Learning about Subject2Change with Jodi Smits Anderson - Sustainable Information is What We Make of It!

Posted by: Rate It Green Team

One can learn a lot from Jodi Smits Anderson in about 6 minutes! Allison Friedman and Matt Hoots recently had the privilege of talking with Jodi about her Subject2Change project, as well as the nature and state of information sharing in green building and related industries.  
 

Jodi is both an architect and a sustainable collaborator and leader.  In the Subject2Change Youtube channel and series she co-hosts with re-habitat’s Lauren Staniec, the two host conversations with people engaging across the spectrum and segments of sustainability, resilience, and other impact activism and work, within and outside the green building industry.  The idea is to keep up the good work, find kindred spirits and collaborative inspiration, and have a good time while engaging in some quality conversations.  According to Jodi, growing community includes thinking about how we learn, how we raise our kids, our health, and so much more aside from, or beyond sharing the latest technology or energy efficiency development.  According to Jodi, "We want to learn, and we thought that while we learn, why not create in a format we can share?”
 

Jodi and Lauren produce 15 minute videos across green building, education, and equity topics, but they also have a 2min2change format where they edit the longer videos to about 2 minutes, for a “bite-sized" introduction to a person or timely or impactful topic.  The short pieces give a kind of “quick access to great information about everyone and everything we’re doing,” says Jodi. She adds, "Even if you learn in little tiny pieces, you’re learning and growing and connecting, and that’s what it’s all about.” 
 

Visit Jodi's YouTube channel to see some of her sustainable content:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoLrmdksGl9RTvAyYs6hqjQ/featured
 

She also has a blog where she shares her thoughts on sustainability:
http://2bgreener.com/

Matt Hoots points out that green building is still in its infancy in some ways, as some concepts and laws of physics won’t change, and yet certain key technologies that top high-performance builders rely on have recently developed or are of course still emerging, especially in the last ten or twenty years.  We’re always working out better ways to live, build, and work with each other - so there’s so much more we’re going to be learning - and sharing with each other.  
 

What are some top ways to make sure sustainable information you share will have an impact?

• First of course, you need to connect to share in the first place.  Engage with others and build community whenever you can. Ask your questions, and share what you know when you have the answer someone needs.  
• Make your information available/accessible.  Engaging with others in person is great when that’s possible, but to make information go further than the “walls in the room,” make sure to post information and share in public places where more people will have access to your thoughts
• Amplify your information!  Putting information out there and letting it sit is not enough.  Point people to your information, actively share it with others, and do use social media to amplify.
• Don’t forget to look back and learn.  Keep leveraging valuable information, update when you learn more, and think about more ways to share, and more people you can reach, and how they might reach you!  

Key is not letting information get “stuck,” as good information is “too valuable not to share!"

Jodi also reminds us to celebrate the successes everyone has along the way. We’re also all learningand need to remember to look back and reinforce information we’ve learned previously.  information will stick better when it comes from several sources - this is a great reason for cross collaboration! 

What are some of the best ways you’ve found to share information, and to make sure you’re amplifying your expertise and questions as widely as you can?  How can we at Rate It Green, or Jodi at subject2change help? We’re open to advice and collaboration, and we’d be happy to answer your questions as well.