I was asked to share my personal story of leadership at a Regional Leadership Training Summit taking place out at UBC this weekend. The Summit is being organized by 2 groups involved in the campus climate movement in BC: goBEYOND Campus Climate Network and Common Energy UBC.

I was asked to speak on my experience as a leader, how I grew into the role, what keeps me going, how I’ve grown, etc. I chose not to talk about leadership so much in the traditional sense of having ‘this’ job title, or ‘that’ position within an organization. Instead, I decided I wanted to talk about this new kind of leadership, the leadership that applies to everyone, everywhere, and how to apply it to our every day lives.

I also wanted to share this with more people, like you.

Being one of those people who think best by writing, I wrote out what I planned to say during the talk beforehand. I’ve copied and pasted some of this below. I found it really useful to reflect on what leadership means to me, and in what ways I strive to be a leader in my own life. I think this differs for everyone, which is why it would be a useful exercise for all people to reflect on their own personal leadership.

I hope you will find these points useful in developing your own skills as a leader – no matter what you are doing in life.

Leadership
-I thought I could stand up here and tell you about the different leadership roles I’ve had in the past, and my experiences with that, but I didn’t think that would be as useful to you, because everyone leads in a different way.
-There’s often the belief that we need to be given a specific leadership job or role to play within an organization before we consider ourselves a leader.
-The truth is, we all have the ability to lead, no matter what we are doing. So we don’t need to strive for that leadership position and think, ‘then, I will be a leader’. Or ‘one day, I will be a leader’. We can all start to lead right now.
-True leadership is not about the what, but rather, it’s about the how.
-So there’s the what leader (in a management position, etc.), and there is the how leader
-Another word for the ‘how’ leader could be the quiet leader (who’s heard of quiet leadership?) and another word for the ‘what’ leader could be the authoritative leader (more dominating and telling people what to do/giving specific directions)
-The two are not mutually exclusive.
-So what does being a ‘how’ leader look like?

1) Having a strong network (social and professional) –> in other words, it’s all about relationships. Every time you meet someone new it is an opportunity to lead. The more people in your network, the more people you are able to engage in your passions and inspire others — both for themselves, and for your own passions.

2) Listening –> listen to people when they talk, try to understand their thought processes and their perspectives. Be open minded and willing to learn from them – even if you are sure you are right.

3) Willingness to stretch –> out of comfort

4) Embracing change –> not resisting

5) Always looking for more –> continuous thirst for knowledge and learning

6) Taking initiative

7) Believing in your abilities

Self-awareness –> listen to yourself, recognize the changes that happen within you, and support yourself.

If you follow these ‘how’ leadership practices… you will likely find yourself in ‘what’ leadership positions. You become the leader first, and the positions will follow. Building your network is key, but so are all of the other things – when you display such ‘how’ leadership qualities, other people will want to be around you and have you lead, because you will simultaneously be facilitating their own growth as a leader.

-My hope is that you can all take these points on ‘how’ leadership and apply them to your work in sustainability. You could even refer to ‘how’ leadership as ‘sustainable’ leadership – because this is the kind of leadership that lasts beyond any sort of title or job position you are given.

I want to end with a quote by John Quincy Adams:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

Discussion questions on this quote (taken from the book Tri-namics: Provocative Questions for Leadership Wisdom by Debbie Payne & Erna Hagge):

a) What do I do for myself that stimulates me to dream more, learn more, and become more?

b) What do I do for others that stimulate them to dream more, learn more and become more?

c) What do I want to do with this information?

**A BIG thank you to Debbie Payne and her wonderful definition of what leadership means to her, which inspired many of these thoughts.

-Becca

- Steve Jobs -

Steve Jobs passed away this last week on October 5th, 2011. I wanted to share this outstanding quote about doing what you love.

Doing what you love will bring greater joy to your life than money ever will.

Steve Jobs really knew where it was at. He is a great example of someone who lived a fulfilling life in every regard. He showed us that people might laugh, or think you are going nowhere, but if you continue to follow your heart you will become successful.

It’s fun to note that he was also a vegetarian and liked to grow a lot of his own food.

-Becca

the things that money can bring…

As I’ve written before, I do not believe that our environmental problems will be solved to the degree necessary simply by changing environmental policy, starting the right social programs, or electing the right politicians. This is because such changes would not be possible, or sustainable, without some necessary inner changes happening first.

Our environmental problems run so much deeper than a couple of lousy politicians (ok, maybe more than a couple), outdated laws, or certain individuals not carrying re-usable coffee mugs. Policy decisions and the actions of all people – including both you and I – are merely a reflection of our inner state. A large part of what our environmental dilemma comes down to is where we are as individuals in terms of our self-awareness about what we truly desire.

One of our greatest desires as humans is love; to love and to be loved. Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions, however, is that money can buy love (whether we are aware of this belief or not).

Money = security = happy and healthy family = lifetime supply of love… right?

Possibly – although this certainly isn’t fail-safe. So I wonder, is there a more guaranteed route to our lifetime supply of love?

On my most recent birthday (ahhh, 24!!), I learned something important about love. I learned that there is so much love around us if we are open to it. This past birthday I felt so special and felt so much love from my friends and family that I was about to burst. I have probably gotten the same amount of attention every year for my birthday, but I had never been as open to it, or as appreciative.

I can remember two years ago when I went out with some friends for my birthday and all I could focus on were the friends that had not shown up – and I failed to give my full attention and gratitude to those who had made the effort to come.

Everyone has someone in their life who loves them. It doesn’t matter how many people, and it doesn’t matter in what form. What matters is that it’s there, and that it’s real.

What made this most recent birthday so much better was the fact that I was focusing on the people who were there celebrating with me, and I was open to the love I was receiving. The best part is that getting so much love made me want to give more. And I am.

Since my birthday I have been putting in a conscious effort to tell people in my life how much I love and appreciate them. And on and on it goes…

Don’t hold back on telling someone how much you love and value them. It always feels great and inspires people to be the best they can be. And never under-value the love that you are given, thinking that it is not enough. Just let it fill you up. Knowing we are loved we will feel secure and ready to go out into the world to make a difference, rather than trying to find security solely through money.

I can guarantee that the more love you give, and the more open you are to receiving it, the more love you will get. And that, my friends, is what the hokey pokey is all about.

ACTION IDEA

Tell five people today how much you love them, care for them, appreciate them, value them… however you want to put it. Keep telling five people every week and see what happens…

-Becca

Ps – I love you!

Me too.

I came home this evening feeling worked up and scattered. I headed straight for my room.

Time to recuperate.

Even though I have purposely made it so that I have a lot of free time in my life, I still somehow find myself with a lot to do. I often find myself in that reactionary state of rapidly completing things on my “to do” list.

I’m just not present.

Creating TIME isn’t the only solution to this problem (so I’m learning). I still get to this place where I desperately need to just chill out.

Smell the flowers. Look around. Feel alive.

Finally, alone in my room, I sit down to meditate; then, a knock on the door. “House meeting… only time we are all together… must be now… “

“Nope. Sorry, need this time by myself. That’s priority number one.”

After saying that, I realized I felt kind of good. I felt surprisingly empowered sticking up for myself like that, even though I was letting other people down. I realized this is because you aren’t contributing anything to anyone if you aren’t in the right state of mind when you’re doing whatever you’re doing.

Have you ever been spending time with someone but you knew they weren’t completely there? Perhaps you could tell their mind was wandering even though they were pretending to be listening, or they didn’t remember your name right after you told them. Everyone has experienced and/or practiced this at some point. We all know that it’s no fun to spend time with someone who isn’t fully there.

No matter what we are doing – whether it’s working at a desk, volunteering, or meeting up with our family – we can’t contribute fully if we are in a disheveled state. In fact, sometimes we may even become a liability to a situation, causing more harm than good, if we’re in a foggy mindset.

Prioritizing time for ourselves, above everything else, is one thing we can all do to help ourselves, the people around us, and whatever cause we are working towards.

ACTION

Next time you are feeling worked up, stressed, scattered, or whatever you like to call it, drop everything you are doing, find a quiet place where you can be alone, and take a break to recuperate. Make this your number one priority. Don’t be tempted to convince yourself you will do it later. If you have a lot on your mind that you don’t want to forget, write down a list and then don’t think about it anymore until your break is over.

I truly believe that personal sustainability comes first, and that environmental sustainability will follow naturally. We all have a true purpose, and it’s just as simple as creating the space to find it. Prioritizing that break to clear your mind will create the space you need to make the right choices with how you spend the time that you do have.

I would still like this blog to “to trigger thought, and challenge ideas about current environmental issues and their solutions”, but I want to shift the focus to “where the personal meets the environmental”.

Change has to start from within. The personal is the spiritual is the environmental is the political. Everything that happens at the personal scale is magnified on the political, economic, and environmental scale.

I’ve blogged before about the need for Visioning, and how whatever we resist will persist. This is true for both the personal and the political – no matter what our cause. I’ve also blogged more recently about Time and how creating more of this will not only improve our own lives, but help the environment as well.

To take another example, I want to look at the answer to a very important question. What drives most environmental destruction?

Money.

What drives the desire for money?

The things that money can buy.

In other words, we don’t want money per se, but we want the things that money can bring. On the surface we might think that the things we want are power and friends and beautiful houses and tropical vacations… but take it one level deeper and…

Don’t we all want the same thing in the end?

Love. Acceptance. A sense of purpose.

Are these not at the root of every being’s intention for belonging to a religion? A cult? A club?

If this is the end to be met, then there are plenty of other, more successful, means to get there. The belief that ‘money can buy happiness’ has become outdated.

We are constantly learning from past mistakes, and evolving. It’s time to move forward. We live in a time of ‘systems thinking’, where nothing can be looked at in isolation, and everything is interconnected. How we live our inner lives and whether or not we seek true fulfillment and an authentic existence, does affect the planet; through our actions, our choices, and our words.

This one’s a little elusive, but an introduction to a new concept I will be focusing on in my blogging. Future blogs will be reflections on my own experimentations with living and how these things relate to building a sustainable future, which I hope will also be helpful to YOU on your own journey. I intend to make it full of lots of practical ideas for action as well… so stay tuned!

Becca

I can breathe! There is no greater gift.

A few weeks ago I had the realization that I don’t have to be busy. I don’t have to be stressed. I don’t have to get through this stuff now so I can relax in the future. If I’m not making changes in my life right now to ensure that I’m happy with the present, then what’s the point?

Of life, that is.

I’m starting to break down in the most beautiful way. I’m focusing less on doing and more on being. I’m thinking less and feeling more. I’m following my heart, and all the signs are telling me that it’s right. I’m becoming more aware of that nagging voice in my mind telling me what I should be doing, and I’m following my gut instead.

It’s scary at times, but WOW, is it ever fun! My body is buzzing with aliveness. I wake up in the morning feeling free. I come home in the afternoon and declare, “I love my life”.

What’s changed?

Time.

I have more of it. I’m down to working 15 hours per week, three hours per day. I quit what I had been convincing myself for months was my dream job, because I realized it wasn’t making me happy.

I’m being more creative.

I’m thinking up ideas about books I want to write, blogs I want to start, and the type of business I want to build. I’ve started writing music and playing my guitar again. I’m thinking about how I want to live my life, and I’m realizing all the possibilities that exist.

I’m slowing down.

When I talk to people, I look them in the eye and I truly listen. I’m not thinking about where I need to be or what I need to do next. When I’m walking somewhere, I pay attention to everything happening around me and I smile at the people I walk past.

I’m excited about life.

Life doesn’t have to be busy or stressful, filled up with all the things I tell myself I should be doing, or want to check off my list.

I’m facing my fears.

I might feel lonely or unimportant with all this time on my hands. I might come across as sounding lazy, boring, or unambitious to some people that I meet. If that’s the case, I’m just going to have to learn to love myself more – in all circumstances.

I’m leaving my comfort zone.

Having more time is encouraging me to get out and try new things. Over the past three weeks I have taken windsurfing lessons, sailing lessons, and I attended my very first improv class! I feel that every time I try something new I come out a stronger person, and I learn to love myself a little bit more.

I’m relaxed.

I’m getting 8 hours of sleep every night. I feel balanced, and less likely to burn out and spend three days straight watching Gossip Girl (yes, I admit, I’ve been there).

I’m living more sustainably!

I’m working a lot in the garden, and making things from scratch: from bread and almond milk to cleaning and hygiene products. With these new skills I know I’ll never need to work a lot, because I’m doing things myself that I would otherwise have to buy. I feel empowered, productive with my time, and more connected to the things I am consuming. The more I make from scratch, the healthier I am eating, the less waste I am producing, the lower my carbon footprint, and the fewer chemicals I come into contact with.

Slowing down seems to be a crucial step towards peace and joy in life, as well as a crucial step towards a sustainable planet. If we are enjoying our day to day lives at a relaxed pace, we are less likely to seek those quick escapes – whether it be TV, alcohol, drugs, or shopping.

Slowin’ down…

Ahhhhhhh…

Time to go drink a beer on the porch

It’s in these moments, when we recognize our common femininity, that we realize how deeply connected and how powerful we are as women. Our power may be subtle and humble, but women hold such incredible strength that it gives me chills! And our power is emerging more and more all the time.

When I talk of power here, I am not talking of power in the traditional, more masculine, sense of the word. I am not talking about power over others, or domination. I am talking about the power of self, the strength of the will of the individual; the power to love freely, and to surrender openly. I am talking about the power to nurture, to cry, to laugh, and to feel ALL of our emotions fully without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

Powerful women have not simply adapted to taking on the characteristics of men. Instead, powerful women are offering something new to their jobs and their everyday lives: compassionate, multi-faceted, and holistic approaches to the challenges and problems they face. Powerful women are assertive, but not forceful. They are accepting of what life hands them, and capitalize on what they have. Powerful women help others to reach their goals and to find their passions without thinking competitively. Powerful women value the strength of collectivity.

The best part about powerful women is that to them, it’s not about women versus men. It’s about living out their true purpose, and in so doing bringing the feminine back into this world in a way that may be respected and loved. It is not about the body that anyone lives in, it is about bringing the other half of the pie back into the equation so that it can become whole again. We can see some powerful men emerging as well. Powerful women and powerful men alike serve to strike a balance between the masculine and the feminine.  Both value the strengths of masculine characteristics, while also valuing the often forgotten and undervalued strengths of the feminine.

Here is a video I wanted to share by Women Win, addressing gender-based violence through sport. They are helping women to gain confidence, to gain strength, and to recognize their power through sport.

On this International Women’s Day, let’s also not forget those males whose lives are often threatened or made too unbearable to continue living, because they do not conform to the rigid “male” role that has been forced upon them.

Women, we have the power that can never fail because it is within us. Let’s not hold back. Let’s step forward to be the leaders that this world so desperately needs! Lots of love to all women on this wonderful day!

This is the incredibly simple, wise, and hopeful advice of Tracy Kuhns and Mike Roberts, two Louisiana residents and fisheries employees who spoke at the recent Vancouver forum “When Oil Meets Water”. Until I heard these words at the end of their presentation, I truly felt like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the beginning of the end.

As Naomi Klein puts it in her insightful talk on TEDWomen, carrying on “business as usual” is not an option. Conventional sources of oil are running low, and if we continue to rely upon oil as our main source of fuel, our only option is to turn to unconventional sources. Extracting oil from unconventional sources poses a much greater threat to the environment than extraction from conventional sources. Unconventional sources include tar sands oil, oil found in previously protected areas, and oil found deep under the ocean floor.

Deep sea drilling is one unconventional source of oil extraction that has coated the shorelines, the sea-life, and the ocean floor of the Gulf of Mexico in oil. We all heard about this in the news, but hearing of its impacts first-hand from a couple of Louisiana residents really made the reality of such a tragedy hit home. Tracy and Mike told us about the all-consuming aspect of the spill, and how everything smelled like oil. It even got into the ventilation system of their home. The beach and the birds were covered in oil, the shrimp were covered in oil, and the ocean that their kids used to swim and fish in was covered in oil. While the media has reported that the spill has now been adequately cleaned up, oil still washes up on their shore every day. This is because BP’s definition of “cleaning up” consisted of putting a dispersant into the ocean. Rather than removing the oil from the ocean, this dispersant merely causes the oil to settle on the ocean floor, coating its surface and making it impossible for bottom-feeders to survive.

Mike has lived in Louisiana all his life, and has seen hundreds of oil spills in this time – most of which go unreported. A few years ago, Mike and Tracy reported an oil spill near their house to the media; however, they were unable to get any coverage as they were told the spill was too small. This “small” spill was between 100-200 barrels, and covered an area of 25 miles. Mike also pointed out that there are hundreds of abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which have not been adequately sealed and continue to leak.

Beth Wallace also spoke at the forum, and provided the audience with a first-hand account of the recent oil spill in Michigan, where an Enbridge pipeline transporting oil ruptured and leaked into the Kalamazoo River. Responses to the ruptured pipeline were slow, with Enbridge initially ignoring the alarm bells and trying to re-boot the flow of oil through the pipeline. It was over a week before a tap water warning was put into place, and it was recommended that nearby residents evacuate their homes. One woman battling cancer in a more remote area along the Kalamazoo River was never told of the drinking water warning. She continued to drink the water without the knowledge that it was unsafe to drink, and that it was likely contaminated with benzene, a dangerous carcinogen found in oil.

There are two raging similarities between these two events: a lack of disaster preparedness and a lack of transparency on behalf of the companies involved. Not only was the Enbridge response to the ruptured pipeline in Michigan slow, but there was an absence of transparency and assistance when it came to communicating with the public and affected residents. Community meetings attended by Beth and other concerned Michigan residents consisted of Enbridge representatives speaking, while there was no opportunity for Q & A sessions. Residents that had either health concerns related to the oil spill, or other questions, were all directed to a single under-staffed Enbridge helpline. This lack of disaster preparedness and transparency is dangerously similar to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP was unprepared to deal with the spill, which took over one month to plug, and is still not adequately cleaned up (although BP would insist otherwise). Nearly 5 billion barrels of crude oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

Hearing such stories has made me seriously consider what it would be like to have an oil spill near my home in Vancouver, or along the coast of British Columbia. Unfortunately, this is a feasible scenario with an average of two oil tankers per week transporting Alberta tar sands oil out of Vancouver Harbour. Enbridge Inc. has also proposed a pipeline to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat in B.C., where over 200 oil tankers would carry the oil to China each year. With so much oil being transported along our coast, a pipeline cutting through B.C., and the inevitability of human error, the probability of an eventual oil spill seems unavoidable.

Is our quest for unconventional and environmentally hazardous oil the beginning of the end, or will we wisely treat these disasters as a warning? Will we let the blurred vision of select political and corporate leaders prevail, or will we help them to see clearly? Can we end the insanity that continues to drive our current fossil fuel dependence? The answers to these questions are yet to be determined. So I’ll end with how I started:

“Refuse to trade your environment and your health for dirty oil jobs; demand other jobs from your government; have faith in your community’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

To learn more or to take a stand against oil tankers in B.C. please check out http://notanks.org/

To learn more or to take a stand against the proposed Enbridge pipeline in Northern B.C. check out http://dogwoodinitiative.org/notankers

A young Vancouver couple challenged themselves to go one year without producing any garbage. They ended up with about an average of 5lbs. each — not bad considering most of us produce almost 1 tonne of garbage in the same time period. It didn’t even look that difficult!

Most of it came down to consuming less. If you aren’t buying, then you are re-using what you have more, and you aren’t throwing out unnecessary packaging. You also get to be a little more creative with what you have, a little less dependent upon overseas workers and transportation networks, a little healthier, and you even get to save a little bit of money. All it takes is the commitment: ‘I am not going to buy anything new for one month’. Or the asking of the simple pre-purchase question: ‘Do I really need this?’

Take deoderant, for example. How much deodorant have you bought in your lifetime and how much money has this cost you? How much of that deodorant stick is now in a landfill? How many potentially harmful chemicals are in your deodorant? How far does your deodorant travel to get to where you buy it?

How easy would it be to make your own deodorant? Turns out, you don’t even have to make it. Baking soda will do the trick. Just mix in a little water to make it stick before application. Save money and transportation fuel, prevent waste, and improve your health. Done.

It doesn’t stop with deodorant either. A lot of waste, money, and fuel can be saved by making your own cleaning products, toothpaste, and laundry detergent. This goes for food too. Baking your own crackers instead of buying packaged chips; baking bread instead of buying it in a bag; homemade soup instead of soup from a can. These are all healthier, cheaper, and less wasteful.

These aren’t even the easiest ways to reduce waste. One habit I will most definitely be adopting since seeing the Clean Bin Project is carrying a clean plastic container with me wherever I go. This is a very easy way to eliminate one-time use containers. Bring this along with a travel coffee mug and a re-usable water bottle wherever you go and you’re set!

Hanging up some fishing line in the kitchen with clothes pins on it is a great way to dry plastic bags after you have washed them so that they are ready to re-use when you need them. Forget plastic bags all together for produce, just put it straight on the counter or purchase some reusable mesh bags.

These are a just a few of the ideas from The Clean Bin Project beyond your typical notions of composting and carrying a cloth bag. My house is going to work on significantly reducing our waste, and we eventually hope to achieve zero waste (minus the inevitable piece here and there). With a little effort, this is something we could all work towards achieving in our own homes. Consuming less, re-using more, creating more from scratch, composting, and recycling. Let’s take matters into our own hands and start creating the change we need, right now.

For more information on The Clean Bin Project check out http://cleanbinproject.com/

Over the past year, I have been experiencing quite bad allergies. Every morning when I wake up, I’ll be congested and sneezing. At first, I thought perhaps my room was dusty, so I cleaned it. Then I moved houses – but my allergies never cleared. In fact, they’ve only gotten worse. Over the past two months I haven’t been able to breathe out of my nose. On a good day, or maybe after a good bike ride, one of my nostrils will be clear. I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me, but because I believe I am a “canary in a coal mine”.

I’ve always been sensitive to my environment. I don’t know exactly what is causing this reaction now, but I do know it’s more than seasonal allergies. I do know it’s some sort of build up of toxins and pollutants and “unnatural” substances inside my body. It could be growing levels of air pollution. It could be pesticides. It could be our high level of sanitation and a resultant lack of immunity. Most likely, it’s a combination of factors that have lowered my immune system and made me ultra-sensitive to the blossoming flowers and the sweet spring and summer air.

My allergies are also likely due to food. Every day people are developing more and more allergies to corn, soy, and wheat products – items that are found in disproportionately large quantities among processed foods and in the diet of North Americans.

And how about those Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)? In a previous blog, I wrote that “the implications of GM food crops are largely unknown, and among the many potential unintended consequences of GM foods, are the threats they pose to human health.” From this, I recommended that the precautionary principle be applied when it comes to the use of GMOs. Unfortunately, big corporations such as Monsanto didn’t read my blog… or if they did, they didn’t take my advice — silly people.

Research by the Institute for Responsible Technology shows the strong potential for a link between GM foods and rising food allergies. Jeffrey Smith, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, has written an entire book outlining 65 different health risks associated with GM foods. In 1999, 40,000 FDA* internal documents revealed that GM foods are “so different that their consumption might result in unpredictable and hard-to-detect allergens, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems” (Pizzorno 2007). The amount of research pertaining to health risks and GM foods is endless.

Whatever the cause of my allergies, I know it ain’t natural. I know all this junk we are putting into our air, our water, and our soil, will eventually take its toll on all of us, in many different forms, and I can feel it taking its toll on me already. So take me as a sign, and the many other people experiencing such symptoms as myself (maybe that’s you?). You can know in your head that something isn’t right, but it’s taken to a new level when you start to feel it in your body.

For more information on GMO’s, check out my previous blog:

http://envirocommunications.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/genetically-modified-food-crops-and-the-precautionary-principle/

*U.S. Food and Drug Agency