Trathen Heckman at the UAS Holiday Party 2006Though he might say otherwise, Trathen Heckman's biggest contribution to the sustainability movement may well be his leadership. Trathen bears all of the hallmarks of a true leader: regular speaking engagements, directing two small non-profits, wide distribution of his journal Ripples, and generally providing insight to all who hear or read his words. But Trathen represents a rare type of leader -- one that inspires individuals to be whole, to be healthy and, ultimately, to lead themselves. He doesn't dictate terms. Rather, he spins the beautiful tale of an alternate interpretation of this moment in time. "We live in a world rapidly unraveling," which we need to be honest about, Trathen observes, "but, also, everyday a world is being born, a healthy just sustainable world." For Trathen, our true power and will to bring about change lies in our ability "restore and restory" our world.

Spending any length of time with Trathen, one is aware of a certain radiance that underlines his every action. He is at once grounded and ecstatic. In a time of of bleak forecasts, Trathen dares to "speak strong, loud, inviting truth" that stands in stark contrast to the fetishistic, consumer message we receive from mainstream culture. In his own words, he strives to be "humble but unapologetic." But "humble," he says, "does not mean afraid to shine." And shine is just what Trathen does, in the process promoting this core message: the unwitting power of our daily actions. To stay centered in this place of radiance, he has a few concrete tactics. "Personally, I do my best to surround myself with people, places, organizations and businesses that inspire and astound me with beauty, wisdom and ethics." This process of conscious selection of external influence helps to shape Trathen's perspective and vision. "The hard work is living up to those visions," he admits, "doing my best to live up to the crazy ideas that come."

And work hard Trathen does. He is deeply involved with two genre-busting non-profits, Daily Acts and Green Sangha. Trathen founded Daily Acts on a simple idea, that "by growing our awareness and better recognizing the power in each common action, we shape the world we wish to call home." Their quarterly journal Ripples is one of the most powerful examples of independent media presenting a positive version of current events, and their regular tours and workshops combine community and information sharing to guarantee a good time. Trathen is also the Executive Director of Green Sangha, an organization that hopes to "bring healing to ourselves, one another, and the earth through thoughts, words, and actions rooted in love." Their monthly retreats are a wonderful way to wake up and do so in community, to get still, get inspired and get into action. If you see a commonality between these two organizations, that's no coincidence. Trathen feels strongly that it is up to us to "create new institutions of culture" in order to support the coming transformation of our world. Towards that end, he cites renowned management guru Peter Drucker who felt that the power of an organization is to "help ordinary people excel by creating an environment to lift people up to their highest potential."

A common theme throughout Trathen's life and work is an ability to embrace the paradox of our times and not live beholden to darker scenarios that could play out for humanity's future. "Getting a good compass is key," he feels, so that, with what he calls "loving tenacity", we can "live up to the task of being clear and present, but not get lost to it, lost to greed, apathy and anger." Too often the bright stars around us in the movement fall prey to the "burn out" factor because self-care is not on their list of demands or tactics. True to Trathen's idiosyncratic ideology, the continual sacrifice of work brings him back to center of self awareness, family, ecology and community -- those parts of his life that provide the most joy. "Ripples has been the biggest teacher," he concedes. The challenge of finding his "deepest truths" and them putting them out for the world to see has helped him "live up to things that I wouldn't have done otherwise." In fact, it is the "gift of working with challenges" that has provided a surprising source of motivation to continue creating his vision of a sustainable society.

When asked what one action individuals can take to bring about the change they want to see in the world, Trathen's answer is simple: "Believe that every choice you make matters and embody your vision into being." Though this may sound trite, or maybe even too simple, it exemplifies the hard work of Daily Acts and Green Sangha, as well as the important shift in dialogue they are helping to bring about. In the face of despair, they are spreading the good word that the better world we want will transpire if we merely embrace it every day. Across a nation and a planet, this perspective will result in a snowball of loving action that dowses the flames nipping at society's feet. Trathen likes to paraphrase Peace Pilgrim: "find your highest light, schedule it, and then live it." "After all," he says, "it's how you show up that matters."

Photo credit Scott Beale

Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson are an example of the new media- independent, grassroots reporters and news. The couple runs Ryan is Hungry, a videoblog that interviews and features green gurus, tips, and information. They look for “stories that don’t get covered in the mainstream media worlds of television and newspapers,” and they bring that news to us.

Their medium, video, is powerful and far reaching, and the Internet, limitless. Their message is environmental and technological activism. From a quick browse through the site, I learned about an ecological shipping container hotel, clothing swaps, permaculture gardens, and underground supper clubs. This video blog is delivering culture! That's the new media.

Ryanne and Jay also run Node 101 an open source video blogging (vlogging) collaborative project, for teaching and spreading the technology worldwide. In their words, “the goal of Node 101 is to teach media literacy as a life skill and to change the current media landscape from being a lecture to being a conversation.”

Resources such as Node 101 make vlogging and blogging easy and have opened the “the conversation” to virtually everyone. You no longer need technical expertise to run your own blog or even vlog site; just a computer, a digital camera, and some motivation. I started my blog in, literally, five minutes and instantly I was a published author. A few weeks later, I joined Green Options, a group blogging site. If you are writing or videoing beyond a personal diary, and sharing on the Internet, you are the new media.

Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, and BBC no longer decide what is newsworthy. We do, and the networks are scrambling to keep up. The Washington Post featured a series of articles about how the spread of cell phones with cameras and other digital technology are making journalists out of average citizens worldwide. Their site (as do most on-line news sites) even features citizen bloggers in addition to staff reporters.

The field is open to those who want to play. The traditional media is looking for writers to cover events as serious as the presidential primaries. Public relations firms seek coverage for their projects. Opportunity for sharing what is news to you abounds. Site aggregators such as Hugg, Digg, and Stumble offer additional exposure to the self-published. I had a post end up on FARK and it received over 4,000 views in two days. It is that easy.

Sure, a blog post is not always the same as a news story, but it is the way we are communicating. It is raising media awareness and changing the ways we exchange ideas and information. We are learning from each other and our ideas are spreading like wildfire. Governments can't contain our enthusiasm and the balance of control is shifting. Follow Jay and Ryanne's lead: be the media. They'll even teach us how.

Image Credit: Rob HaneyThese days it seems I just can't get enough walking. Sure, I take BART, MUNI, AC Transit, CalTrain, you name it. And, of course, I'm an avid cyclist. I may not ride centuries and my bike is only on the rack at the office a few times a week, but I do rely on my bike for regular transportation -- errands like shopping, trips to visit friends, get exercise and just have fun. What I've been obsessing about lately, though, want to rap about here, though, is the exact opposite of vehicular transport of any kind. No rails, electric wires or wheels, just two legs. The original form of human locomotion. Let's call it the pedestrian lane.

Ever since I was granted a license by the DMV of NJ when I was 17, I've been fortunate enough to have the luxury of personalized transport, and I have had my fair share of cars. Back in high school, my first car was a Ford hatchback, affectionately called the "Bitchin' Escort" and lovingly detailed with many a sticker. My second car was more austere and could carry more gear -- a semi-futuristic Chevy Cavalier wagon. My third and last car was the first and only car I have ever truly loved - a 1985 Mercedes 300TD diesel beauty. A tank-wagon with the pickup of a slug and the highway momentum of a cruiseship. I knew I loved that car the day after I drove it home...parking in the driveway, vacuuming the interior, loving washing and buffing the exterior. Rarely have I felt so much pride in an inatimate object and never have I felt so much an American. And yet, despite the thousands of miles I ran my Filly on waste vegetable oil, the love affiar was soon over.

Even though I owned and regularly operated automobiles since the time I was legally able to do so, I quickly began to question my participation in this rite of passage. The first cracks in my automotive armor arose sometime during my second year of college. Principles of Ecology 201 introduced me to the concept of habitat fragmentation, one of the most devestating impacts humans have had upon the rest of the biosphere. Our network of highways, biways and rural routes has so interupted the normal migratory and feeding patterns of larger species as to seriously affect population levels and impact nearly all species. Shortly thereafter, the argument against cars was reframed when I came across a study comparing the energetic efficiency of walking to riding in a car. I've since searched high and low for this study with no luck. The basic premise, however is an exercise in true accounting: given the cost in time and energy required to power a vehicle -- the "true" cost -- it was calculated that time spent walking between points A and B was quicker than driving. Specifics aside, I needed little convicing from that point on. I graduated with a degree in Biological Sciences, a minor in Natural Resource Management, and strong desire to sell my car at the soonest opportunity.

That opportunity did not arise for some time. After graduation and my subsequent retreat from urban and suburban life, nearly a decade spent living in a rural community ill-equipped with public transit required a car. However, soon after I landed in San Francisco, the dust on my windshield began piling up along with the parking tickets, and I put out the word that Filly was for sale. She went quick, and to friends, commencing a return to a car-free existence. In fact, this was a lifestyle I had never before experienced -- before my driving days my life's activities were still centered around cars and I was always shuttled to and fro by my parents or grandparents or friends.

Charting out this new territory, I encountered my own stages of automotive withdrawl. My first reaction to carlessness was elation -- Pure Joy. It has been said before by wiser persons than I that more possesions make for less time and less happiness. I would consider automobiles the extreme emobodiment of this principle: 2000 lbs of steel encompassing dozens of interconnected mechanical systems that require regular maintenance. By letting go of that psychological and financial burden, fresh mental vistas opened up beyond the chattels of car concerns. To this day I am thankful for one less constellation of stress in my life, and am very wary of getting back on the car owner treadmill.

My second major reaction was indignation. By virtue of more foot time, I grew increasingly aware of and shocked by the extent to which cars have dictated the physical structure of our society. Everything from the urban grid to the layout of lots and shapes of buildings has catered to the overwhelming presence of autos. Moreover, to recognize just how much cars controlled my daily actions and the choices I made, well, it offended me. Walking home from the BART train, forced to navigate turns of 90 degrees after 90 degrees. To wait in quiet frustration until the major North-South corrdor of Shattuck Ave was clear enough of cars for me to pass. These all began to take their toll. Sure, on my bike I was relegated to traffic patterns -- this is the law, as well as the obligation of a safe cyclist. But to be a footloose pedestrian, well, I was expected to respect, even enable, the detrimental presence of cars. My reactions, like that of jumping away from a car screeching to halt to observe a stop sign, started to form a pattern of deference that felt much more like a tacit acceptance of cars then my conscious choice to avoid them.

A few months down the road, once I started driving again -- a borrowed car, or a ZipCar rental -- the third stage of my carlessness settled in. Quickly I realized how much I loathed driving the physical act of driving. The rushing to and fro. The frenetic conditions. The uncertainty of other drivers. I was able to see with great clarity how much anger driving a motor vehicle engendered in my life. The familiar phenomenon of "road rage" is no conjecture. I think such swells of anger affect everyone who drives on some level. And so, ecological concerns aside, I now even question the place of such a luxury. I'm not so sure that the benefits really outweigh the toll driving takes on our mental health and our sense of community. These days I am happy to let others occupy my former space on the roads while I try to cultivate a little more calm, a lot more compassion and a few extra smiles from my fellow pedestrians.

It has been just over two years now that I gave up my car for better or worse. I think I have worked my way through all of the stages of car withdrawl, but I'm still on the auto fence, so to speak. We have a very complex relationship to our rides, after all. I can say that I am far from getting another car, but I do daydream about the freedom of a motorcycle. I miss the ability to get out of town on weekends or to spend a late night in the city without taking the dreadfully long night owl service. Most of all, though, I'm on the fence about the place cars have in my vision of the future. I don't see them disappearing, but I do feel that our relationship with them must change. For example, why can't we share cars with our friends or with our neighbors? On a larger scale, why can't we centralize our lives so that we don't need to rely vehicles for errands or commuting. While cars will be with us for some time to come, it is high time that we turned into the pedestrian lane.

"Free soup! Get your free-hot-organic soup here!"

Imagine you are walking down the streets of San Francisco when suddenly you hear these words at about the same instant that the tantalizing smell of warm food fills your nostrils. You might not believe it; you might actually continue to walk down the street with not so much as a glance. A large part of the population either chooses not to believe it, or determines food scary and unworthy upon hearing the word free attached with it if it is being served street side. But maybe, just maybe, you pause, and the captivating chef spinning magic with a soup ladle spots the hesitation in your stride.

"You know you want some, uh huh..."

You turn, and walk closer towards a small cart where two portable burners are busy warming the undersides of a soup pot and a teakettle. A small crowd is gathered, and a tiny radio, duct taped to the cart, pumps tunes into the night. Ok, yes, you are curious now. You have just met Eric Bayer, the initiator and creator behind this event. He will invite you-- whether you are penniless, haven't showered in months and make the cement sidewalk your bed each night, or whether you are wearing designer duds and on your way to a 4 star restaurant, or really, if you are anyone at all who dares to look that direction-- to sit, and to enjoy some delicious food made from pure California produce and cooked with some healing intention he will share with you.

"So it's not exactly free," Eric might add as he rolls a burrito filled with maitake mushrooms and cheese and tosses it in a pan. What does he mean, you wonder, standing there, enjoying your good luck at finding this unique and unpredictable San Francisco happening, and indulging your curiosity.

"Yep, I lied," he says. "It's Food for Thought, and in exchange for this delicious food that I am preparing just for you, I invite you to open that book right there and find one of the ten cathartic prompts- or open-ended questions with no right or wrong answer-and you'll know what to do."

The book he points you towards is hand crafted from a colorful cut up produce box and laced with strips of old bicycle tubes. Your tentative fingers will slide a bamboo spear across the cover, causing it to spring open and reveal colorful pages. I know I'm in the right spot when... reads the prompt at the top of the first page.

So it's called Food for Thought. You can do it too. It's strange how something we all need- food, nourishment, health, community- has become such a commodity. Strange that how much money we have determines our diet, our health, and way of eating. It's somewhat puzzling that food, a medium with such power to nourish our bodies and souls and feed us in every way, is all too easily turned into a heavily packaged, shipped, lifeless form that we consume hurried, alone, and on the way from point A to point B.

At the end of a food for thought night perhaps fifty bowls of soup will have been served, and some street side community created as a number of interesting characters pull together over the simple act of eating. No doubt more than one person will ask, why are you doing this?

Hopefully throughout the evening someone will enjoy a meal who otherwise would not have that night. Perhaps the gathering of total strangers sharing food, stories and space in a potentially otherwise lonely evening, will warm some people. Maybe somebody will learn something new, and have the chance to express thoughts and feel listened to. And maybe the last bowl of soup will go to a pregnant woman on her way home from a minimum wage job to an empty refrigerator, a dying child, and the absence of a husband who has just been deported. This was the case the last time I ventured to the streets with Eric, and then I knew that I was in the right spot.

Searching for the essence of sustainability, I spent the last year and a half of my life planning an epic summer roadtrip to volunteer at organic farms and visit various intentional communities around California and the Southwest. Yes, the Summer Sustainability Roadtrip of 2007 was most amazing summer of my life.

Soaking in the luminous quality of local organic food and the people who grow it, I learned a lot about where my food comes from and got exposed to the
collective dynamics of sustainable food culture. I found all of the farms by going to wwoof.org and getting the U.S. directory of organic farms that invite volunteers to come eat, stay, and learn in exchange for helping out around the farm. Officially an acronym for Willing Workers on Organic Farms, WWOOF links up host farms with interested volunteers in countries all around the world.

For the communities, I went to the Intentional Communities website and ordered their amazing directory that has listings, descriptions, and maps of sustainable communities around the country. Reading through the descriptions, I chose to visit a few in the Southewest that are more oriented to the off-grid existence.

The first place I WWOOFed for was an off-grid ranch in Northern California. I worked on their irrigation system, worm composting bin, and weeded their grape field while overlooking miles of trees and the Pacific. Next, I volunteered at a raw vegan house in Arizona where I acquired new recipes, sprouting methods, and learned about living a raw lifestyle.

Other places I visited include:

Arcosanti: An experimental, ecological desert town in Arizona based on the urban design of Paolo Soleri, whose conceptual blueprints are based onviewing the city as a self-sufficient organism.

Angel's Nest Angel's Nest: An earthship in Taos dedicated to advancing new technologies in sustainable architecture. Staying at a house that is completely self-sufficient in all energy, water, waste-water, and food systems, I was amazed to learn that each drop of water cycles through the house four times. First, it's collected in a rainwater cachement system. Next, it's filtered and sent through the faucets of the house for drinking and bathing. The greywater from the sink and shower drains is then used to flush the toilet. This blackwater is then sent through a system of wetland plants in and around the house that completely convert all of the waste water into nutrient-rich plant food.

The Lama Foundation: One of the few surviving communities from the late 60's, Lama is a thriving sustainable, spiritual community that regularly holds workshops on permaculture and natural building techniques. Ram Dass also wrote Be Here Now while sitting under one of their trees after he returned from India.

Other mind blowing experiences of the summer involved meditating on top of a vortex in Sedona, and backpacking through the vast alien landscapes of
southern Utah. If you're interested in visiting sustainable communities and organic farms around the world, also check out the Global Ecovillage Network, the international directories at wwoof.org, and the organicvolunteers.com.

Last month another Cook the Vote dinner was served at a Berkeley residence much to the delight and edification of the diners. The topic was not about presidential candidates but the critically important "Farm Bill" that will pass through our congress this year. The conversation at the table focused on the seeds of change that will turn the Farm Bill from legislation that hands massive subsidies to agribusiness into policy that will shape a sustainable food system.

Cook the Vote is a series of public dinners, served at private homes by professional chefs,that are designed to bring people together over good food and conversations of political interest. Discussing the Farm Bill was both important and inspiring. It means everyday people are having conversations about how agricultural policy affects our lives, and those of growers worldwide. Many of us have opted out of commercial foods, but talking about how we can change the Farm Bill gets us closer to uprooting politics as usual.

Right now the Farm Bill is packed with problems. It is a gives billions of dollars annually in federal monies to support the production of commodity crops. These subsidies have implications that span from what our children eat in school to what children eat worldwide. Below-cost grain production sets global prices and encourages industrial food processing. In one of his many essays on the subject, Michael Pollan uses the example of a Twinkie that costs less than a bunch of carrots to outline how U.S. agricultural policy, guided by the Farm Bill, is literally is making us sick.

Farm Bill experts such as Pollan and Daniel Imhoff report that consumer awareness and market driven economics are creating the climate for change in agricultural policy. Public health agencies are taking note and school lunch programs, which receive money under the Farm Bill, are being called into question. Environmentalists and gourmets are in the debate, driven by their concern for the best foods and the least pollution and degradation to the earth's soil, air, and water. As the Farm Bill is up for debate, we have the power to affect who gets that money and, as Imhoff suggests, to start using it to support sustainable farms and practices; unprocessed, healthy school lunch programs; organic farming research,and regional food economies.

As the Farm Bill passes through congress, it is the perfect time to rally to make it better the next time around, five years from now. Continuing to grow awareness of this important piece of legislation are events like Cook the Vote which served up a "Sweet Home California" menu compliments of chefs Rebecca Alonzi and Keawe Aquarian:

Marin Sun Farms Southern Fried Chicken (it was the best ever! Rebecca is friends with the small scale chicken farmer, his main crop is beef)

Corn and Baby Dandelion Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes (greens from Star Route farms, tomatoes-Eat Well)

Sage and Wild Mushroom Mashed Potatoes (shrooms from Far West Funghi and potatoes- Dave's Little Farm)

Spicy Cinnamon Green Beans (Blue lake beans from Lacopi Farms in Half Moon Bay)

Bourbon Pecan Cheesecake (with Pecans from the Sacramento Valley)

Cook the Vote- Farm Bill was an inspirational evening, planting the seeds of sustainable change in the minds of a dozen or so more heads. Sequel Farm Bill dinners will be taking place in the upcoming months as the bill passes through the senate. As Pollan says let's vote with our 'forks and with our votes' to change agricultural policy in the U.S.

 

Further Reading:
Farm Bill 101

You Are What You Grow: Will This Year's Farm Bill Make Us Fatter and Sicker?

Food Fight: The 2007 Farm Bill

Oakland Farmer's Market Report

 

UAS Ally: Allison Quaid What does home mean to you? When I ask people around the Bay Area that question, the words "family" or "friends" repeatedly came up. The relationships that we have with those we cherish contribute to what makes a place feel like home. However, what happens when the high cost of housing forces families and friends to move apart?

The Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities recently made a film, Building Communities We Care About, which highlights stories of people who have had to move away from their families or leave their dream jobs in the Bay Area due to the high cost of housing. Almost 90% of households can't afford to buy a home here in the Bay Area, and so they end up moving far out, to places where they can afford a home, and commuting long distances back into urban job centers.

Many of us in the Bay Area are quite familiar with these facts, because if they don't personally impact us, they affect someone we know. For myself, I struggle to find an affordable home on my non-profit salary, wondering why those of us who work hard to improve the quality of life for our communities can not afford to buy a home within them. My best friend just moved to Denver with her husband not only for a new job, but also because they can afford to buy a home. She is not my first friend to leave because of housing affordability.

In addition to the need to provide safe, attractive housing for people at all income levels, the region's job growth and the natural birth rate will lead to an increase of one million people in the next 15 years. Let's pause for a moment to consider our region's job growth. It's understandable - this region is host to a tremendous amount of technological innovation. It's desirable - those jobs attracted many of us here and put food on the table. It's also good for the local governments that serve us, because retail and commercial spaces bring revenue into city coffers, paying for city services we benefit from.

However, there is an enormous disconnect between the people who approve the influx of new jobs and those who disapprove new housing in their neighborhoods. We need to make sure we have enough housing for all the new jobs we permit within a town's limits (or very close by its limits). For example, of the 37,000 people who work in San Leandro, 30,000 commute in from neighboring counties. It would seem to make sense to provide more housing units in San Leandro.

It's obvious we need to build more affordable, safe, attractive housing in existing urban areas to keep up with growth. Where possible it should be concentrated near bus and rail lines, so as to keep traffic congestion and air pollution down. There should also be parks nearby. And, we have to build higher, because the consequences of not building five story buildings and up are too dire. This region is bounded by water and protected hillsides, which leaves us the only option of building up instead of out. Sprawling out puts more global warming pollution in the atmosphere, and consumes the remaining agricultural land on the outskirts of the Bay Area.

So why don't we see more housing being built in our neighborhoods? The sticking point for established community members and existing homeowners is that they don't want their quality of life to change. They like how their existing community looks, and fear negative impacts of bringing in more homes. I understand those concerns, however, the consequences of not building housing are too grave for many families.

The time has come to consider the needs of our community as a whole, to not only make sure our communities reflect the character we love, but which meets the needs of people who actually work in those communities, or whose family members would like to live close by.

Visit your city's website and find out about development going on in your community. Your voice is needed to ensure we are building enough housing for all, and we're building within our existing urban communities. Consider attending city council meetings or joining a local group who advocates for smart growth. There are several organizations operating around the Bay Area who are always looking for supporters of development which will meet your needs and build the foundation for strong communities for years to come. I'm hopeful that we can create communities for the 21st century which respond to today's needs - affordability, economic growth, and the avoidance of further global warming.

Watch Building Communities We Care About will be screened at the next UAS Green Movie Night. Allison Quaid is the Executive Director of Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities and will speak at the Novemeber Green Movie Night.

UAS Ally: Odin ZackmanEfforts in sustainability and social change are accelerating, but to truly build a movement capable of taking us forward, we need to adopt new practices in our work.

Autumn is a great time for reflection. The harvest season asks this of us after a long season of growth, and as winter slowly settles in across the northern hemisphere, we consider where the movement for sustainability and social change is heading and how we plant the seeds that will take us where we are heading. Much of this has to do more with new approaches to community-building and governance, and less about new technologies or policy approaches, although these go hand-in-hand.

We are no doubt seeing something real, powerful and transformative take root: an increased consciousness about global warming and other environmental issues, the embrace of sustainability on a corporate level (at least in theory), and the evolving and deepening attention to social issues here in the US and globally. Despite the challenges we face, perhaps because of them, it is crucial to focus on the heart of the movement that has taken us this far and take a bold step forward.

My work centers on what I call “restoring the civic ecosystem”: doing work that connects human communities in the same way we need to pay attention to the relationships that need healing and repair in ecosystems around the world. Perhaps in doing our own work in this arena, we can better serve the landscapes and communities where we live and work. The movements that have been co-evolving over the past decades in response to injustice and a need for a more humane, sustainable society don’t work in a centralized way. Part of community-building, good governance and movement-building is honoring the strength and vitality that comes from the diversity of different approaches and paths toward a common goal. However, we can all begin to embrace certain principles and practices that will help us further realize a global vision of sustainability.

While we tend to fetishize new technologies such as solar panels and hybrid cars, or turn to policy approaches to reduce emissions or encourage the development of a more equitable, green economy these are critical building blocks on the path to sustainability, but not the underlying blueprint. If there is a map that gets us to where we’d like to go, it is born more from how we relate to one another than what we produce. In order for the sustainability trend to truly be sustainable, we need to increasingly direct our attention to what constitutes the connective tissue of our relationships to one another. Looking at communication, conflict resolution and collaboration as shared practices can help each of us individually, in our organizations, and across organizations and movements grow toward our goals.

One of the primary ways in which we can move closer to our goals is to grow our ability to communicate with each other. This is so simple to say and as we know, so challenging to do. Even the suggestion of needing to improve our communication skills can bring some reactivity, or feel like a distraction from the work at hand— another thing to fit into our busy, dedicated lives of making the world a better place. And yet, it is the work at hand: we have interactions on a daily basis that might challenge us in some way from a misunderstanding with a colleague and meetings that go awry and are unproductive to shaping a key message we want to share with other organizations or the public. Far from being an afterthought, our ability to communicate well—no matter how skilled we are in this arena—must be paramount if we are to move our work in sustainability and social change forward.

Once we build deeper skills in communication and facilitation, the opportunity to explore conflict resolution is another practice calling for our attention. Years ago, when I worked for a large environmental organization, a friend commented that it must be an amazing feeling going to work everyday to “fight the good fight.” At the time, this added tremendous meaning and motivation to my efforts at protecting the environment and supporting communities addressing environmental and social injustice. Yet, if our work is about creating wholeness and health, then the perspective of fighting or struggle doesn’t truly serve us.

A hallmark of sustainability and social change work ought to be about resolving conflict, of working to heal the divisions in our culture and the inconsistencies in our perspectives about what it means to live in a healthy community. Maintaining a philosophy of struggle simply continues our struggle and undermines a new way of being that might arise: we need not feel we are giving up or compromising if we further develop conflict resolution skills to utilize them within our organizations and with those we see as obstacles on the path toward making this world more whole.

If we grow to see communication and conflict resolution as skills that can lay a foundation for accelerating sustainability, we are invited to work in a very different way—to truly work together. Collaboration asks that we model what we want to see in a world that is more sustainable and equitable: that we look toward working across lines of difference and making linkages between organizations and efforts even more than we might focus within our own organizations. This might seem impossible, if not heretical, given the importance of our work and the attention our own organizations require. While part of the gift of a diverse set of global movements working to foster social change is the variety of approaches used and issues addressed, there is a clear challenge here as well: how do we always hold our work as shared and universal as opposed to fragmented and particular?

The mission statement, as typically defined, then becomes a rallying call and an opportunity for reflection: how do we honor our mission—individually, organizationally, even ‘movement-wide’—and join with and support the incredible array of other missions that are equally inspiring and critical? Some initial answers can be found in movement-building work of organizations like the Movement Strategy Center, the coalition-building efforts of the Apollo Alliance and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the deepening bond between spirituality and social activism exemplified by stone circles and even the positive trends happening on a local and regional level among government agencies engaging in collaboration, creating inter-agency entities, forming regional governments and participating in cross-state initiatives.

All of these examples are encouraging first steps, but as anyone involved can tell you, they take time—a resource we never feel we have enough of. But the most important thing we can do if we want to cultivate community, build appropriate and robust governance structures, and restore the civic ecosystem to support broader movement-building is to devote the time necessary to improving our communication, conflict resolution and collaboration practices. This focus, along with dedicated time for reflection and taking care of ourselves, is where true change can begin to emerge and accelerate. Ironically, the sustainability movement can’t be truly sustainable if we don’t pay attention to sustaining ourselves and our organizations, and transforming the way we work.

The author and activist Deena Metzger has captured this challenge simply and beautifully in a few lines that always inspire my work in this arena and remind me of the importance of sustainability and social change efforts and the even greater importance of paying attention to the heart of this work:

There are those trying to set fire to the world.
We are in danger.
There is only time to work slowly.
There is no time not to love.

# ## Odin Zackman is a Bay-Area based teacher, consultant and writer and founder of DIG IN, an organization focused on mapping and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable society.

 

"The light is on," a friend of mine says, whenever he meets people living consciously. And the light is on for more and more people as we tap into the growing potential for a sentient society. One that will create space for us to create ourselves, allow us to build community, and perhaps value what we can be over what we can do.

Of course creating a better world will take work, (play) and along the way we're going to need clean, efficient and reliable electricity to keep those other lights on. We know we need renewable energy sources, but worries of reliability and distribution seem to be stemming the flow of resources for the changeover.

Enter smart grids. Like the Internet for energy, smart grid technology would allow P2P energy sharing by using advanced metering to determine where energy is available and where it is needed. Generation would be distributed, between many different sources, and storage would be localized as well.

This means instead of the current one way flow of power from plant to user, everyone's house, business, and car would be it's own generator and storer of energy, and could be connected to the grid at the most optimal time for charging or transmission.

Smart appliances would know when to turn on or off, or put themselves into hibernation. Your plug in electric car would charge at night when prices would be lowest. With smart metering, the market would flow in real-time, allowing prices to fluctuate with supply and demand. You could program your car to wait for that time of night when wind generators, for example, are producing the most power.

At work, you could plug in again, but now your car would be the battery, and if you had more energy than you needed, you could sell it back to the grid for a premium during the day's peak demand. You also might set your air conditioner to let the temperature go up a few degrees if prices were high or the system was getting overloaded.

Some appliances are already being built with this technology, such as washing machines that will cycle slower at times of heavy load. Refrigerators are among the machines still in testing stages.

Your energy bill would be a lot lower, and the whole system would be more efficient. Losses from distribution would be cut. "Waste" energy, generated at off-peak times could be captured and used. If you are microgenerating with a PV array or small source of your own, none of that would be wasted either.

Taking this a step further is the concept of the microgrid, which could link communities together in their own energy district, with one connection to the main grid. Normally, all needs would be met within the communities. If not, power can be uploaded from the grid. If the larger grid fails, the district can separate and isolate itself from the disturbance until the disruption is corrected.

Co-generation is also a big part of the plan, and recouping "waste," heat from fossil fuel plants increases the amount of generated energy being used from 30-40 percent to 65-97 percent. Using that heat on neighboring buildings, or central heating units for multiple homes works especially well in small-scale generation.

The proliferation of renewable energy, both large and small scale is leaving energy companies scrambling to handle the intermittent flow of energy. With the smart grid, new sources of power could come online easily and seamlessly enter the system.

Reliability would be assured, even with intermittent power from renewable sources. Billions of dollars are lost to industry each year from minor disruptions in power. In the digital age, even a fraction of a second of power disruption can cause huge disruptions. With an energy web, businesses would be protected from these potential blows, and wouldn't need to maintain expensive back-up generation systems.

Nanotechnology breakthroughs are also opening the way for "quantum wires," carbon nano-tubes 1/6th the weight of today's copper wires. Less energy would be lost through them, and trees couldn't easily take them down in a storm. This will be helpful in supplying grids with power generated in mountains, deserts or outside of cities.

This resilient grid would be self-monitoring, and self-healing. By analyzing it's weaknesses, in the event of a real incident, such as a tree falling, it will already have in place plans to move energy around the damaged section and keep the flow going. This will be increasingly important considering the coming likelihood of storms and unpredictable weather.

Finally, jobs in this industry will take off once utilities and consumers fully commit to the change. Here in the bay PG&E is retrofitting existing meters, but has not yet committed to the technology necessary to fully implement the smart grid. As for the Vehicle 2 Grid car, that's PG&E's own idea, although they peg it at 5 or 6 years out for a possibility.

The cost of changing over the infrastructure is something utilities have found daunting, especially when most are required to prove that changing over will save enough money to make the investment in new technology worthwhile. However t he grid needs updating anyway, the forecast from Harbor Research being that at least 60% of it will have to be updated in the next 10-15 years.

A study from PNNL said smart grids could eliminate $46bn to $117 bn of costs associated with buliding new power plants and lines in the next 20 years. A RAND corporation study projected a $57bn in savings over that same time period with the use of smart grids to prevent power disruptions. FERC estimates $14 - $26 bn to cover the costs of smart grid installation nationwide.

The best thing people can do at this point is see what kinds of microgeneration are best for you and your community; and keep urging lawmakers to take advantage of the technologies we already have to keep moving toward a more sustainable world.

Keep the light on!

 

"Whoever you are, whatever you are, start with that, whether salt of the earth or only white sugar." -Alice Walker

Unfortunately, the struggle for social justice is all too often thought of as a movement conducted on the societal plane by professionals in court, government, the media or the marketplace. While these are often the dramatic loci of action, where the stakes seem highest, and where battles are waged in the public arena, often over long periods, they are not the only places to build power.

Nor are professionals the only people who can work toward social justice.

Each of us can build power in our everyday social interactions, in the conversations and meetings with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Each of us has the chance to be designers of our own social realities, ones that foster the conditions for health and happiness - no bullhorn required.

In fact, your own social circle may be the best place to start the journey to social justice, because this is where you can have the biggest impact. Why? Because this is where you have the most freedom to act. And because business, political, and artistic innovations always emerge from intimate, local contexts like your circle of friends. You can take action in your social circle today.

The idea can be boiled down to this: power is not something that is "out there" or for tomorrow. It is something available to us here and now. It is within us and around us in our social networks. You have it and can build it wherever you are and whomever you are with. It's a potentiality that can be cultivated consciously.

While this may seem like a bold claim, there is a lot of evidence that this is true. Some of it can be found in the research on social capital. Social capital is made up of three things - social connectedness, trust, and reciprocity. While social inequalities often stem from systematic oppression, a wide range of social outcomes are linked to social capital including education, health, contentment, crime rates, and prosperity.

For example, before Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone, he conducted a decade long study that explained, among other things, why Northern Italy is more prosperous than Southern Italy. Putnam found that Northern Italy "did not become civic simply because they were rich. The historical record strongly suggests precisely the opposite: They became rich because they were civic." In other words, Northern Italy became richer because it had more social capital - people were better connected, trusted each other more, and helped each other more across family lines than people in Southern Italy.

Another striking example is explored in the book Heat Wave by sociologist Eric Klinenberg. In July 1995, a disastrous heat wave hit Chicago killing over 700 people. Part of the book explored differences in the death rates of North and South Lawndale, two adjoining neighborhoods with similar socio-economic status, climate, and numbers of elderly living alone (the highest risk group in the heat wave). Despite the similarities, South Lawndale's death rate was 75% lower than North Lawndale's. Klinenberg attributed the lower death rate to higher social connectedness and support in South Lawndale, which he referred to as a "growing little village."

These stories inspired a few friends and I to start The Abundance League, a nearly three-year experiment in consciously building social capital among San Franciscans interested in social sustainability. The name Abundance League suggests that the richness of our lives depends on working together. We figured that since social capital seemed to play such a big role in determining quality of life, we should learn as much as we could about creating healthy social environments and practice doing it ourselves.

Our monthly meetings are set up to do just that. The meetings have three parts - announcements, a main presentation, and ensuing discussion as well as lots of time to mingle before and after. Announcements set the stage for the entire meeting. Each participant gets three minutes to talk about three things - their passion or project, what they need to move their passion or project forward, and what gifts (skills, contacts, knowledge, etc.) they can share to help other members move forward. For the main presentation, we bring in speakers to give in-depth talks about their efforts in social sustainability. The information shared in announcements and the presentation stimulates an ongoing exchange of contacts, knowledge, and support between participants. Helping each other is an explicit expectation, one that is enthusiastically lived up to by participants.

I have received a great deal feedback from those who have attended regularly that this simple monthly meeting has been very rewarding. We've not only had fun and learned a lot at each meeting, but we've weaved a social web together. Over time, we have forged new connections, gained deep knowledge of each other's dreams, and ignited a cycle of exchange that throws off many benefits such as jobs, collaborations, cross linking of each others' projects through board memberships and volunteering, consulting projects, speaking opportunities, donations to each others' causes, other social outings, and new friendships. We've built social capital in a fun and natural way, letting the format and intention of the meeting do most of the work.

I've learned many lessons from co-facilitating the Abundance League. Here are a few ideas to try in your social circle:

• Weave. Talk stock of your friends. Do they all know each other? If not, foster friendships between them. It will make your friendships even stronger. And make a habit of introducing people, even if you've only just met them.

• Include. If you already have a tight circle of friends, find ways to bring new people into your circle or link to other groups. This will bring new ideas, opportunities, and connections into your life.

• Mobilize. Let your friends know what you stand for. If you have a cause or passion, share it. And find ways to involve them.

• Connect. Bring your friends together regularly. Because of differences in place and schedules, it can be difficult to meet up with your friends one at a time. Host a regular event.

• Help. Nothing speaks louder than action. Find ways to help your friends, and in the most meaningful ways. This requires that you to discover what's most important to them. Make mutual support an explicit part of your social circle.

• Share. Make a habit of loaning and giving. Possessions can be a point of connection. Exchanging books, CDs, and DVDs is a great place to start.

• Enjoy. The benefits of your efforts won't come immediately. Relationships take time. Make the process fun and the benefits will come in their own time.

By experimenting with these simple techniques in your everyday life, you can build social capital and put the "social" in social justice.

 
UAS Ally: Neal GorenfloNeal Gorenflo is co-facilitator of The Abundance League with Maritza Schafer and an employee of FAS.research, a strategy consultancy and independent think tank that studies social networks. Learn more about Abundance League at http://www.theabundanceleague.org.