Abstract
The Sustainable Living Guide (SLGuide) is a mission-oriented organization dedicated to promoting and sustaining the well-being of the Earth. By centering environmental, individual, and community needs, SLGuide seeks to catalyze change through interdisciplinary education and community engagement. During my internship, I contributed to the research, communication, and facilitation of multiple initiatives housed by SLGuide and its affiliated organization, the Eco-conscious Music Alliance (EMA). The project addressed a core problem faced by many grassroots sustainability efforts: the absence of accessible environmental education tools and consistent outreach systems. An initial goal of this project was to identify feasible methods for measuring program impact and tracking among small community partners. As a young organization that employs flexibility and shifts in priority due to external factors, successful impact-tracking has not yet been employed, and continues to be worked on by SLGuide and EMA team members.
The approach for this project was based on qualitative research, participatory engagement, and early-stage program evaluation– aligning with the developmental phase many of SLGuide’s programs are in. This allowed for valuable observations in community realities, flexibility in
responding to capacity constraints, and a focus on building the foundational infrastructure necessary for long-term environmental literacy and community empowerment through grassroots activism. For SLGuide’s Climate Toolkit, I conducted and synthesized research on climate policy, environmental justice, and climate literacy, producing, editing, and reviewing written instructional drafts and outlines designed for adaptable, public-facing instruction– later to be used for class creation by SLGuide’s instructional design team. My work on the Climate Toolkit was limited, and the majority of my work shifted to EMA’s Foster A Garden Program and community events. I carried out community partner research, developed outreach systems, created communication materials, and drafted both written and visual drafts for social media promotion. Midway through the internship, I also assisted with emergency communication and coordination during the 2025 Kerr County floods, applying SLGuide’s communication framework to an unanticipated and emergent community need.
Working with the Sustainable Living Guide showed how accessible educational materials, clear outreach systems, and realistic operating procedures and tools tailored to organizational and community partner capacity are important for successful implementation. Future efforts should prioritize piloting the developed tools, strengthening in-person engagement, and instituting standardized impact and lead tracking.