Today on the podcast is the Program Director of the Hive Orlando, Sharon Hammond. The Hive started five years ago by Ideas for Us, an Orlando-based GNO. The goal is to get citizens to discuss global issues on a local level. The founders wanted to bring campus style activism and connection to a community setting.

Sharon got involved in The Hive as a volunteer but now works for Ideas for Us as the Program Director. She cares deeply about the environment, and her background from the grocery industry gives her a great perspective on the environment.

1) The Hive Orlando allows people to get together and think about how to solve global, environmental issues on a local level.

Every first Wednesday of the month The Hive Orlando hosts a local environmental meeting. There, participants learn from an expert about environmental challenges and the local implications of it. Next, everyone breaks into small groups to brainstorm creative solutions to the challenges they just learned about.

Finally, “we actually make plans and go out into the community and do some of these actions, seeking to create local action that really contributes to global positive change,” Sharon said.

To guide discussions, The Hive uses United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework. These goals, which 193 countries ratified, is the largest agreement on the planet.

Through these goals, The Hive is able to teach about the environment and how it affects systemic issues we face today.

“There are 17 measurable goals that if we globally achieve them, we can have a world that is more environmentally stable, and really it addresses the issues of severe poverty and inequity in the world,” Sharon says. “Everything is connected to everything.”

Sharon wants to help people understand their role in preserving the environment.

“Every one of us has a role to play. If we all do to our best, and our best is depending on our circumstances, we’ll be fine,” she said.

“What’s amazing, and what really drew me to The Hive was to see that there is this huge problem, but I, personally, can really have an impact with small things,” she continues.

Movements like The Hive help people stop thinking linearly, to think how things are more interconnected on a circular cycle.

2) Some of the UN sustainability good guidelines don’t feel directly connected to the environment, but they are important.

Sharon shed light on gender equality and how it’s deeply related to the environment. Sharon referenced a book called Drawdown that looks at environmental solutions that have been implemented all over the world, and measured them for their effectiveness and the ROI on that solution. They wanted to find the most successful solution that would reduce carbon emissions.

The most effective solution to reducing carbon emission is to invest in women in girls.

A world where women have the ability to plan their families, choose what work they do, and are free from violence is also good for the planet.

Ideas for Us believes strongly that this work is environmental activism. They have another program called “Solutions Fund” where they provided a microfund to an Iraqi girls school. The school teaches the girls how to code.

There is also a program in India that provides sanitary napkins in schools to help girls stay in school and navigate the shame around their periods.

On a more individual level, Sharon is a huge fan of mentorship to help women.

“Throughout your career, you should always be in a position where you have one hand up and one hand down.”

She encourages women to not only seek out mentorship, but to also be mentors to others. We can all help each other.

Even mentees challenge you and make you think about the world in a different way. Younger women think about the world in a different way. They want to share success with each other, which is a great generational shift!

3) Through a career in food, Sharon learned a lot about the supply chain and how harmful it is.

Before Sharon worked in sustainability, she worked in the grocery industry where she worked for a broker that connected manufacturers to grocers.

There, she learned a lot about the supply chain, what goes into food, and how it was sold.

At the same time, she had some personal health issues that were directly related to her food consumption. Through those issues, she changed her diet to help her health issues.

After this change, Sharon knew she couldn’t continue to work in a field that advocated food she couldn’t or didn’t want to eat. “The further I went down that path, the more I realized I could advocate for the positive changes I did want to see. Do what I can to help provide access to the food that’s made out of food. I don’t agree about putting not-food in a package and giving it to someone and telling them to eat it, ” she says.

Other issues affect the environment too, like transportation costs in the supply chain and the amount of fuel it took. There is also a lot of food waste on the commercial side. “The more local you can get your food, the more likely you’ll be able to find food grown without the chemicals and pesticides that hurt the planet and hurt your body,” Sharon says. “You’re also more likely to support the economy in your local area.”

Eliminating food waste can bring big environmental gains

Food waste can start at a farm level. When farmland is used to produce food in monoculture formats, there are dangerous environmental impacts. However, it’s even subsidized by the government and some farmers turn to those crops to survive financially.

Sharon cares deeply about bringing food sources closer to home. In fact, one of the projects that sprung from The Hive was the urban farming group Fleet Farming, which is also run by Ideas for Us.

“If we’re going to support these growing populations, we have to find ways to urbanely create our food source. We have to bring that food source closer to home. There is an immense amount of personal and environmental benefits.”

Sharon is really excited to see how Fleet Farming is going to grow. First, the program started in Audubon Park which is a pretty affluent community. However, in the past year, the group has expanded to the Parramore areas, which is a food desert. There they’re implementing the program to the people who live in that community.

4) The Hive builds community and offers you support no matter where you are on your environmentalism journey.

Sharon emphasizes that the Hive can help anyone no matter where they are on their environmental journey. “We want participation. Come as you are, where you are. The more diversity of background of experience is how we generate the best solutions,” she says.

The first step is to see the environment in a different way. Next is to find others in the community to discuss and think about these issues. The more you understand environmental impacts in your community, the more you can advocate for change.

“Get out, go to city council meetings. Raise your voice. Stand up and talk. There isn’t this huge gap between us and our politicians,” Sharon says.

For example, last year Stephanie Murphy didn’t know about the natural gas pipeline in Florida until she heard from a citizen at a coffee chat she hosted.

Many residents have issues with the pipeline and the effects it will have on the environment, especially some of the poorest populations in Central Florida (to learn more about the pipeline, listen to our episodes from Yulissa Arce with Organize Florida).

To help create environmental activists, The Hive is building educational programs and training. “There are so many people who want to be involved, who want to be activated, but they don’t know where to start,” Sharon says.

Sharon and her team welcome everyone to learn The Hive’s process, and to take those ideas back to their own community. She even hopes others will create Hives in their own city.

5) The City of Orlando is making decisions to be more environmentally friendly, and its citizens can have a say.

By 2050, the City of Orlando wants to have the whole city run on renewable energy.

In order to keep citizens engaged through the planning stage, the city is conducting a survey. This will give citizens a voice about how Orlando develops.

However, there are already some cool things happening. The city is testing electric buses and was selected to test driverless cars. In an effort to promote individual change, they offer compost bins to residents.

Ideas for Us also want to make Orlando an urban wildlife sanctuary. “There are many benefits to looking at our urban landscape through biodiversity,” Sharon says.

When the biodiversity in an area increases, it helps drive a healthy ecosystem. Native plants in urban areas support insect and wildlife.

Links From the Show

Visit The Hive Website
“Like” The Hive on Facebook
Join the Feminist Friends Club of Orlando on Facebook

The post Think Globally, Act Locally with Sharon Hammond – Episode #54 appeared first on Orlando Lady Boss.