Today I am joining 16,000 other bloggers on Blog Action Day to speak out on a topic that directly affects all of us: the environment. In addition to my monthly contributions, I pledge to donate 100% of this year’s ad earnings on my other blog to Environment Colorado, a local action group that is putting pressure on the government to get movin’ on clean energy adoption and incentives.
I was raised with respect for nature.
As a kid, I was in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, so I got to go camping every month. In college, I further honed my wilderness skills at outdoor festivals and Rainbow gatherings, where I learned how to live on the land and leave no trace. My first professional job was on the JET program in deep rural Japan. There was nothing to do in my country town besides swim, hike, climb volcanoes, and surf – and I found great peace and refuge in nature.
After Japan, I spent 2 years on a personal vision quest / RPG adventure… backpacking and camping across Asia. From high glaciers in Western Nepal, to horribly polluted cities and devastated forests in Indonesia, to uninhabited coral-ringed islands near Burma, and in outback bush of South Australia… I got to deeply experience some of the most pristine and some of the most disgustingly damaged ecosystems on the planet.
I saw how quickly the third world was developing, and how many BILLIONS of off the grid people were craving a fossil-fuel and plastic powered Western lifestyle… way more people than the Earth can possible support at our current level of energy and disposable technology.
I realize my nature and travel experiences were much more than an adventure or an indulgence – they were an initiation. Last year, when I was shocked to find out my friend Chelsea Gerlach was arrested and sentenced to 9 years in prison for radical environmental action (arson) – I felt the call to action. I decided that what I wanted out of my life was to master the science of marketing (affecting mass-scale changes in behavior) and find a green technology “killer app” that will seriously reduce carbon and environmental damage… not just a “feel good” indulgence… and use my marketing powers push it through to adoption.
I’ve been immersing myself in copywriting, SEO and social media with the sincere hope it will allow me to play a more powerful role in preserving the environment and leaving the Earth in decent condition.
I want to look back on this life and know what I did professionally really mattered. Not only for my fellow man and my ancestors, but for the corals and the squirrels, and for the bees and the trees… who can’t do anything about it… like I can.
That’s what the focus of my trip is going to be, from now on out. Thanks for reading, and thanks for contemplating what your part in the game of life is going to be…
I’ll be back to social media and green marketing coverage, shortly!
