Sustainability Symposium 2023: The Great Conversion - Ron Jones

00:00:04:02 - 00:00:27:10
Mike Collignon: I mentioned at the outset of the symposium that we had a special guest in store for you. It took a little convincing, but we were able to wrangle our next guest to do a short piece for us as a fitting way to close out this year's symposium. It's an exquisite blend of the elements we've discussed over the past two days policy and community action.

00:00:27:11 - 00:00:34:26
Mike Collignon: So here with his latest letter from Mariposa, the green builder, Ron Jones.

00:00:34:28 - 00:01:21:20
Ron Jones: Hello, everyone. I really want to thank you for joining the 2023 Sustainability Symposium, as promised. It has once again proven to be informative, enlightening and inspirational. I would personally like to close this year's event with a few thoughts about our relationship with nature and how essential that is to understanding and living a sustainable life. I've been privileged to spend time on five of the world's seven continents, and those travels lead me to the assertion that the people, communities and societies who express the greatest happiness and contentment are those whose lives involve the least complexity and the stress that goes along with it.

00:01:21:22 - 00:01:51:06
Ron Jones: Based on most everything I have read or viewed over the years, as well as a lifetime of observations with others, I am convinced that true quality of life goes hand in hand with one's proximity to and relationship with, the natural world. Time after time, studies show that health and general well-being, not to mention greater life expectancy, our traits common to those who live sustainably self-sufficient and close to the land.

00:01:51:08 - 00:02:30:08
Ron Jones: Few would dispute the benefits of growing at least some of your own food, for example, and of living with naturally clean air, of experiencing less congestion, noise and pollution, and less dependency on mechanized transportation. Each of us is entitled to our own metrics for determining what quality of life means. But if you are measuring yours by the extra number of driving minutes that could be needed, if the morning traffic is especially heavy or the variety of fast food outlets you can readily choose from in your quest for the easiest family dinner after a long day at work.

00:02:30:11 - 00:03:03:04
Ron Jones: Those are indicators that you might want to reconsider things, especially given the virtual universe of information and entertainment and the instantaneous technologies of communication that we have at our fingertips. One undeniable outcome from the recent pandemic is that many people who previously toiled in office environments and other similar settings have recognized that they are able to simplify their lives by working from home, by reducing at least some of the demands they've been burdened by.

00:03:03:06 - 00:03:28:04
Ron Jones: Reportedly, an increasing number of families are reevaluating the possibilities and the economics of scaling back from two full time breadwinners to one, or maybe one full time and one part time, if they can eliminate enough of the associated expenses. At the same time, let's suppose that your travel to work and back home each day takes an hour round trip five days a week.

00:03:28:06 - 00:03:47:21
Ron Jones: Imagine what it would be like to spend those five hours in your garden or orchard, or playing with your children and pets. Could you use those hours for more exercise, reading, or hobbies? What if you could devote a portion of that time volunteering to help others? What else could you do with the dollars you saved on fuel costs?

00:03:47:26 - 00:04:22:28
Ron Jones: Maintenance related transportation expenses? While I am in complete support of the national initiatives to revitalize urban centers, rebuild our highways and bridges, upgrade the country's electrical grid, make desperately needed improvements to our public water supplies and transportation systems. I would like to make a radical suggestion. What if we also committed some of those resources to creating platforms that would encourage the return for those who want it to rural and small town living in America?

00:04:23:01 - 00:04:57:23
Ron Jones: A return to the land, so to speak, where family scale agriculture and hands on food production would provide a measure of independence and security. Could we establish programs that would underwrite local, local projects to revitalize smaller communities and reclaim boarded up storefronts, vacant residential properties, and deserted small scale farmsteads, making it possible for individuals and like minded neighbors to conduct their lives at a gentler pace and on a scale that is less frantic and stressful.

00:04:57:25 - 00:05:26:23
Ron Jones: What if we devise the mechanisms that would provide those of modest means, with a chance to earn equity and pave the path to secure shelter and a myriad of entrepreneurial enterprises? We we have already successful models in place. Perhaps most familiar is habitat for humanity, which has created the opportunity for thousands of working people to secure the most fundamental of the American dream, home of their own.

00:05:26:26 - 00:06:00:14
Ron Jones: By harnessing the desires and determination of citizens willing to make investments in their time and labor, along with the generosity of countless volunteers and companies, the organization has grown to become the largest home builder in the country. As we heard earlier in the symposium, there is no disputing the critical needs facing the residents of American cities. The resources and many kinds of support are desperately needed in order to assure the future happiness, success, wellness and safety for the country's urban dwellers.

00:06:00:17 - 00:06:44:05
Ron Jones: But there are alternatives to city life that deserve consideration as well. America's great forgotten treasure is its vast countryside, those less densely populated areas that provide more individual space, access to nature's basic resources, and the endless opportunities to reconnect with the soils, the forests, the waters and the very air that we all breathe. It is my belief that when our growing population essentially filled the last of our physical frontier in the 19th and early 20th centuries, we experienced not only the loss of opportunities for adventure and exploration, but also the means by which a host of societal pressures could be relieved.

00:06:44:08 - 00:07:11:06
Ron Jones: Those in search of a better, more abundant life, escape from persecution or simply a chance to exercise self-sufficiency, we're left with fewer places where they could pursue their dreams. Hopefully our small towns and rural populations will not be overlooked. As well intentioned policymakers decide how the resources that are set to be deployed are divided among all deserving stakeholders in every region.

00:07:11:07 - 00:07:44:19
Ron Jones: For these are the birthplaces of our collective ethics or societal values, and our ingrained dedication to self-reliance. No other style of living presents greater possibilities for having the sustainable life that is only offered by reconnecting with the natural world. Sustainability can be described as intergenerational prosperity that is the outcome of ecological accountability. It requires that we exercise integrity as we interact with the natural environment.

00:07:44:25 - 00:08:19:21
Ron Jones: This means that we honor and respect all of the resources that bless us with abundance, and that we recognize that the world is not exist for our benefit alone. It also implies a certain frugality that surplus production should represent opportunities to establish savings, not just increased consumption. In his letter prize winning novel The Overstory, author Richard Powers suggests that when you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down.

00:08:19:23 - 00:08:45:15
Ron Jones: The farmer must reserve some of this year's harvest for next season's planting. Rancher must protect and care for the grass. Above all, in the end, a life of simplicity may be the most sustainable of all. And that is only possible when we take our rightful place in nature. Thank you for joining us for the Symposium 2023.

00:08:45:17 - 00:09:17:14
Mike Collignon: Well, that concludes the Green Building Media Sustainability Symposium 2023. The great conversion. Thank you to all our attendees and our speakers. And a big thank you to our wonderful sponsors, Train Technologies and the Whirlpool Corporation. I'm Mike Collignon and I hope you all have an exceptional Earth Day this weekend. We hope to see you right back here for next year's Sustainability Symposium, or even better than one of our upcoming webinars in May or June for Mary Kestner, Sarah Gutmann, Ron Jones and the entire Green Building Media crew.

00:09:17:19 - 00:09:19:24
Mike Collignon: Thank you for joining us. And take care.