Telling the stories of movers and shakers around the world and inspiring action for positive change. 

What happens when you commit your life to making real change?

Ask Julio Solis, a sea turtle conservationist in Puerto San Carlos, Baja California, Mexico. In his youth, Julio poached sea turtles until a life-changing mentor shifted his perspective about his relationship with the ocean. Julio is now working to protect the sea turtles by running a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Magdalena Bayʼs natural resources, becoming a role model for his community and conservationists around the world.

Inspired yet?

Changing the world can appear a daunting task, but often it’s as simple as identifying the one thing that you are passionate about. In Solis’ case, it’s sea turtles, but we all have an issue or a cause that we identify with, a place that we can make a difference. That is the motivator behind MoveShake, a new character based film series that gives an inside look into the lives of people dedicating themselves to their cause and the personal struggles and successes that come with their journey.

Solis’ story premieres on June 7, 2012 from 7-9pm MDT as part of an online screening that also includes a Q&A with EcoSalon friend Shannon Galpin of Mountain2Mountain, another MoveShake story screening during the online premiere. Joining director Allie Bombach and Galpin in the Q&A session is Wallace J. Nichols, co-founder and director of SeeTurtles and founder of LiVEBLUE. A mentor in Solis’ life, Nichols was the man who originally inspired him to protect endangered sea turtles instead of poaching them.

Inspiring people to be movers and shakers in their own community, over the next few months MoveShake will continue to share the stories of individuals who are making a difference. They are not super heroes or billionaires or politicians, they are simply people that have found a cause that they are passionate about and committed to making a difference.

Want to take part in the MoveShake community? Check out MoveShake Unite, a place to share the positive change you see in your world everyday. Whether it’s an organic farm in your backyard or a community beach clean up, MoveShake is collecting visuals of positive change and posting them on the website. All you have to do is snap a photo on Instagram and tag it with #moveshake when you see:

• Something you want to make change in
• Someone making positive change
• Change already being made

Easy.

Now go forth and be the change that you want to see in the world.

Images: Allie Bombach

The post The Power of Individuals: MoveShake Launches to Tell Stories of Change appeared first on EcoSalon.

SeriesKeeping Fear at bay means riding into it without brakes.

This is the first of many stories we hope to gather from women who have overcome hurdles and challenges that have made them not only stronger women, but role models for others. Do you have a story you’d like to submit on how you have overcome something? Send us an email at contact@ecosalon.com

I am sitting at my kitchen table, my front door and windows wide open to let in the fresh mountain air, enjoying a cup of coffee and conversation with my best friend, Christiane, on the other side of the country, when the topic of fear came up.  “You should write about Fear, you have experienced it so deeply, and live daily with it nipping at your heels.”  I laughed wryly, “Yeah, Fear is definitely camped outside my door waiting for an invite to come on in.”

Pausing to think if Fear is rabbit hole I really wanted to dive into today, two dogs burst into my kitchen. Neither one of them belong to me and as I chase them out Christiane hears me shout, “Get out! Out! This is not your home, you don’t belong in here!”

“Hmmm”, she says, “It’s as if they arrived on cue to spark that response! Those words could easily apply to fear as much as to the those dogs.” A cosmic sign?  Or just two overly curious and cheeky canines looking for some free food? To me, Fear is the summation of all the undefineable things that throw up resistance to change, roadblocks to experience, and an inability to love unconditionally. Not a fan of roadblocks of any kind, fear is not a companion I am willing to share my time, or my coffee, with. I have experienced it keenly as rape victim – brutal violence and violation that left me in a broken heap in the dirt. I endure its nearby presence daily as the founder of an international non profit that hasn’t yet turned the corner financially, and as a single mother that risked everything to fight for women’s rights in conflict zones like Afghanistan and at times has to choose between groceries and phone bill. I know how closely Fear is shadowing me.

The trick is to recognize Fear, to say hello as you would to the paranoid Tea Party supporter you see at the coffee shop every day, but to not make friends with it. If you simply try to ignore it, it tries to engage you in conversation, sucking you into the abyss.  But acknowledging it sets boundaries. “Hi, I see ya, but I’m too busy to chat today.”  Move along.  I’ve got things to do.

It’s the same on a mountain bike.  I have donated my fair share of blood and skin to the Gods of Dirt and Rock along with a cracked rib and broken elbow. One particularly pricey donation came while bombing down the backside of Hall Ranch chasing a much faster, and experienced, friend. I washed out on a slab of rock covered in a veil of loose dirt and ripped the better part of my forearm and elbow off.  I spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out what was me and was rock, and I know that by continuing to ride, donations like this are part of the contract.  Fear whispers, “Slow down, use your brakes.  Dismount before the rock garden. Don’t try to lift your wheel over that ledge, you’ll get hurt again!” But what Fear doesn’t realize is getting hurt is part of the game.  No one is invincible, we’re not built that way.  Life is meant to PLAY.

The therapy I get from two wheels, one gear, and miles of singletrack, overwhelmingly outweighs the risks.  The combination of a clear head, burned out quads, and dirt in my teeth far exceeds the occasional bodily appeasement to the deities. The irony is that by conquering Fear on my bike, I keep the daily Fear of life at bay, much like the old song, by Little Richard, “I hear you knocking but you can’t come in,” I call out.

The little victories on the bike translate into confidence and courage and then equals bigger victories off the bike. Choosing to get back on the bike knowing it may draw blood is a choice, and one I make willingly, even happily knowing that 95% of the time I’ll come off my bike, sore and dirty, but also gloriously happy.

I embrace the risks I’ve taken, without them I wouldn’t have ridden my singlespeed across the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. I probably wouldn’t have started mountain biking in the first place. I wouldn’t have lived abroad for ten years. I wouldn’t have started a business, or a non profit. I wouldn’t have entered the fight for women’s rights. I wouldn’t vacation in war zones. I wouldn’t have fallen in love. Twice. Hell, I wouldn’t have even become a mother, by far the scariest thing I’ve done to date, as anyone that has stared down a three-year-old’s tantrum can attest to.

Sorry, Fear, but you have to stay outside with the dogs.

The post Overcome: Fear Has No Home Here appeared first on EcoSalon.

Breaking barriers at home and abroad.

As the founder of Mountain2Mountain, Shannon Galpin empowers women in conflict zones by providing them with a voice and access to education and vocational training. Galpin works primarily in Afghanistan and famously cycles across dangerous zones like the Panjshir Valley – where Afghan women can be punished and even killed for riding a bike – to bring attention to women’s issues. Talk about cojones. We have incredible respect for Galpin’s work. As it turns out, she’s a fan of us too.

Name: Shannon Galpin

Website: http://www.mountain2mountain.org

What do you love about EcoSalon?

I adore the complete range of lifestyle articles, from alternative design and architecture, to green living and relationships, often covered from a truly unique and irreverent perspective! My favorite column is Foodie Underground – one week I’m dreaming of a fish taco-fueled Baja escape, the next rediscovering my Parisian addiction to the vast array of brightly colored macarons, to looking at oysters as not just a food but as an important part of a sustainable relationship with our food sources and waterfront economies. I love to see food discussed not as vegan or paleo, or as it relates to diet or body image, but instead reading about the pure joy of food, where it comes from, and how our communities are related to the food sources themselves. But I am also a huge sucker for the Sex by Numbers series, especially the Republican Caucus edition!

Tell us about Mountain2Mountain.

Mountain2Mountain was founded nearly five years ago with the desire to create voice and value for women and children in conflict zones. Essentially, I knew I didn’t want to just build schools or clinics as a reaction. We want to create catalysts within conflict zones that can create a ripple through their communities which creates a more sustainable and community-driven approach for change. We can do that by improving access for education, by activism for women’s rights, through vocational training, and through media training. One of our newest programs we are launching this year is called Combat Apathy, and its based on the idea that voice matters. So we work with citizen journalism and leadership with young adults in conflict zones and evolve into youth driven social impact programs that we support to tackle the issues of women’s rights, sex trafficking, LGBT rights, and war and conflict. If individuals are given the opportunity to use their voice, people will listen and you can instill a sense of value and confidence that we can cultivate into social action and community action. We have been working in Afghanistan for four years but are expanding into Cambodia, Mexico and other conflict regions this year as well.

Why women’s rights, and why Afghanistan?

I staunchly believe that we need to think of women’s rights as human rights. Women’s involvement in their community, their government, and global affairs are integral to the future of our global community. Gender equity is not just morally right, it is pivotal to global sustainable development. It is number 3 on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – not just because its morally right but because empowering women will contribute to achieving all the other goals, reducing poverty, improving maternal health, improving universal education, combating HIV/AIDS, and even environmental sustainability. Afghanistan is consistently ranked the worst place in the world to be a woman so to me it seemed like the best place to start! It’s also a country that is the source of so much apathy in the US – overloaded with negative media and our ongoing military involvement – it seemed to me that if we could challenge stereotypes of Afghans in the U.S. and of Americans in Afghanistan baby steps could emerge.

One way you’ve broken barriers is by mountain biking across dangerous regions of Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about the cultural implications of an act like that?

Well, Afghanistan is one of the few places in the world where women are not allowed to ride bikes. Around the world the bike is used as an effective vehicle for social justice and it was frustrating to realize that it just wasn’t something we could utilize in rural communities for school transportation, or for midwives and teachers. After working in Afghanistan for a couple of years I realized that I was constantly challenging gender barriers as part of my daily routine. When I’m in Kabul I like to walk as much as I can and interact with the Afghans I met in a more natural way. I ride a motorcycle which I bought in Kabul to avoid the traffic snarls that congest the city at rush hour, thanks to the lawlessness that permeates the country it means that you can ride on the sidewalk, or weave backwards through oncoming traffic, it’s all about the shortcuts. Being a foreign woman means that I find myself in a unique position as a hybrid gender. Men that still treat Afghan women as second class citizens will treat me as an equal and let me challenge gender barriers like riding my mountain bike because they are curious or intrigued but not threatened. It’s a little thing, but I also wanted to show another side of Afghanistan, the beauty, the adventure, and the possibility that what was once a tourist destination, could perhaps be again in the future if peace was ever achieved.

You’re obviously dealing with very heavy issues. What keeps you motivated and inspired?

My daughter, Devon, is a huge source of daily inspiration – nothing like the complete open honesty that a seven year old has to help you see the world in a fresh way. She’s also a big reason that I’m taking on the issues I am. Firstly feeling the responsibility to do my part to make the world a little better for her and her generation. Secondly to set an example to her that you MUST be involved in the world. The responsibility is not with governments or global organizations – it’s with individuals, citizen diplomats. Lastly, it’s important to remember that we are part of the global community. I want her to realize she is a global citizen, not just an American. She has to know that young girls in Afghanistan, or Cambodia, or even closer in Mexico are no different than her – and thus deserves the same access and rights.

The post We Heart Our Readers: Shannon Galpin, Mountain2Mountain appeared first on EcoSalon.

An exclusive photo essay from Shannon Galpin of Mountain2Mountain who rode through Afghanistan by bike and motorcycle.

It’s hard not to be inspired when you meet Shannon Galpin. At first look she’s your average smart, athletic woman, living in Colorado. Dig a little deeper and you’ll learn she’s a single mom. Spend a few more minutes talking and she’ll tell you the story of how she left her career, sold her house and launched a nonprofit, committing her life to advancing education and opportunity for women and girls.

Galpin focuses her efforts on the war-torn country of Afghanistan, and with her organization, Mountain2Mountain, has already touched the lives of hundreds of men, women and children.

As the founder of Mountain2Mountain, I’ve been lucky to travel often throughout Afghanistan, working with Afghans as they strive to rebuild their country. My passion is working with Afghan women and girls as they fight to prove their value and worth in this male dominated culture. Afghanistan is consistently ranked as the worst place to be a woman and yet women and girls are key to the future of the country.

As a woman, and specifically, as a foreign woman, I’ve had unique insights into this country thanks to the concept of the Third Gender. A concept that treats foreign women as honorary males, and allows them to interact as equals with men, while still being a woman and therefore have full access to the women. In essence, acting as their proxy when they do not have a voice.

Click on photos for larger version.

The post The Third Gender: Taking Action in Afghanistan, a Photo Essay appeared first on EcoSalon.