Most lectures or presentations follow a predictable pattern. Guest speaker Michael Richards, on the other hand, quickly proved that his presentation would be decidedly unpredictable. Richards spoke to a group of about 40 professors and community members and a handful of students in Baxter 114 last Friday. His talk was entitled "Local Solutions for a Global Challenge: Building a Sustainable Society in Indiana". He didn’t speak long from the podium before he sat down in the second row, emphasizing the need for collaboration.
"We need to think about what we think before we think, our way of thinking," Richards told the group. "We have a very linear, vertical way of thinking. We need to switch to a decentralized network with lots of inputs instead of just a few people. I’m talking a lot right now, but I’m only 2 percent of the people in the room." So instead of giving a lecture, Richards moved to leading a discussion.
Richards also emphasized how local solutions will be the best way to approach what he called an impending energy crisis.
"There’s no reason that Crawfordsville, Ind. can’t be energy self-sufficient in ten years," he said. "If you think these innovations are going to come through your federal government or big corporations, think again."
Liberal arts colleges also have an important role to play in energy innovation, according to Richards. He described large, research-based universities as "bought and sold," saying that because the liberal arts tradition teaches "how to think," students and graduates of schools like Wabash are ready to lead the way in developing better energy sources.
Richards also spoke with great hope for the possibility of a major shift in human society. He described the world as "on the verge of a 10,000 year shift," prepared to move society from a "dominator paradigm" to a network of people working together, in which "knowledge is the main commodity."
Richards developed his passion for environmentalism through a life in the Midwest. He grew up in Indiana and Iowa and camped every month of every year. His father, though, was an official with the US highway department, in charge of buying up land, promoting the same petrol-focused society Richards now works to counteract.
Before Richards’s presentation, attendees enjoyed a lunch catered by The Juniper Spoon, a local catering company run by Wabash’s art gallery coordinator Lali Hess. The meal, a barley stew, Caesar salad, and bread, was made from locally grown and produced ingredients, consistent with the environmentally sustainable production methods Richards urged in his presentation. The event was sponsored by the Experience Indiana Program.