What is environmentally sustainable? What isn't environmentally sustainable? Nobody can agree. Luckily Dancing Rabbit members have been able to agree on some of the bigger issues such as the sustainability of fossil fuel use, present day forestry practices, the use of petro-chemical fertilizer, and pesticides.
Many people can agree on these things with us. That is one of the reasons we have decided to restrict those actions here at Dancing Rabbit. We hope to use alternatives to fossil fuels, clear cut lumber, and petro-chemical farming and to set an example for the rest of the world.
We also hope to set a sustainable example for other parts of human life. Some of these things are too personal to legislate, like zero population growth. Other aspects we can not agree on, such as diet. The truth for me is, I can not tell someone in ultimate detail how to live a sustainable lifestyle, because I do not know myself. Further more I believe nobody knows. Living peacefully in the cycles of the planet is a lifetime journey of personal learning.
There are people out there who turn a glaring eye to many people's behaviors. They think they have the answers and people should listen to them and fall in line. Beware of people stating opinions as truth. I believe everyone holds some piece of the truth about environmental sustainability, but I am not willing to let anyone dictate my behavior. When it comes to eco-sustainability everyone heralding the cause is a hypocrite (that's OK, we are trying). If Dancing Rabbit were to make rules or use peer pressure to influence personal life decisions not only would we be instituting our own brand of fascism, but creating an atmosphere of mistrust. And, you know, we probably wouldn't be right in our decisions anyway.
I prefer fewer rules, more debate, room for many contradicting opinions, freedom to show examples of all kinds. When we, as individuals, see a behavior that is in harmony with the Earth I think we will recognize it. We can make a choice to accept it for our own. It is bound to stick better that way.
I want to create an atmosphere at Dancing Rabbit where people feel good about their level of sustainability. This will foster growth and a desire to push oneself further. If Dancing Rabbit has an atmosphere where some people make others feel inadequate, folks will feel guilty about their level of contribution and guilt does not foster an atmosphere in which people feel safe to push their boundaries and grow. If anything it breeds resentment.
As you might guess by the tone of my article setting the boundaries that create a warm loving culture for DR have been an issue this year. It is one of our growing pains. It is really important to me and it is important to DR in the next few years, for it affects how we grow and what we become.
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