Can Economic Needs Drive the Greening of Americans?

Recently I had the opportunity to speak to some individuals affiliated with the timber industry, representing both local government and private interests. Something very interesting occurred to me in response to the conversations.

Regardless of whether people believe that the climate is changing, and regardless of whether they feel that climate change is driven by humans, there are people and companies joining the green movement because of economic interests. This probably doesn't come as a huge suprise to everyone. I've long heard self proclaimed greenies complain when giant careless corporations go green just to maximize profits.

What I am writing about today is something else entirely. I'm talking about hard working, honest Americans who are in industries which are collapsing under current conditions. I'm talking about folks who perhaps even belong to political parties, clubs, and churches which take a strong anti-climate change, or anti-anthropogenic climate change stance; who are reconsidering green technologies so that they don't loose their homes, jobs, and the land which has been in their family for generations.



The green curve you see above is a change curve that is so popular that I could not determine who originated it. It basically shows a bell curve distribution of people in response to any particular change. Under it is an amplifying loop, or growth engine entitled "Reinforced Survival of Individuals and Families. It can be read like this: employment leads to water, food, and shelter, which leads to individual and family survival, which (according to Maslow) affords one the capacity for higher learning, in this case the capacity to learn a trade. Over time this leads to being employable and over time that leads to having employment, which provides food and shelther.

In my most recent post, Honoring Multiple Perspectives, I spoke about how there are many mixed opinions around the possibility of global climate change. Today I suggest to you that the greening of America does not depend upon agreement around the science of climate change. Regardless of our science, politics, or theology, we all share the same fundamental human needs for food and shelter. In the end, only that which makes economic sense to real people will be implemented.

Transforming the National Recreation Program

I'm in Salt Lake City attending a meeting on Sustainable Recreation in the US Forest Service. A small group of members of the Recreation program at the national, regional, and forest levels of the organization have crafted a National Recreation Strategy to replace an outdated strategy (I think the last strategy was crafted in 1988). The small group has worked for 2 years and is very excited to share the work with a larger group.

There's much passion and energy for this strategy because it's centered on principles of Sustainability and Community Engagement through Recreation and Tourism (CERT). There are a number of specific goals and objectives, but to say it in a nutshell... It's all about the Forest Service engaging with communities to have meaningful dialogue around how together to create balanced and long term health for people, profits, and the planet.

I've been providing some consultation and facilitation to the smaller group and today was the first day of a very complex meeting in which we shared the National Recreation Strategy, Sustainable Recreation, and CERT with a wide group of employees from around the country. We had about 20 people in the room, about 10 people on the telephone, and another 20 people on a video conference. It was trying and complex to mix the media, but absolutely necessary for a sustainability conversation to include low carbon methods for connecting.

I feel the day was a resounding success. We wrapped up the phone and video portion about 1.5 hours before the end of the day so that those of us who were present in the room (here in Salt Lake City) could process everything and begin to wrap our heads around things like...

1. What does sustainable recreation look like?
2. How might our lives be different when we've fully embraced the new National Recreation Strategy?
3. How are we going to share this experience with our leaders and our employees when we get home?
4. How can we foster transformation rather than paying lip service to a plan which is quickly shelved?

I'm ever so grateful to have not been the facilitator of the meeting. Lyn Wiltzes (sp?) from Seattle was the facilitator and did a remarkable job.

I'm feeling very jazzed. I feel like I'm in the right place at the right time and part of something BIG. Something with Purpose and Meaning. I feel this frequently at Forest Service meetings, which is probably why I fall in love with the Forest Service all over again every time I meet new employees or see a new and magnificent landscape. I'm so grateful to be a part of this organization and I'm grateful to have had all the amazing experiences I've had the past 9 years.

Hopefully I'll have time and energy to capture my reactions to day 2 of the meeting. I have the feeling that of all the things in which I've participated, this one is worth capturing for posterity.

Creation or Destruction?

The world is transforming. Which is more important, creation or destruction? We're witnessing the collapse of several major corporations, organizations, economies, environments, ecosystems, etc.

Should we focus on the destruction we are witnessing? Should we try to mitigate, bail out, or slow down the crumble? OR should we focus on creating something new?

Any time I discover an either or question I attempt to answer it with "both". It's because I'm tired of the black and white polarity and duality of everything. I'm ready for grey areas... I'm ready for much less certainty and much more flexibility.

I just found someone else's answer to this question of Creation or Destruction... Otto Scharmer seems to be answering the question with "both" as well:

"The rise of the social space of emergence and creation is connected to the dying and transformation of (the) social space of destruction." (2007: page 45)

We can't create the world in an entirely new, healthy, and functional way unless we allow for the dysfunctional systems to collapse. We must balance our impulse to create with our acceptance of destruction.

The next question would be how to find this balance without becoming fearful. Stay tuned. As I explore this in my own transformative adventure I'll share what I discover.

A True American Hero

Mike Parker, the disabled vet in Indiana who called me with a proposal for a wood pellet manufacturing plant in order to create jobs and develop renewable energy, has impressed the heck out of me with his determination. Check out my earlier post, How Exactly Does One Participate with Government, to catch up on this story.

When Mike called me I sent a few emails around in the Forest Service to find out exactly with who he ought to speak. Within 2 emails I had caught up with Mike North, an Enterpriser with the Forest Service Enterprise known as TEAMS. It happens that Mike North works for the National Woody Biomass Coordinator. I'm not sure whether they've spoken with each other yet, but in the mean time, Mike Parker has been busy!

Mike fanagled himself an invitation to Philadelphia to participate in the Middle Class Task Force meeting hosted by Vice President Biden. He also got himself on C-Span a few days before driving to Philadelphia. Mike and I talked the evening before he left for Philadelphia. As I've mentioned in other posts, I feel so compelled to action by Obama's vision that I find I can't help but support Mike Parker. During our evening phone call I helped him craft an "elevator speech", write a question in case he got to ask one at the meeting, discover how to make business cards with his MS Works program, and gave him some techniques to help him stay calm and avoid being stressed or anxious.

He just never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday before the meeting in Philadelphia he got an email that the EPA had declined his proposal. (Somehow he'd gotten 20 minutes on the phone with the Director of Grants at EPA). At the meeting there was no opportunity to ask questions. In his frustration, as the meeting ended, Mike dove out toward Biden. He was quickly surrounded by secret service men, but he recovered and was able to speak directly with the Vice President! Mr. Biden took a copy of the email from the EPA (the one which declined the grant application) as well as taking down Mike's phone numbers.

Mike was elated today as he relived the tale. He said that even if his idea never goes anywhere, and even if they don't build the manufacturing plant in Andrews, IN -- a town which lost 4 factories over the recent past -- Mike is satisfied that he carried this vision as high as any man could... he carried his vision straight to the Vice President of the United States.

Mike Parker, you are my hero!

How Exactly Does One Collaborate With Government?

Obama has declared that Government will be Transparent, Collaborative, and Participative. But exactly how we do that remains to emerge. It seem like I'm not the only one who is experiencing the new administration as a force field with a gravity which is pulling me into formation...

Mike Parker, a disabled veteran in rural Indiana, called me at work last week. He'd found me on the web because of an article which I wrote about the history of the Forest Service Enterprise Program. Mike Parker has an idea about turning woodchips into an energy source and creating jobs in his county, where some factories have recently shut down. Mike Parker wants to be part of the solution. He wants to collaborate and participate, but he doesn't know how to "play the game".

I have a soft spot in my heart for people who feel passionate and driven and want to contribute to solutions, so I'm doing what I can to find someone in the agency to talk with Mike about his idea and how to carry it forward. I know that the agency's portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA - the economic stimulus bill) is meant to be used for three main things: 1) create jobs, 2) reduce hazardous fuels (to prevent wildfires), and 3) explore woody biomass as an alternate energy source. So Mike and the Forest Service seem like a good fit, and our new President wants people like Mike to be able to participate.

Here's the frustrating part. Our government is a huge, complex, and unwieldly system which moves very slowly. In order for a citizen to interact with us in an effective way they must possess an extreme amount of patience and some could argue a higher education. I personally think that government is one of many systems which are undergoing major turbulence right now because of its own ineffectiveness, but that's another post altogether.

My team is now getting involved in creating communications products for internal use about the agency's role in economic stimulus. I'm supposted to bend my noodle toward supporting Forest Service employees in understanding our new roles and how to be successful. I'm not exactly tasked with communicating with the public. But tell that to Mike Parker, or to the lady at the coffee shop, or to my neighbors who know I work for the government. Our 35,000 employees are the face and voice of the agency. There's not just a few controllable entry points to pre-packaged and manageable information about the agency's role in Economic Recovery. Any one who wears a green uniform to a grocery store has just become the spokes person for the entire government.

We must tackle our social media learning curve ASAP in order to create containers for all of this stimulating dialogue. We also must support employees in having very basic answers for all their neighbors questions. We are a "can do" organization, we'll find a way to be successful. I just worry that some of us will die trying (stress is one of the top health concerns in the nation).

Light Emerging

As the days grow longer and we pass out of the dark half of the year, I feel the return of my own drive and motivation. This year there are even more obvious metaphors of light emerging from darkness. Probably the most obvious is that we have just lived through a natural disaster. An ice storm hit AR and KY on 1/26. For 19 days we had no electricity and no running water.

The Forest Service is abuzz with a return to a lighter mode as well. I've worked for the agency for 8 years. The story of those 8 years has been the story of ever shrinking budgets and ever increasing demands. Our passion and dedication to the land was sometimes the only thing which kept us going as we witnessed first hand the impacts of global climate change under an administration which ignored and even denied the threat (at least for the first 3-4 years). Each year wild fire consumed more land and dollars while we desperately castrated our business operations to pinch every penny.

Now we're slated to receive approximately 1.3 billion dollars to let contracts, creating private sector jobs, with the focus of hazardous fuels reduction and woody biomass utilization as an energy source. Finally we're under an administration which sees the inextricable links between environment, economy, and society.

No power, yet energized

Fifteen days ago we lost our electricity during an ice storm which hit Arkansas and Kentucky. We still don't have power, but I'm presently on a business trip to the Coronado National Forset and am blogging from the hotel. Many of the towns in our area have power again, but in this part of the country our populations are widely dispersed. We have 40 acres and live 6 miles from town. All 6 of those miles are dirt roads. Our driveway alone is one mile. Our electricity is provided by a rural electric cooperative which serves Searcy and Van Buren Counties. Even with the assistance of outside electrical workers, there are hundreds of poles down and thousands of places where the lines are lying on the ground -- just in our county alone.

Our intention has always been to employ renewable resources such as wind and solar power. It has also been our dream to build with alternative green technologies such as cob or straw bale. In 2005 when we first moved to the Ozarks, we built a standard wooden frame house and wired it to the electrical grid. Despite the obvious clash with our intentions, this was our best option for a number of reasons:

1. I telecommute and I needed to have a very stable office environment which would support all the office gizmos.
2. Cell phones don't work in our valley, and the only way to get a land line put in was along side the electric lines on the power poles.
3. The kind of construction techniques we want to employ are in general information and time intensive up front, so we needed time to research and plan our approach so that our creation is in harmony with the landscape and natural energy sources, such as passive solar.
4. I'm an only child and while my parents are quite young (in their 50s), our intention was that this first small house would become theirs as a part time home during retirement and a full-time home during the sunset years. (I think nursing homes are scary and sad).

Along with the regular aspects of living, working, and raising two kids we've been planning our next home since even before the paint dried on the current cottage. One thing we've done in order to prepare for the transition to renewable energy is to cut our power consumption by as much as possible. We use our central heat and air an average of 150 hours per year. We spend about $50 a month on electricity. We heat with a wood stove and open the windows in summer.

A number of positive things are coming out of this experience, and I'll likely mention those in other posts. One which I do want to mention now is that I've seen a complete shift in my father around these green concepts.

Dad is an electrician and a heating/air specialist. He's brilliant and skilled in a number of other trades. He and Steven built our house (too bad I wasn't blogging then, that was an amazing adventure). Like many other people in his age group and profession, he didn't see any reason to change our lifestyles. They were up for a visit a week before the ice storm hit. During that time we had a long family conversation about our plans for building a cob house. Even though we'd talked about it many times before, Dad was listening in a different way because he's facing his second lay-off in 2 years. (He was a construction inspector in Ft. Myers, FL - the town which Obama will visit tommorrow). When he is laid off the second time (not if because there is no building industry in FL) he's going to come up and help us build the next house.

I think that 15 days of my mom worrying about her grand babies, as well as his own concerns for our well-being, AND his desire to support us even if he would choose standard building methods, have led to a most amazing development. Tonight he announced that he's found the average air speeds and is going to build us a wind generator. He's been searching the web for plans, formulas, and the like and has a sound strategy for engineering his own design.

I can't tell you how overjoyed I am about this. Not only because the transition to renewable energy has been a daunting learning curve, but especially because it's evidence of the kind of deep, global shift in awareness which I have been praying for since the early 90s. He shared this with me over the phone after we'd both watched Obama's first press conference, and after an entire day of supporting the Coronado National Forest in preparing to recieve a flood of economic stimulus money which the agency plans to use to create jobs by letting contracts to reduce hazardous fules (wild fire prevention) AND developing renewable energies around the use of woody biomass as a power source.

It is finally all coming together. We're realizing the inextricable connectedness between environment, economy, and society. This is why I'm so hopeful. These disasters, though painful, are providing us with the necessary feedback to transform our entire planetary experience. Hallelujah!