Beauty For a Cause Presentation: “Go Green! Education is the Solution to Pollution”
Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and honourable judges.
My name is Ashlea Moor, and I am honoured to be here and share with you all a deep rooted passion of mine, and speak with you today about environmental awareness education. This is a topic I have previously been privileged to speak on both formally and informally, and I have tailored my presentation specific to the audience I have before me today. The premise of my presentation today is the following chain effect:
Personalization = Education = Empowerment = Positive Environmental Change
I highly suspect that this is a very educated audience. Many of you are environmental leaders in your communities. I could venture and guess that a number of you recycle- And not just bottles, your cardboard, paper, tin and plastic products. I strongly believe that many of you buy local products as often as is possible, that you support “green” projects that lead to sustainable growth and development.
And if I am correct in one or several of these instances, then I am incredibly fortunate and I’ll explain why- when I speak of the importance of environmental awareness I have a key objective in mind, and that is positive environmental change. When I have the honour of presenting to a group that is acutely aware of a need for change, and is actively engaging in positive change then the first part of the communication battle is accomplished. The topic interests you, and is important to you, and therefore my message has personal value to each of you. So at this point I question you all as to what is the MOST important problem facing our environment today?
Is it ozone depletion? Air pollution? Forest destruction? Flooding? Oil spills? CO2 Emissions? Climate change? Overconsumption of our resources? Our overall carbon footprint?
Now if you are anything like me, one or several, if not all of those issues mean something to you. And likely, as a group of free-thinking individuals, the ranking of importance of each of these topics will vary quite a lot. I believe this is an incredibly complex question, and that complex questions require complex answers.
I believe that no single issue is greater or more important than the last- they are all equally important. But what is of utmost importance is that action is taken to address these concerns. This is why I choose what I believe is a holistic approach to solving our environmental crisis. And that to me is Education.
I am a firm believer that when we know better, we do better. As a global population we have no doubted made some mistakes when it comes to caring for our planet. However, as we become more aware of our impact I believe our impact changes for the better.
Education enables us to utilize our energy appropriately. Allow me to demonstrate:
**Have audience stand and participate, demonstrate squat with feet together/one leg raised- take note of the amount of energy required to do the task. Then do the same squat with feet shoulder width apart. Take note of how energy was used more effectively- we can complete the same task more efficiently and more often with the same amount of energy by altering one small thing. Without someone teaching you how to be more efficient, how will you ever have a positive change?**
Having had a lot of opportunity to be fully immersed in the issues we face I felt a deep desire to contribute to positive change. So whether I was participating in a community clean up, car pooling, composting in my backyard, or buying local, I began to feel empowered. I began to believe that my impact was important and significant. And it was an incredible feeling that I wanted to share with others. I wanted them to feel that same empowerment.
So I took an initial step of creating a recycling program at work. And at this point I began to get a lot of interest from co-workers, friends, family and neighbours about “why” I was so passionate about the environment and what I was doing. On a personal level, as a registered nurse I recognize the strong connection between our environment and our health. This connection plays a pivotal role in my passion of advocating our environmental issues. I believe that personalizing the environmental-health connection is crucial to initializing sustainable change on an individual, societal, and even global scale.
But everyone is different. Our unique life experiences lead us to have varying opinions. I learned that some people are driven by other means. They want their kids to grow up with the same untarnished outdoor playground that they did. They want to save money by utilizing resources properly. They want to support their community by buying local.
So the key to education is personalization, because this leads to empowerment, and empowerment is what leads to positive change. This is what led me to creating my own program, the “Go Green” initiative. I hope many of you have had the chance to visit my website which displays dozens of commitments of individuals from my workplace, my community, and my province.
As my program began taking off, I found that I rarely travel anywhere without my “Go Green” whiteboard in hand because I can see the positive changes happening wherever it goes. It is personalized- everyone chooses a goal relevant to them, they then make a public commitment towards a positive change. Now, as a nurse, coach and wellness educator I understand that a public declaration in writing is about 80% more likely to be fulfilled than a mere affirmation. As such, with my program, when someone makes a commitment, they write in their own words, and stand beside their declaration accountable for their commitment.
With consent the picture is shared on-line so it is publically available and visible. This often leads to a domino effect. When you make a change and people notice, as curious human beings a dialogue begins…
For example: Dialogue between a mother and her young daughter:
(**Brief video display on power-point with the following dialogue**)
Mother unpacks reusable grocery bags from her cart and begins loading them with groceries.
Daughter: “Mommy, do we use these bags to save money?”
Mother: “Well honey, its true that we do save some change by using these bags, but more importantly we are doing our part to keep the earth clean. Using these bags helps keep the plastic ones out of our landfills”
Daughter: “So that means the earth will be nice when I grow up and become a mommy too someday?”
Mother: “That’s exactly right honey”.
Personalization =Education = Empowerment = Positive Environmental Change
In conclusion, I would like to thank you all for being such a wonderful audience today. Thank you to the judges, and the Miss Earth Canada Organization for honouring me with the privilege of speaking with you today about a passion of mine.
Welcoming feedback from Audience/Call to Action:
I welcome any feedback as an opportunity to grow and shape my message so that I may better inform others. My contact information is listed, as well as my website. If the Go Green program is something that has managed to strike a chord in you personally then I encourage you to commit to an act of green today or come talk to me later about starting your own Go Green program in your community. I also have my “Go Green” board with me, so I welcome each and every one of you to make a commitment today. I will post the commitments on my website so that others can view your declaration and find encouragement to make a change in their own lives.
I would like to leave you with one last thought:
Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our actions and behaviours. When we act to better our environment, we better the world in which we live and work.
Thank you again
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