Going out of our Comfort Zones

Rip Road Neighbors Gather on Earth Day

It felt really great to invite neighbors to our house, to have people actually show up, and to have thoughtful conversations about issues in our neighborhood and town. April Salas, a member of Hanover's Planning Board and a member of Sustainable Hanover, joined us with her daughter. My father, an octogenarian and lifelong student, was thrilled to get a chance to talk with her. It was a wonderfully multi-generational gathering!

Our neighbor Len Cadwallader, a lifelong activist and former head of Vital Communities, invited us to help him maintain trails on Balch Hill, a local landmark and treasure.  I was so caught up in the energy, I forgot to take pictures of neighborhood kids playing in the treehouse!

Although we have had many neighborhood parties over the past decade, this one felt different. In addition to being part of our new Hanover Neighborhood Action Group, this gathering was also part of my own 'coming out' as a community leader. It's been five years since I've risked being in the public eye - - After trying various avenues for involvement (schools, non-profits, etc.), I've found where I'm meant to be - - Not just at home doing my photography, but with my neighbors, truly trying to figure out what it takes to walk this walk we are on. 

Five years ago, a contemporary at my 25th Harvard Reunion suggested that what rich people in New Hampshire do doesn't matter. What really matters is what's happening in China. At that same reunion, I spoke with my classmate Melissa Lane, a philosophy professor at Princeton, who had recently published a book called EcoRepublic: What Can the Ancients Teach us about Ethics, Virtue and Sustainable Living in which she states:

Every single emission contributes to the composite problem, which is made of trillions of tiny emissions. Thus there is no threshold for making a literal difference to the problem: every single atom of greenhouse gas emissions saved is a literal improvement.

Lane's ultimate argument is that republics necessitate participation. Thus, if we believe in the idea of our democracy, then we have to have confidence in the power of our individual actions. 
Just as every emission matters, so too does every choice we make. For me, that choice is about building community in my neighborhood to see what living in a democratic society feels like at the most local level. I mean, if we can't do it, who can? So I transcended my fears of conflict and rejection and had a party. Last Sunday's gathering was a great place to begin and I look forward to more. Thank you to all those neighbors and friends who celebrated Earth Day with me.