Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Monday, January 26, 2009

Sustainability NOW! is the name of the conference at which I presented this past Saturday in Raleigh. I’ve been speaking at, providing workshops for and attending conferences like this ever since the book I co-authored, “Simple Living,” was published back in 1992. But Saturday’s event was a watershed — unlike any I’ve ever attended.

It wasn’t so much the conference setting, held in the historic Unity Church of the Triangle building, though the 100-plus-year-old former Baptist church facility — with its U-shaped, community-congregating sanctuary and comfortable, hand-carved wooden pews — was spacious and inviting. It wasn’t that its location at 118 Person Street downtown was a place to get real, and see reality, up close and personal. (The Raleigh Rescue Mission is just around the corner, and you couldn’t miss its residents lined up for food in the adjacent Moore Square Park.) It wasn’t so much the commitment of its organizer, Karen Bearden, though her efforts to pull off this day were without a doubt exceptional.

What was so unique about this event is that never before have I witnessed such a palpable spirit of optimism, of hope, an abundance of the feeling that change is not only possible but imminent. Every one at the conference was in high spirits, buoyed by the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the feeling that the forces of justice and vision in this land have regained the upper hand. Even Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC, 13th District) seemed jubilant as he placed in the past some of the issues with which Congress had been recently contending (i.e., the Bush Administration’s deletion of sensitive emails, what he called “a flagrant violation of federal law”). He quipped that it “won’t be as much fun with an administration that doesn’t screw up as much.” Rep. Miller expressed happiness to be able to work with a new administration — one which is not hostile to science, who won’t try to “cook the books,” and will work earnestly to deal with such mammoth issues as global warming. He voiced concern about the unknown effects of the release of methane gas — containing drastically more damaging greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide — with the accelerated thawing of the Arctic permafrost.

In organizing the conference, Karen Bearden took a page out of Bill McKibben’s local-action book. Instead of fishing for big-name speakers from California or Colorado and flying them across the country to make a splash, she made the strategic decision to invite only North Carolinians to Sustainability NOW. The lineup included the smart, sunny Pam Beck, a Raleigh-based writer and speaker who champions water-wise, nature-friendly, food-producing gardens; Lyle Estill, the Pittsboro-based local economy advocate; the charismatic Rep. Grier Martin, a trusted green ally in the NC House; Andy Wood, the engaging Hampstead-based education director for Audubon North Carolina; Carolyn Toben of the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World at Timberlake Farm in Whitsett; and Stephen Hren, a professional restoration carpenter and author of a new book, “The Carbon-Free Home,” that largely details steps taken by Stephen and his wife to reclaim and so transform their 1930s inner-city home.

The speakers were each remarkable, but as ever at such events, I am always struck by the calibre of everyone present, and believe that any single person you could touch had a remarkable story to tell. Two vibrant young women, who introduced themselves as members of the “Cary Greenbaggers” shared their vow of buying nothing except essentials for two months, which put them in a quandary about spending money to buy my book, “Nothing’s Too Small to Make a Difference.” (They ended up making the purchase on the grounds that it was an educational tool.) Marty Lamb, a long-time fan of the Simple Living series, came up to the podium after my presentation, toting an old rug, which was woven by her grandmother years ago, one of many that cover floors in her home. She wanted me to consider it for use on the show as a “Thing That Refused to Die.” I met a remarkable realtor named Louise Griffin, who has taken it upon herself to build a simplicity lending library to counsel her clients about “right-sizing” their home purchases. She came to this conference to buoy her spirits — and expand her knowledge base — for the uphill battle she fights every day. She admitted to being taken aback when childless couples come in and buy huge homes to accommodate their anticipated families of the future — a future that may never materialize.

It is always gratifying to meet people who are part of your extended community though you may have never met in person. That happened to me in Raleigh when a man with shoulder-length white hair named Will Hooker introduced himself. Will was an attendee whose expertise as a permaculturist at NC State would easily have qualified him (rather than me) to be the keynote speaker. When he introduced himself, he reminded me of a conversation we’d had on the phone about eight years ago, then asked after a mutual friend, a former student of his. After my presentation on how I work to achieve the simple life in Mount Airy, while touching upon some of the inspirational role models I’ve met during the course of producing the television series, Will’s was the first hand to go up.

What would he ask, I wondered. Why my garden fell short of the ideals of permaculture? My personal recommendation about how to bring the American public on board to curb global warming more quickly? The chemical composition of my soil?

“How old is your son?” he wanted to know.

When I told him eleven, Will smiled broadly, “That’s the same age as my son! Thanks for all your tremendous suggestions.”

And so I left the conference, Raleigh, and my new friends with a sky-high feeling that we all shared. For the first time in an eon, it seems that sustainability is of the moment, sustainability is now!