A story by Barbara Moss, on environmental advocate Kim Fulbright. This article is also featured in the September 1, 2023, issue of The Ripple.

Click here to learn more and subscribe to this monthly e-newsletter!

Kim Fulbright promotes climate-change action, but she does it by building human relationships and fostering joy.

At the University of Cincinnati, where Kim’s “real” job is in conflict resolution, she guides people to manage, reduce, or even eliminate their disagreements and disputes. But as an avocation, it is her intention to help her fellow humans take action to solve the climate crisis, or at least to find ways to make some small but meaningful changes in their lives.

How did a young mother, busy professional, and somewhat new Cincinnati Nature Center member arrive at this position and new passion? Kim says that she, like many of us, was simply enjoying our sites for hiking and being out in nature. Then she noticed an announcement about an educational program offered by Pachamama Alliance. In sessions exploring Pachamama materials with a small group of similarly intrigued CNC members (Ted Bergh led this initiative), she found an outlet to apply the following conviction: Kim cares most about how people do what they do and who they are and how they connect—less so about “what” they are doing. Her abiding questions: How do we build trust in our group relationships relative to the larger conversation on saving the planet? How can we work in community to encourage each other to take steps towards climate justice? How can we come together in a space of positivity to learn from effective influencers who share our goal of healing the earth?

After her introduction to environmental advocacy in the Pachamama experience, Kim joined Peter Block’s Common Good meetings (organized and hosted by Connie O’Connor); she partnered with Ted and Robert Rack to develop an EcoSpirituality gathering; and she facilitated some of the live group sessions for CNC’s Ripple Effect course. As a consultant in both human relationships and the topic of climate change, she is teaming with Connie to offer “office hours” for those who may be stuck about what to do and how to do it. For example, she might assist a couple to convince their neighbor to begin composting. Or she could be instrumental in guiding an individual to help change her homeowners’ association’s bylaws about no-mow lawns.

Kim has had her own experience with action steps. She began taking the bus to work. She practices Slow Fashion and mends her clothing, often with creative embellishments, rather than buying new. Her suburban home sports a pocket prairie and a trio of chickens. She helped create a playscape at Sands Montessori. But this thing about connecting and empowering people is another level of advocacy and a pursuit she finds very attractive. So she created a part-time business called Regenerative Relationships, through which she offers coaching for individuals or groups to find ways to address the climate crisis while also gaining meaning in their lives. [Editor’s note: The business name is inspired! “Relationship” is obvious. But “regenerative” could apply to either a client’s state of mind or the state of the environment.]

Here is advice from Kim to folks who are stymied by how to begin or perhaps by the enormity of the climate problem: Don’t despair. Try something, anything. Look around at what can be done and attempt a small solution. Be playful and imaginative since no one has the answers. And “when there’s a flag, pay attention to it.”

Then there’s this easier approach. Kim reminds us that we can take action by not doing things: don’t buy a new outfit for that holiday party, don’t take that trip to an exotic beach destination, don’t discard something that can be repaired.

Next up for Kim? In January she will host a circle discussing the book All We Can Save. It is her keen desire to advance a climate—pun intended—in which “we work together to be in a world we want to be in.” By collecting and connecting people and giving them tools to be participants in the climate movement, Kim Fulbright is herself changing the world.

All We Can Save

Are you hungry for deeper dialogue about the climate crisis and building community around solutions?

Consider joining an “All We Can Save Circle”—it’s like a book club, but a cooler, deeper, extended version. The concept and discussion topics were created by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, author of the optimistic climate change book All We Can Save.

Each circle is a self-organized small group committed to reading the All We Can Save anthology together over the course of 10 sessions. The aim is to foster meaningful conversation and allow every voice to be heard. This group will be facilitated by Kim Fulbright every Sunday in October starting on October 1, on Zoom. This group will be accelerated and 5 sessions long, 4–6:30 PM.

Click here to register for this free opportunity!