Happy New Era!
2011 saw the passing of so many old ‘non-working’ assumptions
Wall Street immunity from scrutiny - for example - #occupy
B-ring in the new!
I welcome in all imaginings - of a happier, fairer, greener nature.
For me 2012 is a year of fresh beginnings - in the fire of radical renewal.
My personal vision for 2012 is to be “the carbon coach on fire!”
Ablaze with passion again :)
And “minding my own business!”
If you missed it here’s my ‘Campaign Hero’ piece in 28 December 2011
Ben Hudson #bhudso was my interviewer for The Ecologist and he gave me great encouragement. He knows climate change is a ‘bigger than self’ problem. We’ve decided to work together this year on some fun ideas.
This is the era of the ARK: Acts of Random (climate) Kindness
Hopefully there’s a nice surprise for you at the end of this piece.
Do you ever take your eye off the carbon ball(oon) and feel disheartened?
Do you ever see all your efforts as a ‘drop in the ocean’?
Common symptoms believe me!
Then take solace, and take heart, link here:
The Hummingbird Story by dear Prof Wangari Maathai (RIP)
“I am doing the best I can!”
How cool if everyone awakens: to this buzzing flaming passionate reality!
Of course you and I have been working on shrinking my own carbon feet for a long while now; but that doesn’t ‘exempt’ me.
I am going to redouble my own efforts at home in 2012.
I looked in the mirror
And what did I see
A big purple CO2 balloon
With a name on it…
... ‘Me’
You will see from The Ecologist article that I have bold plans a-(carbon)-foot...
…to co-create a MILLION carbon coaches in 2012!
More on this later...
First, here’s what I said in The Ecologist (and I have had some lovely feedback.)
I am going to launch something that helps people to coach themselves…. on an amateur basis. Amateur coaching is what we need because none of us have got all the answers yet.
The people who change the world are often amateurs. The root of the word amateur is to work for love, so for me it’s the highest possible compliment.
I’d like to share with you my own 2012 Mission Possible – what I am doing - to get me off to a flying (or flying less) start. (And do I wish to accept it? Yes I do!)
- I am going to get a good handle on my carbon footprint. I know there are loads of ‘calculators’ out there and they all give different answers! That’s ok. I choose to use the one that I respect the most, for now. In the UK, that’s the Resurgence calculator. I am going to refresh my familiarity with exactly how the estimation process works, (under the bonnet), and get better acquainted with ‘my number’
- I will concern myself with honesty over accuracy. Sure, we can all present the data in many different ways, (e.g. be harsh or lenient on ourselves.) It’s not a competition! I will size myself up again, and learn all about the various main chunks that make up my footprint, and their relative size. I will get to know the ‘breakdown’ of my own carbon (humble) pie! E.G. Elec 1, Gas 2, Travel 3, Food 2, UK Share 1, Stuff 2. TOTAL: 11 Tons?
- Now I ‘know my number’ and how it’s broken down (just ‘ball-park’ data) I am going to tell special someone in my life – I have chosen my wife Jan.
- I am deciding to take meaningful steps in 2012 to reduce the bits of MY footprint that are under my direct control. And I will make changes in MY life. I will share that plan with Jan - my ‘carbon buddy’ - so that she can support and witness my progress over the year. I’ll ask her to keep me accountable during the year, encourage me and seek progress reports. (My January 2013 newsletter could be fun!)
My wife is my perfect choice to be my carbon buddy.
It is MY responsibility to do what I can with MY carbon number and I want to be able to say – like Wangari
‘I am doing the best I can’
It’s my number, my choice, and my reasons. It’s me who will benefit most too.
Now here’s the nice surprise – I hope…
I reckon – if you want to do the same as me - in steps 1 to 4 (above)…
… then you are a Carbon Coach too...
You are a Carbon Coach!
Congratulations!
Everyone is a carbon coach!! (We just haven’t all realised it yet)
NOW YOU MAY already know your carbon shadow intimately, and feel as if you have been there, done that (already) and got the Fairly Traded T-shirt. If that is true then you are extremely well placed to take a fresh look at whether there is anything more you can happily do? Or you may already be doing the best you can? In which case - shine on.
For me, 2012 is simply the year I decide to continue my personal carbon-cutting mission for a slightly different reason:- because I want to.
Ultimately, that’s the only valid reason. After all, my carbon (reduction) efforts are going to make the biggest difference to me, and my loved ones. It’s a personal choice, and it comes with a personal benefit. I have a hunch it will make me feel happier, too.
(One thing the world does not need right now is miserable carbon coaches!)
‘The carbon coach on fire’ wants to live 2012 with enthusiasm, passion, focus, commitment, curiosity, determination, persistence, will power, and joy.
Most of all joy. It has to be joyful - for me - and for my loved ones.
I am the only person I can change. You are the only person who can change you.
And I’d also like to be fitter, happier, better off and better placed to face the future, but I will regard all these as optional extras!
My intention in all this is:
To do it for love
I want to be inspirational to loved ones, and to others. Just doing it and being the carbon coach for a year. I will coach myself, take action myself, raise my own awareness, and then I will see if I am truly doing the best l can?
My choice of ‘carbon buddy’
My thinking is that it doesn’t matter what their interest or knowledge of green issues is. It doesn’t matter if their feet are huge or tiny (that’s their business!) and it doesn’t matter if they are keen or skeptical. It doesn’t matter if they are green, red or blue, or purple; old or young, etc. All that matters is that they like/love me - as I am - and are willing to hold my hand while I change my (inner) light bulb.
Someone who will enjoy watching me enjoy being the change I want to see in the world.
After all, we don’t go around suggesting that friends go on a diet – or at least most of us don’t.
But I can decide to take responsibility for my own lifestyle, my own happiness, and my own consumption. And shine!
So please do NOT even think of suggesting that anyone else might want to look at their footprint!!! Not even your best buddy. I did that once but I hope I got away with it – if not I hope I may be forgiven :o)
If friends ask what makes you a carbon coach, you can proudly say YOU are busy looking closely at YOUR own carbon feet. JUST minding your own carbon business!
My mission is to work out how I can be happy & inspirational on less carbon.
Care to join me?
One more carbon coach… then a few… then a thousand... then a million….
Here is the link to the ‘change.org’ petition site:
I invite you to join me here – and be one in a million - in 2012
That will be our gift to the world this year.
Imagine if everyone else ‘JUST’ did that!
And anyway, remember…
We’re all just walking each other home (says Ram Dass)
Credit ‘Earth Family’
Click : Everyone is a carbon coach!
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