By JANIE STARR

After giving our final climate crisis presentation, to an audience hosted by Audubon, Meg Gluckman and I met at Café Luna to celebrate our efforts and reflect on what we have learned.

Not only had we become climate colleagues but close friends as we pursued our goal to convert as many people as possible into climate advocates.

Meg recently moved off-Island to attend the Bainbridge Graduate Institute’s MBA program, so I figure this might be my last chance to capture her thoughts on paper and share them with Beachcomber readers. We talked for hours, and I tried to capture the essence.

J: What do you think stops people from really committing to this issue?

M: Sometimes I think people don’t feel their actions will make a difference either way — whether contributing to or reducing greenhouse gases. Also people can get stuck with the question “what should I/can I do?”

Responding gets complicated, and that discourages people, too. Take biodiesel. On the surface it seems like a good idea, and it is, depending on the source, but it gets confusing when you start reading about palm oil plantations in Indonesia. People feel overwhelmed, and besides, change is hard and requires some element of sacrifice, which is fine if it makes a difference, but what if it doesn’t?

J: In that case, what gives you hope and keeps you engaged?

M: The speed with which awareness around climate change has happened. Once scientists found an appealing mouthpiece in Al Gore (who’d have guessed?), and the message could be translated into something the general public could hear and understand, you started seeing change happening everywhere. The fact that the conversation in our year together has changed from us having to convince people that global warming is happening to really focusing on action — that gives me hope.

J: What do you want people to take away from this conversation?

M: That maybe it doesn’t matter exactly what we do. It’s the spirit in which we do it.

When I got involved with climate change, I didn’t try to come up with the one right thing to impact it. I just started doing what I could, with the criteria that it had to be fun, inspiring and something I could sustain.

Who said, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good?” I think what matters is doing what you’re excited about and learning from it.

J: How about an example?

M: I moved to Vashon in the first place to learn about and work on the (proposed) PUD (public utility district). I still believe the campaign succeeded in a way, because it heightened awareness around energy issues; more folks are getting energy audits, retrofits and compact fluorescents.

J: Do you have an example from our work?

M: The Low Carbon Diet training we did. It was so hands-on, and people got excited because they could make concrete changes and help others do the same.

There’s this saying that we pay attention to what we love, that we save what we love and that we love what we save. I think part of our work is about helping folks find out what they believe is worth saving.

J: You’re embarking on a new career path. Why an MBA?

M: I’ve worked in a bunch of organizations that could have benefited from a little more business sense, so I’ve thought about getting an MBA for a while. I held off because wealth has never been my passion. When I read about BGI’s focus on sustainability and the triple bottom line — social, environmental and economic — I felt it would be the community to teach me skills and give me joy in being there.

J: One last question. You’ve often talked about the spiritual connection you have with your work. What is that about for you?

M: I recognize that I’m in a very privileged place: by birth, education, race and, yes, gender, and that I have a responsibility to act. When Michael Meade spoke last year at the Land Trust Building, he posed the question, “What if our souls chose to be born in this time of change and challenge?” Well then, I’m not just going to sit around if I’m here for a purpose. I consider myself a positive person, and I’m going to keep doing what energizes me and touches me on a spiritual level.

“Wow, we did it,” Meg said, as we clinked our coffee mugs. I responded, “Amen, sister,” thinking about our long hours revising slides, planning presentations and laughing together. I am grateful to Meg for encouraging me to stay connected to work that is both meaningful and lively. I wish her well. As for me, I will continue to focus on challenging folks to respond to the climate crisis as well as to highlight other Islanders who are making a difference in this regard. Stay tuned.

­— Janie Starr and Meg Gluckman, members of Sustainable Vashon and Al Gore’s Climate Project, have worked together to affect community response to climate change.