Over Thanksgiving dinner, as Tom and I were describing some of our vision for growing food at Beacon Springs, our younger son made a helpful observation and asked a follow-up question: first, Mom and Dad, here at this table, you’re preaching to the choir – and second, what can we, Eric and wife, and older brother and wife, DO?
Tom’s recent reminders come immediately to mind: that Beacon Springs and Living Building Challenge are not a campaign for us. We’re not out to change the world by building and publicizing the greenest house around or by coming up with a way to grow food that renews the earth, pays our bills, and feeds hungry needy people in Washtenaw County. As the project unfolds, we find ourselves thinking more and more about THIS piece of land, THIS group of people who are touched by our project. The challenge is not to the world, but it’s to us, Tom and me, to revitalize the 15 acres we now own – to live in a way that makes this corner of the world as healthy and productive and full of life as we can possibly make it.
We hope our example is one that inspires others to follow a similar path. That IS where saving the world can happen. But we’re not on a campaign.
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