NAEP Leadership Blog

NAEP Leadership Blog

The NAEP Leadership blog series is written by your association leadership team and highlights relevant updates, thoughtful reflections, and upcoming news surrounding NAEP and the environmental profession. 

Read the latest updates below!


Part 10: Reclaiming Our Environmental Imagination (NEPA at 50 and beyond)

During the decade of the 1960’s and 1970’s, there were many literary figures writing of the simplicity, the beauty, and the spiritual depth of Nature, giving us vivid imagery that represented our emotional landscape.  For example, Theodore Roethke’s The Far Field that included the wonderful “North American Sequence,” was published in 1964 and instantly won the National Book Award for that year.  Mary Oliver, one of the finest nature poets to have ever lived (Oliver passed away in January 2019), published American Primitive in 1978 to much literary acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. 

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Part 9: Reclaiming Our Environmental Imagination (from Thoreau to NEPA)

In the mid-19th century, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”  This thought marked the beginning of this country’s literary American Renaissance and it became the cornerstone of America’s environmental consciousness.  America’s heritage is rich in its regard to the environment.  We all associate Thoreau with Walden Pond, and the year spent in a small cabin in the woods near the pond shore.  Those of us who have visited Concord, Massachusetts know that Walden Pond is only about a mile from downtown Concord.  We also know that about every other day Thoreau walked into town to get provisions, call on friends, or have dinner with his parents.  But the words he wrote while living at Walden Pond have inspired us all.  Thoreau was one of the first writers to describe his experience with Nature; to experience its beauty, its strength, and the wisdom that comes to you in moments of quiet reflection.

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Part 8: Living Ethically

One of the human attributes that I absolutely believe in is a code of ethics or standard by which to live – professionally and personally.  NAEP expects environmental professionals to live by their “Code of Ethics and Standards for Practice for Environmental Professionals.”  As an organization IdAEP, the Idaho Chapter of NAEP, adopted this code of ethics and standards and, consequently, we have the same expectation for our chapter members. 

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Part 7: Environmental Professional Values

What does the term “Environmental Professional” mean to you? I recently met a person actively engaged in urban planning, green activism, and urban forestry in a government role that didn’t consider himself an environmental professional. This got me thinking, is being an environmental professional determined by a certification, a certain type of job, or a mindset? 

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Part 6: The Value of Volunteering and Leadership

Our life together as environmental professionals is certainly a given.  There are, from the onset, common bonds because of the professional work that we do.  As we grow in our careers we realize the importance of giving our volunteer time to an association we align with and believe in.  For most of us that association is NAEP. The reward is more than volunteer positions standing out on our resume, more than showing commitment to our respective environmental field. For those of us that belong to NAEP and/or a NAEP Chapter, we know that our NAEP friends, especially those that take on volunteer and leadership positions, hold for one another an inexplicable, sometimes unexplainable, caring for each other.  It’s a caring that transcends our professionalism, our commitment to NAEP and the environmental professions. Below are what I call value statements that hopefully bring meaning to the intent and spirit of getting involved and staying involved in NAEP and its Chapters:

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