I was thinking about my internship and the “Seven Practices of Sustainability Champions” (as outlined in Bob Willard’s book, The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook) and was wondering if I was implementing these practices or at least working at them. For those not familiar with the “Seven Practices of Sustainability Champions” they are: 1) get credible, stay credible 2) dialogue 3) collaborate, educate, network 4) meet them where they are 5) piggy back existing initiatives 6) influence the influencers 7) practice ‘planful opportunism’
I am definitely working towards getting credible and staying credible through my internship. I am proving myself as a writer and hard worker as well as having an ability to complete any task given even on short notice. I have interviewed and worked with credible people that have been happy with my work and it helps to build credibility and lasting working relationships.
Credibility is one of the most important things to have in the field of journalism; without it, you simply will not work.
The second and third practices are something I do frequently as well in my internship. There is not only constant dialogue amongst my colleagues and I, but there is dialogue between contributors, interviewees, and sources. We have to collaborate with other publications, businesses, and people to get the stories we have and for them to release press releases to us. For example, today I was forwarded a story by my boss for me to post on our website. We were given permission to use the story for free on our site as long as he was given credit for the piece.
By working together we can share information faster and farther and all involved benefit. This also educates people visiting the websites or reading the publications and educates those of us researching and covering stories. Educating each other and creating dialogue between credible people, decision makers, creates a network of like-minded individuals who are working towards a common goal.
I really believe Indiana Living Green is implementing these seven practices as best they can and continually working to educate, network and collaborate with the public and businesses to create sustainability awareness. I really enjoy working for this company, they are really grass roots and excited about sustainability. The ILG website is a great source for sustainability news, blogs, eco-definitions, eco-concepts, and about anything else pertaining to sustainability.
Leave a Reply