Giving up on growth can be liberating
June 11th, 2009A post by Jason Bradford at The Oil Drum: Campfire is particularly interesting because it features a lengthy quote from Eugene’s Mary Wood in which she explains how a “carbon challenge” from Mayor Kitty Piercy asking residents to do two new things a month to reduce carbon resulted in changing her and her family’s life. Here’s just a bit of it:
At some point along the way, I noticed that Mayor Kitty Piercy’s carbon challenge had evolved into a new – and infinitely richer – way of life for us. The challenge of two carbon-reducing initiatives a month had grown into a family enterprise, a source of joy and pride, a learning experience, a family identity, and a well-spring of self-esteem and responsibility for our children. Perhaps most important, it had become a shared statement of purpose, a moral fabric for family life – a daily expression of the trust covenant shared with our children. My husband often comes in from the garden and says, “It’s a wonderful life.” And I have to agree. I invite you to embrace this new world ahead — with courage, passion, and a sense of adventure — and join in the Great Family Turning.
That’s a wonderful lesson. Giving up our perverse obsession with growth doesn’t mean living poorer lives. Rather, it means living richer lives, lives infused with purpose, meaning, and joy.