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Distance Running and Sheltering-in-Place
Written on byI used to run half marathons. I’m not a good runner. I never ran a day in my life until I was 33, and in spite of several years of training I never got good at it. But as we get deep into sheltering in place for the long haul, I realize how much it […]
Shopping in the Time of Coronavirus
Written on by*Checks supplies * Hmm, I was so concerned with stockpiling non-perishable foods that I never thought to stock up on random things. *Goes online. Adds a random assortment of things to the cart. Excedrin. Aluminum foil. Deodorant. Toothpaste. Wasp spray.* Cart message: “Some of your items require a minimum order value.” Ok, fine. *Adds a […]
The Best Idea
Written on byEach year, I send handwritten Happy New Year/Thank You cards to my clients and colleagues. I think it’s important to make that personal connection, particularly since I rarely work on site with anyone. This year, I chose retro-design postcards from Anderson Design Group that highlight the U.S. National Park Service. They combine three things that […]
Freelance Skills
Written on byI’m often asked about the important skills that someone would need to start their own freelance business. The two that I’ll discuss today are “managing up” and “managing peers.” Freelancing has an odd dynamic. Unlike staff employment where your manager and peers are distinctly different, in freelance life your client is simultaneously your manager and […]
Sustainability, Content Strategy, and UX
Written on byIn my years of working with large, multinational corporations, I’ve observed a problem that is both universal and frustrating for all involved: the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. For one of my client companies — Global Widgets, Inc. (GWI) — there is a large and recurring blind spot between the […]
Bonuses and Sustainability Performance
Written on byInfluencing Decisions Can we change the planet by connecting executive bonuses and sustainability performance? I’ve been asking myself and my clients this question for years. Yesterday, the ASU School of Sustainability published an article about it in their newsletter. It seems like common sense to me. The best way to make global considerations personal is by tying it […]
Self-evaluation
Written on byGiving an Honest Self-Evaluation Recently, I posted about my mid-year self-evaluation on Twitter. I have to admit, I was surprised by how much traction it got in the threads and DMs. There was a lot of commiseration, but I also saw a lot of questions. What is a self-evaluation? How do you do it? What […]
Stepping Away From the Computer
Written on byGoing Offline Last year, I posted about my plan for going offline to explore new things in 2018. In hindsight, I’m not sure how much of this goal was about learning something new, and how much was about stepping away from the computer. Regardless, I set three goals: A colored pencil art class A pottery […]
Making Sustainable Healthcare Choices
Written on byGreenhouse gases in sustainable healthcare My blog posts have been infrequent because I’ve been busy with some cool stuff in recent months. While I can’t yet discuss one of the projects (still in development phase and super-secret), I can talk about what I learned in another. Today we’re going to talk about sustainable healthcare. Specifically, […]
Realities of the Green New Deal
Written on byWhy a Green New Deal is necessary I work in the sustainability area nearly every day. The scientific realities are terrifying. I have to admit that I was thrilled to see that there’s a political movement toward keeping us under even a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures. Yet there’s been plenty of discussion […]