Earth Week

A whirlwind Earth Week in Washington and Oregon included three talks, three class visits, and four bookstore events, with some breakfast and lunch meetings sandwiched between. I kicked off Bellevue College's week of events at 9:30 Monday to a room full of wide awake people, mostly students, with excellent questions. At Olympic College in Bremerton later that day, while I awaited the onset of a talk in the rotunda of the student center and cafeteria, two students stopped and asked "What's going on here?" I told them. They said they had to get to a class but stood a moment to respond to my queries about what comes next for each: both had high ambitions---transfers to Cal Poly, University of Washington, or Seattle Pacific after finishing their two years at Olympic. Their ambitions were much on my mind as I gave my standard rap meant to engage and pump up students. After the talk, Charm Mello at the OC bookstore welcomed us and provided a lovely venue for book signings.

The next day, after my talk at Pierce College, Misty, a mom of twins, who works as a surgical tech and seeks an environmental degree, noted that her generation seems to be interested mainly in shallow things like watching football games on television rather than admitting the huge challenges they will face, like peak oil and global warming. She asked: How can we pull her detached generation into the fray? My quick response was to invite them to join you as you yourself help your community prepare to face these challenges. To become engaged in a community tackling sustainability is to put aside lassitude and denial, feel empowerment, and take one's energies and engagement to a wider circle of friends. Misty seemed intrigued.

Wednesday and Thursday were intense and highly rewarding days at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, long at the forefront of curricular innovation toward preparing engaged citizens. Here I was convinced that the checked-out syndrome of Misty's experience does not seem to apply to most of her Evergreen counterparts (though one Evergreen student in a class in organic agriculture said this: "What are we doing spending hours each day shitting-out 140 character tweets? Surely we've got better things to do with our time.") Evergreen classes I met were without exception sharply attentive and well informed. One young woman from Pennsylvania asked how it might be possible to convince conservative religious folk, especially those who see the end of times in different terms, that environmental challenges are urgent. I had no crisp response. But I did reflect on Fran Korten's story at our lunch with folk at YES! Magazine that the local food system can be an effective nexus to bring polarized and doubting people to bear on a common problem. Donna's response was: "How about telling these folk to practice the golden rule in their interactions with the natural world?"

What has so far made this tour uncommonly enriching and hopeful so far are dozens of personal stories of people, just like those in Hope and Hard Times, working on sustainability at ground zero in education, community, and business. Among these, Rob Viens at Bellevue College, K.C. McNamara at Olympic College, and Pete Kaslic at Pierce College. At Evergreen, I thank Jean MacGregor and Rob Coles for hosting us and organizing very wonderful meetings and classes. Thanks too to Nancy Parke, Stephen Bramwell, and Martha Rosemeyer for allowing me time with their students. Finally, let me share an example of an entrepreneur walking the talk in Bend, Oregon. Hayley Wright, proprietor of Between the Covers Books, a neighborhood bookseller, is valiantly bucking e-book and big box pressures by building her business to serve her neighbors with fast ordering, books her neighbors love to read, a bit of used book trade, and a slew of author events to keep folks like me on the road and to draw in readers in her domain. Hayley and her mate Troy were most gracious hosts as well! Surely a crucial part of a deep and sustainable economy are entrepreneurs like Hayley who see their role in the community as service and, in the process, win customers and build a successful business. So when you're in Bend, find Hayley!