{"id":4781,"date":"2009-08-05T10:22:54","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T16:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4781"},"modified":"2009-08-05T10:22:54","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T16:22:54","slug":"the-story-of-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-story-of-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We\u2019ve all heard of The Story of Stuff<\/a>. <\/span>But The Story of Sustainability?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting Dennis Paige, founder of Swiftdeer-Paige<\/a>, at Inn Serendipity<\/a> to share a program on storytelling with our community of friends and family. Awarded the 2008 Grassroots Conservation Leadership Award from the Audubon-Chicago Region and the Chicago Wilderness Habitat Project, Paige has been entertaining and teaching thousands of people about the most pressing ecological issues of our times while inspiring a more balanced relationship with the web of life through the craft of storytelling. <\/span>He\u2019s been at it since 1989. <\/span> <\/p>\n

Paige\u2019s hour-long program was a reminder of how far we still need to go on our journey of creating a “Story of Sustainability” that most American\u2019s can embrace, not just a few. <\/span>Obviously, the present American story of never-ending growth<\/a>, executive bonuses, consumer-based economy<\/a>, and more jobs is not compatible with the long term sustainability of a finite planet \u2013 especially if you recognize that despite our technological know-how, two thirds of the planet\u2019s human inhabitants still cannot drink a glass of safe water, for example.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Elements of a Great Story<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to Paige, the elements of a great story are imagination, believability and content. <\/span>Our group of local friends, bed & breakfast guests and family members circled around Paige as he orchestrated various activities to help our group, who ranged in ages from 4 to 80, become better storytellers and understand this ancient art and craft of storytelling. In terms of the content, it\u2019s all about the problem, resolution and moral of the story.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about stepping out of yourself and embracing the world,\u201d advises Paige, who got his start in storytelling when acting as an interpretive naturalist at the Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, peering out from a Lakota teepee overlooking the tall prairie there. <\/span>During the 1990s, Paige traveled around the country putting on storytelling programs entitled The Dream World of Dr. Earl, the Crusty Earthkeeper<\/em>. <\/span>\u201cI\u2019ve always had the desire to go into theatre and entertainment,\u201d says Paige, who trained at Chicago\u2019s famous Second City School of Comedy. <\/span>\u201cBut by being a storyteller, I didn\u2019t have to give up also being a teacher. <\/span>Storytelling allows me to reflect my own values in the work I do<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Since humans first used artwork on the walls of caves, we\u2019ve been telling stories. <\/span>But today\u2019s story — whether spun by President Obama and Congress (we need more growth in GNP) or NPR\u2019s Marketplace (keeping tabs on the consumer spending while being underwritten by Monsanto) — is offering a troubling vision for us to connect with our being, our community, and our planet. <\/span>True, we\u2019re nodding our heads in affirmation to a commonly accepted story, but with money, consumption and growth the markers of progress? <\/span>With the consolidation of the media and corporate forays into political and community affairs, our common story has been on auto-pilot like never before. <\/span>All this is abetted by the technology that seems to be stripping away the very essence of person-to-person communication — and storytelling. <\/span>When\u2019s the last time you heard a great story around a campfire? <\/span>But then, again, this is another aspect of the status quo story many of us have accepted: <\/span>So much to do, so little time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Weaving a Community Story of Diversity<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Paige brought us together on a beautiful summer afternoon, after a delicious potluck dinner. <\/span>Engaging us through a story sharing rope activity with each of us adding our voice and imagination to the tale collaboratively created, Paige explains: \u201cWe created a web of storytelling to help guide each of us to appreciate the interconnections of life and celebrate the diversity of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Diversity, indeed, works it\u2019s magic amongst our group which includes a college student president, several local entrepreneurs, home schooling parents and their children, an U.S. Oikos founding chapter member, artists, retirees and farmers. <\/span>Our vision and stories contrast with the increasingly mono-cultural story of American Idols and geography of sameness everywhere with McDonalds, Wal-Marts, and cookie-cutter subdivisions. When describing where he feels most at home during a different storytelling activity, one six-year-old exclaims, \u201cMy garden!\u201d <\/span>\u201cGrandma\u2019s house,\u201d adds another child in the circle. <\/span>\u201cIn the poetry section of a bookstore,\u201d chimes a herb farmer in the crowd.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cStorytelling is an art form that allows us to build up kinship,\u201d explains Paige, before settling into an almost trance-like telling of the Story of Why Leaves Change Colors in the Fall<\/em>, based on the storytelling tradition of the Crees (Nehiawak). <\/span>The children sat motionless, captivated; the adults relaxed, reflectively. <\/span>As a community of listeners, we connected with the story as it played out by Paige in sound, movement and narrative. <\/span>It was a shared experience I\u2019ll not soon forget.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What would be in your Story of Sustainability? <\/span>Would it involve nature? <\/span>Or balance? <\/span>Perhaps mindfulness or community? Where would you share your story? <\/span>Perhaps at a farmers\u2019 market or your local coffee house? <\/span>What kind of livelihood<\/a> would you have?\u00a0 Perhaps your story might contain a moral that fosters both actions and a life that avoids harm to any thing or any one, and a devotion to restoration<\/a>, renewal and all the happiness that money can\u2019t buy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography: John Ivanko\/www.innserendipity.com<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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