Season 1 Wrap Up: And What’s Coming Next for Brym
Hard to believe, but the Finale of ‘Brym Labs’ Season 1 launched yesterday, Thursday, July 7th! Officially premiered on January 4th, 2022 it’s been an amazing half-year of new stories, new friends, and a lot of much needed hope entering my bloodstream on the climate front.
As we highlight the amazing work of Blocpower and their CRO, Glenn Schatz, I wanted to write a quick note to give everyone a sense of past, present & future … where did we start on January 4th, where are we now as we round up Season 1, and what’s coming next?? :)
Most importantly, though, Thank You. Thank you to everyone who has supported this journey along the way, whether that’s been offering advice, time, feedback (on our research or otherwise), a place to stay, a warm meal, or even committing financially to help us get off the ground.
Before reading on, if you’d like some context on where we were back in March - our halfway-ish point, here’s a quick Update from March 14. You’ll see some similarities in what we’re tracking and how … it’s personally very exciting to see the evolution from then to now…
Where we are:
Year 1 - 2 : Global Research and Network Building
The goal was and is to build a global coalition of young people passionate about the intersection of climate innovation and justice. We’ve had a great start to this process with new friends coming together from across the world, beginning a process of re-imagining a new potential future.
Concretely…
13 countries visited across 5 continents!
14 Case Studies produced with change-makers across the world …
14 Podcasts produced partnered with the Case Studies …
20 interviews conducted - more than we had time to produce!
150 members of Brym’s community network who receive our bi-weekly updates and are a part of our growing ecosystem in different ways.
35+ individuals and organizations who are part of our core network helping mold Brym’s vision into the Summer months and beyond.
Where we’re going:
Year 2 - 3 : From Research to Action.
Now that we’ve started to build a global network, the question becomes: how can we connect the dots between the amazing people we’ve met along the way? What projects can we contribute to? What projects can we lead? The climate change challenge is global and therefore solutions need to operate through a lens of global understanding as well. How can we bring people together to accomplish this?
To start, we’ll be piloting a new idea - what we’re calling a ‘Global Working Group.’ 8-10 folks from across the world forming a sort of Advisory Board to help grow roots of action in different parts of the world.
Brym will host a Summit in 2023 to bring these global voices (and more) together. The goal will be to build a social and environmental movement of young people working on solutions together.
The ‘Global Working Group’ and the Summit will accompany other initiatives that build our capacity to support projects across the world at the intersection of climate innovation and justice.
Look out for updates on the above coming soon!
Down the Road
Year 4 - 5 : A Global Social Innovation Lab focused on climate….
From speaking with people all over the world, there is a widening gap between the communities that are pushing for climate justice and the institutions that are ‘investing in climate’ …
Can we re-imagine what a ‘Lab’ might look like, offering a global platform for different voices to collaborate together to share challenges and brainstorm solutions.
Over time, maybe we can even challenge the status quo of how ideas are supported… maybe venture capital, philanthropy and private equity aren’t actually built in the right way to deliver the outcomes communities need…
Maybe there’s an opportunity to think outside the box in how we support projects - maybe even some of those projects will originate from the ‘Global Innovation Lab’… more to come.
Lessons Learned:
One of my takeaways back in March was ‘Be Patient’ … there’s power in not knowing the answer to every question. And narcissism inherent in thinking that you do have all the answers… There have been so many lessons learned along the way these last 9 months, but I think that one still rings true everyday.
Humility and Learning are THE constant. You’ll never really arrive at the answer to ‘what is good?’… you’ll always be searching for more feedback and a better way to filter that feedback into something actionable. The toughest part is filtering the feedback in bite-sized formats that don’t completely burn you out. You can’t work on everything… you can’t take every idea and run with it… mental health and stamina is your fuel, so you better find a way to work that works for you. Be patient.
Housekeeping heading into the Season Finale of Season 1 & Beyond!
I’ve learned that some emails have gone to people’s spam … to double check, the last email of Season 1 will go out tomorrow night - around 7:30pm. If you do not see it in your inbox, it is most definitely in your spam!! If you move it back to your inbox, usually your email provider will give you an option to recognize this address as ‘not spam’ moving forward… please click that option! :)
If there are other things you think we could be doing better, please let me know. I’m so excited to continue on this journey with all of you.
