WiserEarth Editors

Deborah Phelan
(boatsie)

Q. What motivates you to be a WiserEarth Editor?

I love working with words! I’ve been doing it all my life. Given the challenges which characterize the times in which we are living, my role as a volunteer WiserEarth Editor might just be the most meaningful community work I could be doing right now.

Q.What do you enjoy most doing as a WiserEarth Editor?

I thoroughly enjoy how we collaboratively work on fine-tuning content. I enjoy chores, like helping out with our email blast and updating entries in the data base. I truly loved researching and writing for our first newsletter.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

I like to think of WiserEarth as the ultimate learning community, a place where students, activists, nongovernment, even government, officials, routinely visit to participate in real life learning. My vision of WiserEarth? It is a buzzing, multilingual 24x7 sustainability factory, perpetually in a state of flow.

Q. What do you do in real life for a 'wiser earth' ?

Right now, I’m really excited about Transition Towns. I just finished training in March and we’ll be hosting the first official event in my neighborhood this spring.  I’m always working building out my WiserEarth group, Transition Towns Marin.

Q. Anything else you'd like to say to people visiting the editors group?

The editor’s group is probably one of the most inspiring WiserEarth communities. Never a dull moment. A great  place to ‘get your feet wet!’

Ernest J.P. Muhly
(JPMS)

Q. What motivates you to be a WiserEarth Editor?

Ecosystems organize and reorganize toward resilience. Can an 'electronic/virtual-ecosystem' do the same? My motivation to be part of the WiserEarth Editors group comes from a desire to learn how to allow for the evolution of the serendipitous and spontaneous collections of groups, information and people into sustainable systems that support the environment.

Q. What do you enjoy most doing as a WiserEarth Editor?

Simplifying procedures and helping to create more inclusive ways for people to be a part of a process. While many young people in the over-developed parts of the world are fairly computer literate, as WiserEarth seeks to attract people from other cultures and experiences I feel it needs to assume that while all people are intelligent, that they might also be put off by some of the exclusiveness of the computer world.

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

There is a great need for a networking of people, groups and organizations. Too often people and funding organizations have felt that each new effort needed to be a stand-alone entity to be effective and creditable.

WiserEarth offers opportunities for people and groups to focus on doing what they do best, while at the same time drawing on the experiences and resources of other WiserEarth people and groups to enhance their efforts.

Q. What do you do in real life for a 'wiser earth' ?

I am a beekeeper and when I can teach about bees and pollinators. I am a heirloom organic gardener and when I can teach about biodiversity and heirloom gardening. I am a weaver of ideas and focus on increasing the networking of groups and people who share similar experiences and hopes for the future.

Q. Anything else you'd like to say to people visiting the editors group?

There are infinite ways of doing things and viewing reality. Focusing on acceptance and understanding is a good way to encourage people to join the process. Being a Editor is about supporting people in a way that allows them to be heard, and hear others.

Janine Michelsons
(Janine)

Q. What motivates you to be a WiserEarth Editor?

WiserEarth gives us the power to work collectively & avoid reinventing the wheel.  I hope to increase interconnections among good people. We can do things together we cannot do alone.

Q. What do you enjoy most doing as a WiserEarth Editor?

I enjoy cross-referencing to interconnect people & groups with similar areas of focus who could synergize. I am encouraged to see more geographically based groups, making it easier to meet in real life.

Locally based groups are growing with the use of Cascadia, Victoria, Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia, Portland, & Eugene Portals. Please use our powerful database to see who else in your region shares your passions!

Q. What role do you think WiserEarth can play in the world?

WiserEarth is a valuable free resource for all the idealists of the world. You can find kindred spirits around the world using the “area of focus” search feature. Then you can join forces on common events, organizations, jobs, forums, discussions, resources, & individuals to make substantial change.

Collectively we are changing the world. Our power is in working together.

Q. What do you do in real life for a 'wiser earth’?

I work in information security – protecting valuable data like credit card numbers, health information, and other sensitive information from hackers and with no right to your information.  With increasing reliance on computers we are at increasing risk from others misusing or profiting from stealing financial, medical, or personal data. This type of work can induce paranoid about cyber-criminals, a tiny minority of people in the world.

WiserEarth is a balance to that type of work. Through free sharing of information, people work together for positive change. From every profile I read, I am encouraged to find yet another of the billions of good people improving the world.

Q. Anything else you would like to say to people visiting the editors group?

Thank you everyone, for the many good things you do, in life & online!  Please use all the powerful features of WiserEarth to synergize and we can achieve our dreams.