Once in awhile I can’t help myself from waxing poetic. Humor me.
The new administration’s catalyzing of active efforts to help ourselves and the planet is both uplifting and inspiring. In light of the intensifying list of doom & gloom we face, color me excited as hell about the opportunity staring us in the face.
Here’s why
Frankly, none of us are truly cut out for a monotonous 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday treadmill. Primarily because we aren’t machines; we thrive on variety and challenge, both mentally and emotionally. Same thing with learning: we remember best what we have to figure out, what we actively engage in – not memorization and regurgitation. Boredom is breeding ground for entertaining ourselves, for better or worse. Worse is easier for the inexperienced and unchallenged to veer toward.
Wouldn’t it be cool if we were all working on a really important Project together, that no one had ever done before, and we got to think about it and contribute? Don’t you feel more satisfied at the end of a hard day when you could actually see some progress from your toils? Doesn’t work feel more meaningful when you’re helping someone or something, instead of putting in 8?
The Project
What’s the Project? In the States, it’s putting people back to work who don’t have jobs now. In the bigger picture, it’s helping the planet get back to a healthy state. In the Project, here’s what we’ll be doing:
- fixing broken systems like roads and bridges,
- making our buildings more efficient and effective shelter,
- installing new devices to power our equipment, appliances, and technology
- evening out more equitable services like healthcare and education, so everyone knows why we’re working on the Project
- finding better ways to work with local resources, not shipping raw materials all over the planet
- being more creative about finding sustainable opportunity within products when sustaining the entire thing isn’t practical
- restoring nature by giving back & planting trees
- involving young folks in all of the above, for variety and challenge
It’s going. To be. Awesome.
Projects like this are valuable because they focus us and energize us and restore interest and pride in our work. They’re the best kind because they’re unifying, and they make us sweat and think and get back up after we fail, because it has to be done. The coolest part about it? There’s a job for everyone in the Project, regardless of who they are, what their education or background is, where they live.
Eco-modernism = finding greening opportunity
When I started Eco-modernism, I mainly wanted to blend green materials with a modern design style (simple lines, no fuss no muss). The further I got into it, I realized the opportunity isn’t just for blending those two, but for finding ways within them to green up.
So far, our greening has evolved a couple of ways:
- Our IKEA® runner service. Taking one truck to get multiple orders from the closest IKEA® store is much easier on the environment than 30 or 40 people making the trip individually.
- Getting greener by combining IKEA’s® affordable kitchen cabinet boxes with locally sourced recycled and recyclable countertops materials. By going with IKEA®, the savings can then be directed toward Energy Star compliant appliances, and locally reclaimed or fabricated quartz or bamboo countertops. Sustainable and local are two big greening options.
We’re totally looking forward to finding new ways to be nicer to our planet, and doing what we can to help put the States back together, both through Eco-modernism and beyond.
