Footprints...
Door: Carine
01 Oktober 2012 | Nederland, Utrecht
I've been meaning to write this blog for ages now, yet never got myself to sit down and actually write it until now. But now I feel inspired to write, not in the least because of the weekend I just had. Let's first back up a little though...
So last time I mentioned that I was finally jobless no more. By now I'm already working at the Utrecht city council for two months. Time flies! Training the first week and a half was tough - lots to take in and quite the information overload. But by now I feel like I've found my place and I've got the hang of it. It's better than I thought it would be. Much more interesting because of the great diversity of people you get to talk to and the questions they ask. And the people working alongside me at the call center are a nice group that are fun to get to know better. Still, I'm not sure how long I'll keep finding my challenges in that job. For now, although I would still love to find work that suits my level of education and my ambitions better, I'm just happy to be there and to have the security of long-time work. Especially because it still gives me enough time to do other things on the side.
Which brings me to this past weekend, as I've just taken on a huge challenge! I've mentioned before that I had applied for a program called 'Better the World' (or Verbeter de Wereld for the Dutchies amongst you...) It's the program where you set up a group project that you think will impact the world in a positive way. Kick-off weekend was this weekend, and I don't even know where to start with telling you all about it. It was intense and confronting and tough, but also so beautifully awesome, inspiring and good for my soul. I knew in my heart I was excited about this program right from the moment I heard about it, but to be honest I was also scared shitless to actually have taken the step to do this and commit to it. A challenge indeed =) The weekend was filled with different exercises and activities to get us all started on thinking about our projects and what we find important in our lives. It was only 48 hours in total, but it felt like I had been away a full week by the time I got home on Sunday evening. Amazing how the coaches managed to create so much trust and group spirit among all of us participants in such a short time. It has already taught me heaps and given me lots of food for thought to work on for the next four months. Very awesome =)
The most exciting thing coming out of it is the project I will be working on with my 8 other group members. We have decided we want to reduce the human demand on nature, and we're going to do this by getting at least 2013 people to commit to the challenge of reducing their ecological footprint by 20% for 40 days, starting January 1st 2013. Now I hear you all ask: ecological footprint? What is that? In very simple terms, it comes down to this: the way you live has an impact on the earth in terms of how much resources such as food, water, oil and gas you use in everyday life. Fact is though, those natural resources are ultimately limited and the earth cannot regenerate those resources as fast as we are using them. The ecological footprint is basically a measure to indicate how many earths are needed to sustain your consumption and waste patterns if everyone else in the world has those patterns too.
Our project is something totally different than what I thought I would be doing in this Better the World traineeship, but it feels right and it feels important and it definitely provides me with the kind of challenge I was looking for. I'm excited to set it up with a wonderful group of people and work hard at it for the next couple of months to make it a big success. But of course we can't do it alone. So here I am to immediately put out an appeal to you. If you have any connections, ideas, thoughts or anything else to add to our project in any way shape or form, please let me know! We only just started, so we can use all the input we can get =) And if you're willing to take on the challenge to reduce your ecological footprint by 20% over 40 days, you can also let me know and I'll send you more detailsas soon as they are there to send out. Thanks!
Of course I also welcome any other comment that is completely unrelated to our project, because I always love hearing from you all anyway. If there is only one thing I take away from the weekend I just had, it's that we do better when we're connected, and I'm so glad I'm connected to all of you. I hope you're all well and I'm sending you all much love!
xx
PS. When I was looking through my photos to add to this blog, I realised I hadn't even told you about the Boy and Bear concert I went to in Amsterdam just over a month ago! But I did, and they were amazing =) Oh, how I love live music!
So last time I mentioned that I was finally jobless no more. By now I'm already working at the Utrecht city council for two months. Time flies! Training the first week and a half was tough - lots to take in and quite the information overload. But by now I feel like I've found my place and I've got the hang of it. It's better than I thought it would be. Much more interesting because of the great diversity of people you get to talk to and the questions they ask. And the people working alongside me at the call center are a nice group that are fun to get to know better. Still, I'm not sure how long I'll keep finding my challenges in that job. For now, although I would still love to find work that suits my level of education and my ambitions better, I'm just happy to be there and to have the security of long-time work. Especially because it still gives me enough time to do other things on the side.
Which brings me to this past weekend, as I've just taken on a huge challenge! I've mentioned before that I had applied for a program called 'Better the World' (or Verbeter de Wereld for the Dutchies amongst you...) It's the program where you set up a group project that you think will impact the world in a positive way. Kick-off weekend was this weekend, and I don't even know where to start with telling you all about it. It was intense and confronting and tough, but also so beautifully awesome, inspiring and good for my soul. I knew in my heart I was excited about this program right from the moment I heard about it, but to be honest I was also scared shitless to actually have taken the step to do this and commit to it. A challenge indeed =) The weekend was filled with different exercises and activities to get us all started on thinking about our projects and what we find important in our lives. It was only 48 hours in total, but it felt like I had been away a full week by the time I got home on Sunday evening. Amazing how the coaches managed to create so much trust and group spirit among all of us participants in such a short time. It has already taught me heaps and given me lots of food for thought to work on for the next four months. Very awesome =)
The most exciting thing coming out of it is the project I will be working on with my 8 other group members. We have decided we want to reduce the human demand on nature, and we're going to do this by getting at least 2013 people to commit to the challenge of reducing their ecological footprint by 20% for 40 days, starting January 1st 2013. Now I hear you all ask: ecological footprint? What is that? In very simple terms, it comes down to this: the way you live has an impact on the earth in terms of how much resources such as food, water, oil and gas you use in everyday life. Fact is though, those natural resources are ultimately limited and the earth cannot regenerate those resources as fast as we are using them. The ecological footprint is basically a measure to indicate how many earths are needed to sustain your consumption and waste patterns if everyone else in the world has those patterns too.
Our project is something totally different than what I thought I would be doing in this Better the World traineeship, but it feels right and it feels important and it definitely provides me with the kind of challenge I was looking for. I'm excited to set it up with a wonderful group of people and work hard at it for the next couple of months to make it a big success. But of course we can't do it alone. So here I am to immediately put out an appeal to you. If you have any connections, ideas, thoughts or anything else to add to our project in any way shape or form, please let me know! We only just started, so we can use all the input we can get =) And if you're willing to take on the challenge to reduce your ecological footprint by 20% over 40 days, you can also let me know and I'll send you more detailsas soon as they are there to send out. Thanks!
Of course I also welcome any other comment that is completely unrelated to our project, because I always love hearing from you all anyway. If there is only one thing I take away from the weekend I just had, it's that we do better when we're connected, and I'm so glad I'm connected to all of you. I hope you're all well and I'm sending you all much love!
xx
PS. When I was looking through my photos to add to this blog, I realised I hadn't even told you about the Boy and Bear concert I went to in Amsterdam just over a month ago! But I did, and they were amazing =) Oh, how I love live music!
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02 Oktober 2012 - 00:22
Mum:
Sounds great. Good to hear you are keeping busy. :-)
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
