Spammed by Environmental Orgs.

Last year, we donated to Sierra Club post-election.

Which is great and all until you consider how much mail we get from them and now every other environmental organization under the sun (that’s an exaggeration, but it feels like it).

 

Not only do we get constant mail from the Sierra Club, but also the Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, EarthJustice, World Wildlife Fund, and Heifer International.

We have more return address labels than one could possibly use in a lifetime, and plenty of stickers, calendars, and notepads have shown up in our mailbox.

While I support these organizations, I do not support their ridiculous mailing campaigns.

Isn’t it funny that an organization devoted to our environment would waste so much on mailings?

That an organization focused on conserving resources is shoving them into our mailbox?

I have already covered stopping generic junk mail and it is no different with these organizations. I will now be individually contacting each one to ask to be removed from their mailing list, not because I don’t back what they do, but because I don’t want their spam filling up my recycling bin. #Sorrynotsorry

Laid Off and Pushing On

Last week I had a very surprising phone call. My position at a tech company had been eliminated due to some company reorganizing and I was suddenly out of a job.

It took me the rest of the afternoon to come to terms that I would not be receiving a paycheck or insurance anymore, and that was really my only concern. I did not love my job and to be honest, I did not really care about what I was doing. This was just an in-between job.

Having gone to school to study environmental management and sustainable development, I always knew I wanted my passion to also be my career. Since graduating, I have bounced around a bit from Indiana to Washington DC, but being back in Chicago has not brought me much luck in the job hunt.

While I started working for that tech company, I did my best to exercise my passion outside of my work day. This meant volunteering on a non-profit associate board, Delta Emerging Leaders and applying for Chicago Conservation Corps, which I blogged about many times here, here, and here. On top of that, I did some beach clean ups too.

All while I was working for my lack-luster job and volunteering, I was  also always on the look out for an open sustainably related position. So now I am still looking and still applying, but I am not going to settle.

I already had a passion-less job. This next job, whatever it may end up being, is going to make a difference and help create quantifiable and beneficial change. I believe that life is too short to be spending so much time in a job that does not fill you with joy and really makes you think. Overall, I refuse to give up. The topics I write about on this blog are what I want to do with my life, and I feel lucky to have found my calling. I know my dream job is out there.