Sustainable Tarpon Springs - Grassroots!

Ironically, grassroots have been the bane of our garden over the past year!  They are incredibly persistent and deep.  They pull out from the Florida sand like an explosive fuse.  They easily penetrate two foot deep mulch from the depths of where they originate.  I’ve even seen these roots grow right through a leather glove - seriously.

So, the idea of a sustainability model based on grassroots is a metaphor that gives me mixed feelings, but it totally works.  Persistent, deep, and tough - just the way ‘grassroots’ efforts must be in order to achieve success.  These qualities are exactly what we need to penetrate many equally resilient public policies (at large) which seem to keep the status quo in place.

As an example, grassroots efforts on the part of the states of California, Washington and Colorado have now become a signifiant Federal policy changing event, taking a historical step back from the long-running drug war the Department of Justice has pursued.  The same type of persistent grassroots effort around Marriage Equality finally succeeded in gaining a Federal ruling.  Whether you agree or not, clearly these changes in policy were steered from persistent grassroots efforts.

‘We the People’ have a moral imperative to be thoughtfully engaged to make sure the values of our community are an accurate reflection of who we are and where we want to go.  A majority of unengaged residents would reflect apathy.  Engagement expresses extension beyond ourselves to ‘connect’ with others.  

In reality, according to the newest quantum physics and spirituality, isolation is the illusion.  We are deeply part of an energetic network whether we are aware of it or not.  None of us are islands, even if we think and feel that way - so we may as well get involved and stay involved!

Since each of us occupies a completely unique time, place, and space in human history, to be engaged actually helps us discover our one-of-a-kind gifts as we willingly stretch and spread our wings.  Yes, we will bump up against others, against obstacles, and we will sometimes fall, but it is better to have LIVED than to simply be a by-standing spectator.  

So, what would be worth your effort to muster some persistent, deep, and tough ‘grassroots’?  For me, the answer might be obvious - sustainability.  But there are a multitude of paths and purposes that converge to lead to our ultimate health and well-being.  Compassion for people and animals, connection to others, considering the future for our children, our grandchildren, or even wild creatures we love may all be expressed in our grassroots efforts?  

Considering how interconnected everything truly is, who we are and what we do for compassion’s sake should also affect sustainability.  All we need do is open our eyes to all the connections, just like root systems, and find the unity.  Joining together, person to person, ‘grassroots organization to grassroots organization’ starts a powerful movement growing from the ground up to the higher, decision making levels.

After finding our common causes and recognizing the upward power from the ‘grassroots’ level, we can truly begin to initiate policy changes that are a much more accurate reflection of the will of the ‘engaged’ majority.  I’m sure most of us have heard the Margaret Mead quote, ‘Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world.  In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.‘  This says it all!

So, I suppose this is an appeal, a call to action!  Do something for the causes you care about!  Even responding by commenting on a blog that resonates with you is something.  Woody Allen said, ‘Eighty percent of success is showing up’ - and I’ve found involvement, especially when you feel most powerless, is excellent therapy!  

Stay tuned for ways we can bring ‘grassroots sustainability’ to Tarpon Springs, and in the meantime, each of us doing our best to talk to one another, to grow food together, conserve our resources, and live out our highest values IS doing something meaningful to get the ball rolling!