Dear Mr. Beachy,
I was also grateful for the productive and respectful meeting and the widening of the dialog space that we had at the Rosebud Continuum the other day. Thank you for joining us!The Bishops and their neighborhood and community have crafted out of their property a wonderful location and environment for synergies and problem solving and "envisioning sustainability" that certainly captured our hearts and minds and devotion more than half a decade ago and we have had so many hope-inspiring meet-ups here with people from around the world and across the "technicolor" of cultural spectra. It is great to have you in our circle of conversation.
We are indeed very glad to have gotten to know you a bit better personally on the ground in this unique ecology of matter, mind and spirit in Pasco County, a location that we have learned from our indigenous relatives (as we prepare for World Peace and Prayer Day here this June) is quite a "sacred" space for many levels of healing.As an Evangelical Christian trained on missions in Borneo and baptized twice in the Jordan River while working with the Zaatari Refugee camp, I was called to consider each encounter we have with another member of our adopted communities, like you, a "divine appointment". As a scientist and "sustainabilitist" I am trained to search for win-win outcomes as we all work together toward consensus-driven truths. Today at the Hospice Thrift Shop on Route 41, speaking with members of our community, I was gifted the book "A Course in Miracles". It served as a reminder to me that we may well be able to do even better than merely create the "lemonade" that Mr. Dady spoke of at the end of our meeting. In fact, when I served as a civilian with our forces in Iraq on sustainability planning I often feasted on a species of lemon that is indigenous to the Fertile Crescent that is naturally sweet and never sour and needs no sugar added. There is so much delectable food for thought we can conjure into physical being through the free and respectful exchange of ideas.
To illustrate, for several hours this morning we had another group of visitors from Gamble Creek Farm, part of the Chiles Group (https://www.chilesgroup.com/partners/ ; Ed himself, whom you may know as the son of former Governor Chiles, was unable to make it this time because of Covid concerns, which apparently is still very much with us!). Their motto is "Collaboration is multiplication, and together we will all go further". This reminded me of sentiments that Jeffrey T. Mezger has shared in your corporate sustainability reports.
From those meetings, we were able to make commitments this afternoon to build at least two "dragons" (the 10m3 biodigesters you saw at the end of your visit) on their property in Parrish Florida this August to transform all of their food wastes into clean fuel and fertilizer and, with the government grant they have obtained, explore making them another "Precious Plastics Hub" like us and working to put us all literally and figuratively on the map (see https://community.preciousplastic.com/map) just as we will combine forces as makesoil hubs (https://www.makesoil.org/map/site/Rb4Z2eB-rosebud-continuum-ecoscience-center).Ironically, several of the members of the team who came to visit today were also part of the Urban Ecology design charrette I attended and spoke at in Sarasota this spring hosted by the Elizabeth Moore Foundation on her land where she brought together some of the best minds in South Florida ( working with the Florida Urban Microbiome Project in collaboration with the Florida House Institute) to develop a sustainable site plan for her R1 zoned properties. Elizabeth is the philanthropist who graciously funded our Rosebud Mobile Resiliency Solar Power Station that you rode on and our Precious Plastics shredder and I hope you will meet her next time she comes up to Pasco. I also thought it joyfully serendipitous that you know the work of my beloved professor and Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Randall Crane and that we can evolve the growing conversation about the meaning of "sprawl" and the paradoxes of the "anti-sprawl" movement (with its suite of unintended consequences)! I shall write to him and tell him we discussed his work and that he motivates a lot of urban planning decisions. I'm sure he will be flattered. I would love to discuss with you a paper I am writing, based on work I did at UCLA, called "In Defense of Sprawl: When and How Humans can be considered the Solution rather than the Problem". It goes along with discussions we had with the Florida House Institute's Executive Director John Lambie during his visits to our project here (I'll never forget him asking after one great brainstorming afternoon, "do you always have such fun and stimulating conversations here at Rosebud?" I had to admit that the answer is a resounding "YES". It's that kind of community space!How wonderful it would be to include you and your team in the evolving dialogs we are having throughout the region! Imagine leveraging KB Homes' long history across the country and past 14 years of sustainability achievements and climate commitments to helping the community develop a "sustainability corridor" that connects the "Tunnels to Towers" veteran housing project we are speaking with (Brian Bishop served our country in the Middle East with the Marines and speaks to what veterans really need to feel whole again) and the lengths and breadths of housing along Hale and Collier!Wouldn't that be an achievement to tell our grandchildren about!?I understood from our conversations that we are all frustrated by the current regulatory environment and perceived ideological schisms in Florida and often feel compelled to say "We all love sustainability, but...", held back in our best practice and better visions' realizations by the usual de jour caveats, because the goliath of the extractive economy seems overbearing. I would like to think that as our relationship evolves we will all be able to simply say "I love sustainability ... exclamation point!" and work together toward a Florida that doesn't merely (and perhaps implausibly in the era of climate uncertainties) remain a desirable place to live and raise our families in but that stands out as what our good friend, Dr. Sylvia Earle, calls "a HOPE SPOT for the world." Please consider us a resource in that securing that audacious hope. I look forward to our next opportunity to follow that "course in miracles" that, if we are attentive to its flow, can only lead to the beautiful place Dr. King saw from his mountaintop and told us about in his great orations when we were kids.
Respectfully yours,T.H. https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/news-and-profiles/2019/06/elizabeth-moore-protects-florida-lands-through-philanthropy
https://treefoundation.org/2021/09/23/meet-the-woman-who-wants-to-save-florida-tree-foundations-president-elizabeth-moore/
 | Elizabeth Moore grew up in Massachusetts in an environmentally attuned family, spending days in a backyard world of butterflies, birds and trees. Now the conservationist and philanthropist (who ... www.sarasotamagazine.com |
 | On September 20, 2021 Sarasota Magazine published an article on TREE Foundation’s President Elizabeth Moore’s “The Moore Method” and how she decided to use her wealth to keep the planet healthy—starting with her 1,143-acre Triangle Ranch in Myakka, Florida. Here is a sneak peek into this great treefoundation.org |
 | The Rosebud Continuum has been created to empower and inspire through hands on demonstrations of best practice Environmental Sustainability and Justice technologies and ideas, creating opportunities for citizen science, research and development and praxis, the marriage of theory and practice for practical applications that can help families and communities help society meet our Sustainable Development Goals. https://sites.google.com/view/rosebudcontinuum www.makesoil.org |
A series of tools for the Precious Plastic community to collaborate around the world. Connect, share and meet each other to tackle plastic waste. community.preciousplastic.com |
 | Pine Ave Restoration. Initiated & Managing partner: Known as “Greenest little Main Street in America” Pine Avenue Restoration is an idea born out of a desire to preserve the original vision for a Pine Avenue promenade and to protect the critical and extremely limited “historic boutique business district,” which runs the length of the street and, practically speaking, is the only ... www.chilesgroup.com |
Thu 6/2/2022 11:51 AM
Michaela, I agree, the Continuum is a great enclave and a valuable educational resource for the surrounding community and larger community. I thought we had a productive and respectful meeting and I believe we have opened room for more dialogue. I know that we have a pending corporate response to some of the issues that have been raised to date and I look forward to further discussions in the near future.
Sincerely,
Steve Beachy, AICP
Sr Forward Planner
KB Home, Tampa
O: 813.387.9627 M: 813.506.0402
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