Hello again!

The days are just flying by! Only two weeks left at Green Columbus and it feels like just yesterday that I started my fellowship here. Its hard to fight off the sentimental thoughts as I curl up in our big office chair to write this post…but I will try my best to save all of that for next week’s final thoughts. Instead, how about an update!

The past two weeks at Green Columbus have centered for the most part around continuing to prepare for both the official meeting in September to kick-start the Green Schools Initiative for central Ohio as well as the planning meeting in late August. The pre-meeting will serve as an opportunity to collectively decide the specific issues to discuss at the official meeting and receive feedback about our resource guide from teachers and administrators. We decided to only invite a select few of those who indicated an interest in the September meeting; we wanted to specifically invite individuals with previous experience in green schools to serve as resources for planning the September meeting. As of this moment, we have 11 schools sending a representative(s) to our official meeting and four people we have invited to the pre-meeting (two have RSVP’ed so far.) You can feel the energy and enthusiasm-it’s crazy-palpable! It is wonderful to meet and work with people who are passionate about green schools and it is fantastic to see how many schools in central Ohio have already pledged time and resources towards recycling, reusing, and reducing. Fun fact: there are even schools in central Ohio that have or are building solar panels as part of their eco-programs!

In addition to organizing the pre-meeting, I have been finishing up the resource guide! The How-To guide to Green Teams was just recently reviewed and edited by Erin and it is pretty much ready for distribution. I have to admit it is pretty awesome to see the first draft I compiled, chock full of research and exploration into Green Teams, emerge as this finished product. It remember when I didn’t even know what a Green Team was…and now I can design, start, and manage one! I am proud to have helped create something that will truly help others achieve that same understanding and skill building!

And on that note, I am off to grab some coffee from the fantastic organic, fair trade shop across the street and return to my resource guide, my comfy office armchair, and my afternoon of greener thoughts.

-Alex ~Green Columbus