“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." -- Jane Goodall

2 weeks after Climate Week NYC, I'm still getting my head wrapped around it. Since then, we lost the icon above after we breathed the same city air. Friends' LinkedIn posts continue sharing their takeaways. Just last night I finally got through highlighting my notebook from the week. I'm slowly getting to play with the new connections and ideas I came home with. And here's yet another iteration through the lens of the 3 Step Reciprocity Cycle.

Acknowledge Earth Is Our Home

NYC really is a concrete jungle. As the Embodiment Earth Archetype Sakina Shakur in the world premiere of "How on Earth? LIVE!" said it....

"People talk about all the time being is NY is a concrete jungle.They don’t feel nature Everyone’s saying touch grass…where? Where is the grass?I don’t see it.Right?It’s not around here."

I definitely felt that on my trip to the city this time around. As the intensity and sleep deprivation set in, my body craved an open space of green. Not the confined square feet where a tree was allowed to live. To experience expanses of dirt. Not grey.

Returning home to the Pacific Northwest, I felt so grateful for how much we have in this city -- or very close nearby. My body and my soul seemed to suck it up like a dehydrated flower. Giving me equilibrium and tuning me back into my connection with nature.

Yet, this is an important reminder to me in this work with Earth Archetypes. Just like our protagonist of the LIVE reminded us...

"I’m a renter. My friends are renters. What can we do?”

And in a developed country like the USA, most people live in cities with limited access to green spaces. And 150 or so years of going more and more inside, as left us as a deficit.

The job ahead is to figure out how to translate that Earth is Our Home to those who have perhaps never experienced that.

The job is to do two things I heard over and over in the entertainment and storytelling talks I went to:
Normalize & Relevant

Stories can normalize ideas, behaviors, and choices.

And these same stories are more relevant if they acknowledge the realities of climate change.

Discover Your Earth Archetype

I've been noticing myself say something quite a bit since I got back to the PNW.

"I'm done asking permission to do my show."

I've been on a sharp learning curve -- for sure.

I've failed in public more times than I can count.

And I laugh at myself from going form a direct response marketing format to Hollywood and now back to the direct method of YouTube.

Yet, as my editor replied when I shared my sentence above....

"You don't have to because you did it."

And that shift has made quite the difference when I talk to people.

I always knew I could do it.

But others would give me the side eye.

"You want to turn a reality show into a theater performance?"

And after awhile, I had to simply say, "Watch me."

I no longer talk about an idea or a pitch I have.

I now have a show -- a world premiere.

It's no longer a concept.

But a proof of concept.

I'm no longer a talker, but a doer -- even if imperfectly.

Being a Metaphor Earth Archetype, my job is to help people "Imagine That." Knowing the strength was always in the story, I needed to not just tell but show the story.

And somehow that has changed the conversation.

People that before easily ignored me, now ask questions.

People that didn't have capacity to see me, now are inviting the trailer of the show.

People that wanted to support me, now have something to send others to.

So the conversation has changed.

The road is still long and windy....

Doing an independent unscripted reality tv show about climate is NOT for the faint of heart.

But I'm feeling it's less steep of an uphill climb.

Work Together in Community

Even though I went to several entertainment and storytelling events, I made to to go to others that were outside my wheelhouse.

I wanted to experience many different styles, people, and perspectives. To be in community with all 5 Earth Archetypes.

So I made sure to get my butt up on Friday for an 8am walking group for some Embodiment energy.

As I mentioned, Metaphors galore from Solutions House to Climate Film Festival to Grist to Human Impacts Institute to Penguin Publishing. All places that can assume we are all on the same page about viewing culture as a major influencer for climate action.

Weavers were also all over the place but the one that stands out the most to me was Katharine Hayhoe at the American Museum of Natural History for an event that brought together k-12 educators. Yes, she is a world renowned scientist but also an author and strong communicator. And I was entranced by how she adapted the insights and research from her book "Saving Us" for the intended audience. Definitely giving me nuggets to use with the Earth Archetypes storytelling.

I also hung out with 2 very different types of Networks through the Biomimicry Institute and SuperSouth. Also found the storytelling panel full of someone who has mapped the brains subconscious, a 20 year Pixar Studio veteran, and a VC a fascinating way to connect the dots.

Then I had an intriguing conversation with a quantum physics professor who did a class with scifi at the Keeling Curve awards showcase -- where their social and cultural award winners are still very much data driven technicians. Plus, I even met a very data driven scientist from the Andes that I got to hang out with for some time and experience his view of things including videos of penguins and give him the words "world building" to describe what he is building to tie experiments and indigenous ways of being.

As a result, I got to feel some vibes that felt new and foreign to me.

Practice conversations that I was clearly a novice in.

Discover unexpected connections to enhance my work.

And quite frankly, walk the talk.

What will ultimately come of it, I don't yet know. But hey, that's relationships for ya!