“Figure out where your passion really is, and put your time in that passion,” John Abrams says in our “Local Hero” story. “We don’t have to change big things — we only have to change little things. If a lot of people change little things, that adds up … ”
John’s been working hard on building sustainable housing for years at South Mountain Company, and for almost as long helping to build a sustainable community on Martha’s Vineyard — most recently as one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Housing Bank. Beyond lauding John’s vision and generosity, we agree: A lot of people doing little things can make for big changes.
We hope that this publication helps you make those little, everyday changes that together can make our planet healthier — with the things you plant (see Laura Roosevelt’s new Garden to Table column and Roxanne Kapitan’s plan for growing fruit trees without fertilizer; the way you drink your coffee (What’s So Bad About Coffee?); and even what toilet you decide to buy (Room for Change: The Toilet). Please send us ideas — for stories you’d like to see, people we should know about, and maybe that cool way you upcycled something you would have tossed. Write me at ja***@bl***********.com.
Our Bluedot staff is growing! Ray Pearce has been named CEO of Bluedot, Inc. Ray spent more than 30 years at the New York Times — he was part of the team that launched the Times’s digital subscription business. Alison Mead will help produce our websites and will wrangle the digital assets we need for our rapidly growing stable of newsletters. You might know Ali from her time at Martha’s Vineyard Magazine and the Vineyard Gazette. Lucas Thors, an editor and reporter most recently at the MVTimes, will join our staff as a reporter/web producer. He’ll also help us run our Bluedot Institute program, where he’ll be finding cool climate projects by students all over the country. Island poet and writer Laura Roosevelt is our new copyeditor, and graphic designer Whitney Multari creates our illustrations, ads, and newsletters (along with this magazine). Josh Katz is the man you need to talk to if you’d like to get your message across to our many thousands of eco-conscious readers with an ad in this magazine or our biweekly newsletters (write him at ad*****@bl***********.com). (We really appreciate your support.)
Have a great spring, and we’ll see you at the Climate Fair at the Grange on May 7, from 12‒4 pm.
Oh — and don’t forget to sign up for the Bluedot Living MV newsletter.
