The new No Impact Project

Hey Folks, I thought you'd like to hear from the Associate Director of the new No Impact Project, which will promote citizen engagement in our environmental and lifestyle crises. Her name is Stephanie Bleyer and, by the way, she's looking for interns.

I’m thrilled to have been named the Associate Director of the No Impact Project, an outgrowth of this blog and the No Impact Man book and film coming out in September. The goal of our project is to inspire, engage and propel citizen action in the environmental movement. But before I go into that, I thought I'd tell you a little something about how I come to the No Impact Project--and strangely, it has something to do with falling in love with my legs.

It was somewhere between Boseman, Montana and Minneapolis, Minnesota that I fell completely in love with them. Other people had always said that my gams were gorgeous enough to stop traffic. Someone even blamed a car accident in Nairobi, when I was crossing the road, on the fact that I was wearing a mini.

But for myself, I didn't think they were any great shakes until I used them to bicycle 3,600 miles across the United States. That's when I developed a deep and profound appreciation for them, an enduring admiration that still takes my breath away. In the summer of 2000, my legs took me over the Rockies, across the Great Plains, through one-horse towns and along endless rows of corn stalks and soybeans.

Through the long days on my saddle, I would often look down on the ground at the shadow of my legs pedaling away and marvel: If I can propel myself across this country, I can change the world.  
 
Bike Aid was a project of Just Act: Youth Action for Global Justice. Along with 17 new friends, I spent nine weeks bicycling from Seattle to Washington, D.C. to raise money and awareness about social justice issues while participating in service projects in small communities along the way. I was making a documentary about this adventure for Oxygen, the television network, hoping that showing snippets from the road could inspire others to turn off the TV, get on a bicycle and change their communities.
 
This was my own personal “no impact” project.
 
It was my bold and audacious action, which I hoped would create a ripple effect across the country. And it is one of the experiences that makes me especially fond of the No Impact Man project. Of course, I've had a lot of other non-profit experience since then. But what Colin and I both learned firsthand from our personal experiences is that when you go to extremes--and when your actions accord deeply with your values--people pay attention.

From Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to Muncie, Indiana, every time I stopped pedaling I would inevitably meet a local person, tell them what I was doing, engage them in dialogue about issues and hopefully inspire them to step outside their boundaries and make change. One by one, mile by mile.

I think it's been like that for Colin with No Impact Man, and I think it will be the same for the non-profit he has hired me to run--the No Impact Project.
 
It’s a simple message we'll be promoting: lower your environmental impact and increase your social impact to improve the quality of your life and those around you while saving the earth. To help carry it off the page of Colin's book and out of the theatres where the No Impact Man documentary will be showing, we are busy planning an exciting social action campaign that will engage people both online and off.

I hope those of you who read the blog will help, and the time will come when I'll ask. But if you have a particular interest right now, we're looking for interns (see below). And if you have other ways you think you might like to join us for the ride, shoot me an email at StephanieATnoimpactproject.org (replace the AT with an @, of course).

Here's the intern job description, which is also posted on Idealist.Org:

Project
The national launch of the not-for-profit No Impact Project will coincide with the Fall release of the No Impact Man documentary and book. The Project will leverage the publicity surrounding these releases to encourage citizen engagement in finding solutions to our culture’s environmental and lifestyle crises. The mission is to engage the public in creating a new paradigm in which low-impact living and high-impact citizenship improves quality of life and the environment.

Overview
No Impact Project is looking for a talented and motivated intern to work in close partnership with the Associate Director to ensure the successful execution of a multi-pronged programming and fundraising agenda. This Intern will be vital in helping us build capacity in our fledgling organization.  Areas of responsibility will include: 

•    Program related research, development and execution
•    Grant proposal research and writing
•    Launch preparation
•    Social media and technology project development
•    Communications and marketing
•    Administrative duties

Time Commitment
20 hours/week in the office and/or telecommuting.

Start Date: June 15
End Date: September 15 (the internship can be extended through the fall)

Payment
None.  Academic credit only (if applicable).  Letter of reference from Executive Director upon completion of internship.

Qualifications
•    Excellent writing and research skills.
•    Previous experience working for a small non-profit.
•    Interest in environmental issues.
•    Ability to work independently and take initiative.
•    Confident, good sense of humor, creative thinker (all requirements!)

Application
Please send a brief cover letter and resume (2 page max) to Stephanie at [email protected].  Applications with grammatical errors will not be considered.