Movements that are successful in transforming sentiment to action personally, professionally or politically, require organizing leadership and volunteer support. Community volunteers from all walks of life are essential for a culture of continuing environmental improvements to evolve. Explore the realms of how to act locally and how to both motivate others and stay motivated yourself.
Whether you want basic advice on the range of ways individuals and groups can volunteer and make a difference for a sustainable future, or you're interested in learning how to become a full-fledged political activist, Carolyn Chase can answer your questions.
Whether you have never volunteered before, or are a veteran looking to connect, send your questions to Carolyn at earthday@earthdayweb.org.
Why Bother?
That's one of the most asked question by people who don't volunteer, those who may have had an unsuccessful volunteer experience in the past, or those simply too self-absorbed to engage in the activities that contribute to meaningful change.
Improving our collective relationship with nature and the environment is one of the most daunting concerns to get involved with. That's because the translation of our local actions into effects that are causing the decline of ecosystems worldwide, makes it hard to ponder how an individual can really make a difference.
Even if you do what you can to reduce your personal impacts, that's definitely not enough to deal with the root causes. The root causes of environmental degradation touch all aspects of all cultures. To solve them requires changes in both the private and the public realms. While much can and must be done by private actors, changes are also required in the political realm.
All of this can be overwhelming - especially in a culture dominated by messages to distract people from reality - to literally entertain us as nature declines on a daily basis. This disconnection also exploits the rampant cynicism about politics and government.
So now that we're thoroughly confronted by how difficult change can be, let's consider why all the above is really just a fantastic call to action!
Why bother?
Dana (Donella) Meadows was one of the clarion voices of sustainability, author of several highly important books, including "Limits to Growth" in 1972, and author of a syndicated column in recent years, entitled "Global Citizen" wrote the following in what turned out to be her final column.
"Some biologists are saying the polar bear is doomed.
"A friend of mine, in response to this news, did the only appropriate thing. She burst out weeping. "What am I going to tell my three-year-old?" She sobbed. Any of us still in contact with our hearts and souls should be sobbing with her, especially when we consider that the same toxins that are in the bears are in the three-year-old. And that the three-year-old over her lifetime may witness collapsing ecosystems, north to south, until all creatures are threatened, especially top predators like polar bears and people.
"Is there any way to end this column other than in gloom? Can I give my friend, you, myself any honest hope that our world will not fall apart? Does your only possible future consist of watching the disappearance of the polar bear,the whale, the tiger, the elephant, the redwood tree, the coral reef, while fearing for the 3-year-old?
Heck, I don't know.
There's only one thing I do know. If we believe that it's effectively over, that we are fatally flawed, that the most greedy and short-sighted among us will always be permitted to rule, that we can never constrain our consumption and destruction, that each of us is too small and helpless to do anything, that we should just give up and enjoy our SUVs while they last, well, then yes, it's over. That's the one way of believing and behaving that way gives us a guaranteed outcome. Personally, I don't believe that stuff at all.
I don't see myself or the people around me as fatally flawed. Everyone I know wants polar bears and 3-year-olds in our world. We are not helpless, and there is nothing wrong with us except the strange belief that we are helpless and there's something wrong with us.
All we need to do, for the bear and ourselves, is to stop letting that belief paralyze our minds, hearts and souls."
May we always remain unparalyzed."
So why bother?
Doesn't it really amount to the opportunity to say that we did what we could? Without bothering, there is no chance for change - no chance for improvement.
Yes, change is difficult. Things in the human domain all exist the way they are for a reason. To change them you must deal with those reasons. There is resistance to change. But since people have created the way we treat the world, we can change the way we treat the world.
Believing anything else is just a cop-out and a personal defense mechanism which allows you to disconnect from the responsibility - and damage - that we are part of doing every day.
And consider this:
"Dear Earth Day coordinators,
I am a student at Rancho Bernardo High School who volunteered for EarthFair last year. Well - let me tell you that it was an awesome experience for me, and I have gained a better appreciation for our natural resources and conservation."
She asked if we could use another 80 volunteers for this year. Those 80 are part of the 400 who will help this event this year. There will be more than 50,000 in attendance to interact with more than 200 organizations - all attempting to do something - to contribute to solutions. The ripple effect is real.
Why bother?
"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others. . .they send forth a ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- Robert F. Kennedy
READ PAST VOLUNTEERING GREEN COLUMNS
Written by: Carolyn Chase.
To send your questions to Carolyn, e-mail earthday@earthdayweb.orgPassionately committed to integrating environmental awareness into daily decision-making at all levels, personal, professional and public, Carolyn has donated more than 5,000 hours of volunteer service work on a variety of projects and helped recruit and manage more than 3,000 first-time volunteers for environmental service work.
In 1990, she founded San Diego Earth Day, now known as San Diego EarthWorks, a volunteer-based California non-profit corporation. In 1995, she help found the Earth Day Network linking together local organizers across the United States and around the world. Carolyn manages and moderates several computer email lists on sustainability, conservation, and Earth Day organizing. She has also served as the Chapter Chair for the San Diego/Imperial County Sierra Club and is currently national Chair of the Sierra Club Global Warming Program Committee, member of the Board of the San Diego League of Conservation Voters and Chair of the City of San Diego's Waste Management Advisory Board.
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