Gjovik earns Earth Day plaudits

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, April 13, 2005

The islander is honored for her work on local environmental causes.

As a young telephone operator, Kat Gjovik used to connect callers. Now she plugs people into the environment.

Gjovik was among eight county residents and organizations honored Monday with Earth Day awards for their notable contributions to Kitsap County’s environment.

Receiving the “Clean Kitsap Award,” she was cited for her work on the City of Bainbridge Island’s Adopt-a-Road program, which mobilizes and trains volunteers to pick up roadside litter in their neighborhoods, and for her efforts coordinating Earth Day events on the island for the last four years.

“Earth Day is not just a day, it’s a way to be involved through the year,” said Gjovik, a strong proponent of grassroots activism. “Leadership is only half. People willing to make a difference in their own lives and at home, that’s how change happens.”

Those who know her may be surprised that she has only been active in the island community for the last six or seven years, although a resident since 1980.

A ferry commuter for several years before, her focus was on Seattle and her job. If asked in 1985, she admits, she couldn’t have named the island’s elected officials.

It wasn’t until she left her job in 1997 and went to graduate school at Antioch University in whole systems design that everything changed.

The discipline looks at the interconnectedness of people, the environment and the world. Although originally planning to become a consultant, Gjovik found herself getting more and more involved with the Bainbridge community.

“The community drew me,” she said, and her center became “serving my community and grassroots organizing. It’s not radical activist. It’s not political, it’s about building community and can be applied to absolutely any discipline.”

The turning point for Gjovik came when she was introduced to the Earth Charter, a document first drafted by an international commission as a guideline for development and based on the interconnectedness of the earth, the environment and man, and the ensuing responsibility of stewardship.

“It’s an ethical framework for how we make decisions, and it’s our responsibility (to make the right decisions),” Gjovik said. “I feel that responsibility personally as a person, state and city.”

Gjovik sees herself as a catalyst and instigator. She moderates the weekly Conversation Cafe, and took the lead on the Adopt-a-Road program in 2001.

While humble in its goals, picking up litter is “so indicative of what we can improve and affects wildlife, water quality and more,” Gjovik said.

While she personally may only organize one or two events for Earth Day, she reaches out to invite organizations to join in the celebration with events of their own, creating different entry “gates” – art, environmentalism – into which people are drawn to the cause.

When the going gets tough, Gjovik says she is inspired to continue by others around her.

She cites Joan Vassiliadis, who began a sneaker recycling campaign that also won an Earth Day Award, or former environment coordinator for Town & Country Sue Williams Transeaux, who now writes the store’s newsletters.

“When I see somebody take it in and just doing it, finding a way that can make a difference, that’s what keeps me going,” Gjovik said.