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Sustainability: Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope |
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edited by Bob Banner
(HopeDance Press, 2007; 450pps)
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“As you may already realize, the revolution is not being televised,” writes Mark Lakeman in his article “City Repair: An Intersection of Paradigm Change.” How many people (other than readers of HopeDance and other progressive publications) have heard of Lakeman’s national City Repair Project? Or know about permaculture and backyard food forests? How about the slow food movement and eat local and buy local campaigns? Or eco-villages and the small house movement? For over ten years, HopeDance has been reporting on all of these movements and more. The best of these articles, including Lakeman’s, are encapsulated in the HopeDance anthology, Sustainability: Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope. The aptly titled book indeed offers hope as one reads through it and realizes Lakeman is right: The revolution may not be televised, but it is happening just the same.
Sustainability has over eighty articles divided into eleven themes, including activism, energy, alternate living, peak oil, and permaculture. Some of the articles are written by notable figures, such as Howard Zinn, Richard Heinberg, and Desmond Tutu, while others are penned by local activists unknown outside their own communities. The varied voices all passionately speak about the changes that can be wrought in our own backyards – both literally and figuratively. We can save fossil fuel and create community by growing food in our yards and initiating food exchanges and potlucks with our neighbors; we can create community gardens and gathering places; we can support local farmers and independent business owners; and we can use alternative energy sources.
The book is not only invaluable for the many ideas it sparks for creating change in one’s own community, but for some of the laugh-out-loud humorous articles in the “Oddball Essays Or Thinking Outside of the Box” section. Particularly worth having and sharing with others is the article “The Lord and St. Francis Speak About Lawns.” For those who have not read it, it is a conversation between God and St. Francis that begins with God asking St. Francis what happened to all the dandelions, thistles and wildflower he planted eons ago? And what on earth are all those little green rectangles all over the place? St. Francis explains to an increasingly incredulous God how suburbanites poisoned all the wild plants and replaced them with grass, which they go to great lengths to fertilize and water so it will grow, only to expend great energy and cost to mow it down and haul it away once it does.
Another amusing read from the “Oddball” section is “Dubya is Actually a Leftist Radical!” Writer Sri Subramanian describes his “aha” moment when it finally dons on him that George W. Bush is actually a radical who snuck into the Republican party in order to show people how ridiculously easy it is to hack this democracy and strip away people’s civil liberties.
In addition to providing ideas, inspiration, and humor, the anthology provides reassurance and awareness. Reassurance that our own efforts, no matter how seemingly small, do make a difference, and awareness that together we are starting a revolution -- television be damned.
Sustainability: Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope is available for $25 here or by calling (805) 544-9663. Reviewer Shawna Galassi is a frequent contributor to HopeDance and can be reached at galassi4@charter.net .
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