Redesigning Our Future

By: JaneCameron Williamson Ben Prater On the 12th day of July, 2013 Ben Prater came to talk to the participants about developing a strategy to better understand a conservation project. He had a great system of thinking. He taught us the main 5 steps: Identify the issue. Consider your stakeholders. Set your SMART goals. Develop a strategy. He said long term goals are better and a S.M.A.R.T. goal stood for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Some social strategies he talked about were: Information/Education, Social Marketing, and Regulation. Also he talked about conceptual lenses we use to understand something such as; urgency lens, building block lens, advocacy lens, feasibility lens, commitment lens, and impact lens. He was very fun to listen to and had quotes all throughout his presentation. One that I enjoyed was from John Naisbitt: "We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom."

By: JaneCameron Williamson   The Price of Everything Focus Group From Left to Right: Madison Labonte, Grace Owen, Lindsey Conlan, Daniel Richardson, Malcolm King, Patrick Moore   The members of the focus group, Price Of Everything, was really pumped to be in their group. They really enjoyed it and thought it focused a lot on the economic and political part of protecting and explaining environmental problems. I talked to group members Daniel Richardson and Malcolm King. Daniel explained that he felt that economics was a big part of how we handle expenses that improve the environment and without the markets, we wouldn't have the proper lifestyle to protect us. Malcolm thought it focused more on the political side. He told me that they talk about how the markets work and the connections it has to the environment and they have also learned that in order to create a better system for trash, we need to change our own lifestyles. I believe the group was a great way...

By: JaneCameron Williamson, Lila Welsh, and Raul Barreda On the night of July 9th, the founder of Living Lands and Water came to speak to the campers of 2013’s Redesigning Our Future. His light hearted nature and exciting storytelling caught the audience and kept their attention as he told the staff and campers about his journey from being a seventeen year old kid with a dream of cleaning up 435 miles of the Mississippi to being the owner of a national organization working to clean up America’s major rivers. During an interview we found out about his book "From the Bottom Up" and about his Alternative Spring Break for college students. Also he spoke about his rise to fame with the help of his sponsors. He was extremely humble and liked to focus on helping clean the river as a group instead of as his own independent project. He showed the group two news videos. One of which was featured on CNN in 1997. Photos by: Raul Barreda   The Mississippi River on Po...