Environmental Initiative turns 20 this month, and I am proud to kick off our year of celebration with this post. Between now and the end of the year, we’ll invite you to share stories from the front lines of our work, we’ll reflect on what we have accomplished but also where we need to go in the future, and of course, we’ll throw a few parties!

If you know us well, then you may not be surprised to hear that we struggled with how big a deal to make of this anniversary. We’re a pragmatic group of people, with a laser beam focus on unlocking the potential of partnership to improve our environment. What this means is that we put our projects and our partners out in front and have only rarely taken the time to talk about ourselves or to reflect on our successes. Years ago one of our staff described our organization’s mind frame vividly by saying that we aren’t into “excessive celebration.” Who has time for that when there’s always more work to do?

Of course, we’ve come a long way since then. We know that sometimes celebration of success is the most valuable thing we can bring to those working for a better environment (if you’ve been to our Environmental Initiative Awards dinner, then you know that for yourself!). We know Environmental Initiative is in truth one and the same with the community of partners who come together through us to creatively solve problems. Most of all we know, as a community, we have a lot to celebrate.

So, we decided to make a big deal of our 20th anniversary and to celebrate what this community has been able to accomplish in the past two decades of working together. This anniversary year will be an opportunity to tell those success stories, to introduce you to people of vision and commitment and to hopefully to inspire us all to keep working together for a better Minnesota.

It’s not uncommon for me to run into someone who was there 20 years ago when Environmental Initiative was conceived but who has been away for a long time since. Those conversations almost always come to a moment of realization like “You’ve actually done what we hoped was possible!“ Our founders dreamed of this organization, but all of you have made it work. The results of the past 20 years speak for themselves – from the passage of the Clean Water Legacy Act and Legacy Amendment, to the clean school buses of Project Green Fleet, to the 20-year civil discourse we’ve convened through our policy forums, to the network of environmental and sustainability professionals who meet through our Business and Environment Series to share what works. Without the leadership of our founders and all of you who are involved today, our work would not be possible. Thank you for your courage, passion and support of our belief that by working together, we can achieve great things.

In the meantime, how do you think we should celebrate this milestone? Share your comments here, shoot me an email or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. I’d love to hear from you!