A Part of Nature

A couple of years ago, I met Fred Meyer, a fellow permaculturist friend from Iowa City. He, too, is devoting himself to communiy-wide sustainability and is drawn to the spiritual connection to this work. Here is a recent message from Fred:



Permie Friends,

I was asked to give a speech on Earth Day at my Iowa City Unitarian Universalist church. I provided the speech below in the hope that you might find something useful in it.

Happy spring!
-Fred Meyer

A Part of Nature

Fellow UU-ers... I am tired; tired of cleaning roadways, recycling, planting trees, conserving energy, and writing letters to leaders about our environmental problems; tired because it does not seem to be helping. My efforts and yours are only occasionally slowing the acceleration of our environmental problems, but they are not stopping them, and they certainly are not reversing the damage.

We all run across statistics about the state of our environment, but for me, the one that really disturbs me is species extinction rates. Since this time yesterday over 100 species have become extinct (and that's a conservative estimate). One hundred more will go extinct tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. But it does not take statistics to tell me something is wrong; I can feel it. The way I am living just feels... unnatural.

But in the meantime, I continue to heat my home, drive for work, and buy the occasional DVD from China.

Fellow UU-ers... this is my story-my journey-about how I am living with our environmental crisis.

Like many of you, I graduated from school, got a job, and worked hard for many years. I bought a car, a motorcycle, a home... I worked and worked and worked and accumulated more and more stuff until one day I looked up and asked, "Is this as good as it will ever get?"

Everything told me I should be happy, but my work and my stuff just was not... well... fulfilling. I felt a spark of fulfillment when I was with friends and family or when I was in nature; but due to work, I rarely had time for these things.

I have hugged many-a-tree in my life, but four years ago a day came when I began to wonder why they were not hugging me back. Why could I see the wilderness, but not actually feel it inside me? Why did I not feel like I was a part of nature-one of the things in all the world that gave me a bit of fulfillment?

This launched me into an exploration of ecology and earth-based spirituality. I attended classes, read books, and met and talked with many new friends. The more I learned the more enthralled I became with the natural world. Do you remember what it was like when you were a child, seeing and exploring nature? Worms, streams, rocks, bugs... All these things created an insatiable curiosity in us. I felt this once again, only now-with a new understanding-an incredible sense of untapped potential welled up inside me and drove me to look at life differently.

My values-the things that I hold most sacred-began to shift and change:
* Instead of wanting to own more stuff and strive for independent security, I wanted to share my stuff and work on my relationships and connections with community
* I wanted to be with people, not compete with them for jobs and resources
* I wanted to be with nature, not exploit it
* I wanted to reach my full potential-whatever that meant-by constantly learning and connecting (which is what brought me to the UU)

Oh and then the questions started...
* What exactly made me stop being fascinated with nature?
* Why did I judge other people by their job and the stuff they own, instead of just appreciating them for who they are?
* Who or what really benefits from all my toil and time?
* Why did my life choices seem so limiting and how do others cope who are far less fortunate?
* Why did I no longer view life as a curious and beautiful existence, but instead see it as something to endure; always looking to the next day, month, year, or life.
* How could I reach my full potential in a system obsessed with centralized control, predictability, measurement, accountability, and order? (Is this what being human is really about?)
* And where did nature fit into all this?

Life felt fragmented and incomplete. The culture tells me to fill that void with a new car, a vacation, a trip to the mall, and digits on a bank computer. But this is not what fulfills me! This is not what I value!

I slowly began to realize that it is not my environment that needs help... it is me that needs help. It is the culture-the way I live and perceive the world-that needs help.

All I want is to feel happy, safe, and secure, but the culture has a very deranged way of supposedly satisfying these needs. If this church represents Earth, and thousands of small fires in it represent environmental problems, it does not matter how good I am at putting out those fires if the culture is forcing me to fuel them and light more by constantly consuming, competing, and exploiting.

I still plant trees, write letters, and conserve energy. But nowadays I focus more on living authentically; on learning how to become fully human. I strive to ensure my actions are based on my values, not the values of an unhealthy culture. I work with nature, because I know that I am a part of her; not above her or beside her. And, for the sake of our environment, I am attempting to change the culture to do the same.

I have ideas. Most of them revolve around making our community sustainable and self-sufficient. The culture says a self-sufficient city is not possible. It asserts that I must exploit the resources of nature and other people to survive; that I cannot live by my values of peace and sharing and cooperation. I look at a forest ecosystem happily sustaining billions of critters all at once, and I beg to differ.

Statistics say that over 26% of Americans have made similar fundamental changes to their lives, but each feels alone in their
transition. You are not alone. Our collective beliefs define this culture. To make the same changes to this culture we must rally around a goal and beliefs we can all agree upon. I propose this to be a sustainable community that works in harmony with nature; no more warring over natural resources; no more competition amongst one another; no more hoarding for individual security; no more of these unhealthy values that are causing the destruction of our planet.

You are likely a member of one or more social organizations. Talk about this goal with them and let us see if we can all get pointed in this same direction.

Fellow UU-ers... That is my story about how I am living with our environmental crisis. My journey has made everyday a celebration of Earth Day. I celebrate the simple feeling of being alive and being a part of something larger than myself. I celebrate being a part of nature. It has brought me here with you today, among people who make me feel happy, safe, and secure.