Building a Community of Change, or Not.

I love community building for positive change. It’s the reason I became a student leader through Hillel, SEES, LEAP, and the Landis Center. I’m motivated by people- I crave the approval and validation of others, and I want to dedicate my life to serving others. That being said, I do not feel that we built an effective community on this blog. There were very limited interactions and weak ties holding us together. I never spoke to the writers in-person, and although we were working towards a common goal, our approaches were different, and I did not feel motivated to continue to make positive changes. There was no a community behind me, as I had hoped.

The other students in my group had a very different approach to me. I feel like I have already made the little easy changes in my life, remembering to turn off the lights in my room if I don’t need them is automatic for me, and I was looking to make larger changes.

If there was a continuum of where each student in our “team” is on energy use, I would guess that I had the least amount of change from this SBC. I have studied in the Landis Center and in the Library way more this semester than in any previous semester, in part due to the SBC, but I’m not sure it has impacted my energy use. I’m more aware of my behavior, but the busy structure of my day makes it difficult for me to study productively during the day.

As I’m writing this post, I’m at home. It’s mid-day, and there’s still plenty of natural light and plenty of work spaces at the library. I was there this morning, but I found that I wasn’t getting any work done there, which defeats the purpose. Maybe I should be in the library, next to the window, but I’m beat! This has been a long month. I’d much rather be in a comfortable work environment that I control (with snacks!), rather than a crowded and noisy library. Even if it means using more electricity, I’m just trying to get through the end of the semester, and get my work done. My grades and my happiness are important. The earth can wait, right?