We stopped at Chipotle off of I-75 in southern Ohio on our way home from Christmas at my sister’s in Tennessee.
I had never been to a Chipotle, and I was happy to learn about their commitment to naturally raised (non-CAFO) meat.
Mostly, though, I was struck by the quotation on the cup in which I got my rootbeer, from Wes Jackson of the Land Institute:
“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough”
Humbling sentiment, especially from a paper-ish cup at a quick serve restaurant. But, there it was, a challenge for me to align with and attempt something bigger than myself.
If you asked me my life’s work, I’d likely think for a while and mumble something like “to be of use” or to “live in harmony with the larger world”. But those are both kind of small-thinking. “To be of use” is actually kind of a cop out in its lack of specificity. It’s really just “be busy”, ” be not bored”, ” do stuff” and it is agnostic to the end result. It’s kind of soul-lessly goal-less. I’m essentially asking the universe for a lifetime of busywork. “Live in harmony” means lots of little things – I walk to work, I buy local, I buy organic, I meditate and do yoga so I’m not a freaking lunatic at least some of the time, I work on being grateful for all that I have, because I have a lot. I give to charity, I offer my service in professional societies and volunteer for my meditation community.
I knit a few things, but I could keep myself and my friends warm more efficiently by purchasing machine-made items. By meditating and supporting my meditation center, I’m investing and participating in a community of gentle folk, and I suppose that has ripples outward to the people we all interact with day-to-day, yet that seems kind of…floaty and vague. I’m a project manager by day, working to ensure our clients get search engine visibility and usability improvements to their websites so that they can succeed at their goals. I’m doing a bit of gardening, optimizing my possessions and my weight, trying to be kind to myself as well as others. But so what? So what larger thing am I building? Nothing in particular, it seems. But, it’s really all just getting by, kind of piecemeal.
We had the first day of our annual two-day strategy session at my work, and we were talking about our BHAG – big hairy audacious goal. And the option I could really get behind was to put our collective shoulder to making the Great Lakes area a model in the new economy. With all of the bad news about the auto industry and my personal hopelessness about our ecological sustainability, I am not sure what to hope for here in Michigan. So, without a clear vision, I’m not sure what to work towards.
Yet.
Perhaps a near term goal would be envisioning a future I can work towards. One that doesn’t seem so broken and post-industrial and diminished.
It might seem ridiculous, but the one concrete thought I have at the moment is greening our roofs. When I have flown in a small plane over SE Michigan, I’m amazed by all of the flat black roofs we have on commercial buildings and even homes. Seems like greening that all up would be a good goal. Too small? Unrealistic? Worthy? Going to have to chew on this a while.
Comments
3 responses to “What is your life’s work?”
The Rouge Plant greened the roof of a new manufacturing plant and it’s lovely. I also put a picture of a green roof in Germany on the family website.
I think greening roofs in Michigan is a good idea and there is a beginning at the Rouge Plant. I wonder if there is information on costs/benefits that might entice people to add greenery to a flat roof.
Sounds like you’ve come in a circle back to the work you did for the N.J. conservation group when you worked on greenways.
Funny, I also have a thought about roofs! I was recently listening to a show on global warming and the speed with which our polar ice caps are melting… And how this will only increase more dramatically over time as one of the functions of the ice caps is to reflect heat… With less ice, the earth absorbs more heat, faster, exacerbating the situation…
My thought was: How could we ‘replace’ this reflective ability? Perhaps with art installations like Christo’s umbrellas? Or more practically, we could just stop roofing with black/dark shingles and switch to white! That, and encourage the purchase of white cars, and I bet you could make a huge difference!
Greening roofs probably accomplishes the same thing with a lot of additional benefits. Another local example is the Ann Arbor library. (My) Dave heard the architect talk about the project, and he’s local – Dan Mooney. Here’s his firm – could be fun to talk to! http://www.lzarch.com/
HI Catherine,
Thanks for stopping by!
Yes, I’ve often wondered why we roof with black. Maybe it is to absorb heat in the chilly winter months? No idea….!
D.