A wonderful young woman, whom I knew through the club Voices for Planned Parenthood and who graduated from my college this spring, created an event in April called The Sustainability Connection. It strove to educate and move to action 100 participants about the connections between health, family planning, and the environment. I’m not sure that the action part necessarily happened, but the education part certainly did. But she did an amazing thing in less than a month, and the local activist powers that be took notice. People from the Sierra Club, Washington State Department of Health, and Planned Parenthood came from as far away as Olympia to participate in this. And as a member of the coordinating team (publicity) I, along with many others, learned to coordinate a large event and gather feedback from the participants. In the future we will strive to answer their own questions and pursue local interests, streamlining our abilities and making action the final result.

But of course no one event will do this. I count this goal as finished, upon reflection, even though it is an ongoing process, because I have achieved a state of mind, an urgency and energy that will force me to pursue it. For now, I can see a little in the future and if I do nothing else (which I know I won’t-I will do many other things as well) I will help create future Sustainability Connection Summits and in that way try to change others’ behavior for the better. I’ve written about other things I have done and will do-well, improving the world is a desire in my bones. And finally, too, I have certain skills that will serve me in a variety of future endeavors.