Community listening, environmental justice and writing in 2026

I’m going to take a break from this writing routine until early January.

During 2025 I posted almost every week – 49 posts, amounting to 52K words – and it’s been a great positive experiment. I plan to continue writing in 2026. But I want to create some space to think more about how that might evolve.

I wrote this past year to think-out-loud about community listening and environmental justice. As I now look back, three posts really synthesize this work:

• The story of 2025 recounts key moments of my journey getting involved with the local environmental justice community.
• Update: Evanston environmental justice pulls together lessons about environmental justice and what it means locally, in Evanston.
• My three elements of community listening work synthesizes my thinking this year on how I define “community listening.”

These three posts wouldn’t be what they are without the other 46 posts I wrote. Which is one reason why I find the process so valuable. Thinking-out-loud sharpens your thinking. And it’s partly why there are folks out there (me included) who commit to create entirely human-generated content,

My focus next year will still be on all of the issues which converge into environmental justice. Clearly there is opportunity to work actively in that space. And it calls to me.

But I want to spend some time reflecting on what I do with writing and other knowledge sharing activities. A few themes are kicking around in my head. Raising the voices of others. Being a resource or facilitator (emphasizing the co in co-creation). Local, local, local. Building on what is already there to make it more effective. Writing as one element in a mix of activities and experiences and content types – video, conferences, learning events.

I’m sure there will be more that emerges in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, to close out 2025, a bit of gratitude: I have a very human network of friends and colleagues and neighbors who inspire me every day. But a few folks were an active influence on my learning over the past year, through conversations and feedback. I am especially grateful for their friendship. The MSLOC crew: Teresa Torres, Nicole Dessain, James Altman, Keeley Sorokti and Dorie Blesoff. My global good-trouble co-conspirator, Luis Suarez. Janet Alexander Davis and Jerri Garl, who are leading me into and through Evanston with grace and curiosity and a deep commitment to civil rights and environmental justice. And of course, Jamie, the best partner one can imagine.

Until 2026. Peace.

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The photographs which accompany these posts are taken by me, and show different settings and views of Evanston (where I live). It is a visual reminder that this is the most important setting for belonging and contributing to community: our neighborhoods, our cities.