I believe we are all in agreement that Bill McKibben thinks differently than most of us.  So his descriptive use of “Seed-Scale” (sowing the seeds that promote development) may take a bit of explaining but make sense if you redefine development.  Americans have long defined development as urban planning or real estate development (wikipedia.org).  

Development to me always meant your typical subdivision sprouting up overnight, or the new strip mall growing like a nightmare out of a former corn field.  McKibben presents a new way of thinking about development.  A three-pronged approach that is more a process than an end result-  Team Building with a Social Purpose to promote Community-centered behavior.  Quite a unique approach to an old problem of how to deal with expanding growth.  I like it.  It is simplistic and people-focused. Something that tends to get forgotten in the rush to build, build, build!

People make up a community, not the buildings.  Buildings are where we congregate  (no people = no need for buildings).  Somewhere along the way we equated buildings with the development of a community and not the other way around.  We need to realize that community is where we are, the people we are with, and how these are all interconnected to each other.Once we understand how our definition of development got so skewed,we can take steps to correct it (as McKibben has done). 

When you are contemplating development of any kind, first ask yourself these questions: Will it connect me to others in my community with a similar interest to help? Will this development help our community or fulfill a specific need or purpose? Will this benefit growth in our community more than it will harm it?  If so, then you will be on your way to creating a genuine lasting development within your community.   Development which is community invested and owned, allowing it to be sustained and adapted throughout any subsequent needed growth.  So instead of worrying about how growth will affect us negatively, we should be more concerned about the negative growth of our developing communities. 

Get out of your house and talk to your neighbors regarding your local issues and consider what may help.  Raise your head while walking on campus and check out the organizations and events you are interested in. Eat lunch with a stranger you don’t talk to very often.  Join the PTO.  Become a Boy/Girl Scout leader.  Join a local church.  Become involved in a social issue about which you are passionate. Talk to others that are interested in the same (or different) things you are while at school, work, campus.   Join, become involved, participate, become a community and let things develop from there.  It works!

Teresa Tackett

M.A. Organizational Communications

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