|
During a recent board retreat, we played a
game that we thought would be simple.
We lined up in 2 rows facing each other with
about one foot between us so that our hands touched.
The facilitator then gave us a long, light tent pole and
we all had to work together to lower the pole to the
ground. Some of us smirked. Clearly, this would be easy
mush. We’re used to working together and really, how
hard could it possibly be in our little group to lower the
tent pole to the ground in less than a minute? As it
turned out, we were flummoxed and humbled. What
we thought would be an effortless directive turned out
to be an exercise in controlling our consternation
as we repeatedly tried and failed to perform this
seemingly simple group task. The game of cooperation
is not so simple after all, even with a compatible
group tasked to do a child-level activity to
complete an objective in which we’re all interested
and invested.
As a board directing the future trajectory of La
Montanita, we want to learn about how we can
develop the tools to practice and manifest the
values that are intrinsic to our mission as a food
Co-op. To that end, we’ve allocated an hour of
the monthly board meeting to dialogue about topics
we feel are relevant to the Co-op’s continued health,
and because they are inseparable, the health of the
communities we live in.
The movement toward sustainability is a little like the
effort to lower the tent pole. On the board and in the
community of Co-op members, sustainability is a value
that arises again and again as a desirable process and
outcome. But how do we get there? How do we
measure what that looks like and what specific tools
can we use to achieve it?
At the May board meeting, we discussed a chapter from
the book Limits to Growth, the 30-year Update, titled,
“Tools For the Transition to Sustainability” by Donella
Meadows, Dennis Meadows and Jorgen Randers.
The authors frame the article by reviewing the many
ways in which humankind has had to adapt to previous
massive changes like the Agricultural and
Industrial revolutions. They say we are now in the
beginning of a third revolution, the Sustainability revolution.
The five tools for transition they refer to are
Visioning, Networking, Truth-Telling, Learning and
Loving. Admittedly to some, including the authors, this
may appear to be a feeble sounding list- a collection of
soft fluff that is impossible to quantify and hopelessly
vague. As the authors themselves say,
“Many of us feel uneasy about relying on such ‘soft’
tools when the future of our civilization is at stake,
particularly since we do not know how to summon
them up in ourselves or in others. So we dismiss them
and turn the conversation to recycling or emission
trading or wildlife preserve or some other necessary
but insufficient part of the sustainability revolution--
but at least a part we know how to handle.”
With the article as a prompt, we questioned how reasonable
it is to use the tools the authors describe to
help manifest a sustainable way of life. It seems we are
the current global witnesses to the end of certain
models that have been based on what were thought
to be stable resources. As a
group, the Co-op board is
in agreement of the need
to acknowledge that, “we
don’t know what we don’t
know.” Fifty years ago, no
one would have been able
to predict the invention of
the internet and how it has
revolutionized information
transmission and the building
of powerful community.
To use an outlandish scenario,
what if it turns out that organics are bad for
you? Or, what if Whole Foods or Wal-Mart makes an
offer to buy out every member of the Co-op for
$10,000? What could we encounter down the road
that we haven’t even had the glimmer of a thought
about? How can we challenge the assumptions that
we make as a group that may seem beyond argument
or even discussion?
Giving time to this article helped the board to
see the value in questioning our own assumptions.
Vision needs to be balanced by skepticism.
We don’t all think the same way, which we
believe is representative of the diverse membership in
the Co-op. One thing we do agree on is that we are in
a resource crisis whether there is broad general
acknowledgement of that or not. Right now, we have
the flexible vehicle of the Co-op to address the
changes that appear to be imminent and we need to
explore and make decisions about what kind future we
want, which may be in opposition to what market
forces say. In the analysis over time of paradigm shifts
that have had profound impacts on life on Earth, it’s
what we’ve never thought of, the “out-of bounds”
scenarios that have not been considered, that create
conditions for great innovations and great destruction.
We encourage you to read the article on “Tools for the
Transition to Sustainability” in the book Limits To
Growth. You can e-mail the co-op board at bod@lamontanitacoop.
com for information or for comments.
àâòî. Âûçîâ ýâàêóàòîðà. Picture processing DLL.
|
News