Tomorrow is a big day

I'm co-chairing another climate conference because people foolishly think I'm good at those things. I don't do anything alone, but I have worked hard. I'm hoping that the material we put out there is something people appreciate, even if we don't have a big audience on the day of. Ah, the magic of Zoom recordings.

The conference starts tomorrow at 7 AM (8:30 for the rest of the world) and goes until 5 PM. It's going to be a long day, there will be fires to put out and cats to herd, but then we'll be done. And then you know how I'm going to celebrate?

By bringing my phone and Surface to factory settings obviously.

When a friend mentioned doing that a few weeks ago, it pricked my ears. By the time I heard a journalist talk about it a week and a half later, I was ready to start strategizing. And now, having spent hours sorting and deleting files, I am so excited. I can't wait for my phone to be just that--well, maybe throw in a little texting--and I can't wait to get rid of all of the dreck that's on my computer. I have a good idea of the things I'm going to need to add, but it's not nearly as much as you would think if you saw my computer now.

I first heard about the internet when I was eleven years old, and it sounded like a great tool to do some research on (I was convinced there were other Greek myths that hadn't made it over to me at that point). Forty-one years later, and I can say that I do not want to use the internet for research unless I don't have a choice. In looking through my bookmarks and saved links and realizing that the biggest category was science--I bet you didn't see that coming--I pondered over the best way to use the information. Finally, it came to me, and I deleted all of them and got a subscription to Science News. I don't want to use my computer as a mediator for my research any more, though of course it would be foolish not to use it for writing my thoughts in a final format. (Ahem, ask me how I know.)

The money I spent on that was freed up in part by canceling my BuJo U subscription. I'm really grateful for the Bullet Journal system, and I appreciate that it's an idea the creator didn't initially make a lot of money off of. So I was happy to be a paying member of his community for a few years. And I would have stayed even through an increase in price, but NOT through it's evolution into a certification course. Ugh, ugh, and more ugh. Sorry, but having lived through mind body fitness--hell, having lived through tech--I know a scam when I see one. I can still enjoy the idea and utilize the concept, but I'm not going to be part of a community which can't survive without preying on its members.

Sadly, I have similar feelings about Marie Kondo. Much as I love her books and genuinely felt better after implementing her ideas, her consultant certification just boggles my mind, even more than selling products she implicitly warned against in her books. In her defense, she didn't set up the same kind of paid community Bullet Journal did, at least not in this country, but still.

These developments get me even more because what I think the internet is a very good mediator for is *communication* and sometimes even community, but organic communities, not those whose ultimate goal is sales. There's something very MLM about that, and I try to avoid those at all costs.

I think a lot about what Neil Postman et al had to say about how technology affects content--"The medium is the message"--and I'm starting to come to the conclusion that it's not a question of technology corrupting "content", but technology being misapplied. Just because something's good at presenting a drama that doesn't mean it's the best thing for music, and just because something makes a great message board, that doesn't mean it's where we should do our shopping (don't get me started on internet search). Maybe it's not a terrible thing to experiment, but when you fail, admit it and move on.

Well, that's what I'm going to do at least.

Deb in the City

 

What an Organizer Does

I'm a born organizer...actually, no I'm not. I make myself hyper-aware of the little details that need to be done to make a vision a reality because I'm actually not innately aware of them. When I have a vision, I don't automatically see all of the steps needed to get there, which is why I have to work so hard to make them happen.

Earlier this week I put an event for Jewish Climate Action Network, Massachusetts chapter (JCAN-MA), in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation for their Sacred Grounds program. This is how we got there:

• A year and a half ago I asked one of my sons what he wanted to study
• Among other things, he says "the science of climate change"
• I find a bunch of books, including one by Judith Schwartz called Cows Save the Planet that talks about the potential of regenerative agriculture. (I'd been exposed to the concept before, but never in that detail.)
• We read another book of Schwartz's, Water in Plain Sight.
• I see this as a great complement to the work JCAN-MA is doing with heating/cooling/transportation, and propose it as a team.
• People like the idea.
• I organize one webinar on victory gardens. Not only do I find someone else to host, I find other people to attend, one of whom joins the team.
• I organize another webinar on compost, led by the second person who told me about regenerative agriculture. People come.
• There's enthusiasm for all things gardening and agriculture, in large part due to the pandemic. We apply for and get a grant for money to bring more programs forward.
  
• The vice-president of JCAN-MA wants to talk about the limits of food and agriculture as a climate solution, and I'm all over it. (I have not saved the world with three decades of vegetarianism.) People come.
• One of the team members hosts a webinar on how we can bring Jewish values, including caring for the earth, into our gardening. People come.
• With some of the money from the grant (above), we host a film series and discussion including two films, Intelligent Trees and Hometown Habitat.
• We love both films, and we all really love Sacred Grounds, a program mentioned in Hometown Habitats.

We're bringing these guys back

 

• We contact the National Wildlife Federation, and they love the idea of JCAN-MA bringing this to the Northeast.
• The president of JCAN-MA and I scramble to find people to partner with. Some people stay, some people leave, some more people come in.
• We organize three book groups about related topics. People don't come in good numbers (mental note: it is easier for people to watch a film than to read a book), but we read Nature's Best Hope by Doug Tallamy, and I have a better idea of what we need to talk about in a Sacred Grounds session (even if I'm not totally in love with the book, and even less so after I'm reminded of what Ibram Kendi has to say about E.O. Wilson in Stamped From The Beginning).
  
• We spend a lot of emails and Zoom calls trying to figure out the best way to divide the information up, as well as who can present. We settle on two programs, Why and How.
• I get a little crazed over nailing down a date because I want to start publicizing ASAP.
  
• We settle on a date and start emailing and posting.
• Meadowmaking for Biodiversity reaches out to us, and turns out they've been doing this work in our area for about six years. They happily agree to help present at both sessions.
  
• We realize we're competing with people for attendance because of another Jewish climate festival at the end of January.
• I warn people that numbers might be low, but they're fine going forward anyway.
• I'm trying to nail speakers for our conference in April in the midst of this.
• I'm also setting up a presentation for said late January Jewish climate festival.
• We have a tech rehearsal, and I start to think we're going to be okay.
• The brilliant person who works on all of our tech, among other things, helps shape promotional slides.
• We work up to three hours before the event. I come to the realization that almost all organizing equals admin, plus charisma. Therefore, in my case, all admin.
• I know we're prepared, and I feel a sense of calm, if not elation.
• The session begins! We have a lot of people. I'm an utter goofball, and so glad that I have speakers who know what they're talking about.
• Success! But...will they come to session two?

I skipped over the items that were not part of the direct path to these sessions, but there's more work, some of which I might lay out in another post about other projects. Oh yeah, during all of this, I'm also homeschooling my sons for the last year and trying to finish the series I started working on four years ago, as well as keep track of my elderly mother and autistic sister to the best of my ability. For some reason, I keep getting sick (not with COVID-19) and I'm not getting as much exercise as I would like.

I think it would be easier to donate money.