Left Nav

 

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Chinese Proverb 

 

STORIES FROM THE HEART

A Simpler Gift from the Heart: Based on the Experiences of Jenni SkylerJenni Skyler

[Excerpt from a letter to
Jennifer White, Green Heart Institute's Director of Education...]

November 19, 2007

Hi Jennifer,

"...I wanted to thank you for a great lecture. It really moved me, and the next day I wrote my family a long letter about not getting material gifts and how I would like to donate volunteer hours for each of them. I traced the evolution of my thinking and it ended with your lecture on simplicity and life priorities. My family received it really well, and my friend actually put me in touch with a man writing for the NY Times about how people are trying to make their families greener for the holidays. I think the interview also solidified my family's investment to try and make some changes.
 

In addition, my friend, Dave, who also attended with me, was very moved. He is a fighter pilot and usually votes for issues depending on the war on terror. But that evening he was struck with the realization that the natural world is a far more important and imminent issue to address at the polls (and at home)..."

Best,

Jenni Skyler

[And an excerpt from the NY
Times article that emerged, "Jolly and Green, with an Agenda" by Alex Williams,
November 25, 2007.]

"...Dr. Wallin said that environmental activists can avoid arguments by trying to lead by example, not by lecture. ‘Don't force them to change,' she said. ‘It may take two or three seasons, but you are not going to get anywhere by showing up and thumbing your nose.'

(Anxious greens can consult the Sierra Club's Web site, which provides actual scripts to recite during dinner-table debates. For example, when ‘Aunt Mim' shrugs off global warming, the activist might respond: ‘A delicate balance has been thrown out of whack, and the consequences are really rather frightening. At this pace, Mim, we could see an ice-free Arctic by midcentury.')

Jenni Skyler, a sex and relationship counselor from Miami, said she already achieved results this year by shifting her strategy away from guilt trips.

This year, Ms. Skyler, 26, decided to cap off a year in which she moved from Florida to ecologically conscious Boulder, Colo., and gave up her car for a bike, with an all-out assault on holiday waste.

When Ms. Skyler first floated the idea to her family of replacing all presents with time donated to charity, she faced resistance. ‘They'd give me grief,' she said. ‘They'd say, ‘Those are your values, not ours.''

So Ms. Skyler wrote a passionate letter to the family, detailing her own conversion, spurred by concerns about global warming. She hoped others would follow suit. When her stepsister started to show interest in the proposal, Ms. Skyler recalled, her father joked, ‘When you sell your engagement ring, we can talk about fighting consumerism.'

But after lengthy conversations, her stepmother, Mercy Bach, a state judge, finally brokered a compromise. She suggested the family trade chores and services, not material gifts.

‘I'm really looking forward to simplifying and not having to go to all the malls to buy 10 Christmas presents,' Ms. Bach said. ‘I think it's going to be a relief...'"
 
 

To read the full article click here.