My latest transition is nearly complete. I’ve left Telecom
Valley for the electronic media industry, working on products that support the portable
digital music revolution. One of the job transition “tough choices” turned out
to be not so tough. My new job is out of town, and for a while I was concerned
the commute would be a show-stopper. So I posted my commute information into the
511 service, www.rideshare.511.org,
and almost immediately learned of several compatible carpoolers, and not one
but *two* workable vanpools. Note: if *you*
are presently driving alone to work or school, and you are motivated by the
latest news about global warming and Middoil East war to use less gasoline, check
out this free and user-friendly service.
My new bike commute route is to and from the Lakeville
onramp, where I’ll catch my vanpool. With my laptop computer, iPod, LED
headlamp, reading material, knitting, and a pillow, I don’t expect my day to be
significantly less productive than it was when I was commuting to northeast
Petaluma. I still believe that with the right equipment and a thoughtful plan,
you can get you where you need to go without giving up what you value.
Speaking of mobility matters, I squeezed in an excursion during
the last week of my break. The trip highlights include two deep conversations
at an Ashland B & B. One morning I asked our host Henry about the impact of
tourism on Ashland’s growth. He pointed out how the demand for tourist beds was
largely limited by the number of seats in the three Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s
theaters. This led us to a discussion of bio-regional carrying capacity, the
level of resource use that is biologically sustainable over centuries. Henry said
it’s a pathology of our political culture that
discussion this subject is taboo. I agreed. It’s okay
to talk about smart growth versus stupid growth, but when you raise the
question of natural limits to *any* growth, you are derided or ignored.
Petaluma just received the Greenbelt Alliance’s highest
rating for smart growth. That’s good; we are building in a way that minimizes
additional use of resources. But Henry and I would have to ask: when will even today’s
“smart” growth be too much? We can temporarily avoid answering this question
and the difficult choices if raises as long as we are below carrying capacity,
or the capacity cannot easily be determined (e.g. how much carbon can Petaluma
add to the global atmosphere), or we have enough waste in the system that we
can accommodate additional population growth by improving efficiency (e.g. through
water conservation and reclamation.)
But what do we do when the limits are clearly exceeded and
there is no more fat to trim (which Petaluma may face with water within the
lives of today’s children)? What are we doing now to prepare for that day? Is
our culture incapable of seeing far enough ahead or caring enough to ensure the
survival and happiness of future generations? Care to comment, Petaluma City
Council candidates?
The second B&B conversation was about the growth of
gangs in suburbia. When the talk threatened to end on a depressing note, I told
about how communities fight back, citing my involvement with the Phoenix
Theater and the Petalumans Eradiating Graffiti campaign as small examples. We
are trying to create a gang-resistant environment, I said, and having a good
time doing it.
Bill McKibben speaks eloquently to these issues in his current
National Geographic essay, “A Deeper Shade of Green”. The massive scope of global
warming and its immunity to “tailpipe” solutions requires a new kind of
environmentalism, he writes, one that offers an appealing alternative to materialist
consumerism. The answer lies in community, in rediscovering the conviviality
and neighborliness that empowers local resource efficiency while it dispels the
plague of loneliness and alienation. Just as neighbors can come together to
fight gang violence, they can cooperate in making the changes that will arrest
and reverse global warming… once they appreciate both the necessity, and joy,
of this historic transition.