Visions and Dreams

There's been a lot of talk lately of visions for our country, what with Obama getting elected. If you haven't already, I recommend checking out his transition website Change.gov. The thing I am particularly amazed about is that there is a button to push called "Share Your Vision". I have been spending a lot of time recently contemplating what my vision for our country, let alone my own community, is. I mean, what if there really were no limitation on what kind of society we could live in? How big can you dream?

I'm working through a letter to send to that transition team in Washington, and I encourage you to as well. Now, I'm not a political analyst, nor am I an expert in anything in particular. But I do think that I have a handle on some of the issues facing my own neighborhood, as well as our entire species. Whether they're actually reading them, or just tallying topics, I think it's worth contributing my little two cents. The ability to contribute to the wider conversation of our nation is exactly part of my vision for democracy. Once I finish my letter, I'll post it here for you all to read.

This all dovetailed nicely with a speech I read recently, by Kenny Ausebel, the co-founder of Bioneers. Bioneers is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the word about solutions to human problems that use nature as a design template. Their annual conference in San Rafael has been an inspiring complement to my ongoing studies of environmental issues and permaculture. Anyhow, I received a transcript of Kenny's Plenary speech, called "Dreaming the Future Can Create the Future", from the conference (I've been unable to attend the last few years because of becoming a mommy). I recommend it as important reading describing the incredible crossroads we are at as the human species, and the tremendous opportunity we have to redesign our world, from one of pain, suffering, and poverty, into one of abundance, beauty, and ecological balance. May we attain this goal!