Thursday, March 31, 2011

First and Foremost

Anyone who would be doing me the courtesy of looking at my blog right now should also check out some of these sites for basic essentials in news trends, issues, etc.

1.) http://www.treehugger.com/


2.) http://www.fastcompany.com/topics/ethonomics


3.) http://www.cleanwater.org/


3.) http://www.erec.org/fileadmin/erec_docs/Projcet_Documents/RES2020/AUSTRIA_RES_Policy_Review_09_Final.pdf

4.) http://www.gogreeninitiative.org

5.) http://www.ilovemountains.org/

6.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/


Just a few to get you started!

Moving Up and Out: My Green beginnings

In May of 2009, I started organizing for the New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) . Let's face it, I was about 19 and in terrible need of a paid summer job. My college room mate was probably the only teenager I knew who habitually recycled, turned off lights, used reusable grocery bags, and didn't eat meat. She also had been working with a sketchy sounding organization she found an ad for in the newspaper, which ended up being NJEF. Was I into all the "crazy" stuff she did, with her resource conservation and hippie- like childhood background? Hell no, but I was ever so slightly interested....ever...so....

Anyway I got lazy looking for a job related to my soon-to-be degree of international marketing and I got on board with the Federation. Every day I walked around neighborhoods knocking on doors and learning how to piss people off. Best. Job. Ever.

No, seriously though, it was an incredible experience.So far, it has been the most important thing I've done with my life.

 I learned for the first time that it's perfectly normal to WANT to change the world, and not only that, but it's actually POSSIBLE. You could only imagine the excitement I went through every day knocking on doors and never knowing who I was going to run into and how they would react to me standing at their door. I loved it. It got even more exciting when I started meeting real people who were already making changes themselves doing things like installing solar panels on their houses, designing wind turbines, and working for other organizations to pass laws to protect our air and water.
That first summer was the wake up call I needed: I had wasted almost 20 years of my life as a consumer from one of the richest places in the world without thinking.

 I worked with NJEF all that summer and then moved to Austria for a semester abroad. On top of that semester being one of the best experiences of my life, I learned the U.S. was a tad far behind in energy efficiency, waste disposal, and just about anything sustainable. It was appalling. After getting back to the U.S. I went through a tough semester readjusting and picked up canvassing as soon as junior year was over. Then I did a summer semester stint in Paris studying European consumer behavior and policy, and learned an overwhelming amount about French food, drink and nuclear energy. Phew. Anyway, I was back by August and canvassed until I went back to school for my last year.

Now I'm on a mission. Being a marketing and international business double major ( and a damn good one, might I add!) I pulled together all my collegiate and experiential knowledge and realized there MAY be a huge thing happening here...I wanted in. So here I am. Just, in. Want to be in, too? Join the crowd, the mindset, the curiosity, and find the connection between business, the individual and sustainability today! It won't be hard, I'll walk you through it. Just keep yourself posted, and Kuhl it.