One year ago today I wrote my first blog entry! I have been wondering for awhile how I would celebrate this first year of writing -- and am still not sure what is going to follow -- let's just see what happens.

What a year! There have been so many wonderful events in the last year -- Michael and Leah's wedding, visits with Julie and Greg and the dogs, meeting Greg's family, Michael's graduation, spending time with Steve and his family, and with my sisters and brothers and parents, and catching up with old friends. At work -- got my contract renewal for three more years, got the first cohort of doctoral students heading to internship, had an article published, kept the budget balanced, and hired a couple of new folks. I got to teach two new classes -- psychology, sustainability, and the environment, and spirituality and religion and counseling -- both near and dear to my heart. And the students. Oh the students - they make it so worth while.

I have learned so much this year since I set out to write about "sustainable health and well-being." I started out exploring some local groups - Pittsburgh Permaculture and their food forest in Hazelwood, Nine Mile Run Watershed Association who helped me get my rain barrels set up, Chris Condello and his efforts to engage kids in his Wilkinsburg neighborhood in community gardening, F.U.S.E. with Michele and Chris who work with urban youth after school, and POWER that serves women in recovery, ... and I went to the March for Blair Mountain to learn about mountain top removal. I started learning more about about other systems of life and living, learning a bit, for example, about how green infrastructure can be used to  manage waste water, and about how fixing our decaying roads and bridges could provide meaningful work for many people who need jobs, and about how people from ALL faiths can work together to address such community problems as cuts in transportation, poor educational systems, and guns in the hands of angry people.  

Check out the picture above. That is what I learned -- what got reinforced for me -- that we are all connected, all of us people, with the birds and beasts, the trees and rivers, the soil and air, and other people from everywhere. We have been doing it WRONG for far too long. We have been acting as though humans (specifically, humans with privilege) are all that matter -- that getting our "needs" met, with little regard for how the methods of meeting our needs affect other people or the world around us, is the highest priority, the ultimate entitlement. We lose so much when we do this -- not only is the earth, our support system without which we would not exist, threatened, but the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren (if we all survive into the future) is threatened. And we miss out on the greatest gifts in life -- the gifts of community, generosity, sharing, and creating.

What, if anything, do we owe those children and grandchildren of our future? My new friend, Cynthia Magistro, who recently joined our faculty, just finished writing a beautiful piece about this very topic -- she speaks about our accepted sense of obligation, as parents, toward our own children. At the family level, we understand that we need to care for these tiny vulnerable beings until they can care for themselves -- and often beyond. This requires sacrifice on our part, giving things up, waiting, in order to insure that the young ones' needs are met, that they are safe and healthy. Cynthia extends this thinking to the much larger world, asking questions about what our generation, globally speaking, owes the world's children of the future. What is fair and just? What is morally and ethically correct? What does it say about our generation if we are not attempting to live lives that are sustainable and balanced, if we are misusing and overusing our limited resources? I am not doing Cynthia's ideas justice here, but wanted to share some of her basic questions with you anyway.

I am reading a new report published by the National Wildlife Foundation that speaks to the mental health consequences of global climate change -- there is evidence that we are experiencing effects of global climate change in recent severe weather events (remember all the hurricanes and tornadoes and droughts and other strange weather in 2011?). There are predictions that this may worsen if our course is not corrected. When things get so topsy-turvy and scary around us like this, there are increases in anxiety and depression and even, in extreme situations, post-traumatic stress disorder. There are lots of folks who are also talking about threats to water supplies, and how conflicts in the future may be related not to oil but to fresh and clean water. This report reinforced my beliefs that psychologists and other health care professionals need to know about these issues, and to think about them when they work with their clients. Add to this the importance of learning about the health consequences of other human-caused environmental assaults, such as mountain top removal or toxin-emitting factories.

So I keep thinking about these things and I keep listening for my calling about what to do. For some reason, though I have been away from Kentucky for many many years (I have now lived over half my life in Pittsburgh), I feel pulled toward the mountains. So here is my next plan.... I think.... going to the Summer Action Camp sponsored by the Mountain Justice Organization, in Pipestem, West Virginia in May. I will admit that I am a little worried that I will be the oldest person there. I am a little worried that it is, like, a CAMP -- and I have to admit that I like beds. With mattresses and sheets. And I am fond of toilets. Ceramic ones that flush. And showers. But if those basics are assured, I may try this.

And long-term plans? I will be 60 next June (2013) -- am going to try to bike from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the rails trail. Trying to build up "time in the saddle" now. Biking slows me down and helps me notice and appreciate the little things -- birds, wildflowers, little creeks and waterfalls, old abandoned buildings, colorful graffiti. 

Life is good. Very good. And how are you?

Your Environmental Road Trip....
Tuesday 9/20 - Eddy Theater - Chatham University, Woodland Road - doors open at 6:30; film at 7 pm. SOLD OUT!
Second screening - Wednesday 9/21 - Theater at Homewood Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Doors open at 6:30pm, screening from 7:00pm - 9:00pm, followed by Q&A with Mark. 

You may have heard of the No Impact Man film, launched a couple of years ago:

A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no longer avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency and vows to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year.  No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption…no problem.  That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife, Michelle, and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray.  What began as one man’s environmental experiment quickly becomes an experiment in how much one woman is willing to sacrifice for her husband’s dreams.
 
I haven't yet seen the film, but today I just learned of the No Impact Week Project, described by the original No Impact Man Colin Beavan as a one-week carbon cleanse - a time to explore what a difference no (or lower) impact living can make for your quality of life. The week-long experiment is co-sponsored by Yes! Magazine and is free. So I registered for this and... IT STARTS TOMORROW! SEPTEMBER 18 - YIKES!

When I registered, I was immediately sent a guide, which I have posted on the Resources page. Below is Sunday's challenge - check out the guide if you are interested in details and helpful links:

Welcome to Day 1 of your No Impact Experiment!
Live a fuller and happier life by buying less stuff. 
This first challenge is about doing more with less. People around the world are discovering that they'd rather spend time making social connections than buying new stuff. To learn why this is such an important part of living a lower impact life, watch one of our favorite videos, The Story of Stuff. The No Impact Experiment is a truncated version of Colin Beavan’s experience trying to live in New York City with no environmental impact. Three months into Colin’s year-long experiment, he stopped consuming new goods (except food). As his wife Michelle discovered, when you kick your shopping habit, you’ll save money, have more time to spend with your family and friends, discover more space in your house, andmaybe — just maybe — you’ll discover that less really IS more.

[Okay, I just have to say here that I am a tad offended by the sexist tone of these blurbs - but I will try to withhold judgment until I see the movie :) ]

I recognize that it is truly a luxury to undertake such a project - to even think about, "OK, I could buy that but I won't." It is an odd situation to be in, trying to moderate shopping, consuming, wasting, when so many across the world are in no position at all to have anything to moderate. And I am certain that most of our grandparents and great-grandparents would look askance at these efforts to LEARN a style of living that they must have lived by necessity each day. Nevertheless, I think about this stuff a lot and am open to anything that helps me be more aware of my place in this whole environmental mess, anything that helps me look at my habits and maybe tweak them a little. And I am certainly open to these activities when they happen on a larger scale. So I am in for the week (I humbly and hopefully say today), and will let you know how it goes.

I am intrigued by Colin Beavan's work - his personal project and the resulting film. What I am most curious about is the story behind it, which I guess I will learn as I read more and see the film. Who was the little Colin Beavan who eventually grew into a man who would undertake and record such a project? What was his family like, his own childhood? What shaped him toward this future? Where will he go next?

Stories. Last night I attended Stories on the Square at the Square Cafe, sponsored by the Initiative for Transgender Leadership. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Tony Norman wrote movingly and humbly about his interview with Rayden Sorock, an ITL member who worked to get this event going. Friday night, several people told stories of emergence, of coming out from under. 

The stories were told "without a net" in nine minutes each, and were quite remarkable. Some of the stories were related to gender, sexual orientation, and identity. ALL of the stories were about what it means to be human. Human - in all of its glory, pain, mistakes, misunderstandings, wounds, and healing. The stories brought laughter, tears, and sighs of recognition.

Julie just sent me an article entitled "What Do We Know When We Know a Person?" - she is reading this for her Theories of Personality class - saying that she is intrigued by the Level III of personality described by the author.  According to McAdams (1995), the psychologist who attends to Level III of an individual's personality is interested not just in a person's behavior or thoughts or feelings, or hobbies and interests. She is curious about how the individual's life expresses unity, purpose, and meaning. The psychologist sees the life as an internalized and evolving life story. A story.

I love this idea - it is what pulled me toward the work that I do.

What is your story?

Power comes in all shapes and sizes, from all directions, many sources. The most lasting power, the most sustainable, comes from within. From within the individual, the family, the community. It is "power with" as opposed to "power over." This kind of power can move mountains.

Pittsburgh has power galore - here are just a few amazing things going on around here - Sunflowers, YERT, F.U.S.E. Read on.

Sunflower Power. Last night was a wonderful benefit event at PerLora on the Southside of Pittsburgh, raising funds for POWER - Pennsylvania Organization for Women in Early Recovery. Why the Sunflower theme? Because...             

Recovery is very challenging. I have a daughter who is, thankfully, well into recovery from her eating disorder. From Julie, I have learned that recovery can be a very long and lonely road. Groups like POWER are there to make the process just a little less awful.

Sherree Goldstein, owner of the Square Cafe in Regent Square, donated food for the event. The staff from the Square donated beauty and glamour and service! Look at Hallie and Jess above! On top of these contributions to POWER, Sherree - along with Hallie, Jess, Chelsey, Lizzie, Christina, Sara x 2, Heather, WILLIAM, Kevin, Ariel, Laura - and... and... senior moment I can't remember... more and more and more beautiful people - also serve love and grace everyday at the Square. 

And next up... YERT and F.U.S.E.

The Pittsburgh Premiere of the documentary "YERT - Your Environmental Road Trip" - will take place at Chatham University in the Eddy Theater at 7 pm on Tuesday September 20. Check out this trailer. Here is a "Short Synopsis" of the film - I am so excited to see this!!!

50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in peril, three friends hit the road - packing hope, humor. . .and all of their trash - searching for innovators and citizens solving humanity's greatest environmental crises. Piling on personal challenges as they explore every state in a year (the good, the bad, and the weird), an unexpected turn of events pushes the team to the brink in this award-winning docu-comedy. Featuring Bill McKibben, Wes Jackson, Will Allen, Janine Benyus, Joel Salatin, David Orr, and others.

Funny story - my older brother Ray Ely has an urban farm in Louisville, KY - apple trees, other fruits, vegetables, rabbits, chickens, rain barrels, rain garden - the real deal. Here is just one of his YOUTUBE demonstrations - Ray Ely and Permaculture. So I see that YERT was going to play in Louisville tonight - I email him about this exciting new film since it seems like it is right up his alley and - truth be told - it's kind of fun thinking that the little sister can teach the big brother something.... His response - two of the three people who created the film, Ben and Julie, live around the corner from him and he knows them well! Small world. More about Ray later - he is an amazing man. Once he said to me, "You know, we all really deep down know what right is. We have just forgotten." He is living a good life, sharing his food and his wisdom and knowledge with his community, educating and empowering others.

AND last but certainly not least - F.U.S.E. - Fostering Skills for Urban Kids through Social-Emotional-Literacy Education. Yes, F.U.S.E. is a BLAST whether or not the letters exactly match up to the group's purpose! Two of my new friends, Michele Passorello and Christine Carnevali, also regulars at the Square, have started this project. Christine is a high school teacher in nearby Wilkinsburg. 

F.U.S.E.'s Mission: 
Passionately committed to bridging Pittsburgh's literacy gap faced by urban youth, F.U.S.E. merges artistic and authentic learning in a safe, neutral, and green space. The pursuit of social and emotional wellness is our core value.  We believe this vision, coupled with explicit connections and community relationships, will lead youth to their own self-advocacy and actualization. 

F.U.S.E. will hold its first fundraiser on Thursday September 22 at 6 pm at - where else? - the Square. 

Pretty powerful stuff, eh?

Today was our first annual "day at the farm" for new doctoral counseling psychology students. Christa and Brittney and other senior students did a great job of welcoming these new folks. The farm, Eden Hall, is a beautiful pastoral place. We loved that we heard very little other than birds - no cars or trucks, no planes. Eden Hall has many quiet corners - outside by the pond that commemorates the original owner, Sebastian Mueller, indoors in a dimly lit sitting room, on the swing hanging from the huge tree out back. I was just there to help out if needed. So while the students did their thing, I caught up on some writing, then wandered around and just relaxed. I had not swung on a swing, as I did today, in a very very long time!

I haven't yet shared the history of Eden Hall with you. Eden Hall is a 388-acre estate located in Pine-Richland Township north of Pittsburgh. Chatham received it as a gift in 2008, and is working toward the establishment of a home for our new School of Sustainability and the Environment there. Currently, Eden Hall is the site for initiatives in sustainability, food studies activities, and organic gardening. 

Chatham's web-site describes the unique history of this property:

Originally a farm and retreat for the working women of Pittsburgh, Eden Hall was the vision of Sebastian Mueller (1860-1938) who immigrated to Pittsburgh from his native Germany in 1884 to work for his cousin Henry J. Heinz in his fledgling food processing operation. Mr. Mueller spent more than five decades working for what was then called "The House of Heinz". He headed the company's manufacturing operations, served on its board of directors and ran the organization during Mr. Heinz' absence. Sebastian Mueller won the respect and gratitude of not only the company's founder but also its legion of working women.

Mr. Mueller was generous in providing Heinz' female employees with medical care and financial assistance - long before the existence of corporate health care plans or government programs. His estate became the retreat for generations of Pittsburgh's working women and served as a memorial to the Mueller's two daughters, Elsa and Alma, both of whom died in childhood. Having no heirs, Mr. Mueller willed Eden Hall to serve as a vacation and respite destination for the working and retired women of the H.J. Heinz Company, as well as for the working women of western Pennsylvania.

Our doctoral students have committed to several years of study and practice that will lead them toward professional lives that serve individuals, families, and communities of all kinds. How fortunate we are to have the rich history of Sebastian Mueller and Eden Hall as models of service to the larger good. And how blessed we were today as we enjoyed this farm together.

Thomas Doherty, the editor of peer-reviewed Ecopsychology, practicing psychologist, and professor at Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon, talks a lot about "personal sustainability." Using his questionnaire, we can examine our own emotions and thoughts, our physical health, play and creative lives, relationships with other people, our communities, and the natural world, to assess our own health and well-being. How much in balance are we? Are we living our lives in ways that can be sustained in a healthy, thriving way over the long-term?

I have witnessed and experienced un-sustainable lives - ways of life that are not healthy and that cannot sustain one's being over time. My sweet and brave daughter, Julie, has experienced such a life herself, suffering with an eating disorder for seven years, and has offered to share her story with you - and to share information about how we can advocate for research that can help prevent and treat eating disorders. Here is Julie's story, in her own words - she has shared this with many young people in high school and college:

I want to begin by sharing a story with you all – a story about a shy little girl who spent her free time dreaming about all of life’s wonderful plans and possibilities – a little girl who was quite confident that these hopes and wishes would come true.  She loved everything beautiful from silver sparkle jellies and bright pink nail polish to princess Halloween costumes and dress up clothes her mom had secretly bought at Goodwill.  She built a pretend office in her walk-in closet to play secretary with her best friend Natalie and she set up three dollhouses on the dining room table, spending hours rearranging furniture and making up stories about the lives of her families.  This little girl had an endless amount of creativity and motivation and never once questioned whether or not her dreams would come true.  This little girl was me.

Flash forward to late middle school and early high school.  The little girl I once was began to fade into the background as goals took on the form of straight A’s on a report card and dreams turned into becoming valedictorian and attending an Ivy League school.  My days became filled with honors classes I rarely enjoyed but had to pretend I loved and hours upon hours of homework that continued far into the night.  Sleep was of little importance or so I told myself and having fun was the last thing on my list.  It didn’t matter whether or not I wanted to do what I was doing; I simply had to and I knew no way out.

During the fall and winter of my sophomore year, I found an outlet for some of my stress about academics and success – a new project focused on my outward appearance.   I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to flat iron my hair, I was always running late as I threw clothes around my room until I had found the perfect outfit, and I began to eat as little as I could in hopes of getting to that magic number on the scale.  Now this is in no way to say that school was the sole cause of what later became a full-blown eating disorder – there were the typical family issues, the obsession with images in the media, and an overall lack of positive self-esteem – but my focus on being the perfect student certainly added fuel to the fire.

As the year progressed, I became increasingly entrenched in my rigid eating and exercise habits and spent far too much time critiquing my body in front of the mirror.  Family, friends, and doctors had begun to notice my behavior and were concerned with how thin I had become.  They all told me I could not lose any more weight and suggested I get some help.  Yet, at the time, I could not understand what they were so worried about; it was as though they were trying to tell me I needed to stop the one thing in life that made me feel calm, the one thing I was certain I could succeed at. 

However, the high of feeling in-control and powerful could not last forever.  By the end of the summer, I knew that something was wrong, that I wasn’t happy, that I was always anxious, and that I had fully lost that all that desire and creativity I once had as a little girl.  But stubborn as I was, I would not change what I had become and so I waited until my parents took action and decided to sign their 16-year-old daughter into treatment.

To make a long story short, as I feel the details of my time in treatment are not necessary to who I am today, I will simply say that the seven years I spent going through the revolving door of relapse and recovery was the hardest thing I have done to date. I had to hit rock bottom time and again before I realized that I was sick of being sick, that I needed to change something, and that I couldn’t do this alone.  Although I didn’t know what I wanted for myself, I knew what I did not want, and that was my life the way it was with an eating disorder.

Throughout my ups and downs in treatment, one thing remained consistent: I was becoming alive again.  I began to feel all kinds of emotions that I had blocked for years – anger, sadness, happiness, love.  I began to notice hunger cues and cravings for so-called forbidden foods that I had denied myself of for so long.  I began to have hopes and dreams again – I wanted to go back to school and to have friends and a boyfriend and a job I loved someday.  I began to let down my guard and to open myself up to the possibilities life had to offer.  Now I will not lie, the path to recovery is not simple or neat or ordered or anything my once OCD self thrived upon.  There were highs and lows and all kinds of in-betweens – which I later learned is how everyday life is even without an eating disorder.  But in spite of any pain or struggling I had to experience, the work was worth the reward.

As I speak to all of you today, I have been out of treatment for a little over a year [now two] and I can honestly say I didn’t always believe that my life as it is today would be possible.  I had fought and fought for so long that I sometimes didn’t even know what I was fighting for.  Yet, here I am, twenty-four years old and finally living those dreams that the little girl in me always knew I could.  No, my life is not perfect; not everything is sparkly jellies and princess costumes.  I was not valedictorian of my high school nor did I go straight to a top-notch school.  But I am happy.  Day by day, I am learning to accept my flaws, to ask for help when I cannot do it alone, and to admit that sometimes I am scared and unsure.  I do not always love how I look or the way my clothes fit on my healthy self.  I have my moments, although they are becoming less frequent, where I want to restrict again or run just a little bit too far.  But by the end of the day or week or however long it takes, it always seems to turn out okay.

If I can leave you all with one thing today, with the most valuable thing I have learned throughout my recovery process, I want you all to know that it is okay, in fact it is perfectly wonderful, to be you, in your purest form, to follow those dreams of the little girl or boy inside of you, to live in a way that makes you happy.  I agree that academics, a career, finding your ideal city, and so on, are all important things in life.  We would not move forward if we never had tangible goals.  But when push comes to shove, it is being true to ourselves and surrounding ourselves with people who do the same that keeps us alive.  Everything else just seems to fall in place. 

So that is Julie's story - and her brother Michael, her dad Tony, and I each have our own stories about those seven years. I can tell you that the prayer at the front of my mind and heart each day when I woke up and each night when I went to sleep (or tried to sleep) was about Julie - and how we could help her become whole again. She traveled her path to recovery courageously, as we walked our paths alongside her, and she came out the other side whole. As a vibrant and wise young woman of 24, Julie is well aware of what is needed to live a life of personal sustainability, of joy and strength.

Julie has been active with the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), organizing campus activities to educate students and working with others to plan the annual St. Louis NEDA walk to raise funds for research. If you would like more information about how to help, please visit here. If you know others who have struggled with lives that cannot sustain health and well-being, you may share her story with them. There is hope.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Condello in person, an urban farmer - gardener - magician - activist - mentor who lives on Whitney Avenue in Wilkinsburg. I mentioned him in a recent post. Chris and his landlady, Casey, took me on a tour of the street and the neighborhood nearby, showing me the work that Chris and his young neighbors had done together. As I told you earlier, Chris' street, Whitney Avenue, has about 10 abandoned houses out of 22 homes on the street. Chris told me that the word in town used to be - "Avoid Whitney Avenue at all costs." It was seen as one of the most dangerous areas in Wilkinsburg. Chris showed me houses where formerly broken or boarded up windows are now covered with colorful murals painted on boards by an art group and kids on the street. He and friends keep all the abandoned yards mowed, and have planted flowers and vegetables around the houses. The lots behind and beside Chris' rented apartment have been transformed into Eden - apple trees, more varieties of tomatoes and zucchini and basil than I ever knew existed, grapes, berries, onions, herbs, flowers, swiss chard, pumpkins. Under the supervision of Chris' young neighbor, Brandon, kids from the street work in the garden and often can be seen sampling the fruits of their labors. They also sell some of the produce at a stand on the front porch of one of the empty houses.

The peace garden, above, was built by Chris and others on the corner of a block where a young man was murdered. Again, the community came together to work on this, and continues to maintain it.

I will tell only a tiny bit of Chris' story, because I really want you to visit his blog yourself and, if you are in Pittsburgh, to meet him in person. Chris told me about his decade-long heroin addiction that was so bad that his family lived with a constant fear of a phone call announcing either his death or arrest. He said to me that he has put so much bad karma out there in his life that he is trying to return as much good karma as he can. I asked Chris if he considered his garden and neighborhood work to be part of his recovery. His response - "It IS my recovery!" On Friday, before he left to install a water heater in a neighbor's home, Chris gave me some zucchini and onions, which we added to our own tomatoes, radishes, and lettuce for a good meal that night.  

I encourage you to read today's post on Chris' blog for a sense of the substantive work that he is doing and the leadership he is demonstrating. In short, Chris' helpers discovered that some other kids had wrecked the garden, throwing veggies around and tearing things up. The police were called, the kids were found, and, under adult supervision, the kids gathered up the ruined vegetables and put them in the composting bin. It is touching that the young boys who had helped to grow the garden told the other kids that they had trashed food that would cost a lot of money in the grocery.

The only word that I can think of to describe an experience like this - to describe what Chris does in general - is love (Chris, don't know if you agree or not - but that's how I see it!). Love, laced with generosity, forgiveness, accountability, and responsibility. Not bad. I know Chris does not consider himself a saint, however - he acknowledged feeling frustrated when people don't always pitch in to take care of the flowers that beautify the street. But the generosity, enthusiasm, and caring are what came through when I listened to Chris.

Michael and Leah's wedding is almost upon us! It will truly be a celebration with so many families and friends gathered together to bless this union. Leah and Michael have love - lots of it. They are patient with one another, generous, forgiving, kind. This is a good way to start a life-time together. Please keep them - and Chris and his kids and friends - in your heart and prayers.

Pictures below - Leah and Mikey, and the garden and young gardeners via Chris' blog.

Why have I not thought about this before? Why have I not ever thought about how sustainability and immigration issues might be related?

So, according to the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the APA Climate Change Task Force, and other reports, human behaviors over the last two centuries, particularly in the last 75 years, have contributed significantly to global climate change. Particular aspects of human functioning that have contributed to climate change - known as human drivers - include patterns of increased consumption/materialism and increased population. These two primary drivers result in an increase in emission of green house gases, which then leads to global warming and other kinds of climate change. Climate change is currently viewed by many as the biggest threat, on a global level, to health and security.

Unless climate change trends are reversed, or its effects significantly mitigated, there will be several negative consequences across the world. Among these are increased severe weather events, food and water insecurity, increased spread of disease, and patterns of mass migration with the goal of obtaining access to decreasing resources.

Migration trends are changing as more and more people try to gain access to the good life -- in the US, for example, we have many residents from poorer countries who have immigrated, who have crossed our borders with or without documentation, for a chance of access to better health care, better education, safer living conditions. This trend obviously affects our nation's population size -- as have migration/immigration trends from the time that our nation was born.

Immigration - in particular, what to do about individuals who have moved to and established lives in the US without documentation - has long been a hot issue in the US. In the last few years, it has been intensely debated at state levels. Arizona is one state that has been in the news related to its efforts to deal with "illegal" immigration by seeking out those who are here without documentation and finding ways to deport them.

What does this have to do with "sustainability," with learning to live today with the needs of future generations in mind? I had not connected the two ideas - sustainability and immigration - until today. Stay with me - I am getting there.

Driving home from work, I listened to an NPR interview with Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who just this week "came out" as an "illegal immigrant" in an essay in the New York Times Magazine. Read Jose's essay for yourself. Draw your own conclusions about his life in the US, his decisions about how to portray himself throughout his life, his contributions to his adopted country.

My interest was piqued as I listened to Jose speak about his efforts to become an open activist who can foster recognition of contributions of undocumented workers to our country's well-being. I had recently come across information about a group in Minnesota called "Minnesotans for Sustainability" - the group defines a sustainable society as one that "balances the environment, other life forms, and human interactions over an indefinite time period." Good definition. The group accurately describes population growth as a contributor to problems with sustainability. One of the strongest recommendations made by the group to deal with population growth, however, is to deport "illegal aliens" who are using valuable resources that are needed by legal citizens - the presence of the "illegal aliens" threatens sustainability of Minnesota and the US.

My first reaction to this is - I hate, hate, hate the term "illegal aliens" - the term is so derogatory, and calls to mind a bizarre image of criminals from Mars. When I listened to Jose Antonio Vargas, and learned more about his contributions as a working journalist who pays taxes (though under an illegal SSN), I felt so frustrated. He had come here at age 12 from the Philippines, sent here by his mother to her parents with the hope that his life would be better in the US. He described loving the US - school, music, culture - he described his efforts to learn to speak English without an accent by watching Golden Girls and other sitcoms over and over again. He didn't even know that he was not here legally, that his documents had been falsified, until he was 16 and tried to get a learner's permit to drive. His story is compelling, and his courage great - his coming out this week threatens his livelihood and well-being, but he did so as an effort to support the millions of undocumented workers in the US who want to become citizens. Hard to envision him as a Martian criminal...

My second and stronger reaction -- Well. I think a lot about what "sustainability" and "sustainable health and well-being" mean - about what we need to do to ensure the health and safety of us and other species and of our earth. Last time I looked, these issues involve the whole world. Even when we are talking about sustainability of the economy - we live on imported goods, and send goods elsewhere. 

To my understanding, if we are talking about sustainability in terms of the environment, climate change is a global issue, and the threats to sustainability know no borders. Air is air - dirty air is dirty air - it drifts across the globe with no regard for human made borders. Temperature, water, weather, birds, butterflies, seeds, soil -- no borders. If the wind picks up the sand from a desert in one nation in the middle east, and carries it to a nation in Asia -- well, can't do anything about it. Our control of things like this is quite limited.  Similarly, when the economy hits the skids in another nation - we are affected.

Is it even possible to have one part of the world (like Minnesota) be "sustainable" by moving some people out, without affecting other parts of the world? It is complicated - while decisions to live sustainably are made by individual and communities, in the end these multiple decisions have ripple effects all over the world.

It is pretty well documented (see sources above) that the per capita consumption of energy of residents of the US and Europe is much much greater than the per capita energy consumption of the rest of the world. We are consuming more than our share of what the earth has to offer, and thus we are contributing more than others to global climate change. Our choices may be negatively affecting other parts of the world. As I have said before, I do not say this in an unappreciative voice, nor do I speak from an unpatriotic position. My stance is that, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we have much to gain, as do others, if we would take the lead in trying to reduce our consumption and energy use. What would happen if the US loudly and visibly embarked upon a journey toward more sustainable living, which would require international and intergovernmental collaboration and community-building? Would the BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India, and China - emerging economic and technological leaders - follow suit? Could all of these wonderful and creative and innovative nation-forces move together toward healthier and more sustainable living?

Jose Antonio Vargas made a decision at some point, when applying for a job, to lie. He had to choose - check the box that indicated he was a documented immigrant or check the box that indicated he was a citizen. He says that he thought about this and, as he made the decision to lie by claiming to be a citizen, he also made the decision to live his life in a way that would earn the right to that title - to be a hard worker who contributed economically, socially, and culturally to what he thought of as his home country, to be a grateful person who could do his part to help those who did not have his advantages. Yes, he lied, and each of us will need to decide what to think about this. I have to think about it as well.

And each of us may have to think, if times do indeed worsen in the future due to the effects of climate change, about whether or not the value of one person's life can be seen as greater than that of another - if one person, or nation, is deserving of greater resources and access to resources needed to live, than any other person or nation.

Whoa. It has been too long since I have written. Even though I was in West Virginia for only a few days, it took many more than a few days after I returned to absorb all the experiences I had and to get back on track.

As you can see from my picture, the march on Blair Mountain was both exhausting and exhilarating. Friends have asked questions about the march and issues related to it, so I have tried to continue my own education.

For example, I have been learning more about what the process of mountain top removal (MTR) actually involves - how it is done and what happens to the nearby environment and people during and after the MTR. There are several steps to the MTR process: 

• clearing all topsoil and plants - that alone sounds painful and bleak
• blasting through 500-800 feet of mountain surface to reach the seam of coal 
• digging and removing coal and debris with a huge machine which actually does the work that in the past was done by people
• dumping waste, known as overburden or spoil, into valleys and stream beds - typically filling or burying the streams
• processing - or washing and treating - the coal, creating waste water, known as slurry or sludge, which is then stored in impoundments that are often open, poorly supported and unstable ... slurry is made of a mixture of water, coal dust, clay, and toxic chemicals including arsenic, mercury, lead, copper, and chromium
• reclamation which is supposed to involve stabilization of the land and revegetation ... a not very closely monitored or regulated process

Below is a photo of an Appalachian mountain - followed by a photo of the mountain post-MTR - followed by a different "reclaimed mountain." What do you think?

What are the effects of this devastation, really? 

The drastic changes to the landscape increase flooding (which includes runoff that contains toxic chemicals). The ongoing blasting associated with MTR damages the foundations of homes, property values, and quality of life. Blasting also randomly sends boulders and debris down onto yards in the communities below the MTR sites, creating safety risks. Slurry and sludge poison drinking water and increase realities of disease in nearby communities. These are immediate and short-term changes.

Let's look to the past, then far into the future. In 2009, the Smithsonian Magazine reported that...

Since the mid-1990s, coal companies have pulverized Appalachian mountaintops in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Peaks formed hundreds of millions of years ago are obliterated in months. Forests that survived the last ice age are chopped down and burned. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by 2012, two decades of mountaintop removal will have destroyed or degraded 11.5 percent of the forests in those four states, an area larger than Delaware. Rubble and waste will have buried more than 1,000 miles of streams.

The rate and scope of this destruction is incredibly short-sighted. Centuries of work by Mother Earth gone and, on top of that, toxic substances introduced into what is left. Without extensive intervention, this threatens much needed biodiversity (all of life is interconnected and interdependent for survival) and causes harm to the health and well-being of plants, humans, and other animals for hundreds of years to come. 

And no intervention can truly re-create what has been destroyed - particularly the culture of the mountain people in the communities affected by MTR. I witnessed the strength and integrity of the people from Appalachia at the march - outspoken, impassioned, but respectful and honest.

Hazel Dickens fought MTR - she was one beautiful voice rising from Appalachia. She was to have performed at the Blair Mountain March but, sadly, passed away in April before the March.

More later... in the meantime, let me know what you think.

How cool is it to be at Chatham right now! Of course, the campus is at its most beautiful - and spring is finally here.

What is extra special cool about being here is that you get to meet amazing people with lots of smarts and good ideas. Today I listened to Patricia Allen from USC-Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Dr. Allen is a candidate for a position in Chatham's new School of Sustainability and the Environment - her presentation today demonstrated that understanding how food systems work can tell us how sustainability in general works. In her words, food provides countless opportunities for reflection and action. Just as we are attempting to understand and promote sustainable living - sustainable health and well-being - with regard to water, air, time, animals and plants, the whole ecosystem, we are also doing so with regard food systems specifically. Here are a few points to consider:

• It is important to know public policy - what exists now with regard to regulations and subsidies related to agriculture, what is beginning to change, what else needs to happen, and how to make it happen. For example, we need to understand why food produced in large agri-businesses is often cheaper in the short-run than local and organic food - in part related to public policy - and also to think about the larger costs to health and the ecosystem in the long-run when we rely so much on agri-business for our food.
• It is exciting to hear that the US Department of Agriculture is looking at public policy and is beginning to talk more about local and organic foods - and about the use of regional food sources for school food programs.
• It is thought-provoking (and anger-inducing) to realize how deeply social justice issues are embedded into food systems. For one, the individuals who work on the farms, process the food in factories, and prepare and serve the food are often among the lowest paid laborers in our country. Many of them are undocumented workers (Dr. Allen estimates about 80% of farm-workers are undocumented) and thus have no recourse for addressing pay and work conditions - and yet large companies (and we, by purchasing cheap food that does not reflect its "true cost") benefit from their labor. In addition, the poorest people - usually divided along race and gender lines, in addition to income - are the ones who have the least affordable access to healthy foods. 

All of these issues related to food systems are also part of our discussions about sustainable health and well-being in general. Public policy often provides advantages to large industries that significantly contribute to environmental problems that result in poor health for humans and the ecosystem. And, thankfully, public policy is slowly changing in a positive direction with two steps forward and one step back. Still, the people who are hurt the most are those in less-privileged racial, SES, and gender groups.

I am talking about this because, as Dr. Allen pointed out, food is something we all need - and think about and enjoy. Every single day, we make choices about food - what to eat, where to get it, how to prepare it.  These choices have implications beyond our meals. These choices affect the health and well-being of ourselves and our families in the moment, and they also support by dollar power one or the other types of food production-processing-distribution systems - which has very real effects on the the long-term health and well-being of our environmental, social, and economic systems.

One excellent book about this topic is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. I am also going to check out Dr. Allen's Together at the Table: Sustainability and Sustenance in the American Agrifood System.

Let me know what you think!

So, I did not do the Amizade Water Walk last Saturday as I had intended to. The walk, set at Duquesne University, was advertised as an opportunity to experience just a tiny bit of what women and children across the world do each day in order to get enough water just to survive. Participants in the event were to have carried a bucket of water for about 4 miles up and down hills and stairs but, as noted here, they actually walked for about 6.4 miles (the photo here is from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

I did not do the walk for a couple of silly and cowardly reasons. First, I am 57. Often, when I show up for community events like this, I am the oldest person by 20-30 years (GO Pittsburgh young people!). I imagine the other participants thinking wtf is this old lady doing here. And yes, I could have invited a friend. My second reason is not unrelated to my first - I was a little afraid that I would not be able to complete the walk and that I would thus end up feeling embarrassed - an ego-driven excuse if I ever heard one!

What I did instead, the following day, was to do a car-less Sunday. This meant that I walked to the grocery, the East-End Co-op, and carried my groceries home - about 3 miles round trip. I realize that this exercise was probably trivial, and had no impact beyond my momentary thinking about convenience, privilege, inequities and injustice, and cars (which, by the way, were abundant along my walk, blasting a glorious melange of jazz, gospel, hip-hop, and pop music out their windows) - but I did it anyway and don't regret having done it.

Sometimes it just seems like the local and global problems related to social injustice, pollution, climate change, overconsumption, and poverty are just so very big and overwhelming. Sometimes I feel so angry that I could explode when I read about the new Pennsylvania rule that coal company and other corporate executives (who clearly have vested interests) have to/get to review and sign off on regulations related to natural gas drilling (fox in the hen house???) when safe water and human health are at stake. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I think about this stuff and write about it when my efforts will be just a teeny-tiny blip on the screen. Sometimes I wish I could not be aware and interested, and could stick my head back in the sand. Most of the time, I realize that, in spite of my small efforts, I am still not walking the talk as much as I could.

What does this mean? Do these realities mean that we give up? Or that we give everything away and devote ourselves exclusively to work that tries to right wrongs? Have you ever wondered about these things?

Last Wednesday night, Juliette Jones, one of the founders of the Hazelwood Food Forest, came to speak to my class on Psychologists in Organizations and Communities. Juliette is young, creative, energetic, and hard-working. I listened to her and wondered about how it must feel to be undertaking such meaningful work at her young age and about what childhood experiences had given her the wisdom to take this path. Then she mentioned that she had not come to her interest in gardening and sustainability until after college, a mere few years ago.

We are who we are, learning and growing and teaching from our unique place in the universe. How can we go wrong with wanting to move forward from where we are, even if we take small steps? What is the alternative? What would happen if lots of people who felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tasks before us still determined to take those small steps, together? Again, what is the alternative?

In coming posts, we will look at what we know about how people change, about the roots of altruism, about the costs of denial. I welcome your thoughts.