At the Alliance for Sustainability meeting in Minneapolis this weekend Krista Leraas from Backyard Harvest described poverty. The quality of the food we eat is in poverty. Most of our relationships with each other are in poverty. Our level of happiness is in poverty.  We aren’t connected to our food system or each other. These dark area’s expose lack of connection.

Think about the best moments of life. What happened? I’m willing to bet it was feeling connected to a person, group or nature. Food has always brought people together. The easy thing about the above “poverty” is we can change it immediately. Get together interact, have a potluck, eat quality food, be outside and connect.

One of our three missions is to build community. Apartments have rarely inspired community in the past. As a result there is a real hunger for connection and no reason that anyone should be denied friendship. As we all revitalize, re-localize we  realize that we’re not just making a “sustainable” city, we’re making meaningful connections and truly enjoying life.

It is so exciting to see people all over the Twin Cities coming together to improve our lives. To pull ourselves out of this self imposed “poverty” and live in true wealth.