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| Kahlil Kettering, Stephanie Cornejo Cara Capp and Angelique Giraud |
These kids are the best hope we have to stop the destruction of the environment in Florida. Some of the rest of us are getting old and tired (getting old sucks don't let anyone tell you otherwise) and cannot stomach meetings anymore. Do any of you know what agony it is to sit through an 8 hour County Commission meeting? Unless you have done it, you have no idea how torturous it is. Speaking of meetings, I just thought of this excellent conference I went to about 6 or 7 years ago on smart growth. The only County Commissioner I saw there was Dennis Moss. All the County Commissioners should have been there -- glued to the seats.
Here is a bit about those pictured: Kahlil Kettering, LEED AP is the Biscayne Restoration Program Analyst for National Parks Conservation Association. Stephanie Cornejo works for Tropical Audubon Society as Outreach and Education Coordinator. Cara Capp is the South Florida Community Organizer for Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund. Angelique Giraud works as the Energy Community Organizer at Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund. The girls are so sweet and smiley, you have to love them, but when they talk to you they really know their stuff. I am always impressed with these kids. Kahlil, he is all guy, serious, deep voice, turning heads with his rugged good looks. I once traveled for a couple of hours to a meeting with him and a female NGO. Don't think he said more than 2 words to me.
One of my favorites of the young ones is Sara Fain. I watched her come up through the ranks, she started as an intern for Audubon. Now she works as an environmental lawyer for the Everglades Law Center. She is so smart it is a joy to talk to her. She graduated from Miami Law School, Order of the Coif, Magna cum Laude, in 2005. She could work anywhere but she wants to make a difference, and she is.
Angelique wrote the post below. How can you say no to a guest post for these kids?
13 comments:
That guy is hot.
I'm glad they're doing what they're doing! I'm heading in to that old and tired category! I've been at this way too long and no longer can stomach the meetings either!
Thought I would share an aggregated online daily I have been publishing comprised of the best environmental twitter accounts in Florida.
Florida Environmental News Daily
http://paper.li/SethPlatt/1317534467best environmental
The guy is way outta your league, Missy Lynda...
How do you know it is Lynda.If it came out of her shop that will be Joanna.
Nice looking kids. Glad they are on our side, wish that guy was at my side!
The C111 spreader canal was a fraud fiasco from the 60's Aerojet was going to build missiles and float them to NASA we gave them the land and lo and behold when they dug the canal (which everyone paying attention to the enviroment knew there would be salt water intrusion to the Everglades)immediate salt water intrusion.We the taxpayers have spent nearly 2 BILLION DOLLARS buying the land back from this fraud filled disaster.Every agenda at the (SFWMD)South Florida Weapons of Mass Destructiom shows another buy.
I have worked closely with many of them (Khalil, Sara, Laura Reynolds, et al) and I can attest to the fact that they are very bright and very passionate. However, I can tell you their biggest problem is that they do not know how to build consensus or rally broad support around a single issue. They think that their passion (which often manifests itself in the form of argumentative debating and a dismissive attitude) and a list of facts will win support for their point of view, but what they end up doing is overwhelming the people they need support from and end up getting tuned out. I miss the days of April Gromnicki, Cynthia Guerra, Dick Frost and Jamie Furgang who were all well skilled at "people management". There are some out there today who have what it takes to be very good at it (Dawn Sherriffs and Jackie Weisblum come to mind, and Laura Reynolds has improved tremendously in this area), but their attempts to build strong consensus are drowned out by the ones who aren't good at it.
Oh man, some of those you mentioned made me shudder.
Advocating for environmental causes is not easy, and the path is often full of obstacles along the way. We all need to work together with shared goals and pool our resources to be successful. I am always open to hearing constructive feedback and suggestions to improve my communication skills as an advocate so that I can better pursue our cause. If someone believes that I could do a better job at managing consensus then please, by all means let me know directly. I won't know how others feel unless they tell me. If you have worked with me before, then you probably already have my contact info. I am all ears. I would just advise that it's easier to contact me directly than by posting a comment. Oh, and it's Kahlil, not "Khalil".
Thank you Kahlil. I disagree with the writer who seems to favor Audubon NGO's. They march to a different drum. I think today's activists are doing just fine, operating under a mountain of issues while trying to deal with a hostile State government.
Misguided Children!
Putz!
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