Ashley Loudan
Freelance Writer & Editor
The Ian Somerhalder Foundation
"To think globally, you have to act locally."
- Ian Somerhalder
In December 2012, I became part of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation as the Environment Division Editor. In January 2013, I began editing news-based articles for 7 writers, all from a different part of the world.
As editor, I was responsible for participating in scheduled Skype meetings with team members of the organization to discuss future environmental topics and provide assistance and guidance where needed. I edited article content for basic grammar and structure, helped to develop projects and campaigns to raise public awareness on various environmental issues and energy developments, and aid the division manager when needed.
During my time as editor, our writers covered important environmental issues like deforestation, palm oil, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the dark side of diamonds, the importance of pollinators, biodegradable products, sustainability practices, advances in cleaner technology, and more.
At the end of 2015, our team wrote more personalized articles for our "I Did It" series. Each writer contributed a personal story on a positive environmental change they made in their life and how it affected them. Topics ranged from doing a beach clean-up, to having a "garbage-less" lunch at work, to saving energy, to even taking a stand to help save the incredible Monarch butterfly population.
Possibly our most famous campaign was the year long, "Going Green in 2016," that aimed to educate and empower each and every ISF supporter to make a difference in their every day life. As a team, we believed that even the smallest act of positive change makes the biggest difference. In our first month, our goal was to get people to go paperless in the kitchen. That goal meant eliminating paper towels and napkins that end up getting tossed in the trash can that would then get taken to sit for decades in a landfill, and switching them out for dish towels and reusable napkins instead. Each month in 2016, we had a challenge set out for ourselves and for our supporters to determine the changes we could make that could lead to even bigger changes in the future. Emails from supporters, as well as guest articles, poured in from all over the world sharing stories and comments about how going green had been incorporated in daily routines.
The ISF Environment Division Team helped me grow tremendously, not just as an editor and writer, but also as an environmentalist and activist who is now empowered to make a positive change in the world.
Specific editing pieces are available upon request. To view the ISF articles I have written and co-written, please click on the Publications tab.