October 29 - Snow and Sustainability

I come from pretty hearty stock, but I must admit, I am COLD (apologies to my Norwegian ancestors). On the positive side, the cold allowed for a thick flurry of snowflakes yesterday, which made possible four chilled faces tilted toward the sky, letting snow melt on their skin for the first time in their lives. These two Mexicans, the Ugandan and the Australian braved the weather for far longer than the rest of us (more or less) seasoned snow-appreciators dared to try. We watched them from indoors, huddled over our cups of tea.

In the states, I often hear the environment talked about as something to be dealt with once we get through “these other issues”, such as the economy, poverty, politics – but I’ve been finding that all these issues are inextricably linked. I’m beginning to suspect that localization can help us find a lot of what we’re looking for, if we’re willing to make some changes… For example, local garden plots – families or individuals could invest in a certain plot in a community garden and receive a corresponding percentage of the yield. Once the garden is established, it may even be possible to determine how much each “investor” receives through logging hours worked in the garden or tools/resources directly donated, instead of having individual plots – there are a myriad of ways this could be played out. It’s a simple concept (although getting a group of people in any community to agree on anything is never simple, in my experience) but if it could be implemented, it would provide local, seasonal food for families, cutting down or ideally eliminating “drugged up” food flown in from across the world; it could provide some community bonding time – for example, an investor with money but no time could invest in the garden, have a poor student (just trying to generate sympathy for my kind before I return) put in the work, and split the goods, creating a connection that would never have existed otherwise.

I have many many more (mostly half-baked) thoughts on the subjects of priorities, localization, and gardening in general… but homework is calling, and so is my bed. My thoughts are with the U.S. in this final countdown to our next (hopefully great) leader…

In response to my previous post, a dear friend sent the following quote, which I really appreciate as a perspective:
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, ‘We did this ourselves.’” - Lao-Tzu