VISION. 7Super Foods. David Crossley's BOLD. Creating Sustainable Urban Communities. for Life. A Letter to Mayor Parker

Transcription

1 January 2010 David Crossley's BOLD VISION Creating Sustainable Urban Communities HEALtH&WELLnEss 7Super Foods for Life self improvement stop Resolving, start Evolving EconoMy Reinventing the Business Model with Co-Working community A Letter to Mayor Parker EnviRonMEnt imagine, A House that Makes MoRE Energy Than It Uses Houston Edition Read us online at

2 publisher s message Dear Friends and Readers, Finally the month is here when everyone embraces change! In January, most of us set a course for the New Year ahead and decide to be more focused and intentional. We become visionaries. Visionaries have dreams. They see possibilities. Embark on journeys. Inspire others. They don t often ask, how. They forge ahead with creative ambition. Operate from their hearts, minds and souls. Their talents become refined as they discover a passionate purpose that reveals a vibrant life. They are catalysts of change. It brings me great excitement to share their stories and to inspire others to awaken to their own true calling. I am a firm believer that each one of us contributes to all of us. That each of us has gifts and talents, uniquely individual, which manifest daily into the birthing of new ideas, new accomplishments, new projects, and new ways of understanding life. This issue of Change Magazine is dedicated to these gifts, and to the courageous people who openly share theirs. One of these folks is David Crossley. We met in early 2009 after I learned of the amazing work he was doing to promote sustainable growth in Houston. Our conversation was effortless and I left feeling very connected to his ideas and his dedication to improving quality of life now and for future generations. As our first featured Catalyst of Change, I am delighted to share his story with you (p. 36). One of the many things I admire about David is that he connects with visionaries all over the world and brings their successes back home to implement in Houston and the entire Gulf Coast Region. John D. Martini, another Houston visionary (featured in The Secret), has devoted his life to teaching and helping others live the life of their dreams (p. 42). His story, along with an abundance of both traditional and innovative resources for growth, can spark your journey toward your best life. Across the globe, Gross National Happiness was born in the country of Bhutan when the ruler there envisioned a more holistic approach for his nation s development. Other countries are following his lead (p. 46) and the idea that sustainable economic progress is achievable with minimal negative social and environmental impact is beginning to expand. Wellness, goals, family values, and many other topics are hot as the New Year begins. We ve got them covered in this issue. Plus some innovative ideas that redefine the traditional business model. Change has recently joined a green co-working group of eco-entrepreneurs who reside within New Living. Our new office, located in West University, allows us to work collaboratively with like-minded people and further the growth of our mission. Learn more about the value of worker cooperatives on page 48. Whatever your vision holds for the New Year, we look forward to sharing it with you. Our vision is to be the voice for your ideas, actions, projects and events that connect all people in the mission to become catalysts for important change. Thanks for reading, 8 Publisher carla@changemagazine.net twitter.com/carlachange

3 CATALYSTS of CHANGE A Series Featuring Houstonians Who Are Driving Important Change David Crossley President, CEO and founder of Houston Tomorrow For most of his life, Houstonian David Crossley has practiced sustainability in one form or another. From communal farm life to creating international networks of smart growth thinkers, his work continues to shape the way Houston evolves. Photo by Devon Cass at devoncass.com 36

4 A Bold Vision Creating Sustainable Urban Communities By Terry Penrod Visionary, Activist, Environmentalist In 2050, my grandson will be 41 and if he still lives in Houston he ll be surrounded by as many as 12,000,000 people, says David Crossley. What will the quality of his life be? That s the question that drives me to look for answers and bring them to citizens and decision makers here and wherever people are working on sustainability and prosperity. Crossley is the president of Houston Tomorrow, which he founded as the Gulf Coast Institute in I was involved in a wide variety of environmental and social issues and I suddenly realized that all of these problems that were degrading our communities were about urban growth and nobody in Houston was studying that, he says. I had no training in this area, but I had been a journalist and I knew how to do research and see patterns, so I just started learning and speaking and publishing. Growth: Better vs. More At that time, it was a focus on the future of his own sons, who were then 23 and 21, that pushed him to seek expertise and understanding about land use, transportation, economic development, health, safety and well being. Very early on, he came to believe that we can solve many of our problems by finding a healthier balance between Quality of Life and Standard of Living when it comes to judging the success of our society. Crossley explains the difference between the two: Standard of living is basically about stuff and working hard to get it, while quality of life is about human thriving with vitality and contentedness. It just seems totally rational that an individual s top priority should be the quality of his or her life followed by the quality of life of family and friends. In fact, it s rational to want everybody to have a high quality of life. For me, Crossley says, the biggest leap forward toward sustainable societies would be if entities in the Houston region, the US, and the world set improving the quality of life as their top priority. Job creation and economic development will follow, but it would be much more about better than about more. The same distinction can be made between health and health care. One is an expensive, end-ofthe-pipe solution and the other is a preventive, creative approach that can eliminate expensive future problems. Crossley arrived at his view of a healthier, more sustainable world over a long period beginning in the early 1970s when he discovered the Whole Earth Catalog. At the time, he lived on a small communal farm near Navasota, Texas, putting some of those ideas into practice. It was there that he began to get a feel for how Mother Nature really works and how human beings can prosper as her partners rather than plunderers. Crossley recalls, The Whole Earth Catalog not only provided tools for thinking about chicken coops, but opened windows into largescale discussions about the earth. So my first serious environmental January 2010 Houston 37

5 thinking came on two scales: the millions of things growing on the farm, and the whole system. That was where I got my first inkling about systems and how they work. Everybody who has pondered these things grapples with the thought that the biosphere or environment in which we live is finite. There s only so much stuff that it s made of, and it has just x capacity to absorb waste and pollution. It also gets all of its energy from the sun and it was obvious Crossley explains, Generally we take that to mean the health, safety, and well-being of people. We are very serious about that idea, which begins with the fundamentals air, food, water, and shelter but given those basics, people begin to pursue something more what we call happiness. Many studies show that happiness only improves up to a point as standard of living rises. Past a certain income level, there seem to be diminishing returns and even declines. And of course we also mean it for all of life everywhere, because we support sustainability, which is based on realism and the known patterns and challenges of the whole living earth. Sustainable communities provide more amenities to encourage people to get outdoors, walk, and connect with one another. Development works best if it includes a mix of stores, jobs, homes, green space, and a strong sense of place. that as we used stored sunlight in the form of oil, gas, and coal we were going to have to pay a price for converting that to air pollution and also have to figure out how to use current solar energy once the stored stuff was gone or too expensive to get. The heavy thinkers were cogitating on those complexities, but most of the rest of us were focused primarily on recycling, water use, and building efficiency. We worked to learn about those things, but there was clearly much more to think about, and the scale in terms of time and space was enormous. For more than 30 years Crossley worked as a writer, editor, and photographer observing people, processes and patterns while learning how to craft messages. In 1992, after a soul-searching night on the beach at Mustang Island, he decided it was time to use his knowledge and skills to communicate the problems and solutions related to creating a sustainable future. That led to a period as president of the Citizens Environmental Coalition, where intense exposure to a whole host of environmental problems helped him understand that nearly everything was related to urban growth and land use. In 1998, he founded the Gulf Coast Institute, now Houston Tomorrow, to help bring quality of life to the forefront of civic debate. Houston Tomorrow is dedicated to increasing public awareness, stimulating community involvement, and facilitating positive change in our region and beyond through research, education, and discussion. Houston Tomorrow s mission easy to say and remember but very difficult to do is To improve the quality of life in the Houston Gulf Coast region. Copyright 2005 David Crossley/Houston Tomorrow The latest population forecast for our region is between 11 and 12 million people by That s more than twice what we have now. One needs to read the above statement more than once to fully appreciate its true scope and depth. Crossley is talking about much more than just fixing our immediate problems with the economy and sub-urban sprawl. He is discussing the very survival of our species while offering solutions for long-term prosperity and a higher quality of life for all people. Houston 2050 So, what does this mean for those of us living here in Houston and the Gulf Coast area? To begin with, the latest population forecast for our region is between 11 and 12 million people by That s more than twice what we have now, more than Mexico City today, and approaching greater Mexico City, which is the most populous region in all the Americas. As Crossley says, the challenge is to figure out how to absorb all these people without wrecking the place. Right now, Houston eats massive quantities of land to accommodate the public policy of basing nearly all development on people driving cars further and further every year. This 60-year sprawl binge has produced all manner of familiar issues including air pollution, stress, family friction, lower productivity, and financial distress of many kinds. The clear solution, obvious everywhere in the world, is to use less land for development while providing more amenities for people in walkable, high quality neighborhoods of many sizes and character. But Houston lags behind many large metropolitan centers in areas like mass transit, walkable neighborhoods, and sensible urban planning. If we want growth, then we need to focus on how to make it occur in a healthy manner; we need to start making some significant changes to the way we view and implement future development. The general principles Crossley subscribes to are found in a movement called smart growth, which has become the new direction of the market and of most metropolitan governments. More than three-quarters of all Americans live in metro regions, and that number is growing. The trick 38

6 is how to cluster homes, jobs, schools, services, parks, and all the good things in ways that enable walking for most ordinary errands, and eventually connecting these neighborhoods together with transit. Throughout his time at Houston Tomorrow, Crossley has also been involved in the smart growth initiative at a national level. He serves on the executive board of Smart Growth America (SGA), which has recently brought together hundreds of national, regional, and local organizations in a coordinated effort to promote sustainable development and a higher quality of life for citizens across the country. SGA also co-chairs the Transportation for America initiative, which is the most powerful driving force for progressive change for the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill in Congress. It is a massive coalition with extensive experience and millions of dollars from national foundations. It promises to be hugely transformative. Crossley also serves on the National Committee of America 2050 a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development, and environmental challenges of our nation as we prepare to add about 130 million Americans over the next four decades. America 2050 also defines and publicizes the emergence of megaregions in our nation and around the world. These are described as regional clusters that share common history, culture and economic activity. The challenge is to make network connections within the regions, including people, organizations, and infrastructure for transportation, water, greenspace, and agriculture. Additionally, America 2050 proposes the gradual adoption of a National Infrastructure Investment Plan funded by a new Infrastructure Investment Bank. This will fuel development of a national high-speed rail system and other vital needs to connect the metro regions within the evolving megaregions. A Shared Vision Crossley constantly brings his knowledge of national movement and new priorities back to Houston and works to prepare the region for the Pop. Density vs. Carbo from Transportation, 1990 Houston's development pattern of the last 60 years has resulted in the highest carbon emissions per person in the world. Source: Jeffrey Kenorth et al., An International Sourcebook of Automobile Dependence in Cities (University Press of Colorado, 1999). Sixty-five neighborhoods will be served by the development of new light rail corridors by A form of walkable urbanism, previously illegal everywhere in the City except the Central Business District, will begin to be allowed and even encouraged. transformation that is taking place. Last September, Houston Tomorrow convened a conference called Megaregions+MetroProsperity: Sustainable Economics for the Texas Triangle. Its purpose was to bring together civic leaders and elected officials from Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and other cities to develop a shared vision for the future of this gigantic economic powerhouse and to pursue a series of strategies for implementing that vision. Thirty-seven speakers from around the nation addressed the big topics of transportation, energy, food, water and green infrastructure. As a result, a new Texas Triangle Coalition now exists and is working on programs and proposals for the next Texas Legislature. Among other things, the group will pursue collaborative approaches to high speed rail We can expect to see huge movement toward walkable urbanism by 2013 or and green infrastructure preservation, as well as new legislation about agriculture and water, and new powers for urban counties to guide and fund the form of their growth. Houston Tomorrow also has influenced conceptual changes in the display of population and job forecast data to make it understandable for average citizens. It injected the idea of citizen values and goals into the Houston-Galveston Area Council s (H-GAC) Regional Transportation Plan development process, resulting in Envision Houston Region, a series of public events to determine citizen values and goals. Those goals then became the basis for the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, which has a narrative that is a major change from previous plans. Additionally, his group helped bring forward the idea of Livable Centers, which is now a highly popular H-GAC program that helps municipalities plan for town centers and walkable urbanism to re-invigorate their economies while improving quality of life. Crossley serves on H-GAC s Forecast Advisory Group, which is now working on the 2040 forecasts for the region. He and Houston Tomorrow are working to influence the Regional Transit Framework project that will make transit a major driver in the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan, which is underway now. Houston Tomorrow, as it has done in the past, Copyright 2005 David Crossley/Houston Tomorrow January 2010 Houston 39

7 Copyright 2005 David Crossley/Houston Tomorrow Crossley takes his efforts on the road and brings new priorities back to Houston. Here he discusses legislative strategy with UT-Austin architecture dean Frederick Steiner and Hill Country Alliance executive director Christy Muse at the America 2050 national Leadership Meeting in Washington DC. PRInCIPLES FOR SMART GROWTH will convene a study group, including members of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, which evolved from Crossley s 2025 Regional Transportation Plan study group. At the City level, Houston Tomorrow, along with Texas A&M Sea Grant and the Midtown Management District, brought a US Environmental Protection Agency technical assistance team to the City to develop a plan for transit-oriented development around the Ensemble light rail station. That report sparked the City s Urban Corridors project that last summer resulted in a new City ordinance to allow and encourage pedestrianoriented amenities and development along the new light rail corridors. Sixty-five neighborhoods will be served by this new system by 2014, and the urban form of walkable urbanism, previously illegal everywhere in the City except the Central Business District, will begin to be allowed and even encouraged. Other programs sponsored by Houston Tomorrow include a Distinguished Speaker Series; Environmental Education/Resources for Local Teachers; the Houston Food Policy Workgroup; the Health Advisory Group; the Livable Houston Initiative; and the new Houston Neighborhoods Project, which provide a variety of tools for building better communities, improving their livability, and facilitating communication among neighbors and neighborhoods. The Challenge: Resistance to Change Always, Crossley says, we are talking about change, and in order to achieve a higher quality of life we are going to have to find the political will to move away from recent paradigms. Convincing people to replace, as their top priority, constant economic growth and an ever-higher standard of living with sustainable development and improved quality of life will be the greatest challenge. This will require a fundamental change in the way we think and let s admit it, change can be scary. We are, after all, creatures of habit and people naturally fall into comfortable ruts. As Maslow said, we as individuals first have to deal with air, water, nourishment, and sleep; we then work to achieve safety and security, Crossley says. The last two mitigate against change if we feel relatively safe and secure in the current paradigm. So instilling insecurity and fear in large numbers of people is the basic strategy of powerful interests that resist change because they still have significant inventory and projects in the current system. During my lifetime we ve made a lot of positive changes in the way we think. But we ve been much slower to make inventory and infrastructure changes, because it s simply cheaper and easier to maintain the previous models, even though we now see them as inadequate. If, however, enough of us can agree on a new set of shared goals or principles, then we can overcome fear, skepticism, and complacency to set sail on a new course together. Crossley sees the huge number of people who fall into the category variously called cultural creatives and creative class as a potent force. Most research shows them to be at least one-third (Continued on page 52) Mix land uses. New, clustered development works best if it includes a mix of stores, jobs, and homes. Single-use districts make life less convenient and require more driving. Take advantage of existing community assets. From local parks to neighborhood schools to transit systems, public investments should focus on getting the most out of what we ve already built. Create a range of housing opportunities and choices. Not everyone wants the same thing. Communities should offer a range of options: houses, condominiums, affordable homes for low income families, and granny flats for empty nesters. Foster walkable, close-knit neighborhoods. These places offer not just the opportunity to walk sidewalks are a necessity but something to walk to, whether it s a corner store, the transit stop, or a school. A compact, walkable neighborhood contributes to peoples sense of community because neighbors get to know each other, not just each other s cars. Promote distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place, including the rehabilitation and use of historic buildings. In every community, there are things that make each place special, from train stations to local businesses. These should be protected and celebrated. Preserve open space, farmland, waterways, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas. People want to stay connected to nature and are willing to take action to protect farms, waterways, ecosystems, and wildlife. Strengthen and encourage growth in existing communities. Before we plow up more forests and farms, we should look for opportunities to grow in already built-up areas. Provide a variety of transportation choices. People can t get out of their cars unless we provide them with another way to get where they re going. More communities need safe and reliable public transportation, sidewalks, and bike paths. Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective. Builders wishing to implement smart growth should face no more obstacles than those contributing to sprawl. In fact, communities may choose to provide incentives for smarter development. Encourage citizen and stakeholder participation in development decisions. Plans developed without strong citizen involvement don t have staying power. When people feel left out of important decisions, they won t be there to help out when tough choices have to be made. 40

8 (Continued from page 19) YOGURT has been known as a health food for centuries. It is an excellent source of protein and calcium and is famous for its friendly bacteria, also known as probiotics. Probiotics promote colon health and boost immunity, and could reduce the risk of irritable bowel syndrome and other inflammatory digestive tract disorders. This calcium-rich Superfood protects bone health and helps ward off osteoporosis. It s been suggested that yogurt might help decrease a woman s risk of breast cancer. Women should aim for three to five servings of this Superfood each week, but be careful to read the labels, because some brands contain so much sugar, they nearly cancel out the health benefits of the yogurt. WELLnEss Tips for Healthy Living Wellness is a journey, not a destination. Research shows that abrupt, drastic changes are too difficult to maintain over the long term. Making lifestyle changes should feel positive and uplifting to you. If you feel frustration and pressure, you might be trying to do too much too soon. Be kind to yourself. Think slow steady and permanent. (Continued from page 40) of the population; in the US that s more than 100 million people and in the Houston region it s nearly two million. He believes these numbers could overcome the tyranny of the bare majority in using public policy and money to only support one kind of lifestyle choice sprawl and waste. In Houston, he says, we can expect to see huge movement toward walkable urbanism by 2013 or 2014 when we will suddenly have a very large light rail transit system with service to destinations in 65 neighborhoods. We can already see fast movement toward growing far more of our own food in the region, but that is threatened by the last gasp of sprawl thinking, which is the Grand Parkway, designed to replaced massive amounts of farmland. But it s difficult to find people who really want to do that, other than entrenched sprawl development interests. People are moving in a much different direction. Crossley believes air quality is likely to improve and if things go well people will drive less. He s skeptical about technical developments that will allow us to continue to consume and drive and use up land resources and worries that might sidetrack progress toward quality of life. CATALySTS of CHAnGe A regular quarterly feature highlighting Houston s visionaries, innovators, and leaders making a positive impact far beyond our city limits. 52

9 ECOnOMY A vision for HOUSTOn our EconoMy We are the crossroads of commerce for the Americas and much of the world, and we are the gateway to the stars. We possess knowledge, human capital, economic goods, and natural resources. challenges We are the world center for energy development and marketing and lead the world in developing non-polluting or low-polluting sources of energy. Our port, road, and rail systems allow rapid, safe, efficient transport of goods and people in the region, on the continent, and around the world. We have the best transport system on earth. There is enough work for everybody in the region, with adequate rewards to sustain us and our families. We all do something that benefits one community or another without harming any, and our work is among our passions. Our technologies are efficient and increasingly benign and we move toward zero waste in all areas, including trash, toxics, excess heat, and other pollutants, which are now understood as symptoms of design failure. Our most valuable assets are our new generations, who are the future, and our elderly, who possess our wisdom and are our champions and pioneers. our community We are one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse regions on the planet, and as a result our lives are incredibly rich, interesting, and creative. challenges Our 13-county region is based on a web of livable urban, suburban, and rural activity centers with diverse housing and employment opportunities. People move among these areas as their lives change. We have many pockets of self-sufficient communities where we know our neighbors, and where most of us can work, shop, and go to school near our homes. Our schools, colleges, and universities produce highly educated citizens who live and work in the region. Our cultural resources and organizations are among the best and most exciting in the world, and they are accessible to everyone. We live harmoniously, reducing disparities and working toward fairness in education, opportunity, and wealth. We have fierce pride in the appearance of our communities and our region. Sustainability, efficiency, sufficiency, justice, responsibility, equity, and community are high social values. We are driven by the need to improve and balance our economy, community, and environment. Our 21 st Century community reaches for the future without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and desires. our EnviRonMEnt We live in a rich, vibrant environment on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, at the convergence of the Coastal Plain, the Great Canadian Prairie, and the Northern Forest. We understand and protect the incredible complexity of our unusual ecosystem. challenges Our air and water are clean, we are healthier than we have ever been, and we have improved our ecosystem. We protect the prairies, forests, waterways, marshlands, and the second most productive estuary system in America. Our many waterways have been returned to a near-natural state and support a variety of recreation and wildlife. Streams and ponds link all parts of the area, cooling and cleaning area air, and providing places to detain flood waters. Bikeways and pathways link activity centers as well as waterways, parks, and historical areas. There are many kinds of convenient green spaces within five minutes walk of our homes, schools, and jobs. We have learned to use our resources for commerce, recreation, and spiritual regeneration in ways that will sustain them for future generations. This Vision for the Houston Region is a shortened version of one originally developed in 1998 as part of the Foresight project of the Center for Global Studies at the Houston Advanced Research Center. Original authors were David Crossley, Winnie Hamilton, Miriam Heller, Doug Lipka, Deborah Martin, Mary Jane Naquin, and Janet Redeker. A digital version and supplementary material are online at January 2010 Houston 53