What’s going on in sustainability:

Today marks the one year anniversary of the end of my life on the road and the beginning of building my homestead. Although I’ll share with everyone what I’ve learned over this past year in next week’s end of the year article, I would like to share my thoughts of this holiday season.

I can safely say that this has been the best holiday season of my life. As I wrote last week, I positioned my life to comfortably have more than enough time to get my gifts by either making them, buying them from a local artist, or from a local shoppe. But I must say, at the risk of cliche, that this past snow weekend was the climax of what it means to sustainably celebrate life and the earth.

After I implored everyone to slow down and take time off, nature did it for me, dumping two feet of snow on the city of Philadelphia, shutting down the hustle, reminding everyone who grew up in the country of what a snow day could have in store. I must say that my friends and I (many in their thirties, most with nine to five jobs) went all out. During the snow fall we built an entire snow village of people in Rittenhouse Square, we went sledding in the hills outside Philly, I created a snowboard jump in Clark Park in West Philly, and my partner and I went cross country skiing on a river trail that is bordered on the other side by a hill road.

Now, many readers who live in the rural areas may have done the same thing, and they may smile at the thought of doing such activities in the city. But to me, it was more than novelty. These experiences were put into perspective after attending a one man show of “A Christmas Carol,” at a church a block away from my house. I was rocked by the part when Scrooge says to Marley (I’m paraphrasing), “But what of your business on earth, doesn’t that rest your soul.” To which Marley replies, “Benevolence was my business, generosity was my business, the general welfare was my business.” Through out the play I thought about the people who are dismantling our health care bill and hindering our climate change accord. I became despondent, thinking it would take more than three spirits in the night to change their minds.

But then, I thought back to my weekend. I thought of the dozens of people who stopped as we built snowpeople in the park. Some we got to just take time to sober up and enjoy some unaltered beauty, others we actually employed to help us build. But all walked back to their random center city apartments with the satisfaction that some people preferred to bringing some beauty to the world rather than sitting in a bar. Or there were the people on the number 9 bus just trying to get out to Manayunk from University City Philadelphia, who at first gave suspicious stares as we stumbled onto the bus with two sets of skis, poles and boots. But after talking to them, they realized that we were not some rich couple heading off to 30th Street Station and a weekend of skiing in upstate New York. We were just two normal people, skipping out of work to take advantage of a natural sport that is very important to us.

As I reflect, all I can think about are the smiles, the conversations, the thank you’s and ultimately, this final realization. In a way, my friends and I were the Christmas Spirits who visited Scrooge that eventful night. Yes, we need people like Obama and company who will put those systematic changes in place to secure that our sustainable work is not in vain. But the entire movement of sustainability hinges on our ability as sustainably minded people to show the world that this life is not only possible, but also extremely fulfilling, peaceful and beautiful. And that example will be what helps us as a people rise above the greed driven detractors who actively deny the possibilities of a better world. If I remember nothing else from this holiday season, that will be it.

So, please have a happy holiday no matter how you celebrate it, keep the beauty of the solstice and the changing earth in mind and above all, enjoy.

Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.