Community Conversations
September 8, 2012:
“A Conversation for Sustainable Neighborhood and Community Transformation”
A discussion amongst sustainability leaders across the country, to address the challenge of accomplishing the transformations we know are needed in our suburban neighborhoods and urban communities. These include some of the following:
- adding chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers to our lawns;
- using gasoline-powered lawnmowers that use and waste as much gas as an SUV;
- contributing our food waste to the 30% of landfill-bound trash instead of returning it to the soil;
- chemically processing our own wastes and sending the “sludge” to landfills hundreds of miles away instead of recycling it in aerated ponds or breaking it down until it can be used safely as fertilizer;
- wasting energy, and wasting rooftop space that could be used to produce what we need in a clean way;
- getting poor quality food from a distance, instead of living off fresh local produce and processing more food locally;
- driving our own cars everywhere, even just to get a dozen eggs or a jug of milk;
We also know that part of the problem is that we are disconnected from our neighbors, and most of us cannot afford to contribute our time to these tasks without earning a living doing some of these things.
Is there a way to make generate revenue from helping to facilitate these changes?
People in neighborhoods quite widely understand that they need to strengthen their local economies, emergency preparedness, food security, water conservation, clean energy generation, and reduce the use of toxic chemicals, fossil fuels, and waste products.
Those people at the forefront of this recognition are natural community leaders, yet in most cases do not have local vehicles through which to realize their aspirations—the more beautiful worlds that, as Charles Eisenstein puts it, “our hearts know are possible.”
This approximately two-hour discussion addressed these issues, presenced a number of local and national initiatives, and started a process of sharing knowledge, information, and opportunities for collaboration.
Online Participants:
- Dave Buck, Wealth Information Network (Seattle, WA)
- Jim Schulman, Community Forklift (Washington, DC)
- Frank Wennin, Center of Influence Network (Ridgefield Park, NJ
- Doug Cohen, The Leadership Center (Corrales, NM)
- Ira Feldman, GreenTrack Strategies (Bethesda, MD)
Onsite Participants:
- Jan Graff, Big Old Trees (Summit, NJ)
- Lily Lee (Bridgewater, NJ)
- Lapyan Chan (Bridgewater, NJ)
Hosts:
- Jonathan Cloud, Center for Leadership in Sustainability (Basking Ridge, NJ)
- Victoria L. Zelin, UFC Corporation (Basking Ridge, NJ)
Audio: Here’s the audio recording. (This was done using FreeConferencing.com — the playback number is: 559-726-1299.
Presentation: Here’s the presentation.