I’m Crystal DiMiceli and welcome to the Forces for Nature show. Do you find yourself overwhelmed with all the doom and gloom you hear of these days? Do you feel like you, as just one person, can’t really make a difference? Forces for Nature cuts through that negativity. In each episode, I interview someone who is working to make the world more sustainable and humane. Join me in learning from them and get empowered to take action so that you, too, can become a force for nature.

If you follow me on social, you may have noticed that this past April I was at a conference called EarthX in Dallas, Texas. I had actually been invited to podcast at the event which, just, made me feel so honored and excited that 1) they found me and 2) thought this show was good enough to help represent them. EarthX was founded in 2010 and its mission is to educate and inspire people and organizations to take action towards a more sustainable future. Sounds right up my alley, right?! Well, I did hesitate to accept the offer. As I was researching past events, I started seeing that some of their speakers and sponsors were from fossil fuel energy companies, chemical companies, and even some riiiight wing politicians. Certainly a more mixed group than I would have expected to see at a sustainability conference. I was starting to wonder if this was just a large scale greenwashing event. So I did some more research and learned that the founder, Trammel Crow, is this huge real estate mogal and also a pretty big hippie. And, in everything I saw of him, it was obvious that he genuinely cared about environmental issues. He just also happened to be corporate. And it highlighted to me that I was carrying this quiet bias and sentiment that the two are mutually exclusive. Which, I didn’t think I felt and I logically know better that that’s not true, but this bias was creeping up on me as I was learning about the event. It was a good self-learning/growth moment for me. So, I asked myself, could it be possible that the energy companies and CocaCola, for example, which is the biggest producer of single use plastic, would be at this event with pure intentions. I think so but I wanted to see it for myself. So, I committed to go and committed to being open minded but I was also going to call out greenwashing when I saw or felt it. And I did in some moments. I’ll tell you about some encounters over these next few months. But, more than anything, I loved the event. I was in my salsa, as they say. Or maybe as the Latinos say, but anyway! People were there to create bridges and foster multi-partisan collaborations.

The event’s cofounder, Bill Shireman, opened up the week with a powerful talk and call to action. He started by telling us  about the large silent majority in the US. Studies actually show that we aren’t as polarized as it seems. In fact, 70% of us are more or less aligned in our views on issues and just want pragmatic solutions. But we have the extremes, 15% on the left and 15% on the right, that are taking up all the space and pushing their agendas. The media (and politicians) make the most money off of these extremes so that’s what they promote and that’s what we end up seeing, making us think the whole world is losing their minds. But that might not actually be the case. The silent majority is called that because we have been made to feel powerless against these extremes and afraid to speak up. And, it’s true. The conversations I’ve been brave enough to have with people I thought would feel drastically different than me, but then weren’t that different, prove it. It was that mixed bag of a crowd at EarthX all there with the underlying desire to protect nature one way or another, proves it. It proves that we are the majority. And EarthX challenged us to use that power. It challenged us to declare an end to the environmental war that has been raging between the alarmists and the denialists and to pursue pragmatic solutions.

They encouraged us all to not demonize the other side, and be open to them and suspend judgement. They had fantastic Terms of Engagement set out and Four Guiding Principles. I’m going to post them on social media so you can see them in more detail. Bill’s opening talk level set us all and it just revved me up for the whole week. And the whole week I interviewed so many of the incredible speakers-some on topics I know nothing about, or even may have had a pre-conceived bias against, and I did that on purpose. I was there to learn and be open. Because, really, at the end of the day, if we don’t bring All stakeholders to the table, the solutions we come up with and try to implement will not be as strong. Or as likely to last. We all do want a healthy environment we just have different ways of getting there. So then, do I think that we stop putting pressure on the fossil fuel companies and chemical companies of the world once they start making some green choices in their businesses? No. They’re also run by humans and if we stop pushing and holding people to account, they could get complacent and rest on their laurels. But we don’t have to make them the enemy. Is this easy? No. I was outside of my comfort zone all week. But, as you’ll see over the season, there was a lot of self-discovery and facing up to some realities that my idealist mind likes to ignore when I’m pushing for the elimination of single use plastics and fossil fuels, for example. This season will feature some incredible speakers from EarthX but I’ll intro each episode with an experience I had while there or an insight I gained. This might be my most vulnerable season yet. I do hope you tune in and I do hope you send me your thoughts. If we’re not talking about the uncomfortable things, we will remain the silenced majority. And we can be better than that.

So, having an open mind is what I’m doing. What difference for the world will you make today?

Don’t forget to go to forcesfornature.com and sign up to receive emailed show notes, action tips, and a free checklist to help you start taking practical actions today. Do you know someone else who would enjoy this episode? I would be so grateful if you were to share it with them. Hit me up on IG and FB @becoming.forces.for.nature and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit could be a game-changer because imagine if a million people also adopted that. What difference for the world are you going to make today?