Second packets are in and many of you may be in the mid-semester, pre-holiday, how-am-I going-to-get-fired-up for the next packet slump. It maybe the last thing you think you want to do, but three books actually got me through writing a sixty some-odd page first draft of my final project. If they can do that, they may get you right out of any sluggishness you are experiencing. The first is Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. Maybe you read The World Is Flat. Friedman kicks it up a notch in this book in addressing how population, global warming and the "flatness" he coined in his earlier work combine in a truly urgent and alarming way. Okay, okay. We know that. What allowed me to keep reading rather than put my head in the oven (it's electric anyway) is that in the second half of the book he offers his well-researched ideas about solutions. I won't spoil the ending, but if you are suffering from seasonal affective disorder, you may want to just read the second half.
The next book I picked up was Peter Senge's The Necessary Revolution. I thought I would rather be reading a good detective novel about now. Our days here in northern Washington State seem about three minutes long and with the clouds, it is DARK. Instead I accidentally landed on an antidote that like the Friedman book, reignited my activism. Part of my dysphoria is that I volunteer for about six non-profit organizations, each of which is having its own anxiety about the current economic climate. Since my responsibilities are always about fundraising, you can see how I might be a little nervous myself. Senge (the same guy that wrote The Fifth Discipline) has a lot of great chapters about how people are cooperating to create a more sustainable world, but my favorit chapter--at least today for blogging purposes--reflects on orgainizational "vision." My favorite quote from this book is "It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does." (I have probably now quoted it in five committee meetings and two board retreats, so if you heard me say it a few times, sorry.) What Senge says is, "There is one and only one way to assess a vision: what is attained relative to what might have been attained without the vision." He isn't just talking about non-profits here, and his ideas about how to redesign organizations has been a major influence in how I've been participating in both my volunteer activities and my work-to-pay-the-rent activities. Check it out.
And finally, if you really can't read one more peice about sustainability, social responsibility, or whatever your area of focus may be, get yourself a glass of wine and a copy of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You will be entranced from page one. Not to make this sound like I'm a bookjacket writer, but this will rock your world. It also allowed me to reconsider that I am never going to be great at anything without ten thousand hours of practice, so I may need to get back to work. But for those of you just now checking out the blog, check in. I'll be back at you next week with breaking news about Michael Baumgart's trip to Bellingham Washington and other interesting facts.