Committed to people
and place

By David Beach

The importance of love and commitment was raised in the closing session of the Sustainable Communities Symposium 2000 by Len Calabrese of the Catholic Commission on Community Action. He said, "I'm reminded of what Dr. Martin Luther King said about the most powerful force in the world being love, especially for non-violent social change. And it occurred to me that at a deeper level that is what we are talking about. We are talking about, finally, coming to grips with that, finally daring to learn how we can love each other and to say we can't keep running away, that at some time we have to make a commitment to build community and to risk the bonds of community, the responsibilities of community, and the relationships of community. So I think that's our challenge and our opportunity."

The hundreds of people who attended SCS 2000 showed that they were committed to Northeast Ohio. Around the region, there are thousands more people who love this place. They are working to sustain communities here. And they are increasingly mindful that we can't be sustainable here if our consumer lifestyles place unfair burdens on people and places elsewhere around the world.

Next steps

SCS 2000 brought people together to develop a consensus agenda for making Northeast Ohio a national leader in sustainability. Three immediate objectives emerged:

• Political action to change the State of Ohio's laws and basic policies that now work against sustainability.
• Regional planning and coordination of land-use, infrastructure, and the distribution of tax base.
• A Northeast Ohio regional organization to be a catalyst for planning and action to create economic, equitable, sustainable, and livable communities.

The SCS 2000 planning committee is continuing to meet to carry on the work of the symposium. The focus is on reporting the results of the symposium (such as with this publication), maintaining the collaboration by providing Web-based information on future events and activities related to sustainability, continuing the dialog with future meetings, organizing an alliance of participating groups, and tracking our progress toward implementing the action plans of the symposium.

Everyone can help with this. Sustainability is an on-going process requiring leadership, optimism, and broad participation.

Join in!

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Copyright 2002-2003

Proceedings of Sustainable Communities Symposium 2000
Three days in May 2000
Symposium agenda
The thought and practice of sustainability
Themes of the discussion
Agenda for architecture/urban design
Agenda for business/economics
Agenda for infrastructure
Agenda for political/legal issues
Agenda for health
Forging a regional civic vision
Committed to people and place
Sustainability pledge
Quotes from speakers
Participants
Resources for sustainability
Thanks

Download publication of SCS 2000 proceedings

Back to main sustainability page
Go to SCS 2000 site

...At some time we have to make a commitment to build community and to risk the bonds of community, the responsibilities of community, and the relationships of community. So I think that's our challenge and our opportunity.
Len Calabrese