The Role of Confidence in the Green World

Chris Brogan posted on April 26 about the role of Confidence in doing what you do. It was a great post that combined experience with suggestion, the core of any solid words to think by. While he was talking more about social media, it got me thinking about the role of confidence in the growing Green movement.

My father used to say that the strongest team is the one with "Mo" on it, as in Momentum- the green movement team is strong on momentum right now. I read a post on Gas2.org today about a movement in Norway to ban gas-powered cars by 2015. I saw a tweet yesterday about how President Obama is working the politics to implement a carbon cap & trade system with or without Congress. "Mo" is on the green side.

Here are some of my thoughts on how his bold headers relate to Green:

Confidence is About Small Successes

Moving from activism to community action to business influence, green could write the book about small successes over the past 40 years. At some points that's all there was. When I started writing I would go to the printer and ask for recycled paper and they would say they had to order it special. Last week I asked for recycled paper and they said which one? That's a small success with a big impact.

Confidence is About Risk
Brogan talks about skateboarding as a crash course in risk, and he's right. When I worked in outdoor adventure my job was to work with people as they took risks and to take those risks myself, whether rafting, backpacking or having a difficult conversation with people you had to share a tent with! As green makes its way into the business and mainstream worlds, the comfort zone of activist passion and environmentalism will provide the value base, but the movement will have to take risks and make new partnerships.

Confidence is About Support
Green is growing. From those activism roots that I'm talking about into new areas and with new power. The last 100 days with President Obama have been momentous. I personally connect with dozens of people everyday because my Twitter name is @ecoscott and I list myself as a Green Copywriter. Green is something people want to support and will if there are ways. And if seeing Green in advertisements on the train is any indication, the support will keep growing.

Confidence is About Eliminating Excuses
Yes. With climate change in the news everyday, there is no excuse to pretend like we don't know what's going on. With Obama in the White House, there is no excuse for politics to not move forward and make big things happen. With business and our economy needing to rebuild to move forward, there is no excuse not to incorporate Green in a big, meaningful way.

Along with this, each of us needs to eliminate the excuses for making Green an influential part of our own life.

And that leads to his final two points about Confidence:

Confidence Is About Setting Goals and Making Commitments/ Confidence is About Believing In Yourself First

For the Green movement, all the seeds of confidence are there. It is up to any of us who want to be active in that movement to start by being active in our own lives and make the Commitments that will lead to the "small successes" like my recycled paper example.

Combine commitment with belief and those small successes will grow right before your eyes.

I would love to hear about how you or someone you know is starting to be involved in the Green movement or how you are trying to incorporate it into your life- please let me know.