Want green cheese with that whine?

This is in response to Joseph Crawley’s “The Oxymoron That Turned Green” [Letters, June 4]. I agree with what seems to be the main point of the letter: “The idea that things with a slightly reduced environmental footprint are somehow good for the environment is just good advertising.” I don’t think, though, that he is being very effective in creating any change with his letter. I would suggest, if he is concerned about “the coming global devastation,” that he stop whining about what others are doing and quit insulting those who at least think they are doing good, and become a model of what he believes is the proper way to live—and share it.

The people Crawley complains about and insults don’t know any better; they don’t get it. What they need is inspiration and education. The best way to help them get it is to do it yourself and share with an open heart what works and why. Talk up the alternatives, the things people are doing to make a positive change. Get involved and juiced up yourself about it, and turn people on.

The letter brings up “green building.” I understand that small changes can be frustrating to watch when he is holding a belief that what is needed is large-scale change. But rather than diss on some of the small steps in the right direction, he could talk up some of the great things people are doing. On the green-building front, look into micro houses, intentional communities, co-housing, eco-villages, passive solar, living machines, straw bale, cob, bermed, recycled houses—just to name a few. Maybe he already knows about this stuff, and I’m preaching to the choir.

Bill Mollison of permaculture fame demonstrates well what I am getting at here. He saw how wasteful and harmful humans could be to their environment and rather than complain about it or even protest it, he set out to create positive solutions and he shared them. Now there are permaculture-training courses around the world. There are practitioners, demonstration sites, neighborhoods and whole communities making a positive change in the world. And it all started with someone who saw that complaining wasn’t going to get him anywhere; he got up and did it. Things I am into in my own life, have passion for and share freely with others are raising kids, utility bikes, yoga, alternative building, growing and eating organics, hand drumming and permaculture.

— Sunny Keach
Asheville

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5 thoughts on “Want green cheese with that whine?

  1. Public schools destroy the environment by exploiting childless taxpayers. Education the the personal responsibility of parents, not childless taxpayers. The “small steps” are not in the right direction because they actively obscure the fundamentals.

  2. donald pearson wayensville

    What a funny letter. Is he complaining about someone complaining? Maybe I’ll write in a letter complaining about Mr. Keech’s complaining about Mr. Crowley’s complaining.

    Oh, and as an aside, Bill Molison has been known to sue anyone using the term permaculture without his express written consent. So maybe he does a fair share of complaining, too.

    Personally, I enjoyed Mr. Crowley’s leter because it called out an aspect of this Green movement that is phenominally hypocritical. I find that people like Sunny Keech come across as self-rightious and preechy with their simplistic, happy view of our future. What he calls ‘steps in the right direction’ , others might call head-in-the-sand greenwashing, so perhaps he should lay off the holier-than-though-with-his-positivism stance. Perhaps it makes him feel good about himself, but that is not going to change anything on any substantial level, although adjusting our infrastructure to allow for real sustainability certainly would.

    Things i like?; People who call out the idiotic greenwashing of the building industry.

  3. shannon

    donald pearson you said everything i’ve been thinking since i read sunny’s ridiculous letter. PLEASE PLEASE submit that as a letter to the editor! sunny can’t have the last word!

  4. sunny keach

    lighten up folks,

    All I am saying, if you want to see change in the world, quit your bitching and do something to inspire others.

    The humorous thought that I was complaining about someone complaining occurred to me as well. Though I do see complaining as not offering a solution, which I believe I did.

    I find shannon and donald are doing pretty much what the original letter writer did, just dump on people who are trying, without offering any alternatives or solutions, or in other words complaining.

    I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on my letter and can only hope I have inspired some into action.

    Sunny

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