sustainability

When people in the South are reading something, they will often instead say that they are "reading on" said item of interest.

Well, I have been reading on Barbara Kingsolver, whom I will endearingly refer to as "Barbara" from here on.

Now Barbara has some great ideas. In Small Wonder (2002), she wrote essays encouraging Americans to rethink their response to the tragedy of 9/11. Instead of arrogantly assuming terrorists "hate us becuase we're free," she suggested there are ways in which our way of life as Americans are a cramp in the rest of the world's style.

We use a lot of resources, she said.

We think we don't have to make excuses for living comfortably, she also said.

I'm with Barbara on this one. I work at a natural foods grocery store, where all day long we are pushing products that are made without preservatives, food that was grown without genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I ride my bike there every day.
Every week I order coffee for our cafe that comes from our own city, to support local economies and save on shipping costs.

In other words, we are all about sustainability, at least in a commercial sense.

But Barbara pushes me even further by suggesting I get involved in my community and invest in my local economy with my decisions as a consumer.
And I wonder, is this really what it takes to live sustainably?
Ride my bike to work I can do, but the rest begins to sound rather inconvenient.

And I think that might be the point! As challenging as it is for parents to work overtime so they can provide for the future of their children, it is even more difficult to take Barbara's advice. Instead of making sure those we leave behind are provided for financially, perhaps we should focus on providing them with a knowledge of how to enjoy what we have. Remind them that everything we have, even if we have worked for it, is a gift.
Even the capacity for hard work is a gift!

I believe that good change can happen only when people have a sense of community. My wife and I are thinking about moving in with a couple we are close with and some of their friends, so I have been thinking about community a lot.

A community only thrives, some say, when it exists for a reason outside of itself.

Jean Vanier knew a thing or two about community:
http://www.larche.org/jean-vanier-founder-of-l-arche.en-gb.23.13.content.htm

In the face of Barbara's words, and figures such as Vanier, I accept the difficult task of loving on an leaning on other people I can trust.
I know I can't do it by myself.
If I want to have a positive impact on the world, I need to do it with other people.