Chico, Sustainable

September 29th will mark the first anniversary of my wife and I moving to Chico. It is mind-boggling how many amazing people we have met over past twelve months, and we feel truly welcomed into the community. Thank you.

It also seemed like a vast majority of these folks were at Laxson Auditorium this past Tuesday to hear Paul Hawken speak as a part of CSU, Chico’s On The Creek lecture series. His talk was good, though it was certainly not the best lecture I have ever attended. I felt I wanted to hear, as Sue Hilderbrand of the Chico Peace and Justice Center put it, “more meat.” Specifically, who are some of those unsung grassroots organizations that make up “the largest movement in the world” that is dedicated to social and environmental issues? When Mr. Hawken empties his collection of business cards out onto his kitchen table, which ones represent groups that stand out for him, and why? What are they doing? What are some of their stories? Hawken chose instead to spend more time discussing the history of this movement, rather than elaborate its present.

A point he did bring up is that the organizations that champion the environment and social justice look a lot different at the local level than they do at the national and international level. The view from the top paints a picture of organizations that are known though glossy magazines, large lawsuits, sweeping tracts of private lands being converted to wildlife preserves, movie star activists, and globally-broadcast, multi-million dollar benefit concerts.

I hear through the media about the organizations at the national level, but I participate in the local ones, most of which were represented at the lecture. These organizations in turn reach out directly to the rest of Chico—without the press or national name-recognition of a Greenpeace or an Amnesty International—quietly making our community a better place to live. According to Hawken, there are 200,000 other small organizations around the world doing the same thing for their communities. About half of these are listed on his Wiserearth.org website.