Dave Wheitner asked:


Idealists frequently entertain ideas about how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the “big picture” complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Because of this, we see many problems and many possibilities that others often miss.

In fact, we may spend so much time thinking about the issues of the world that we ignore ourselves–and the future. Because living authentically is also important to us, this can decrease our personal sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and it can decrease the energy we have to create what we care about the most.

Idealists gravitate toward causes including environmental sustainability, health and medicine, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, and world peace. We may take on very formal roles such as nonprofit executive director, political leader, advocate, educator, counselor, physician, or entrepreneur of a socially and ecologically responsible business. We may occasionally volunteer or engage in civic action. Or, we may possess great concern about the issues of the world but feel too overwhelmed to act.

Coaching, whose power has long been recognized by successful corporations, is of particular benefit to idealists for many reasons. First, because we like to imagine a better world, idealists must often challenge the status quo. Humans innately resist change, so we may feel pressured to compromise our purpose and values to be accepted and viewed as practical. Coaching motivates us to explore and clarify key components of our foundation or “good side,” i.e., the core of who we are. This may include our life purpose, what things we value most, and our strengths and virtues.

Idealists, more than most, must build a particularly strong sense of self so that we’re not simply marching to the drumbeat of others. Taking the easy road may lead to feelings of conflict and lack of integrity, meaning we’re not living as energetically or powerfully as we could be. And until we learn to do this, it’s difficult to be a model for others, and to “be the change we wish to see in the world,” per Gandhi. Imagine being able to live and lead authentically, even in the face of pressure to do the same old, same old!

Secondly, our world is already filled with myriad negative images and soundbytes–violence, poverty, political leaders verbally attacking one another, crime, and so forth. Where the news media ends with this approach, those involved in social and ecological causes often begin, using shocking images and data to educate others about world problems.

Thus, many causes such as environmental sustainability, social justice, animal rights, worker rights and world peace have difficulty attracting other individuals, instead turning them away unintentionally. In fact, even organizations with common interests often end up competing rather than collaborating! This does little to advance one’s efforts, and may lead to feelings of isolation.

Life coaching can address such issues from a few angles. On one hand, coaching encourages one to practice an approach that’s proactively driven by visions of desired end results. This stands in stark contrast to the more common type of approach that’s reactively mired in problem-solving and fear. As a number of authors have explained, visions attract and energize people who can assist with our endeavors, while problems and fear do not create lasting motivation and progress.* After mastering a vision-based approach in one’s own life, one can apply a similar philosophy to larger endeavors involving other people.

Additionally, awareness of our own priority values enables us to communicate on a deeper and more meaningful level with people about common values–even if their positions or beliefs about how to solve issues are quite different from ours. Imagine engaging in meaningful and mutually beneficial dialogue, rather than simply debating and learning nothing!

Thirdly, given the daily stressors they often face, those in idealist professions must contend with exceptionally high rates of burnout, compassion fatigue, feelings of martyrdom and subsequent turnover. This is true of both paid employees and volunteers. Many individuals leave their position or even an entire field after a short time; and talented idealists often don’t remain in a field long enough to aspire to leadership levels. In several large cities, the nonprofit community is projected to have a significant shortage of qualified candidates to fill executive director positions in just a few years.

Some of this can be mitigated by learning and adopting a more positive vision-based approach, as noted above. Clarifying one’s purpose, values and wants also helps to increase energy levels and resilience, and it enhances our ability to say “No” and “Yes” more intentionally. Along with identifying our strengths, this helps us to engage in activities that resonate with our “core self” and decrease involvement in those that don’t. By learning to advocate for ourselves to the same degree we advocate for our causes, we can sustain our energies.

Related to the above, coaching can also help us to separate what matters most to us from the superficial “shoulds” that we’ve adopted from others. We may be working exceptionally hard to do the right thing, when we could actually be having more impact with seemingly less effort by living more authentically. Imagine being fulfilled enough so that you also have plenty to give others, and can focus your efforts to make a visible difference!

Life coaches can’t stop global warming on their own. Nor can they single-handedly create a world where all have the opportunity for a healthy and enjoyable life, nations are at peace, people of all races and backgrounds enjoy equal rights, humans respect other living beings, and leaders behave ethically. However, if socially and ecologically conscious individuals and organizations take full advantage of what life coaching has to offer, then a vision for a healthy and sustainable world is within our collective reach.

*A number of authors and bloggers have written on various aspects of the value of a vision-based or results-driven approach, including Bruce Elkin, Robert Fritz, Shakti Gawain, Hildy Gottlieb, Napoleon Hill, Hal Williamson and Walter Winch. I thank them for inspiring much of my thinking on this topic.



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María Angélica Pérez Corcho asked:


Global warming refers to “the warming of the earth’s surface around the world, based on documented information on the temperature that has been maintained by humans since 1880″ (Nodvin, S. 2008).

There has been an increase in the news referring to Global Warming, March 27, 2008 the world woke up with a shocking event: the detachment of an ice sheet measuring 41 km by 2.5 km in Antarctica. Scientists argue that climate change is responsible for the rapid collapse of the ice cap that was detaching since the month of February, but global warming affects not only the polar icecaps, but also the fauna of tropical ecosystems, as this type of species “live to the limit of their maximum temperature, a slight increase in temperature is lethal” (Tewksbury, quoted by J. Tristan, R. 2008). Facts like these remind us that global warming is no longer an unknown subject and has become a problem that is part of our everyday life.

Despite the constant bombardment of the media with news regarding this issue, we are not fully informed about the factors of global warming, in fact, it is believed that cars are the largest producers of the negative impact to the environment; however, there is an even more damaging one: Buildings. These static works of construction are part of our daily lives, most of our work is mainly done within them, we spend 90% of our life in confined spaces and the concentration of population is much greater in these spaces than out of them (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2003. Quoted by Kats, G. 2003). However, we are unaware that they “produce nearly half (48%) of all emission of greenhouse gases which is much higher than what emitted by vehicles (27%) and by the industrial sector (25%) “(The American Institute of Architects. 2006).

To explain how the greenhouse effect occurs inside the buildings, lets imagine them as giant glass cubes in which the sun’s rays penetrate throughout the day on the surface, which implies that the objects found within them will warm , an in so doing they “give back the heat in the form of radiation. As the temperature at which they heat up is relatively low, the radiation emitted has a long wavelength; this means they emit an infrared radiation, not visible. Over the years,  they will eventually give an equal amount of energy in the form of infrared absorbed in the form of sunlight, so their temperature  will tend to remain constant (although, of course, they will be warmer than if they were not exposed to direct action of the Sun) “. (Greenhouse effect, 2007). Thus the same thing happens in a greenhouse, where you can cultivate flowers and plants even though the outside temperature reaches lower degrees in temperature.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) the decade of 1998-2007 was the hottest of which has ever been documented. The global surface temperature for 2007 was estimated at 0.41 ° C/0.74 ° F over the annual average of 1961-1990: 14.00 ° C/57.20 ° F. (WMO. 2008. Quoted by Nodvin, S. 2008).

To counter this, a novel form of construction has been created, masterminded by a new generation of architects, designers and builders, who have expressed interest in creating a kind of architecture that is “friendly” with nature and sustainable over time, allowing the reduction of damage that conventional construction has done to the planet. This new form of construction is known as Green Building and is to “create healthier and more efficient, in terms of resource consumption, models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition. The elements of green construction are: the sources of energetic efficiency and renewable energy, water management, waste reduction, specifications and construction materials preferably organic”. (Taken from http://espanol.orangecountyfl.net/orangecty/enes/24/_www_orangecountyfl_net/cms/DEPT/growth/building/greenbldg.htm)

There is a perception that the construction of Green Buildings is much more expensive than conventional construction, and indeed this is true, however the long-term cost is significantly lower. Studies show that the amount of the construction of Green Buildings is substantially lower (2%) of what is expected and price increases are related to the costs of architectural and engineering that this type of construction requires. The sooner this type of practice of Green Building is included in construction; the increase of its costs will be less.  (The United States Green Building Council, 2002. Cited by Kats, G. 2003).

However, despite short term cost increases, Green Buildings provide long-term benefits that conventional ones do not offer, for example: lower utility costs in electricity and water, environmentally effective use of building materials, enhancing the health and productivity, long term economic return, reducing environmental impact, among others. (Environmental Services, 2008)

Colombia has within its Green Building the Chamber of Commerce’s green building in Bogota, built in Salitre City. This magnificent building has 28 thousand square meters distributed in two basements, three floors of public attention, five levels for staff and 500 parking spaces. It has electronic accessories that allow the entry of people arriving in wheelchairs or who have some type of disability that prevents them from entering by stairs. On the second floor is the convention hall, which has a capacity for a thousand people, and has the possibility of being sub-divided into eight rooms, each for one hundred users.

Another example of Green Building in Colombia is the Family Compensation Fund Compensate, located in northern Bogota: Stands out the use of glass on the facade and inside there is a mixture of aluminum and wood. The building has 16,579 square meters and one of its most important features is an “evaporative cooling system that allows natural air collection, and after an interior process the air reaches the top and leaves the building, so that the installation maintains a pleasant temperature that can range between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius (Metrocuadrado.com, 2006), and within the building the services offered are: “multiple stadium, gymnasium, aerobics room, spinning, gourmet salon, spa area, pool, Turkish bath, sauna, Jacuzzi, game rooms, library, computer room (Internet) , VIP lounge, cafeteria and auditorium of 150 square meters, designed as a space for Film Society, with projection equipment, and a retractable tier; and – Medical care: 50 doctors, vaccination, laboratory, dental, radiology, psychology, rehabilitation, nutrition, gynecology, diagnosis, prevention, surgery and medicine in general “(Metrocuadrado.com, 2006).

In Latin America Argentina presents a very interesting Green Building: the building Malecon Buenos Aires. This is an office building of 125,000 feet ² which was built on an abandoned industrial area (his garage was built on the foundations of a warehouse dating from the nineteenth century) in Puerto Madero, an area of redevelopment in Buenos Aires. The construction was made as a long strait block in order to minimize solar gain in the structure and terminations of east and west sides of whom are united. The broad north facade, the first to be exposed to the sun, is shaped to follow the path of the sun and has many deep screens with umbrellas that virtually eliminate sunlight during peak cooling months. The south facade, which reflects the geometry of the northern facade, is equipped with the same system of high-performance curtain of the other facades, minimizing the solar gain; open floor plants and high floors provide flexibility for multiple office tenants or future uses. (From http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek02/tw0419/0419tw1cote.htm, May 2008)

In the U.S. this type of buildings have great technical and financial support from the public administrations; in Europe there are funding programs such as PAE (Fed-IDE), SAVE 3, Thermi &, among others, which in addition to providing aid, certify buildings that meet the exact standards so they are differentiated as Green Buildings, giving them green or eco-labels (LEEDS-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, ISO 14001, EEA, among others).

Finally what is intended with this type of construction, grants and certifications is to reduce energy consumption and exploit natural resources, so as to achieve the prolongation of the service life of the planet and the reversal of the ecological phenomena as the greenhouse effect, among others.



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Adam Singleton asked:

Global warming sceptics seem to have gone rather quiet recently. Whether you’re a believer or not, sustainable practices and carbon counting are here to stay; and like it or not, the climate is changing and our lives are going to have to change with it.

However, there has been much controversy over the global warming theory. For years, many people, including some at governmental level (most famously the Bush administration), simply denied global warming was a reality. The sceptics have since greatly diminished as the evidence has grown overwhelmingly and there are now very few who still maintain that the climate isn’t changing rapidly.

However, some companies have been accused of using climate change and other environmental issues as a “greenwashing” exercise. The term is used to describe organisations that put more time or money into advertising their green credentials, than actually carrying out green practises. Examples include changing the name or label of a product (for example, using the images of a pristine forest on a bottle of bleach), or making token efforts that provide little positive benefit to the environment, hoping it will win favourability in the eyes of the public.

However, whilst there are few companies around today who haven’t painted themselves in some shade of green, there are many who are genuinely striving to be more environmentally friendly – and not just for the publicity. Companies want to be seen as responsible and sensitive to the needs of the environment, and if it also makes business sense for them to switch to green practices, then they’ll do it.

So rather than seeing sustainability as a greenwashing PR scam, some companies are viewing green practices as an exiting new adventure requiring innovative new business models, fresh approaches and a change of business culture – and it’s these organisations who are likely to create not only a cleaner, greener future for the planet, but also a long term future for themselves.

To help those companies who want to make a change for the better, there are now some courses on offer, such as the Leading for Sustainability Programme, designed to help businesses executives, governmental agencies and anyone else who’s interested, to implement more environmentally sustainable changes within their organisation.