michelle kaufmann designs

Last night, here in our studio, we held the very first MKD/Lexus Hybrid Living “ecoSalon.” It was an intimate gathering of inspiring and influential green thinkers and friends who came together over wine and food (specifically Bonterra Vineyards’ amazing organic chardonnay, gourmet pizza from the worker-owned Arizmendi Bakery, and cheese, pate, and homemade crackers from the worker-owned community supported kitchen Three Stone Hearth) for some lively conversation. The always amazing Allison Arieff led the discussion on the question of “What is community?”

From that jumping off point, the conversation turned to more specific questions along the lines of “What makes a community sustainable?” and “How we can encourage the growth of more sustainable communities?” One of the ideas that was much discussed was how our traditional concept of the American Dream (a McMansion seated atop a vast expanse of perfectly manicured lawn and a three-car-garage) might evolve in light of the current recession and the effect it’s having on the home building industry as well as the lifestyle to which so many of us have become accustomed.

Right now, as Allison pointed out in her New York Times “By Design” column earlier this year, there are uninhabited suburban developments filled with newly constructed single family homes that just can’t find buyers thanks to the current economic climate and the mortgage crisis. Allison’s question was (and still is) what to do with these unpopulated neighborhoods. Also worth questioning is what lessons we can learn from the apparent failure of this model for community development, something that was in fact questioned last night to some extent.

Of obvious importance to the group gathered last night (it being a group of very environmentally conscious folks) were the ecological problems spawned by far flung suburban developments that encourage car dependency, ravenously consume natural resources, pave over once open lands, threaten biodiversity, contribute hugely to air, land, and water pollution, and create insular human monocultures. With all these frightening and unsustainable characteristics to its name, urban sprawl is clearly not the development mode of choice for anyone who places a high value on the wellbeing of our planet.

Perhaps what was missing from last night’s discussion, however, was the perspective of those whose values (which are by no means less valid) do lie elsewhere. Many important and deeply intriguing questions were raised at our first ecoSalon, but many of them simply couldn’t be answered because the demographic to which they were addressed was under (if at all) represented. For example, Allison pointed out the fascinating statistic that when asked if they believed that news of global warming is exaggerated, 66% of Republics responded yes in 2009 as opposed to just 35% in 1998. This raised the question of why/how environmentalism has become a partisan issue.  Unfortunately, there were no Republicans present who met the above description (or at least none that spoke up) to explain their stance.

One theme that played throughout the night was that of change: the changes our society is now experiencing, the changes we see as still needed, and the challenge of how to initiate these changes. Many of us in attendance last night expressed excitement and joy that the new administration in Washington is embracing change in a way that we green-minded folks see as very positive. It was also generally agreed upon that many changes are needed when it comes to the way we design and build communities (sustainable multi-family developments being the favored model), but consensus on how to implement those changes was elusive. The reason, for now, was probably that even the most determined group of movers and shakers will only ever be preaching to the choir if they don’t find a way to package their message for the masses.

Urban sprawl, its associated environmental hazards, and the myriad of broader environmental issues currently facing our planet are extremely complex issues, yet we live in a sound bite world (as MKD’s own Tony Craig observed). The green community here in the U.S. faces the enormous challenge of finding a way to effectively communicate the evermore pressing importance of these issues in a meaningful, relevant way to an audience of many millions whose attention is already much sought after and consequently very divided. Putting our heads together in one room for a few hours once a month as we’re doing in the ecoSalon is a good way to start approaching that challenge (some very provocative ideas about utilizing viral messaging via online communities such as YouTube and Twitter emerged last night).

Hopefully future ecoSalons will begin to take it a step further by bringing a greater diversity of opinions and backgrounds to the table for these discussions. As one guest observed last night, that guest being Janeen who works as a prison nurse (and who is the fiance of our dear friend Paul Donald who lent the ecoSalon some fabulous pieces from his eco-design store Branch), the antithesis to a thriving, sustainable community is fear of difference, fear of others (something she commonly observes in her line of work). The more that all sides of an argument can be brought together in order to understand each other’s perspective, the less room there is for fear to grow and the more likely good solutions are to come about.

All of our guests were absolutely amazing at last night’s ecoSalon, as was the food, wine, setting (gorgeous pieces of green furniture filled the space thanks to Lexus Hybrid Living), and the discussion. I enjoyed hearing David Rosenthal (of www.playaviva.com) speak about regenerative communities, Josiah Cain (of DesignEcology) speak about how to incorporate biodiversity, and Sadia Harper (Manager of HowTo & Style on YouTube) speak about the power of online communities. All in all, it was the perfect beginning to what is sure to be a long-lived and very fruitful discussion series!