I work with many amazing, knowledgeable and giving colleagues. Some are fully behind the greener work we implement, some don’t yet get it, and some get it but really like to tease and banter and play devil’s advocate about the whys and hows.<\/p>\n
At a large meeting, one of my colleagues started\u00a0talking about how important it is to print out the agenda for all attendees. He likes taking notes on the agenda, so from his perspective it is better to print out the agenda. He said the cost is less for the sheets of paper than the cost of not giving an agenda to a staff on which they could maybe take valuable hand written notes.<\/p>\n
I stopped him and said that the word “maybe” makes the case, here. He is catering to the lowest common denominator so we are “safe” for a “maybe” possibility. I suggested the more intelligent approach with flexibility for the attendees would be to e-mail the agenda to them all the day prior and request they print it out for themselves if they want it during the meeting. As a bonus, they then get to see the agenda and get their minds in the game in advance of the meeting.<\/p>\n
He said there’s nothing wrong in being safe.
\nI said there’s nothing wrong in being intelligent.<\/p>\n
He said, “touche”.<\/p>\n
As I thought about this, later, I realized the best answer is both “safe” and<\/strong> “intelligent”. I think the way to get there is to redefine “safe” a bit so that we are not just doing the work for everyone to make sure it’s done properly, but clearly informing them of their choices and then helping them to take responsibility.<\/p>\n In the case of the agenda, we send it out electronically, tell people to print it if they need it and then either have 2-3 (only 2-3) spare copies for people who forgot or we project the agenda periodically up on the screen to help people maintain their place and presence. It is only over time that people will change their habits, and we must accommodate that transition.<\/p>\n “Safe and<\/strong> intelligent” – another possible definition of sustainable.<\/p>\n Be greener,<\/p>\n Jodi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I work with many amazing, knowledgeable and giving colleagues. Some are fully behind the greener work we implement, some don’t yet get it, and some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,3,9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-commentary","category-recycling","category-deep-green","category-profession"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p40KlT-7R","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1055,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1055","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":0},"title":"Awesome Charrettes: Part 3 – Logistics","author":"greenerjsa","date":"December 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\" a goal without a plan is just a wish\" This quote is not just about the results of the charrette meeting. It is about planning the meeting itself. Take the time to plan, lest you invest the time and effort and gain little. We must understand the power of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Critical commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Critical commentary","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/chess.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/chess.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/chess.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/chess.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3164,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=3164","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":1},"title":"Late to the Carbon Party (S2C E48)","author":"greenerjsa","date":"March 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of months ago, a few friends decided to get together, monthly, to just \"be\". Maybe we'd talk about work. Maybe we'd chat about family or travel. But mainly we'd be able to talk about doing better in our practices without having to defend the need to reduce carbon,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advocacy"","block_context":{"text":"Advocacy","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=128"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/8-10-20-Subject-2-Change-Podcast-Logo-FINAL-e1615755722442.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1795,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1795","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":2},"title":"COVID Contemplations: Defensive, Anyone?","author":"greenerjsa","date":"May 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There are several things I have learned during this pandemic, and I will explore them over the next couple of posts. They tie into issues of sustainability and they reflect on deeper societal issues as well. The first is really delving into the breakdown of our cultural niceties, our human-ness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advocacy"","block_context":{"text":"Advocacy","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=128"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Grace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Grace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Grace.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Grace.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Grace.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1021,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1021","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":3},"title":"Awesome Charrettes: Part 1- Big Picture","author":"greenerjsa","date":"August 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"First, what is a charrette? The historic term comes from French design schools where project would be picked up at midnight in a cart. The candidates for design would be frantically finishing their sketches, riding on the cart, squeezing every last moment in order to complete the work. The modern-day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Green Building Tools"","block_context":{"text":"Green Building Tools","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/charratee-2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":852,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=852","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":4},"title":"Cost Effectiveness","author":"greenerjsa","date":"April 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I don\u2019t know if I should class this as a language discussion or a systems thinking discussion, but in the understanding that true solutions come from broad thinking, let\u2019s call it both and more. I\u2019ve run across two discussions in the past week that I found striking regarding the understanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1623,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1623","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":5},"title":"Up With People, Sketches, and Impact","author":"greenerjsa","date":"August 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"What I've learned about me, the world, and how we can effect things.","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/playful.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}