 2 winters I worked for Roxy skis. If you are not familiar, ROXY is a women’s specific company, they started off with mostly surf and clothing, and then when Quicksliver, their parent company bought 2 ski companies, Rossignol, and Dynastar, Roxy began manufacturing skis with the Roxy label. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time where the rep for Roxy asked me to be a brand ambassador. I had never really associated myself with this company, usually their ads had skinny blondes in bikins on it. But someone saw my potential to be part of this company. I was given a head to toe outfit, new skis, boots, and bindings, each year. I got this because of my skiing abilities. They wanted me to make them look good by sporting their set up. I felt my supervisors there were true leaders. They listened to my concerns about not being able to ‘fit” into the image of Roxy. I believe they did what Wheeler and Edlebeck wrote about, “leadership is about learning, listening, dreaming, and working together to unleash the potential of people’s time, talent, and treasure for the common good.” I then was able to transfer some of these qualities with some of the girls who paid to go to Roxy camp and become a better skier. With out the qualities from the leaders who helped me, I would not have been able to be a positive person in these girls lives. Sadly, when I turned 30, I was told I was too old to be a Roxy girl, but did get to help in the selection of choosing a new girls to fill my shoes..errr. ski boots. It was a great experience overall and shows how leadership qualities can be passed down to one another.

leadership and authority

Before this semester if you asked me to tell you the difference between leadership and authority I’m not sure I could. I’m not sure its anything I have ever really thought about. I know that a first impression of a person usually tells you if they are a person of authority, a leader is harder to determine. You see a police officer, you understand he is a person of authority, but you don’t know what he does with his colleagues, or his community, is he a leader? We don’t know just by looking at him.

So, how can we determine a leader from an activist? To me when I think of an activist, I think of the people that try and stop you on the street and ask you if you “have time for the environment.” They do a great job of making you feel guilty if you don’t have time for the environment. But is this person a leader? Probably not, they probably found the job posted on a bulletin board at school or on craigslist. I imagine there is a very high turn over on this type of job.

I think leaders are unsung heroes. Leaders allow people to build confidence and create a sense of place. One of our reading says, “Identifying leaders requires looking for them.” I am slowly being able to quantify what personal characteristics make a person a leader and not a follower. A leader must be able to listen. “Listening means learning to attend to feelings-.” I was able to relate to that statement, as I am usually a quiet person, I keep most things to myself, but when I find someone that I consider a leader I am more willing to open up and discuss my thoughts. Which I have realized this would be great to work in an environment when I had a leader for a boss, and not just a boss. Someone who employees could look up to and feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with them..Oh in a perfect world….

From the Ground Up.

Reading, From the Ground Up, I was introduced to many good ideas. I have to say though, I did judge a book by its cover. I never really had any thoughts one way or the other on gardening before joining the UEL cohort. I was inspired by the passion for gardening Brynn and Alex brought to the group. And looking at the cover of this book I thought it may have a bit to do with gardening, and it had nothing. But after reading it I understand why the author or publisher choose the photo. A seed can have a hard time from the get go depending on where it is planted. It needs water and access to the sun for photosynthesis, with out these it will die. I saw correlation between this and people in dead end jobs where rules were pushed upon them from the “higher ups.” The flower on the cover also spoke to me because everyone has a general understanding of how it grows, no matter what language we speak. It can bring people of different cultures and languages together but still get the point across. The flower on the front reminded me of page 22 a paragraph called, “Individual Empowerment or Collective Action.” I have to agree that if an individual is incapable of change, an institution can not change. When individuals are willing to adapt and change for the greater good, it seems that a SCO would become unstoppable. I think the hardest part would be getting individuals to believe that they could become part of something larger, something that would cause a great change. So then I was wondering…is it really from the ground up? To me it would take a strong leader for individuals to trust and look up to encouraging change. So maybe its from the top down? Or maybe its not a direction at all, maybe people just need to believe in themselves.

Values in Leadership.

I really enjoyed reading the article, “Values in Leadership.” I liked the fact that in the beginning of the article the author pointed out, “We say that Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin drug cared was a leader, even if we detested his values, because he motivated followers to realize his vision.”(p.13)

It makes me realize that leaders come in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc. It gives me hope for becoming a leader, as I always felt I didn’t fit the “picture” of a leader. I imagine leaders dressed for success so to speak. If I had the money perhaps I could buy a suit or something from Banana Republic and dress the part of a leader, but I don’t. But it does suggest that perhaps I should be more conscious of how I come across to people as I could be becoming a leader in someone’s eyes.

On page 20 the author suggests that it may be more useful to define leadership as an activity. I love activities. I love being involved in things. I strive to be part of a community and accepted as myself. The term activity is less daunting. Facing our fears is a huge challenge, I am afraid of being a leader. I am afraid that I may make a mistake and loose the trust of those who are looking to me for guidance. At some point I know I will have to face my fears, and I think taking the “activity” approach will be a very useful tool for me.

The roots of my environmentalism

I just re-read the article called, "Life paths into effective environetnal action' by Chawla. I read it again because I remember from the first time I read it that the two groups they choose to study were a group from Kentucky and a group from Norway. I was thinking to myself could they possibly be any different from each other? Were they chosen at random? I'm curious of the validity of this study. But that's just me, I do that all time.

So I am revisiting this article because of the story I attempted to tell Friday night. Please excuse me for not being able to tie sentences or thoughts together that night. It was my first trip out of the house that was not a trip to the hospital in 2 weeks. And the left over drugs were wearing off. But anyways....I was trying to tell the story of a place I used to work for in the summer of 2002. It was called the Norwegian Outdoor Exploration Center.

Here I was introduced to the philosophy and lifestyle of the traditional form of Norwegian "Friluftsliv". "loosely translated as “Free-Air-Life”, an environmental approach embodying the principles of living in harmony with oneself, one’s community and all of Nature." This was something I feel I always had within me, I just did not how to assign words to the feelings.

One part of the article that really hit home with me was when they were defining different categories of sources of commitments. This was pretty upsetting to me, as for me, and I'm sure for many others it can be misrepresented. I would volunteer 40+ hrs a week at various environmental institutions if I could...If I could..the problem is my rent. my life expenses. I can not afford to just volunteer. I used to want to be a lawyer. Just for 7-10 years so I could do it and retire at 40 and volunteer and meaningful places. Obviously that is not the path I choose but I still enjoy the idea. This almost seems as an issue of power and privlidge, who can afford to volunteer? Who can work for free? If I could I would, believe me, I would work for Charles River Watershed, or an organization that educated people on climate change. That would be great, but it is not a reality for me at this point in my life.

I can trace my love for the environment back to a child. Growing up in the Berkshires, I was always outside. My parents started me skiing when I was 4 years old. I was always doing something fun outside. Recently I have had to change my ways of thinking to include finding nature in the city.