Tonight is the first Choices for Sustainable Living discussion to be held in Salida. This is an eight part course sponsored by GARNA and created by the Northwest Earth Institute. It will likely be the only one I will attend as we are working to get a group together for here in Buena Vista. I would like to reflect on some of the ideas that occurred to me from the homework articles before I go because I am curious to discover how my thoughts will be influenced by the upcoming discussion.

My overall impression of the four articles – Easter’s End by Jared Diamond, The Parables of the Rats and Mice by Kathleen Dean Moore, Making Other Arrangements by James Howard Kunstler, and The Great Turning by Joanna Macy – is that if we – myself, all of the authors, and likely all of the discussion group participants – were sitting around a dinner table together we would all fundamentally agree with the assumption that sustainable living choices have to be made. We would comfortably and casually chew our organically and locally grown slow-foods prepared food as we nod our heads politely and with intellectual sincerity to the commentary of our table mates.

What I would like to challenge about this is that we are not the only ones who need to be in this discussion of sustainable choices. It is a constant question in my mind of how do you invite other people to the table who may not otherwise be inclined to join? And on the flip side, why am I so totally unaware and unexposed to the beliefs that drive the decisions of other individuals who are not naturally inclined to seeking sustainable choices? Sure, I know the basic economic principles that drive corporate decisions and, thus, end up driving political decisions. But what do the individuals think and why do they never come to these discussions? Perhaps it is because the assumptions we base these discussions on are one sided. Certainly there is a dinner party somewhere in a parallel universe with discussion centering around why there is no rush to change anything about our choices.

I would be truly fascinated to see an article or two included in this collection that poses opinions different from the current consensus and are accompanied by whatever scientific evidence that supports those views. We have to know and understand where other people are in their thinking… it is the only way we can effectively meet them where they are and, of course, it is the only way that we can be challenged to improve our own viewpoints.

Beyond that, I highly recommend to anyone who has not read either Guns, Germs, and Steel or Collapse by Jared Diamond to do so. His article about Easter Island is only the tiniest representation of the many compelling historically, paleontologically, linguistically, biologically, and geographically grounded arguments that he has developed over the years to support his understanding of the factors that shaped human history as we know it and the factors that will likely influence our future. I mention all of these fields of study, which are but a handful of the many he employs to support his theories, to give you an idea of the breadth and depth of which he approaches his science.

I agreed with many of the points that were presented in Kunstler’s Making Other Arrangements. However, I really do not resonate with the tone with which he writes. I find it abrasive and, in turn, I think it undermines the integrity of his statements. At one point the author brings up Thomas Friedman and his “World Is Flat” analogy. Kunstler feels that Friedman’s view of the globalized economy is based on two factors – relative peace between great nation powers and cheap fossil fuel – and that those will quickly be coming to an end. I do agree that without increased awareness and communication, those two factors are in for a big change. However, in the paragraph following he states that due to the mass internet and TV sources that are now beyond measure (another major factor that plays into Friedman’s flat world theory), “we are unable to process this deluge of information into a coherent public discussion about the fundamental challenges that our civilization faces.” I have to disagree with this statement because I have recently discovered and am now a true believer that the freedom of information flow both to people and from people is going to play a significant role in how we proceed with the sustainable choice conversation both locally and globally. It just has to be creatively leveraged and as it is still in a state of relative infancy, there is much growth that needs to happen.

I think this perspective also supports Joanna Macy in The Great Turning when she refers to a statement made by Lester Brown of Worldwatch Institute, as she says, “while the agricultural revolution took centuries to unfold, and the industrial revolution took generations, this ecological revolution must happen within a matter of years.” I really feel that the leveling of the field by internet technology which has allowed the medium of citizen journalism and community created content to grow will be a huge player in this revolution that must happen and can happen at the speed of light.

Finally, Macy begins her article by saying, “The transition from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society is the essential adventure of our time.” I love that perspective, the fearlessness, the thoughtfulness, and the sense of adventure – we’ll figure it out.