After two weeks of working flood relief with the Rainbow Response team in Barre, I went camping at Elmore State Park with family. At the park, on the trail, there was erosion damage and detritus from the same storms that had destroyed our central Vermont spaces and turned our lives upside down. I Couldn’t help notice a difference in the debris, though. After two weeks of sweating in PPE, inhaling aerosolized sewage and muck to our elbows, the detritus of the forest was still… nature. Our debris was toxic, flammable, carcinogenic, with bones of microplastic and blood of poison. When our lives were ripped up and scattered along with our neighborhoods, the mess was hazardous. We should take note of nature, the place we once called home, and make our created environments extensions of nature.
Decolonized city planning and restoration means listening to the rivers and the life that weave through our spaces. Our ecosystem is telling a story. Our people, fighting as they are for the bare minimum to keep their heads above water, their story, their truth, is streaming live. Are we watching? Are we listening? The sustainable community is co-designed. Will we recognize poor people and queer people and people that don’t look or sound or move like us as PEOPLE and then act accordingly with love? The resilient community is diverse and inclusive, and as a result, regenerating. It heals quickly after injury, being limber of body, heart and mind. It uplifts life because it is built upon a mycelial network of joy, which it knows is only possible through equity.
Rebuild with love. LISTEN. Rebuild, not to return to the place we lost, but to the new home we craft with mindfulness. LOVE. Then get to work. 😤❤️🌈💪#lovedesign #humancentereddesign #community #sustainability #lgbtqnonprofit #nature #listen #people
