ENV/SOC/GralInt-TED Talks-Erica Williams - End Dependence on Disposable Plastic & more

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TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch - Erica Williams - End Dependence on Disposable Plastic




November 2010




Erica Williams delivers a passionate challenge to businesses and individuals - lets end the dependence of disposable plastic. REFUSE single use and disposable plastic today.
























































Millennials Reimagining America







Erica at PopTech speaking on the power and potential of the Millennial generation to dramatically change the country.

































































Who Am I?




An introduction to Erica, her life’s work and what she believes.













































An End to Changing the World: How to Add Greater Purpose to Your Life and Work.



Change-The-World


January 24, 2014 | Posted by Erica Williams


(reposted from Medium)



Change the world. It’s a mantra, a slogan, and a universal post graduation goal. It’s written on every coffee mug, t-shirt and young idealistic soul across this great land. The tagline to a thousand books, the description for a thousand twitter profiles. The goal of every single business/technology/political/artistic endeavor. A task for which everyone and everything is somehow inherently wired but for which no measurable metrics exist. Who is doing it? How do we know? And what does it even mean?

Seven years ago when I graduated college, I didn’t know the answers to any of those questions, but it didn’t stop me from aiming for the highest of world-changing stars anyway. As the daughter of two small church pastors, born into an extended family complete with veterans, public school teachers and nurses, I knew from the moment that I could talk that I was meant to make the world a better place and that, as Shirely Chisolm said, “Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.” I was determined to pay a really high rent, so long as it meant that I could leave the world better — more just, kind, equitable and safe — than when I arrived.

I was blessed to have gotten the first job that I applied for after graduating at a large national non-profit that worked for civil and human rights. It took me about 2 months to rev my engines, learn the lingo, and get the lay of the activism/advocacy land, and then I was off like a bat out of hell (or revolutionary heaven) — shooting through professional milestone after professional milestone, tackling the non-profit world with a Wolf of Wall Street-esque tenacity.

By 28 I had racked up an impressive list of accomplishments, accolades and victories working side by side with some of the most inspired/inspiring activists of our generation. I’d been all over the world helping young people pick up causes and win victories for social justice and that humble, low paying work had somehow taken me to the loftiest of places. I worked with my colleagues and the communities we believed in to fight racism, sexism, and classism, and protect people’s rights and freedoms. While that kind of work is tireless and never-ending, it comes complete with tangible metrics and outcomes. Was I changing the world? Heck yeah. My donors told me so every quarter.

Still, at 29 I grew restless and tired of the advocacy sector. For a whole host of reasons, I wanted to pursue my long held passions in the culture, tech and media space. So with the same overall goal of “changing the world” in place, I jumped head first into a new industry, determined to connect the dots between creative content and social change.

But with my day-to-day no longer defined by campaign goals, political victories or other “traditional” social change milestones, I wondered how I would measure my impact as a newly minted cultural agent and entrepreneur. In the non-profit sector, changing the world came equipped with easily understood metrics: Did a policy change? Did the little guy win?

But here, in this new open frontier, I found myself in a twilight zone of aimless do- gooders. People at tech conferences and social entrepreneurship and media events and cultural festivals all using the same language that my old friends from the activist world did with little to no explanation of what that really meant. I noticed world changing being advertised as an outcome for online marketing courses and self help books and new apps and, well, pretty much everything.

I started to become a little uncomfortable. And then a little irritated. And then a little embarrassed for us all. Here we are, a generation of ambitious, creative people, shooting our bullets at a blurry target. The phrase “change the world” had begun to mean little more than “We want to do cool stuff and have people notice” which really ended up meaning “I’m not really sure what I want but I need to say something that adds some grandeur and morality to my latest endeavor”. And, p.s., “I’m a super nice person.” It was a selfless, heavy phrase that had somewhere along the way become unbelieably selfish and empty.

And the more I thought on it, the more I understood the simple reason why.

Do we say that we want to make the sun rise or set? Do we set ambitions to make stars shine and rain fall? Nope. Why? Because these things just happen. They are acts of God and nature and are as inevitable as the passing of time. As beautiful and inspirational as these natural processes may be, that’s just it: they are naturally occuring processes. Neither you nor I nor anything that we create has any impact on them happening. So they would be rather silly life goals right?

Well here’s the harsh reality that they forget to tell you in the commencement speeches and entrepreneurship magazines: The world changes — with or without you. People are born and die. Things move and grow and evolve. Changing the world is essentially a meaningless goal because it requires nothing of you. And I think that’s why we say it. It makes us feel good and special without actually demanding that we do anything worth doing.

I know. I sound like Debbie Downer. But the preacher’s girl in me knows that there is always a gospel — a good news to share. And here it is:

While changing the world is a meaningless goal, what is in our power to determine is the pace and the direction of that change. It just requires some specificity; an actual theory of change. And that means, getting a clear vision and mission for yourself:

“How do you want the world changed and how exactly do you want to change it?
”

These are the questions that every student, every entrepreneur, every artist should ask themselves as they leap wide eyed and hopeful into the world of work and creation. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t readily able to answer them.

Because changing the world is the 5 hour energy of purposes. It gives you an instant surge of energy but no true sustenance for the long haul. After a while, the high ends and you are back to the reality of just how tired and fuzzy you — and your dreams — really are.

To truly put some strength behind your passions, ask yourself the hard questions. What do you want the world to look like as a result of your dream and your work?

The answer may not be short and sweet. It may not fit onto a bumper sticker or iphone case. It will likely require some learning and some time — maybe a few jobs, projects and failures — to figure out. But that’s the only way you can really Be the Change. You have to know what the change actually looks like.

As someone who has built a career helping people do the work, I can promise you this: Figuring it out is a worthwhile endeavor that will go a long way to clarify your path, measure your impact and maybe, just maybe, really make the world a better place.


















Whole Change: What to Expect When You’re Expecting




January 4, 2014 | Posted by Erica Williams







Happy new year beautiful people! No, I’m not pregnant. If you are, congrats. But yeah…no. I’m expecting something only slight less major: a big, full new chapter of life. I am so excited for 2014 and all that it holds and I hope that you are too. A lot of changes have already been set in motion this year – new projects, new work, new places, new habits. I hate when people give too many specifics before things happen so I’ll just say that I can’t wait to share everything that I’m cooking up for you guys in the days, weeks and months to come.

One of the reasons for the excitement is that I’m (beyond) ready to put into action all that I learned in 2013. From what I can tell, last year was a meaningful one for a lot of you. I’ve heard your stories about big life changes, loss, confusion, disappointment and also new adventures, risks, and experiences that you will never forget (but perhaps are eager to move above and beyond). In an essay that I shared on my writing blog, I talked about how last year was quite the doozy for me too:

“…2013 was the unsettling of everything. I laid low to discover who I thought I was, who I thought I had to be, and the possibility of who I could become. And in the end, I became a woman, jointly owned by only God and me, now as certain about who I am and what I want as I am about life’s uncertainty.
”

I go on to describe a year of amazingly painful, beautiful growth. I posted that essay on Facebook and in between all of the “likes” and comments, got dozens of versions of this message over and over again in response: “That’s awesome! What did you learn? HOW did you grow? Please share!”

Ask and you shall receive. I’m introducing a new series here on the blog called WHOLE CHANGE. Every week this year, I’m going to share a lesson that I learned in 2013 that helped me grow into a more powerful, brave, free and whole person on my journey to “change the world”.

“Why share here?” you may be asking. “Isn’t this website all about your communications, media and social change work?” Well here’s the thing. One of the lessons that I learned that I’ll share more about later is the harm we do to ourselves, our mission and our dreams when we segment ourselves into multiple people – artistic and creative Erica, religious Erica, political Erica, media Erica, motivational Erica. Multiple personalities aren’t cute. Or healthy.

Of course there are still practical reasons, professional and otherwise, to have more than one platform or online persona. For example, on my writing blog I’ll be sharing essays and poems and thoughts that may be in a completely different style than readers of ericawilliams.com enjoy. And of course I will continue to publish content about communications, culture and social issues here as well.

But “Being the Change” is about actually being; finding your truth and letting that shine through all you do because your cause and your community needs you. The whole you, in its many splendored glory. You can’t effectively change the world and be unchanged yourself. Your personal, spiritual and mental growth is a key part of your social change strategy. And since I’m really committed to helping you do gooders do better, I’ve got to share tips for that part of your life’s work as well.

I titled this blog “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” first because I wanted to share with you what you should expect on this blog this year. But even more importantly, I want you to expect to grow and change a lot in order to take your life by the horns and make it count.

Let’s all expect the best of each other and this powerful new year!










WHOLE CHANGE #1: It’s Okay To Not Know It All. Life’s Better That Way.



January 8, 2014 | Posted by Erica Williams


Have you ever stood at a crossroads and not known which way to go? Well that was me in January 2013. I had quit my job over the holidays and knew that I wanted to change direction – but I wasn’t sure how or what my new vision was. I was blessed to have a lot of opportunities and a lot of options. I just didn’t have any clarity to go with them. So I needed to take some time to figure it all out. Sounds reasonable right? Well it didn’t feel reasonable. In fact it was terrifying. So much so, that I couldn’t even tell anyone.

I was afraid to admit that I was in a stage of search and discovery. How would that make me look? Would I lose ground professionally? Would I disappoint people who thought they knew what I should be doing and where I should be going? There were so many fears circling around my soul but one of the biggest was the fear of not knowing everything.

See, professionally (and to a certain extent socially) I exist in a world of “Know-It-Alls”. Sound familiar? People who make a living solving – or attempting to solve – or at the very least talking about how someone else should solve – the world’s problems. My twitter feed, inbox and contact list are filled with journalists, culture critics, entrepreneurs, policy analysts, activists, commentators, artists, ministers, health and fitness gurus, relationship experts…all spending hours a day telling me and the rest of the world what they know; what they are certain about regarding, well, everything – why a policy is bad, why a strategy is good, why a tv show is stupid, why a sin is deadly, why a hairstyle is bad – you name it, my friends/colleagues “know” it.

Or maybe for you it’s even closer to home – parents and significant others, cousins and play cousins, church members and neighbors who always think they know what’s best – for everyone.

Whether it’s professional Know-It-Alls or Amateur-Know-It-Alls, we’ve all found ourselves at one time or another surrounded by people who pride themselves on being an expert in all things. And maybe you’ve even been that person yourself. Don’t feel bad. You aren’t alone.

Unfortunately, many of us change makers have adopted this attitude. We know exactly what is wrong in the world and we know how to fix it. And we always know exactly what we should be doing for our own lives in that equation. Today’s culture of success and doing good is rooted in certainty. From big issues like, racism, sexism, homophobia and environmentalism to reality television and Kanye West all the way to our own religion, relationships and careers – we are all sure that we can make the world better doing exactly what we think is best, because we have the answers. And we think that our certainty and wisdom makes us righteous.

But it doesn’t. It makes us arrogant and busy. It limits our vision and leaves no space for reflection. And in a situation where we really don’t know the answers (which, if we’re honest with ourselves happens way more than we care to admit), the facade of omniscience keeps us fearful and paralyzed. In short, it stops progress – in the world and in our own lives.

So exhale and let it go. You don’t have time to pretend! You don’t have time to make up answers! You don’t have time to keep up the facade! You don’t have time to waste.

It wasn’t until I admitted that I didn’t know what my next move should be that I opened myself up to the possibility of exploring wherever my heart wanted me to go. I was able to hear from others, experiment, look in unusual places and find a new path that I never would have discovered had I not humbled myself and silenced my inner expert.

And now, while I may not know everything about everything, this I do believe:


The world will be saved by those who recognize its mystery and live a life driven more by questions than by answers.




Hear what I’m saying. It’s the questions that keep us searching and striving and growing. And its humility that will allow us to innovate and be awed by the beauty of real social transformation when we see it, however it comes.

So stop pressuring yourself to know it all. Your destiny will thank you.












Source: www.ericawilliams.com