[00:00:00] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network produced by off the Walter media productions.
[00:00:14] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold today. We have Effie with us. Hi Effie.
[00:00:18] Ephemia: Hi, thank you so much for having me.
[00:00:21] Sheryl: We're glad that you decided to join us. Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award?
[00:00:26] Ephemia: My girl scout gold award project is called eco Orthodox and eco Orthodox was created to bring light to the harm of single use plastics and ocean pollution and global warming that's being cast onto earth.
[00:00:39] Eco Orthodox is a sustainability guide that contains steps that prior. Mainly houses of worship can follow. So parishes and specifically Greek Orthodox parishes is what I kind of catered it to because that's the community that I'm part of. And I would want it to help, but it can be implemented into any community and even your own home within Eco Orthodox, I created a guide and the first part of the guide is introducing the problem.
[00:01:03] So what is the problem? What is the plastic problem and why do we need to address it? Because. People can't understand a project and can't address an issue if they don't actually know and understand what it is. So I address the problem through my guide and I also, before starting my project sent out a pre-survey to my community at my church and said, here is the issue I'm trying to address.
[00:01:24] And how can I best address it for you to understand the solution and how can I address it so that you can actually implement. And the interesting thing I found out about this was people were motivated. They want to be more sustainable, but they really just don't know how or where to start. So the whole point of equal Orthodox is to not only be a guide for parishes, but also for people in their own homes and individuals.
[00:01:48] So they can say hey, now I have a starting point and I can build off of this because knowing how to start is the most important part. There's three main steps to eco Orthodox. And the first is, as I said, educate here's the problem. And then we go on to the solution. The second step is to congregate so once you've educated yourself, you come together with family, friends, and your community and share the resources because the more people that know about the issue, the more people and more healthy, and happy hands, we have to fix the issue, which is super important.
[00:02:19] And then the third step is of course implement. So this is the most important part of the process, because if you don't implement it, There's no change that can be made. So once learning about the resources available, you have to hold to yourself and your church or your community accountable and attempt to make the switch to sustainable for every aspect possible.
[00:02:37] So within my guide, I had two main parts. The first was Quickstart and within Quickstart, this was more of the. Aspects for communities and churches. It contains the five R's so refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle, and how to implement those within your parish. Because as I've learned over this process, less than 9% of items that are actually recycled.
[00:03:00] Actually recycled. So learning other ways and other R's in the process that we can use that don't actually lead to recycling because other ways might be more sustainable. The second was to skip the styrofoam. I mean, my church has a huge Greek festival every year. We use thousands of styrofoam containers, styrofoam cups, styrofoam plates, and polystyrene, which is makes the styrofoam is actually a carcinogen potentially.
[00:03:30] And once it's heated up or hot food is placed into it, it can be dangerous for us. So it's not only dangerous to the environment because it can't biodegrade, but also for us as individuals, because it could be. Inside the third part was pass on the plastics because styrofoam is a huge part, but also of course plastics, utensils cups.
[00:03:50] We actually, I think the statistic is we eat or consume about one credit card worth of plastic each week. So learning that statistic and learning that this is not only harming what's around us, but it's also harming us. Awful. And we don't even realize that that's happening, you know the fourth step was to grow your own.
[00:04:07] So learning to actually use what's around you to grow. And this includes like olive branches and plants and Palm trees and things like that to use our own resources around us. And the fifth one was go digital. We have all these resources around us through technology. So why are we printing? Why are we using paper cardboard, things like that when we could actually be using.
[00:04:33] Technology instead, you know, and saving on those resources that we don't actually need to need to use. And the second part of my guide was materials and more. And so this was more targeted towards communities, but home communities. So there were, I believe there are six different sections here, so the first was in the bathroom.
[00:04:51] So how can you change your habits in the bathroom? This means toothpaste toothbrushes, bamboo toothbrushes using toothpaste that's not in a bottle. Very interesting. There's a company called bite and they have chewable toothpaste that becomes a paste. When you chew on it using a bamboo toothbrush to then brush your teeth using dissolvable mouthwash tablets, like they not only save space, they save you money and they saved the earth.
[00:05:17] So it's a win in all three categories, you know, because you're using better resources for. And for the earth. And most times these are, I should say pretty much all the time. These companies are concerned about the environment. So everything they're using in their products are also not harmful to you.
[00:05:33] They're all natural things. The second one was in the kitchen. So this is not using plastic wrap, you know, using not using Ziplocs, things like that. Cause those are so prevalent in our kitchens. The third thing was cleaning and health. So sprays around the house instead of using plastic windex
[00:05:51] there's actually companies that can ship you little tablets that dissolve in water. So you save you save so much in terms of packaging and you can get it in bulk and never really have to go out to the store to buy it. The fourth was accessories. So things like you, things that you wouldn't even think about.
[00:06:05] So Q-tips pink makeup, white things like that, and cotton swabs, and I've switched to a lot of these myself. And it's amazing cause you just throw them in the washing machine and you can reuse them right after. So over time it also saves you. The fact that there's clothing, which has actually become a huge trend sustainably, sustainably made clothing and sustainable clothing.
[00:06:25] It tends to be more expensive, but it's going to blow up in the near future, this whole trend of sustainable fashion. And once it does, hopefully prices will come down, but a huge part of sustainable fashion, as well as thrifting, which is. Expensive, you know, but reusing and sharing and things like that.
[00:06:42] So that's a huge thing. And the sixth thing goes along with education, but it's called in your inbox. So what newsletters can you subscribe to that? Educate yourself, different companies and businesses. You can learn about what they're doing to be more sustainable and things like that. So it's been, the guide has been super interesting to see all different aspects of this and how you can implement it, not only in the community, but also in.
[00:07:03] Sheryl: What kind of feedback have you gotten on your guide?
[00:07:05] Ephemia: People really enjoy having everything in one place. And I think that was a huge aspect of my project is that they just want everything in one spot, so they know, okay, I need to change this in my house. I need to change this in my community. Where do I even start?
[00:07:19] So by having it in one place, they have all the steps laid out. They know exactly where to go. So that's, that has a huge impact and makes the huge difference for people.
[00:07:28] Sheryl: Has your community been able to have their annual event since the pandemic to put into place some of the things that you've suggested?
[00:07:36] Ephemia: Because of COVID, and this goes along with one of the hurdles of my project, obviously they, their festival this year was a little different because it wasn't truly in-person and they were using leftover materials that they had already purchased.
[00:07:49] So there wasn't much we could do to implement this year, but currently we are working on putting together. Hopefully youth oriented group. That way we can get youth minds who are really motivated to get this project going within the parish to just say, Hey, we can't order any more styrofoam like that has to be stopped because it's damaging to earth.
[00:08:08] It's damaging to us. And actually the head of the Greek Orthodox church, the patriarch he's called the green patriarch, which is funny because he has a huge focus on, we need to be sustainable and protect what God created, which is earth. So. Kind of putting that view into people's mind and saying, Hey, I'm not only saying this, but so is the church.
[00:08:29] And, and you're part of this religion and you're following that. So we need to abide those guides as well and realize that this is actually something that we need to be doing because it's the right thing to do, you know? So once we get to that step and we can kind of make the cutoff and then change and switch the products, that'll be the most, the biggest thing.
[00:08:46] And that's, we'll be flying from there. You know, one of the things I did ask on my survey, Would people be interested in paying a green fee when they were checking out at say my Greek church festival. And I got a lot of people that said, yes, let's say the fee is five extra cents. You know, for a few thousand people that makes a huge difference.
[00:09:04] And that can really cover the extra cost because any of these sustainable and bio-degradable items. Are a little more pricey, which has makes it hard to make the switch because obviously plastic can be 10 cents per cup, you know, whereas bio-degradable can be more expensive. So if we're able to cover those extra fees, it's much more attractive for communities that they can implement this within their community, especially if they don't have the extra funds.
[00:09:27] Sheryl: I love how you took a big global issue and were able to focus it down to your church community in order to truly create a very specific focus for your gold award project. Did you have conversations with your council or committee members or your church, or how did you manage to identify that specific focus?
[00:09:51] Ephemia: The focus started my junior year when I took Marine biology. That's where my, my passion and love for sustainability started because I was learning all about coral bleaching. So climate change, the warming of the oceans and how. Impacting and kind of starting all of that. And I realized we can actually change and we can change our habits and we can have a better impact on the earth.
[00:10:15] So that's where it started. And once I learned about all that, it was like looking around me and thinking for my gold award, I want to do something that interests me and I had just taken this class and I was like, Hey. I, my church uses tons of styrofoam and I hate it. I hate it. Cause now I know how it impacts me.
[00:10:33] And if I'm eating out of it, I'm thinking about how it's impacting me. And then when I'm throwing it away, I'm saying, where's this going? You know? So once I identified that, I realized I need to change this, you know? Even though I'm actually a co-major in school. I love science. So I got to learn about all the different aspects of plastic pollution and things like that.
[00:10:53] So I've been able to like reimplement it into my community and that's been really good.
[00:10:57] Sheryl: Do you have a favorite memory from your project?
[00:10:59] Ephemia: My favorite memory, I think has just been the people that I've been able to meet through doing my project. I was connected with an amazing group, which I'll tell you about in a little bit, because I know you're gonna ask me and just meeting amazing entrepreneurs and people who are really high up in their businesses who are so focused on sustainability.
[00:11:18] And I was like, it's not just me focused on it, you know? And it made me feel like I had a support system and it was super helpful.
[00:11:24] Sheryl: And so who are some of those people?
[00:11:26] Ephemia: First and foremost was the department of intro Orthodox ecumenical and interfaith relations at the Greek Orthodox archdiocese of America.
[00:11:33] Huge title. But specifically I had a woman named speedy doula for the niece reached out to me because she was starting to create a series through the Greek Orthodox archdiocese of America called greening your parish. So it was totally focused on how can we make our parishes more sustainable? And I mean, this is a series that has almost 30 videos and, and many documentaries to it, you know?
[00:11:57] And so being able to be part of this group that we created to green in the parish was amazing. And I met. Amazing people. I met the two people that are heading this series called green, new world TV, John, and Alexia's to lupus. And they actually just finished a cross-country sustainability documentary, which is super exciting.
[00:12:16] Cause you know, I know them and they're doing all that work, which is awesome. And it's exciting to see everybody around me growing along with what I'm doing, because we can feed ideas off each other. And we can also give each other ideas on how to grow and expand our projects. And also working with amazing people who are just involved in the environment and their communities and businesses, Nikki Pappas and Gabriela Ducasse.
[00:12:36] They were also in our meetings and just having all these people around me were amazing. And it was so fun to connect with everyone. And then I would say the third person would be just the people at my church, my mentor, specifically Stephen and Alaina Yates and Stacy ferrets. They all are involved in catering and gardening and just have a love for sustainability.
[00:12:55] So it was super fun connecting with them because. They told me about resources that I didn't know about a specific within my community and kind of helped me. Learn how to target my community because dealing with Greek specifically, they can be stubborn and not want to change from what they're used to. So just learning how to kind of change people's perspective was helpful with that.
[00:13:14] And the last group was St. Ana's Greek Orthodox church in Roseville, California, and I got to interview them and work with them and I was supposed to fly out there, but COVID happened. So I couldn't, I was supposed to see their church in progress because. They are a very sustainable community. And I wanted to learn how to implement that here.
[00:13:34] And of course in California, they have different growing environments. They grow a lot of their, like I said earlier, Palm trees, olives for wine and things and grapes for wine. Sorry, things like that. Everything they've beehives they sell the honey in their bookstore. So they're able to produce so much of their own instead of purchasing it and selling it within their church.
[00:13:55] So I really enjoyed getting to talk with the parish priest, father, Chris full source there. And. How they started and realizing it was the community that started that. And it wasn't necessarily him that initiated it, but realizing that it really does need to be the community that starts and heads it because once they do that, then they're invested and they want to continue and it becomes an effort.
[00:14:15] And they made me realize as well that people were using their own talents. So people that love to garden and people that know how to work with bees they were invested in their talents within their community. So, I mean, it's so much more enjoyable and it benefited the community in such a positive way.
[00:14:31] What is something that
[00:14:31] Sheryl: you learned about the gold award process itself that you didn't know before you started your project that you want to share with others as they embark on their gold award projects?
[00:14:41] Ephemia: It wasn't something I didn't necessarily know, but something that came up along the way was I guess, how tedious the project was and just a huge long-term project, putting over a hundred hours into it and really blood, sweat, and tears going into it, tons of meetings in designing and things like that.
[00:14:59] Working with so many different people. It was an amazing learning experience. Clearly a tough one because I was not only managing school at the same time, but also extracurriculars and jobs. So just learning how I needed to kind of split things up and allocate was, was a challenge, but I learned through it and it was a very good learning process, but definitely I wish, I guess I had started on earlier in the process and I wish I'd set more stricter deadlines for myself.
[00:15:27] You know, that way I could have stayed on top of it a little better, but. Obviously it was great. Not until the end it pulled through, but definitely wish I had been a little more organized from the beginning.
[00:15:37] Sheryl: What other girl scout experiences do you have to share?
[00:15:39] Ephemia: When I was younger, I'll be totally clear,
[00:15:41] I did not like girl Scouts. I hated camping. And that was the main, I still hate camping. That was the main thing I associated girl Scouts with, but I stuck it out. My mom was my troop leader, my whole life starting in kindergarten. I'm going to stick it out. I know she wants me to, I'm going to do it for her.
[00:15:57] Cause I know she really appreciates it. And if she wants me to do it this badly, it's clearly going to have a good impact in my life, in the future. So I stuck it out and I've had amazing memories since I've kind of changed my perspective on it. Like meeting people. I'm best friends with and go to college with now, you know and just the experiences of selling cookies, learning how to talk to people and believe it or not, I was a shy, thumb sucking child, but through girl Scouts, I was able to kind of open my bubble.
[00:16:25] And talk to people and create really tight friendships. And it helped me become the extrovert that I am now. So learning, especially like I was saying, the sales aspect, going to people, kind of trying to persuade them, you know, it really, it was a really valuable thing that I give a lot of credit to right now because I'm learning.
[00:16:43] Help convince people to donate to things nowadays in college and helped me out with things and learning how to connect. And just starting that all from such a young age has been super helpful because it's, it's very comfortable to me now, which is really good.
[00:16:58] Sheryl: So I was also my daughter's troop leader, and we also had some Rocky places during girl Scouts.
[00:17:04] What would you say to girls who are experiencing that same relationship personal relationship while also a troop relationship with their moms?
[00:17:14] Ephemia: Definitely try to get the most out of the experience with your troop and as painful as it can sometimes be having your mom, maybe being the troop leader, know that she obviously has really good intentions and she just wants the group to be successful as a whole.
[00:17:27] Like she knows that those relationships that you're forming are seriously going to be lifelong and you're going to be connected with those people forever. And in terms of you personally, Go towards patches and honors and awards that you are interested in personally. So if there's a first aid one, and you're interested in going towards health or you're working towards your EMT or things like that, do that badge because you're going to learn so much about yourself.
[00:17:54] It's kind of like getting. Internship experience before you're even starting that, you know, it's like dipping your toes in every single thing that you could possibly want to and getting to know what you love and what you don't. So I think that's super important because it can help you grow as an individual.
[00:18:09] It can help you out many different trades in your back pocket that nobody will know about, you know, and it's just, it's going to help you in the long run. So I wish I did that more. I wish I did more patches, even though I have a ton of them on my. Dive, which I didn't want that I truly truly enjoyed instead of doing just group centered ones, you know, do you have any special words for your mom?
[00:18:30] Yes, I do. She probably doesn't know this because I don't say it to her enough, but I really appreciated that she made me stick it through because obviously it's made a huge, positive impact. And now I'm much more passionate about girl Scouts than I was in the beginning. And I regret not being passionate about it from the start, but I definitely it's made a huge impact in my life.
[00:18:53] And I'm glad for all the people in packages I made along the way. So I really appreciate her pushing me through because it has definitely, definitely been positive in the long run.
[00:19:02] Sheryl: Can you tell us about your other activities that you're involved in? Where, what your schooling is like and what your future plans are?
[00:19:10] Ephemia: I am currently in my second year at Quinnipiac university in Connecticut, and I'm in an accelerated program. So it's called a three plus one, which means I take three years, I get my bachelor's degree. And then I come back for an additional year and get my master's degree. So right now I'm in the second year of this program and I'm double majoring in graphic design and public relations.
[00:19:29] So having both those in my pocket was super helpful during my project, especially. The connections that I made, I could have people helping me design things, and I knew how to create a website. So it was super helpful. And in terms of social media and just pushing out information and in terms of involvement, I definitely do a lot.
[00:19:45] I'm super involved in my religious community and church community. I'm actually the social media manager for the assembly of canonical Orthodox bishops of America. So just working for them has been an amazing experience as well. And I actually just got a new position on campus. With the integrated marketing communications department here.
[00:20:05] And I work with all things relating to website, article writing photography. I'm a photographer as a passion and job in my spare time when I have spare time. And just doing things like that, anything social related, I love as well. So those are the two big things I've been focusing on, but um also relating to my church this summer.
[00:20:26] I was the videographer for a program called crossroads summer Institute. So going there and kind of seeing how other churches and organizations are working and suggesting, Hey, I made this project, we should implement it. You know, just having my toes in everything has been helpful because I've been able to spread the word about my project even more.
[00:20:44] I have to choose my master's degree. Next fall. And I think I want to go towards the digital media route again, or maybe possibly journalism, but what I want to do, I don't know, probably work for a media company, something like that. I mean, people ask me because I do photography. As I said, I have a business it's called and people ask me if I want to be a photographer full time.
[00:21:08] And now that I have this graphic design and PR background, I definitely. Grow up and create a personal brand for myself and do that a hundred percent. But I don't, I don't know if I would want to, like, I totally love it, but I don't know if I want it to be my main job because it's just been a hobby right now.
[00:21:22] But I guess if I could commit to it full time, be traveling, be photographing, amazing opportunities in Los Angeles or something I definitely would. But especially touching on Los Angeles, I'm planning on going there all of next semester. To study and do an internship so.
[00:21:37] Sheryl: Given your strong connection with your church, I'm curious, how did you earn any of the girl scout faith medals?
[00:21:43] Ephemia: I did, I don't, it was when I was younger, I believe I was a brownie. I actually have a photo of my dad pinning it on me at church in my camera roll, but I did, I don't remember exactly what it was called, but I was involved with that too, because again, my mom was a big proponent of all the scouting, especially within my church.
[00:22:00] So she helped manage that and get everybody involved who's involved in scouting, both boy and girl Scouts. So it was really cool.
[00:22:08] Sheryl: Is there anything else you'd like to share with the audience?
[00:22:10] Ephemia: I think when it comes to the gold award, specifically, just be yourself and choose a topic you're actually interested in because you'll be spending a lot of time on it.
[00:22:20] So you want to make sure you're invested. And no project is too big or too small. As long as you're invested and you can really justify and support it yourself. Then you're going to get to the end to where you need to be, and you are going to make a difference. So as long as you pick something that's close to you and important, you can really advocate for it.
[00:22:37] And that's the most important thing. And that's what they want to see in the final interview and your final submission. And. In the proposal that you submit. So I, I would say that's my piece of advice is to choose something that is important to you so that you can really give it a hundred percent and make it the best.
[00:22:52] Sheryl: How do you make your smores?
[00:22:54] Ephemia: So relating to camping, I don't love smores either. I know I'm not, I'm not a popular, that's not a popular opinion, but I will say the only time I'll eat marshmallows is if they're in rice crispies. So I'll tell you you, my favorite rice crispy, which is I have to say probably the M&M rice Krispies.
[00:23:13] Those are my favorite. So that would be my preferable campfire snack.
[00:23:18] Sheryl: I don't know that I've ever had an M&M rice crispy.
[00:23:21] Ephemia: They're good. They come in little minis so they're like this big they're bite. Bite-sized they're perfect.
[00:23:27] Sheryl: Interesting. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:23:31] Ephemia: Thank you for having me!
[00:23:32] Sheryl: Make sure to click, subscribe or follow so you always know when new episodes are released and don't forget to power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:23:45] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network produced by off the Walter media productions. Thank you for listening and spreading the word on what we do. If you want to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to grow.
[00:24:01] At outlook.com. Be sure to listen to the newest episodes on your favorite podcast app, as well as view the full video episodes on youtube.com/SherylMRobinson. That's youtube.com/Sheryl, the letter M, Robinson. Take care, and we'll see you next time.
