A New Chapter for Verdant Growth
Hey world, it’s me, Eugene. I’m baaaack.
Where’ve you been?
For those of you who don’t know, back in April 2021, I moved back to the United States after living abroad for almost 10 years (3 years in South Korea and 7 years in Japan). I was an English teacher for pretty much the whole time, but I always wanted to return to engineering in the states. In particular, I always wanted to apply engineering skills to solve problems in sustainability, nature, and the environment.
Turns out, beggars can’t be choosers and I ended up taking a job where I could get one: the heavy mechanical and civil industry, specifically, working on the island of Oahu’s water supply system.
Something’s missing…
Now, there’s plenty of climate action and environmental protection to be done when it comes to construction and the water industry: construction makes up for about 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions (about 6% of that is from concrete production alone!), and clean water is a resource that is growing scarcer all the time, with climate change not helping to make it any better. They say that ‘every job is a climate job now’, since every single industry in the world has some connection to climate change. Because of that, I have been trying to come up with a plan to start a “Green Team” at work and start to see if I can make an impact within my company (maybe best for a future blog post).
But I’ve also been feeling like something is missing. I miss trying to grow Verdant Growth to reach larger audiences and have an even bigger impact.
The first 6 months on the new job have been crazy to say the least. Having to learn about industrial piping and design, budgeting multi-million dollar projects, contracts with the government and subcontractors, project scheduling, construction team management, and construction site safety (just to name a few) have kept my mind in a constant state of “AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH.”
But recently, I’ve started to adapt and adjust to the new job, and it’s started to leave a little bit of space in my mind to ponder other things, like “What should I do about my blog, podcast, YouTube channel, and the EcoSwapShop?”
And I’ve decided that doing something, no matter how small, is better than doing nothing.
The Verdant Growth Challenge to ME
So here’s what I propose! From now on, I will each of the following things at least once a week:
- Write a blog post (No matter how short or insignificant. I need to get more thoughts and ideas out there.) Podcast episode posts count!
- Take one step to improve the EcoSwapShop (Take product photos, order a new product, make a new campaign, edit the website, etc.).
- Upload at least 3 pictures a week to Instagram (must be on separate days) and at least 1 quick video of me talking or doing something ECO.
- Stay active on Twitter (this shouldn’t be a challenge, I usually spend at least a few minutes a day re-tweeting and doing little replies/posts)
- Make headway on a YouTube video concept/script/editing. The eventual goal is to try to just get to one video per month.
This is kind of a lot of stuff. I recognize that I will probably fail to some degree, but like living ECO, that’s part of it: just trying it out and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I can revise this list later.
It’s better to act and get even a tiny bit done than it is not to act and get nothing done.
The Verdant Growth Challenge to YOU
And just because I’m offering myself up a challenge, I’d like to offer you a chance to do the same! Is there something you’d like to do to make your life a bit more environmentally-friendly? A little more ECO? Something you’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to? Here’s your chance! Comment it down below, tweet it to me (@VerdantGrowth), or message me on Instagram (@Verdant.Growth or @VerdantGrowthOfficial)! We can keep up with each other’s challenges and hold each other accountable! I realize almost no one will do this, but there’s no harm in inviting you to try, right?
Let Verdant Growth: Hawaii Chapter Begin!
More than anything, this post is to give myself some accountability. So there it is. If you came through this whole post and got to the end, then I hope you’ll continue to watch this page for most posts coming in the future. As I continue to adapt to my new life here in Hawaii, I’m not sure where this blog will go, but it will for sure be different (and hopefully better) than it was in the past.
New chapter of my life, new chapter for Verdant Growth.
