Happy Friday, eco-heads. I figured you’d still like to look at a picture of our lovely little kitty, Willow for one more week, so enjoy.
One of the challenges of advocating for the sustainability life-style is that many folks are resistent to change and also think a lot of these issues are too much for one person to tackle and make a difference. Well, we say to that: Hogwash!!!! (bet you thought I was going to use a different animal waste product). Little things make a huge difference, so never sell yourself short. Also, don’t drag out the old soapbox in educating others. Being friendly, helpful and warm goes a long way in helping people get over their anxiety of changing their behavior.
As usual, you might be thinking, what the heck is she talking about (I even do that when I’m all by myself; so you’re not alone). You think: I read the Green Dandelion, I reduce, reuse, recycle, so back off, sister! The real subject I’m talking about is being able to adapt to change; in all it’s shapes and forms. Here at the University of Rochester’s Facilities and Services department we recently underwent some changes, and it was so fluid and smooth that I wanted to share with you why it went well.
Many of you know that our recycling coordinator/guru, Amy Kadrie became a mom for the first time this past September. While Amy was away enjoying the little bundle of joy with her husband, Dan, and not getting any sleep, we at Facilities had to figure how to keep up with our initiatives, continue to communicate with all of our community without missing a beat, and maintain our momentum for projects big and small. Due to the foresight/planning/communication of Amy and our Director of Support Operations, Pat Beaumont we were fortunate to have the very, very kewl and talented Rayna Oliker step in as interim recycling coordinator these past few months.
I had the pleasure of working closely with Rayna and assisting where I could. Well, she did an awesome job! She jumped right in enthusiastically and used her college degree (a proud UR graduate), and contacts on campus to keep the sustainability ship afloat. I’m sure Rayna received some education from the school of hard knocks (as we all do), but it never diminished her can-do attitude.
Amy’s back and today is Rayna’s last day with us. The Corner wants to say “thank you”, Rayna for doing such an admirable job. It was fun working with you and all of us here know whatever career path you choose, you will be a raging success. Good luck!