Hi everybody

Yes, I am still around. Yes, I am now celebrating a new decade. Yes, I still have a job… for now.

Things have been hectic the last few weeks, with getting sick and then better and then sick and then better and then sick and then better. Oy. I have finally, finally recovered and am feeling good. Our annual conference took place last week and I was traveling for work for nearly a week. It was during that week that I turned the big three-oh. To my surprise, I look the same today as I did last week, back when I was in my twenties. Also to my surprise, I still don’t know everything. When do I become a wizened old soul? Maybe when I turn thirty-two?

On the work front, I returned from the conference with a new passion for keeping our organization alive. I am now consumed with the work of trying to keep our doors open. Last week we convened a group of the greatest and most dedicated people in the environmental movement. Leaders of environmental groups from around the country, in almost every state, all of which are doing vital work for their state’s people and environment. We brought them together to learn from one another, to learn from experts and to build the national environmental movement by strengthening the work that comes out of each and every state.

During the conference, I received several job offers. Albany, New York. Sun Valley, Idaho. North Dakota, Oregon, Michigan. And the more that I think about it, the more resolute I become. I want to stay put. Not just here in Madison. Here at SELP.

My career goals are simple: I want to save the world, and I want to help others.

For years I have been lucky to find the sweet spot between those two goals at SELP. We strengthen the entire environmental movement by helping environmental organizations become smarter, more powerful and better run. But we also help people. We help new executive directors who come into the position with eyes the size of saucers and constant stress headaches. We help them understand that they are not alone. They are not the only ones going up against a new coal fired power plant or fighting industry lobbyists who outspend them ten to one. We mentor them, we train them and we help them learn from each other. We inspire them to keep on keeping on, and give them the shot in the arm they need to dedicate their time and energy to working for the environment.

As these leaders learned of the direness of our financial situation, I heard over and over again that this, our conference of 22 years and SELP as an organization, can not end. And yet, without funding, we can not continue. So, I am working every angle to keep us going.

I know that my career path will have many detours. They say the average person changes careers several times over the course of their lives, and I fully expect that to be the case for me, all with the culmination of achieving those two fundamental goals: making a positive impact in the world and serving others. I fully expect to serve in public office one day. I also expect that I will be a writer. And in the more immediate future, I expect that I will be an executive director of an environmental organization someday.

And now I am doing everything that I can to make this work, because I truly believe in our mission, and believe that we do make a difference. So, please forgive me if I blip in and out from time to time.

I am trying the save the world.

P.S., if you find yourself with spare cash this year, and want to make a real difference in the environment, I know of a very deserving organization.