I have been worried about the environment for many years, but I felt incapable of taking an active role for what I guess are many of the “usual” reasons: the guilt of living in a rich society, I don’t understand the climate science so I’m not prepared to go into battle with winning arguments for or against the cause, and I was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the problems facing us compared to the tiny contribution I could make.
In 2020, I finally decided that it’s time to stop hiding. I created a Zoom event for regualr people to present their climate projects and, to my surprise, there are a lot of people out there willing to have a conversation, so many are already active in one way or another – but so many others are still standing on the sidelines in the same frozen space I used to be in, waiting to find their access to making a difference.
As an outcome of that “Zoom-Case”, I found my sweet spot: empowering people to follow their passion. I bring a toolbox of project management know-how, the personal development work I’ve been doing for several decades and the experience I gained in being active in mentoring programs both as participant and as organizer.
At this point, the Climate Leader Mentoring Program is a loose association of like-minded people who have a passion for the environment and volunteer their time and energy to empower the next generation of projects big and small. We welcome your contribution!
OUR CORE VALUES:
PROFOUND CONNECTION &
BOLD LEADERSHIP
PROFOUND CONNECTION to and between our participants, to the communities that our projects serve, commitment to networking and finding synergies. We are for a healthy planet; we don’t beleive in “against”.
BOLD LEADERSHIP in being the ones to tackle the climate crisis in our own small way, in believing that, together, we will make THE difference, conversation by conversation, and create the change the world needs, in providing mutual support and compassion, in being passionate about you finding and expressing your passion for this planet in your unique way.
OUR PRINCIPLES
The Climate Leader Mentoring Program creates and holds the space
- of curiosity, of we don’t know (yet)
- of willingness to experiment and learn
- of starting with accepting the status quo
- of being comfortable to express emotions we may usually want to hide – our frustration, our sorrow, …
Responsibility always remains with the Leader to make their own decisions.
We believe in circular energy flows: reciprocity, finding synergies, opening up to inclusion, win/win solutions, paying it forward, …
As we consider being “against” something a waste of energy and goodwill, and we avoid waste in all forms, we are “for”.
OUR VISION
As a participant in the Mentoring Program, we encourage you, somebody who has identified their passion for some aspect of the environment, to become more effective in expressing and realizing that passion in your Climate Project. By listening intently and non-judgementally, we support you in finding your own way – discovering limiting beliefs you’ve held that have hampered your progress, taking honest stock of where your project stands and where you want it to go and assessing what actions would make the biggest difference. You find yourself with new wind under your wings, with somebody rooting for you and what you can accomplish, with a person committed to your success and, if you want, to you fulfilling the actions you promise to take from week to week.
The Climate Leader Mentoring Program florishes because our participants are fascinated by our “low energy / high impact” approach: Our Climate Leaders experience themselves as successful not by fighting hard but by expressing their enthusiasm for their passion and taking bold actions in communication – rather than resisting, they, like water, find the path of least resistance and highest satisfaction. Our mentors love that they invest an hour a week into listening to an excited Climate Leader eager to take in their input, and the project takes new ground. And the concept of a 3 month “intervention” that the Climate Leader initiates and that the Mentor happily supports just lands as an intuitive “win/win/win” for everybody and the environment.
The Climate Leader Mentoring Program expands because our participants share their satisfaction with the process with their “tribe” – their family, friends, members, supporters, through word of mouth, Linked-In, Facebook and other social media posts and by generously contributing testimonials. They invite their people to the quarterly Climate Project Zoom-Case and they pay back what they got from the Program by being mentors themselves. The Program expands because of its circular nature – we recognize that mentors and mentees are bascially interchangeable and bring out the best in each other.