Gordon Johnson arrived for his interview with The Royal Gazette bearing a gift of a cedar tree. The endemic tree seemed appropriate coming from the new executive director of Greenrock, one of the island’s most dynamic environmental awareness charities.

Mr Johnson said that since taking up the post he and his wife, Wendy are trying to walk the walk, and are looking at ways to greenify their home. This includes planting endemic trees, like olive woods and cedars, on their property and possibly growing a small vegetable garden.

“A friend of mine who knows about gardening and he is going to show me how,” said Mr Johnson. “Where I lack knowledge, I have passion, and I know how to ask for help. One of the benefits of working for Greenrock is we are now asking a lot more questions about how we live on a day-to-day basis. We are looking at how we use energy, manage our waste and consume resources such as water.”

Mr Johnson replaced Judith Landsberg. He is Greenrock’s first part-time executive director. His main objective is to help Greenrock orchestrate a change in their governance structure so that they can demonstrate sustainability and accountability to their community and donors. He will be looking at areas such as programme staffing and the forging of partnerships within the community.

“We will be looking at how do we create an organisation that responds to the community with respect to how they are addressing sustainability,” he said.

He is originally from Canada and came to Bermuda 20 years ago to work with the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CADA). He is now married to Bermudian, Wendy Davis Johnson and most recently worked for The Centre Limited on the new Performing Arts Centre project.

Although he does not have a background as an environmentalist, Mr Johnson is no stranger to the natural world.

“I grew up in Canada, at a time when environmental awareness was encouraged,” Mr Johnson said. “As a young person I camped with my family. We really had the philosophy: what you take out into the field, you bring back with you. You didn’t leave any trash behind. You always left your campsite better than you found it. We were taught to respect nature and to go as delicately and gently, on the land, as we could. We didn’t grow up with generators or things like that.”

In his working life he follows a philosophy called Appreciative Inquiry.

“I got involved in Appreciative Inquiry when I was studying philanthropy,” he said. “The idea is shifting from problem solving to growing what is working. If sustainability is an equation, what are the variables, both human and financial, that allow us to do that well? We really want to understand what works, how to grow it (what works), and how to work collaboratively.”

He said one of Greenrock’s pluses they want to go is their human capital.

“We have some great people who founded the organisation,” he said. “We have some great people who are involved. We want to grow that through new partnerships and collaborations.”

If you want to support Greenrock look out for their Earth Hour event on March 29. On this day people and businesses in Bermuda, and around the world, will turn out their lights to show their concern for the environment.

For more information about this event and other Greenrock initiatives see their website at www.greenrock.org.