A New Form of Green: Area Resident Thinks Sustainable After Losing Job

Being jobless is not a scenario that caused Fredonia resident Cathy Jones to worry about her own future.

Instead of simply fretting about her own checking account, she saw the situation as an opportunity to shift her focus on supporting a sustainable, local way of life.

Jones, who worked in the human resources field for about 20 years, lost her job in 2009 when the small company she was working for had to downsize.

"Without even realizing it," Jones said she found herself gravitating toward an abundance of "green" opportunities and sustainable living techniques — learning more than she could ever imagine.

And, she's become a strong advocator of supporting local.

"In this economy, I do know that the right thing to be doing is to support local business even if it doesn't get me a job," Jones said.

Despite that theory, her efforts have at least landed her a few part-time gigs.

Jones started her green-living "career" by facilitating a "sustainability committee" at her church, , 131 N. Webster St., Port Washington.

The group set to the task of auditing the church's "greenness," Jones said — and actually found out they were doing a pretty good job. The church uses real dishware instead of styrofoam, had a good insulation job, turned off the lights when not in use, turned off heat in certain areas when not in use and so forth.

"We had been doing so many good things," she said, that it motivated the group to go big. So, they decided to look into solar panels.

"We wanted to be a role model in our community for sustainable living," Jones said. The church group was successful in working out a way for the church to afford solar paneling — a change that saves the church 65 percent of their annual electric bill. The system will pay for itself in seven years.

Jones' involvement in the solar panel system at First Congregational got her some recognition with the community: she found herself writing grants for local companies looking to add a little more "green" to their building.

"I got to grow myself in another area that I never would have done — that was grant writing," Jones said. Grant monies disappered in June, she said, and with that Jones' side work went away. But that does't mean she stopped thinking green.

Jones then picked up more part-time work with Rare Earth Farm in Belgium, a 20-acre vegetable farm that sells shares to area residents and then ships weekly packages of produce to those shareholders during harvest season. Jones said working with the farm was almost a reality check.

"I think we are going to need to learn to grow food again — I've learned a lot about what's all going into that," she said.

Jones also did some part-time marketing work for Rolling Hills Sorgum Mill in Elkhart Lake.

She obtained all of these positions because of the networking she was doing merely by being involved in the sustainable field. Business owners would hear of her, or know of her because of volunteer work — and offer her a paid position. Unfortunately, those positions don't last.

Jones currently works part-time at a grocery store. She has thought about opening a business, but has quite nailed down exactly what her business would be; in the meantime, it seems Jones' focus will be to support local and spread the word about doing so — which Jones said is most valuable lesson out of all of this.

"I think the healthiest thing that came out of this downturn is that it's forcing (people) to go back to basics," Jones said. "(Sustainable living is) not a trend, it's definitely going to be a lifestyle change."

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This story is part of an ongoing series, "Dispatches: The Changing Amerian Dream." You can read more stories from across the country at The Huffington Post.