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You can’t do it all-Neighborhoods as Extended Families.

By Brian Skeele, on April 1st, 2011

“…we once lived in small enough communities where people could help each other. Families were together… Parents have always needed help—but our generation decided that women should somehow do everything.” Michelle Obama

“You can’t do it all, it’s impossible… we have to reengineer support“

Michelle and Opray

It takes a Village to raise a Family!

I was in the market checkout line and was immediately drawn to Oprah and Michelle Obama on the cover; the 1st White House interview with Michelle Obama.

One of the conversation points that really caught my attention was this part about growing up in an extended family;

Oprah: What you mentioned earlier is key: We have to ask for help. You can’t do it all. It’s impossible.

Michelle Obama: That’s a conversation I’d love for us to have as a society. How do we set expectations that are attainable?… READ MORE >>

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Is your neighborhood playing with A FULL DECK OF CARDS?

By Brian Skeele, on March 21st, 2011

is your neighborhood playing with a full deck of cards?

To help folks become conversant in all the parts that go into a sustainable neighborhood, while having fun at the same time, how bout a deck of playing cards??!  Like baseball cards, but with a different component on each card; An illustration on the face, and info on the back…”Collect em all!”

The cards could tie into Lessons Learned, Ideas, Tools, How to… , Sustainable Rules of Thumb, Indicators, etc and maybe the big village scene.  Hey, submit your ideas for cards, and if your idea(s) is chosen, we’ll send you a pack of cards!

Make em totally fun, and yet informative, and empowering. Remember, the challenge is to make sustainable neighborhoods as popular as cell phones, so they’ll spread across the planet like wildfire!

Hey, how can we be making sustainable real, if your neighborhood isn’t playing with a full deck of cards??!!

Submit your ideas Here!!

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If it ain’t FUN, it ain’t sustainable!

By Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011

I think that says it all!  “If it ain’t Fun, it ain’t sustainable!”

I can get overwhelmed by the immensity of it all; the Impending Bummers, the complexity of all these systems within  systems, trying to figure out how we are gonna learn to collaborate on such large scales, when we’re so busy it’s hard to get three people together at any one time.

As a visionary wannabe facilitator of sustainable neighborhoods, who’s  been going for “What else can we do beside suburbia?” for 30 + years, I’ve learned some useful tools along the way. A major learning is working with the inspiration within. At times I call it “Letting go, and letting God”.  Now I know we have deep convictions about separating church and state, and I don’t want to use language that might create separation between us, so please just consider this concept, and substitute the words that work for you…. READ MORE >>

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