Is moving away running away?

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Permalink Reply by Barbara P. on April 9, 2008 at 6:53am

Hi Kimberly,
I love your question ! It has an agelessness about it that perhaps we all should ask ourselves from time to time throughout our life span. I suppose, without asking that exact question is what and how I've been living over a number of years and never really questioned that.

Perhaps the answer is "for the moment". Moment is a relative thing as it changes over the course of a life time. I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area and lived in large metropolitan areas until the 1980's when I moved to Orlando, Florida, which then, and not now, was still a large town. In 1998, I moved to what I'd have considered a small town of 18,000 along the eastern seaboard of Florida and lived there 10 years until just recently. Each move represented all kinds of things and changes in myself and especially my interestes, beliefs and interests.

Now, I'm living between a village of less than 2,000 and a town of 13,000--I've found that each phase has represented a tranformation of ideas, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, habits and lifestyles. With that, new people come and go and the sphere of influence and the messages and style have evolved, too.

So, I think your answer is: go with what that little voice that lives within all of us tells is right, true, good and kind. I've found that this always has been the needle that like a compass that points me north, so to speak, in a life's journey of doing what we all have within us, if we have the courage to listen, act and carry it out and share our experience as we travel.

Thanks for a wonderful thought provoking strand!

Barbara

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Permalink Reply by Kimberley on April 10, 2008 at 8:34pm

Thanks Barbara. I honestly try listening to the little voice inside me...unfortunately, I was raised with, and have developed in myself, a very strong and loud "worst case scenario" voice as well. Ever since I had my kids, everything I want to do is tempered by how I think it will affect them. Hard to know which voice is which right now. thanks for your gentle reply. nice to see so much of it here.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on April 10, 2008 at 8:58pm

Hey Kimberley,

having the same debate out here in the country. How does what I do effect my kids in the 'world as it is' (it's great to act with with the next seven generations in mind, but in my world my kids have to get into college, etc., how does what I am doing, or thinking of doing effect that????) It's a hard question. We are debating it right now. Educational opportunities v.s. real world responsibility; a retirement plan v.s. following your bliss (what ever that may be). Ecological responsibility v.s. comfort and status among 'friends'. And the list goes on.

It is a hard thing to say that the world as it is now is fundamentally flawed, and that we want to live in a different way and we want our kids to have to live in a different way because of our choices.

At some point someone has to make the hard choice. NOW is the time.

Just know that there are LOTS of us there with you, urban and rural, making the same HARD choice - LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE1

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Permalink Reply by Donald Miller on April 9, 2008 at 7:14am

I think I understand your quandary. The small town where I grew up has some serious industrial contamination and blight, among other issues. It also is home to some good, smart people who care about it and care about fixing what’s wrong and enhancing what is right. (When I lived there I liked the idea of counting myself among them.)

Now I live just two towns away but had given up any fight even before leaving. My moving away was not an intentional escape; it was really just circumstantial. But while living there I struggled with thinking that I should get more involved and fight for positive change. I did make an effort but in the end threw in the towel.

I’m not proud of it, nor am I really ashamed because it’s not a simple thing. Activism—as much as I’m an advocate for it—is not my forte. Attending meetings, serving on committees, and pounding a beat is not something I’m suited to. As a writer, I always felt that if I was going to contribute anything constructive it would be with the pen. There didn’t seem to be many opportunities for that. If there were, I didn’t see them and didn’t make as much effort as I should have to create them.

So now—when reminded of it as I was in reading your query—a nagging feeling creeps back into my complacency.

Thanks a lot. (Just kidding; it’s good to be reminded and maybe your jog will be instrumental in my yet finding a way to help.)

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Permalink Reply by Kimberley on April 10, 2008 at 8:38pm

I am a writer too, Donald. My writing has always been in service to marketing and advertising, however. Oddly a comedy routine by Bill Hicks changed the way i felt about the work I was doing (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo) and I have been trying to change what I do ever since. It is not easy to do.

P.S. You are welcome for the reminder. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Reichard on April 9, 2008 at 7:37am

There's plenty of great activism going on in rural areas so you will have a place to use your positive energy. For my part, I'm thinking about moving to a bigger city because it will dramatically reduce my carbon footprint. That, for me, is the flip side of rural vs. urban. New York City has the lowest carbon footprint per capita of any community in the United States. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jack Knight on April 9, 2008 at 7:53am

Kimberly I made the choice 33 years ago to stay in my home area where I knew I would be a more effective agent of change. So I gave up living in a more culturally diverse area or one with a likeminded people. I am a pioneer of sorts in my home county because of this decision . while it might be more "fun" to live immersed in an alternative community or one blessed with spectacular wilderness beauty the good Ive been able to do and the influence Ive had brings lots more satisfaction and effective change to greening the world than either being an ostrich in a bohemian enclave or a recluse on a mountain top dead end road.

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Permalink Reply by Kimberley on April 10, 2008 at 8:41pm

You bring up an interesting point, Jack, that I have not yet mentioned here. My partner is a woman and it has not escaped me that a move into a more rural area would not be without challenges in that regard either. The diversity out there, at least in the area of the country I live in, is more about land than about lifestyles.

Is there no end to the complexity in my life?

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Permalink Reply by Sue Fox on April 9, 2008 at 9:14am

I have lived off the land, hauling water, cooking by wood stove, raised kids... I've help build a Canopy walk way and lived at 200 feet in a Sitka spruce tree...I've coordinated a world tour for the Penan people of Sarawak and now I am the city of Vancouver working to help save old growth forests and living in a shared accommondation with partner and friends. I think you can give back to Mother Nature and to it's beautiful animals even when you are in the city, in the country or out on the road. When you walk lightly on the Earth and think about your every move towards "low in pack" life you are giving back to Mother Nature all the time. I would not feel bad about moving away from the toxic industrial nation, you will be able to think better and do more for our planet earth.

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Permalink Reply by Gerry Manata on April 9, 2008 at 9:38am

Using your positive human energy is what is important, where ever it is. If you are referring to moving to a place where you will be living in a mostly isolated countryside, then you won't accomplish much and, unless you are an introvert, will feel left out. Go to a place where you can live with others like you and create and live in a community, where you have group power to create a green neighborhood, maybe a green town with green industries. This is a bottoms up approach to augment the top down approach of political activism. This is what I would like to do by the way.
If you like the excitement of living in or around a big city, however, you may not have to move. LA Ecovilage created a place right inside Los Angeles.

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Permalink Reply by Kimberley on April 10, 2008 at 8:46pm

My partner and I are discussing this. In Houston, it is not possible to create a co-housing/village/townships. We have many friends that feel as we do and we are trying to look for land that is not too far out of the city to develop into this model. The problem is that getting far enough out also excludes you from the environment that you need in order to "amplify the noise" around making things better (ok, I lifted the part in quotes from eminem. :-)).

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Permalink Reply by Bob on April 9, 2008 at 11:05am

Kimberly:
My name is Bob, and I struggled with this question for a couple of years before making a discussion. I was in Ferndale (a 1st ring suburb of Detroit) for 16 years. I was involved in the community at multiple levels, including Board of Zoning Appeals; Downtown Development Authority Design review Comm.; 2 Non-Profits- Transportation Riders United, working on Transit issues, & the River Raisin Institute. I also was a member of the USGBC-Detroit Chapter.I agitated and advocated until I was blue in the face. The economy in the region is still dependent on the manufacturing sector, and since this industry (particularly automotive) is soooo slow to move, I was generally frustrated. It seems that "sustainable" to the industries means "economy", and environmental consciousness & social justice were foreign concepts.
I recently moved to Santa Barbara, CA. My mission is to wor with a firm to "green" the design side of the firm- guess what? I am encountering the same arguments here!! Go Figure!!!
I guess it is the same everywhere- I was at a discussion on Bio-Diesel last night, almost everyone is using virgin oil, meaning that water is diverted from food crops to grow fuel crops- how unsustainable is that!! I guess my point is that it doesn't matter where you do it, just make sure that you do it.

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