An overarching idea at the core of going Green is the notion that it is good, if not essential, to slow our current pace of life. Our embrace of the industrialized way, with its emphasis on mechanized efficiency, unrelenting competition, and demands for maximized productivity, has forced us, within a single generation, to completely change the way we live. It was not so long ago that life accommodated time for friends and family, walks in the wilderness, home cooked meals, impromptu conversation with neighbors on the front porch, story reading at bedtime, and unsupervised sports and games we made up ourselves. Today, both mom and dad need to work, long work hours are expected, food is selected for its convenience, children need to be rushed off to school and then to other organized activities via the automobile, and socialization is promulgated electronically. We baby boomers can probably still remember those simpler times but many born after 1980 only catch glimpses of the simpler life on vintage television programs and it must seem just as distant as any other television fantasy. Many in our culture are now sensing that the hectic life we currently lead has ceased to improve our happiness.

This sense of dissatisfaction entered my life at the end of the last century thus I began to look for new hopeful opportunities to change that situation not only for me but for others suffering the same malady. Near the end of 2002 I ran across the following statement:

This spoke to me. How elegant. While tackling all the ills brought to us by Industrialization may seem overwhelming, the revival of the kitchen and the table seems imminently doable. There is something poetic in an advocacy effort to change the fundamentals of a culture through the seductive pleasure of preparing and enjoying great food. Sign me up.

I delved into research into Slow Food movement and things only got better. The above is the Slow Food USA Mission and here is the Slow Food International Manifesto:

I did learn later that the 1989 conference, held in Paris, where this manifesto was written and Slow Food International was founded, was a boisterous affair lasting several days and as many sleepless nights where the forming of ideas and the writing process was aided by the consumption of large quantities of red wine. Never the less, looking back nearly 20 years, the words seem prophetic.

In early 2003 Patty (my wife) and I, along with a number of friends, founded the local chapter of Slow Food USA. Local chapters are known as conviviums because they promote conviviality. Although the mission has changed a bit, Slow Food Indy is still very active today. You can get information at www.slowfoodusa.org. "Green" or "Slow", we share a vision for a better future. Candace's Urban Garden may give us cause to celebrate together - over food, wine and, of course, conviviality.