Do you have personal resolutions this New Year towards a greener lifestyle?

I had a friend who spent two years away from home on a mission, and as he left, he said, "This mission will be a success even if I just change one person--me."

So when I look back on 2009, I'm convinced that meeting real, caring, and inspired human beings as a result of these forums helped me visualize what I want out of my future life here in Lincoln.

The goal of 2010 here on the Lincoln Green Scene will be to take a deeper look at how individuals can share ideas for a more intentional contribution towards their community. Here's a link to an article on a blog called, "Yes!" passed to me by a friend. These ideas helped me formulate my own goals for 2010: 10 Courageous Things You Can Do To Build Community.

What may seem like common sense to some about managing their home with efficient, sustainable habits seems like an enormous road block to others. Take me, for example. I actually caught myself, in 2009, saying, "Now that I'm using reusable shopping bags for my groceries, I don't know what to line my small waste baskets with upstairs."

A co-worker replied, "I just get a solid waste basket that I can bring down and add to the kitchen trash before I take it out. And I'll rinse it out if the insides get messy."

In the spirit of vocalizing roadblocks in our own home systems, I'll be calling on the design expertise of Amy Rose Brt this year. She works with Community Crops full-time, but also works as a design consultant. She studied "Permaculture" as part of her degree, which makes her expertise so much more valuable to my needs here at my own home. I'll be hosting some hens here soon! And last year, I didn't garden because I don't keep it simple enough for myself. I also want to remove some cement patio and add rain barrels. Amy will help me visualize what I would like out of our small home property and plan it out in stages throughout the year. Look for me to blog and vlog (video blog) about it on My Page this winter.

And while we are on the subject of gardening, I'm the quintessential tyro. I'm the perfect example of a person who needs to wake up from the notion that I have to go get food and empower myself to grow what I like to eat. So I'll be blogging here about questions I have for Ingrid Kirst, director of Community Crops.

Also, I have been turned onto "closed-loop systems" by my new friend, Robert Byrnes. Robert has been designing solar and other alternative power systems for businesses and residents in Lincoln for a long time now. And when we met up at "Lincoln Green Drinks" the other night, I could tell that I needed to understand "closed loop systems" for myself by the fact that I got chills to hear Robert describe his own property. So this year, I hope to visit Robert and interview him about the amount of time it took for his vision of his own home systems to emerge into reality.

And finally, I think that a lot of content here on the Green Scene needs to come from #7 of the "10 Courageous Things You Can Do to Build Community" (from the blog article from "Yes!"):

"Practice industrial-strength listening."

If you have ideas, questions, doubts, or things people in the general blogosphere can use here at the Lincoln Green Scene, please let us know. Email, message us, follow and reply to our twitterfeeds.

In partnership with Lincoln Green By Design, I'll be getting a better idea about what events we can knit together here to get people meeting each other, blogging, videographing, and having an authentic time engaging in meaningful and inexpensive ways.

And once in a while, I will send surveys to members. Answer at will. If we are not listening, we are not a service to you.

Thanks! I hope to see blogs, videos, photographs, questions, and comments of your own here as well!

What are YOUR goals for 2010? Care to discuss them in this discussion?

Andrea