Transcripts
1. Intro: Hi. I'm Julia Berry, an artist and an advocate for
imperfect environmentalism. I own Uroot Design Studio, where I design and
sell sustainable home, garden and wellness goods to make green living
easier and more fun. I'm on a mission to help everyday people like you
and me have the tools, resources, and encouragement
we need to get into the sustainable habits that really work for our lives. I believe that being
green is for everyone, not only because an inclusive
world is a kinder world, but because collective
effort toward a healthier planet is a real way that we
can make an impact. So it's awesome
that you're here. Simply by showing up, you're making time to
care about the Earth, something that's not
only important to you, but to our entire
world, literally. In this course,
you'll hone in on your personal sustainability
superpower and identify at least one awesome green
habit that fits well with it. You'll know how to
make sustainable living practical and fun specifically for you and be able to get
started. Let's go.
2. Know Your Sustainable Why: In this lesson, we'll be talking about your
sustainable why. First of all, what does
sustainable even mean? According to the
Oxford dictionary, the environmental
connotation of the word sustainable is the avoidance of the depletion of
natural resources in order to maintain
an ecological balance. In other words, we
want the impacts of our daily lives on Earth to
feed into a balanced plan. Where we often go off track
is feeling like we must help the entire planet get to a perfectly sustainable
stasis or we're powerless. That's an overwhelming
and paralyzing thought and physically impossible
for a person to do alone. What possible is helping your corner of the planet
be a bit more in balance. It may sound less heroic, but it's a much happier
and impactful way to incorporate green
habits into your life, which helps you keep doing them for greater
and greater impact. So let's write down some
ideas about balance. Follow the journaling
prompts in your workbook and circle anything that jumps out as particularly
important to you. This exercise will reveal your motivations
for being here in this course and the
environmental causes and issues that you
care about the most. We will come back to these
later in the course.
3. Identify Your Sustainable Style: Now we're going to identify
your sustainable style. Your sustainable style
stems from the skills, talents, and ambitions
you already have. For example, if you love to repurpose grocery bags
into holiday ornaments, then your sustainable
style is probably crafter. If you love to get your
hands in the dirt, then your sustainable
style might be gardener. Check out the suggestions in my workbook or use the space provided to
come up with your own.
4. Focus on Your Strengths: Now that you've identified
your sustainable style, let's flesh out what
this means to you. In your workbook, list
your traits, skills, and strengths that you think correspond with
the sustainable style. This can be anything
from imaginativeness to physical strength to
great at making pizza. There are no wrong answers. This is all about how you think about your
sustainable style. For example, if your sustainable
style is socializer, then you might write down
that your traits, skills, and strengths as
a socializer are, you're a good listener, passionate sharer of things
that you care about, and welcoming host
of fun parties.
5. Reveal Your Sustainable Superpower: Great job so far. We're now
going to look at the list of strengths and skills you made in the previous lesson and
look for a common thread. What do the things on your
list involve or point to? Continuing the example
from lesson to the sustainable socializers
strengths with groups of people can be boiled down to bringing out the good in people or bringing people together. Whatever theme you
see standing out from your list is your
sustainable superpower. Other examples might be
creative problem solving, knowledge of plants,
high energy levels, or the ability to
motivate others. Write it down in the
workbook certificate and celebrate your aha moment.
6. Activate Your Sustainable Superpower: It's time to activate your
sustainable superpower. And it's totally okay if you
feel like this type is hard. You might feel like you need
to figure out how to start or whether you're
starting in the right or best or most efficient ways, or you might think
that you have to do everything amazingly
well from minute one. I'm here to say, you don't. Remove that pressure
from yourself. When it comes to contributing
to a healthier Earth, doing what you can actually do is what will have
the most impact. This is because these are things you're
more likely to do, keep doing or return
to over time. You're also more likely to encourage others to try it with you or help others find the ways that they
will love to participate, contributing to
healthier communities and collective action, which is actually what we need. Many people making small
changes for a big impact. So let's dive in and pick which awesome green activity
you want to try first. Here we go. Think about your sustainable style and your superpower
within that style. What realm of your life do
they seem to fit easily into? It might be your household,
family, workplace, school, hobbies,
civic involvement, or anything else that
lights up for you. In the workbook, we're
going to fill out the following Mad Lib using all the brilliant thoughts
you've come up with so far. My sustainable style is blank, and my superpower is blank. I can therefore easily make
sustainable efforts in blank, any of the life realms that
we talked about before. So if we go back to our example, the MD live would be my
sustainable style is socializer, and my superpower is
bringing people together. I can therefore easily make sustainable
efforts in my work, school, leisure time, and
or civic involvement.
7. Locate Your Starting Point: Keep off the good work. We're
getting to the juicy part. In your workbook, look at your filled out Md live
from the previous lesson. With this information
as inspiration, now make a list of green habits that correspond with the style, superpower, and realm or realms that you've
identified as your jam. These ideas are especially
golden if they make you feel happy, joyful, hopeful, alive, and excited, or curious, or you can anticipate a sense of fun when you think
about doing it. Since there are so many
ways that we can go green, you may find it helpful to focus your brainstorms on an environmental cause
you care about. You can refer back to your journal entry in
lesson one for ideas. Try not to judge your thoughts and just write whatever
ideas pop to mind. If I were to generate a
list of green activities that correspond with
the style, superpower, realms and environmental focus we've been using in
our ongoing example, it might go with
something like this. I'd like to focus on
ocean plastic in my work, school, leisure time, and
or civic involvement. Since I am a socializer with the ability to bring
people together, my brainstorm for
awesome green activities suited specifically well to me are advocate for plastic free vending
machine items at work, organize a beach trash cleanup with colleagues and or friends, host a letter writing party in support of plastic
reduction legislation, hand out flyers for a local political candidate
committed to ocean health. Do call banking for my favorite ocean
cleanup organization or rally my friends to donate to my favorite ocean
cleanup organization. Reduce plastic use on vacation and encourage
others to do the same. When you're happy with your
list of generated ideas, circle one activity or habit from that list that
you'd like to start with. You can choose a random. You can choose it because
you listed it first or last, because it excites you the most. Whatever. The point
here is to just pick and not stress
about the decision. We're skipping over the
part where we get way laid by not feeling perfect
or powerful enough, jumping into action that
will actually help the plan. In short, action is
better than perfection.
8. Make It Fun: In the last lesson, you picked the green activity or habit that you're going to try first. Now we're going
to take this idea and think about the simplest, easiest, and most fun
way you'd like to do it. In your workbook, fill out
the following Madelin. My awesome green
activity is blank. At its root, this
idea is about blank. It excites me to contribute
to a healthier planet in this way, particularly
because blank. Following along
with our example, the MD lib would be my
awesome green activity is organize a beach
trash cleanup with colleagues and friends. At its root, this idea is about reducing the amount of plastic
that ends up in the ocean. It excites me to contribute to a healthier planet this way, particularly because it's
a tangible activity with visible results and I also love going to the
beach with friends. But how do we get from
the idea to action? Let's think about how you might handle obstacles or feelings of overwhelm and what
realistic methods will help you actually
implement your idea. To do this, we first need
to identify our obstacles. In the workbook, write down anything you feel could
be challenging or that you may feel
uncomfortable or resistance about with your chosen green
activity or habit. It's an important first
step to acknowledge our blocks or what might be
difficult or challenging. As you're making
this list, again, try not to judge your thoughts and just write down anything
that occurs to you. We're not writing
these things down to get stuck here,
feeling bad about them, but rather just to identify
them so we can decide more consciously what we want to do about them
in the next step. Stay with me. As an example, let's go back to our beach cleanup goal we've
seen throughout the course. I might hit emotional, physical, logistical, or other types
of obstacles with this idea. For instance, I
might write down, it feels overwhelming
because everyone is so busy, especially in the summer. It feels difficult because
it's time consuming. It feels hard because
the beach is far away from where I live.
How will I get there? I don't really feel like going
on a long trek by myself. It's just a one time activity. I feel depressed about how little this might actually
help the environment. Now let's have a look
at these blocks. We're going to consciously
turn them around. What solutions can you find to make each block more
doable and fun? Write down your solutions next to each obstacle
in your workbook. Seeing those written down is empowering and you will always have them
to refer back to, should you get stuck
again in the future. Going back to our beach example, here's what I might
think of for solutions. For the feeling of overwhelm about everyone being
busy in the summer, I will invite only a
few close friends, making it easier to
find a common time. For the difficulty of a
cleanup being time consuming, I will propose combining
the cleanup with some relaxing beach time that this group will enjoy
making it worth a trip. For the challenge of the
beach being far away, I will deputize my friend
who loves to plan travel, and she'll find our best
public transportation route. I will also invite
the friend group to gather at my
apartment beforehand for some breakfast snacks so we can have fun and
travel together. For my feeling that one
beach cleanup isn't enough, I will plan one beach
cleanup per summer. So the idea continues into
the future, but is doable. In the meantime, I'll
post about how to do it on social media to
inspire others. I'll make sure that all
recyclable plastics collected are recycled and if I'm
feeling really into it, I can write down
how many pieces or pounds of plastic were
stayed from the ocean, so I can feel more satisfied
about a quantified impact. I can also remind
myself that I'm directly helping the
animals, plants, and environment on
the particular beach I've chosen for
cleanup and make sure to take time to notice these real beings and natural
features while I'm there. If I have the capacity, I might even sign up for a
local Ocean groups E Ns, thereby staying
aware of other at home actions that I can take throughout non beachy seasons, such as petitions, letter writing campaigns,
calls, et cetera. I can even encourage
friends to do this too. Wow. That's actually
a lot of stuff. Recognizing all the
small beats and impacts that your
larger goal includes is a great way to forefront
what you are actually doing or actually
can do in your mind. Surprise, you've actually
just fleshed out a list of to dos that will help you realistically start your
awesome green activity. Have it. Knowing how to start, continue and get there in ways that work for you will help you really do it with
motivation and fun this. A quick note. If you got to the
end of this exercise and actually aren't
feeling all that jazz, feel free to go back and try it with a different
green activity or have it from your list
that speaks to you more to find the right
starting place for you. If you're still hitting
a wall after that, why not source the hive mind? Feel free to post a comment for your fellow
classmates and me, and we'll do our best to help.
9. You did it! (Class Project): You did it. Find the last
certificate in your workbook. Fill in everything
you've uncovered in this course,
including your style, superpower, focus areas,
and chosen activity, and fill in the date by
which you plan to start. Fill it out proudly and put it somewhere, I
will motivate you. Locations might include
a digital version as your laptop wallpaper or a printed hard copy
step to your fridge. Pick what works best for you. To complete this
courses project, post a photo or video of
you near your certificate, and if possible, do the activity outlined on your certificate
in that photo or video, too. And that's it. You found an
activity or have it that you feel like you really want to begin and you're
ready to go. Ccrats. Give yourself permission
to feel good about this. On the last page
in your workbook, we're going to cement in that good feeling that
will propel you forward. We're going to fill
out the Md lid. I am focusing on blank as the thing I can
contribute right now. And if you want to,
you can even list out things you're giving yourself
permission to not do, letting go of guilt and
opening up space for you to focus on the thing or
things that you are doing. You can write them down in an
affirmation format such as, it's right that I can't be
100% plastic free right now, or I give myself permission
to not eat vegan.
10. That's A Wrap - Join Our Green Community!: Congrats on being more green. Take a minute to be
proud of yourself. From all the gloom and
doom of our news media, it's easy to feel like nothing we do has
impact and give up. But perfection is
an impossible goal and one that actually prevents
us from doing anything. Instead, by accepting that none of us are perfect,
but we each matter, you're giving yourself
permission to participate imperfectly,
meaning for real. You've identified ways
that you will enjoy and actually be able to
contribute to a healthier planet, and that is powerful. Remember that each of
us making small changes adds up to something hugely helpful for us and our planet. There are 8 billion
people on Earth. Clearly, the idea that we can do nothing is very
far from the truth. So I'm really thrilled that you, specifically you are here. Thank you so much for
joining this course. It means a lot to me
and everyone on Earth. I'm really glad we can build a healthier planet
together, imperfectly. Hey, if you're really
in the rhythm with the first activity or habit you picked and you want to expand, feel free to pick another
one from your list and try adding that on using the same exercises we
did for the first one. As time goes by, you can also go through the
workbook again as a way to get started helping with a new environmental
focus, passion, or topic. I can't wait to see what green things you're
getting up to. Remember to post media with your certificate and you doing
your green activity here. If you're interested
in more ways to put your imagination, time, and human impact on Earth toward a chance at a
flourishing planet, visit uproot designstudio.com
forwardslash IPEFET. There you'll find
free downloads, inspiring content, and easy ways you can tap
into the uproot community. Feel free to ask me any questions
in the comments or send feedback via hello at
uproot designstudio.com. I'm sending you all
the encouragement and love to keep being
your caring self. We are all imperfectly perfect, and that's what makes
our world beautiful. Thanks for being here, and
I'll catch you next time.
Julia Barry, Let's go green, together!
