The Job is Adaptation: 2020-2021

December of 2021 is here and it's been about a year of Circlepack existing. Here's what that year has looked like from a few different angles. In Data: 15,566 lbs of shredded cardboard. 1,109 lbs of shredded cardboard distributed for free to community members. 3,313 miles travelled. 60+ shredding events, small and large. 100+ helping hands. In a Story: Circlepack starts in 2020 as a way to offer cardboard processing to local businesses due to an insight from the excellent Kapa Nui Nails. A month later, there's a phone call with the impressive community organization Ma'ona Community Gardens and it appears that there's an opportunity to offer more value than making compostable packaging supplies. Circlepack and Ma'ona do their first Community Shred Day. The cardboard issue is big, 100,000 tons per year big. So, we keep shredding and begin talking about cardboard. Then, there's a regular stall at Hale Ki'i Market. 2021 continues to throw carbon, covid and cardboard at us. Hands come from all over to help us and people begin taking shredded cardboard for their gardens, homes, farms, businesses and schools. We shred with grandparents, small children, parents and more. Really, the story of this year is a simple one. Our Hawaii Island community, our Hawai'i community, is moving towards change. There's many fingers on the hands which point towards the horizon. In Pictures

In Conclusion: The job of this decade is adapting to a future we didn't expect and doesn't compare to our past. In some ways, that's never changed. In other ways, I don't know that we've ever had to deal with the scale, complexity and velocity of the interlocking, moving crises we face today, locally or globally. The story of this "job" is simple. There are people everywhere who care for their communities, are willing to put forward whatever they can, and do it with love (a really underrated asset). We may not being seeing smoother waters for a while and that's okay. The best bet is finding a way forward is together with every bit of wildness, ingenuity, creativity and heart that we have to offer each other. Keep Going. To 2022 and the horizon.