Community

Several years ago northern Vermont was crippled by an ice storm that brought down many power lines. Electricity from the grid was out for as long as couple of weeks in some places. How different households were able to cope with this disaster said a lot about the state of today’s world. Without heat or water, many people found themselves in desperate straits.

But neighbors along Toad Road in Charlotte already had a sense of community and comfortable relationships, so they felt free to knock on each other’s doors for help. Also, since our home on Porcupine Point doesn’t rely on the electric grid, it was a favorite place for our neighbors to take showers, watch movies, and have fun together until the power was restored.

After that experience, two of our neighbors installed solar panels on their roofs to be less vulnerable to outages. But that hasn’t stopped us from still getting together on a regular basis. We share periodic meals, care for the land, and have fun together. We help each other with projects, borrow tools and supplies, care for each others’ pets when needed, and are there for each other in heartfelt ways. We don’t always agree or think alike, but we do try to listen carefully and respect each other. We see the necessity of having constructive relationships with people in your neighborhood regardless of the degree of similarities or differences.

An important part of our identity is shaped by our membership in Quaker Earthcare Witness, which is perhaps our deepest spiritual community. As Quakers we come together with the understanding that we need to deepen our spiritual relationship with the earth and then act on its behalf corporately and individually.

Another community is our Monthly Meeting. It is the channel by which we have a support and oversight committee for our Peace for Earth Walk. The Meeting holds us accountable for actions and holds us in the Light. We, in turn, volunteer our time by serving on committees and working on projects.

We are also a part of a larger, activist community that works on common concerns and provides important emotional and other kinds of support. For example, at the monthly meetings of our town’s Sustainable Living Network we hear from speakers, watch and discuss documentaries, teach each other life skills, or have a “local foods” potluck. We have an energy task force as part of the SLN that has been encouraging the town government to get energy audits on all municipal buildings and then act on the reports. The energy task force held a “bulb blitz” for several months, attempting to get hundreds of compact fluorescent bulbs into households at a very economical price.

During our climate action walks, one of the most dramatic outcomes was the esprit de corps that formed in each group. Bill McKibben noted that the one technology that we have neglected is the technology of community. He also noted that Jesus and his disciples walked from village to village and had lots of time to talk and come to really know each other. •