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by Eric Tsai
Ami Voeltz was frustrated with being an environmentalist.
On the Web. On the phone. In the library. She explored every avenue to research new ways of making her lifestyle more environmentally sustainable. But after hours of waiting on hold with organizations, leafing through outdated encyclopedias and surfing convoluted web sites, she found that it took too much work to get answers that should have been easy to find.
What Voeltz really needed was an easily accessible book that could not only provide information on a wide range of sustainability issues but also suggest simple lifestyle changes in light of those issues. Unable to find a suitable source, Voeltz decided to design her own book. The aim was simple: to condense a large amount of information from disparate sources into one easy-to-use guidebook.
"I thought that by making some of this information more accessible, people would be more likely to make changes because they wouldn't have to take those extra steps that I had to take," says Voeltz.
Now, in addition to asking questions about sustainable living, Voeltz is helping to provide the solutions with The Twin Cities Green Guide, Minnesota's first comprehensive guidebook on sustainability.
A user-friendly guide
The Green Guide is a user-friendly guide that educates Twin Cities residents about environmental issues and serves as a resource for sustainable and community-oriented living.
The 300-page book takes a comprehensive approach to sustainability, elaborating on core issues like transportation, consumption, waste, energy, and citizen action while also exploring more unconventional approaches like do-it-yourself projects, arts, and recreation.
"I wanted to try and get as many people involved in sustainability by showing them simple ways to adjust their lives," explains Voeltz. "If you can just teach someone one idea and get them interested in it, they will want to learn more and do more because it feels right."
The Green Guide itself can be read through cover to cover or leafed through occasionally. The guide is divided into 17 categories, each consisting of in-depth articles written by Minnesota experts. For example, in its "Energy" section, you'll find articles that explain the use, benefits, costs, and availability of alternative energy sources. Other articles in the Energy section give tips on increasing home energy efficiency and energy-use reduction.
Each article gives a thorough explanation of sustainable practices with plenty of information for both avid and novice environmentalists. For further research, each article also features a resource box with relevant Web sites, books, and local organizations.
Design of the guide
The Green Guide was released in January, but the vision began two years earlier. Voeltz decided to create her own nonprofit organization to allow full freedom in designing the book. She obtained grants from the state of Minnesota and private donors to create the Green Guide Organization (GGO) in August 2000.
Above all, Voeltz wanted the Green Guide to be written for and by the community. She started a grassroots campaign to rally local support behind the GGO. Members put up posters, distributed e-mails, and called local organizations to recruit writers and volunteers from around the Twin Cities.
As Twin Cities residents heard about the GGO, Voeltz soon found she was not alone in her cause. Five others joined her to form the Green Guide staff, which organized all GGO activities, and over 200 Minnesota volunteers lent a helping hand throughout the project.
"It was really exciting to see how the word spread about what we were creating, and great to have so much support from so many different people and organizations," says Voeltz.
As a group, the Green Guide staff decided to become a living example of the practical advice they set forth. The guide was produced under a strict code of ethics that examined the environmental impact of almost all levels of activity.
They corresponded by email and made business cards with rubber stamps. The guide itself was printed on 100 percent post-consumer paper; the binding was made with non-toxic, water-based glues; and the guide's compact design ensures an efficient use of paper.
Volunteer effort
The GGO grew, attracting volunteers with diverse backgrounds and talents. But the common vision remained producing a clear, accessible guide that could serve as a resource on sustainability for the entire community.
Many volunteers balanced work, studies, or both to contribute to the Green Guide.
"The common motivation that the group had was that everyone was able to envision what a resource the guide could be," says Mark Snyder, a GGO volunteer who also works for the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance. Snyder joined the GGO as a volunteer writer and editor after discovering his employer contributed a grant to the project.
Marnie O'Brien, another GGO volunteer and residency program associate at the University Medical School, heard about the GGO after discussing environmental issues with a friend. O'Brien quickly joined the project, liking what she saw as a supportive, noncondescending approach to sustainability. Serving on the editorial board on the Green Guide allowed O'Brien to voice her environmental beliefs in a respectful way.
"I didn't want to sit and preach to people about changing their lives. I just want to live it and in that end be an example for my kids and the rest of society," she says.
Even the main staff, who supplied the driving force behind the Green Guide team, contributed largely as volunteers. The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance grant was a "one-to-one" grant in which all funds acquired were to be matched by the GGO.
Because the GGO lacked the capital to match the grant, staff members contributed their work hours for the project as in-kind donations.
"For every four hours that the staff contributed to the guide, three hours were volunteer time or in-kind. So a job that would normally pay $10 per hour actually paid $2.50 per hour," explained Snyder. "It was a volunteer project at all levels."
A focus on the community
In many ways, its dedicated, community-oriented approach to the Green Guide's production was central to realizing many of the GGO's goals. Because the guide was a community effort that drew from a large diversity of opinion, the guide was able to remain sensitive to environmental issues at the local level and tailor its message to suit those needs.
According to Voeltz, focusing on the local level helps strengthen communities, which is one key factor in promoting sustainability. "Working and living locally gives people the opportunity to see the changes they are making by their contributions and support [local spending] in their communities," she says. "It makes it easier for people to see how many resources they use and how their lifestyles affect others."
The GGO's reliance on strong volunteer support helped make the Green Guide available to people of all income levels. They kept the price to $10, part of which funds an online edition of the guide. Free copies were also distributed to schools, recreational centers and park buildings to make the guide as available as possible.
Moving forward
The GGO will continue to update Green Guides every four years to meet the changing needs of the community and broaden the range of opinion. The staff is already busy collecting feedback from readers for improving the guide. Profits from this issue are also being set aside for the 2005 issue.
The debut issue is already inspiring change in some of its readers.
"I know this book has already helped many people find the answers to questions they have had for a long time," says Voeltz. "Readers are marking pages, taking notes, and getting involved in the areas that interest them for the first time."
Although the Green Guide focuses on the power of the individual, the GGO hopes that individual changes will have a cumulative effect on society at large.
"Clearly, there is no one magic that will solve all of the problems that face Americans today," says staff member Joel Helfrich. "But if everyone took one idea from the guide and made ... changes within themselves, we would have a better United States."
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.thegreenguide.org
