It’s energizing to be in the presence of thoughtful people. That’s been the case over the past several weeks as we’ve hosted a series of public conversations in our stores under the banner of (S)EED Change. We’ve had the pleasure of engaging in dialogue with the likes of Chicago’s Charles Shaw, the Editor-In-Chief of Conscious Choice Magazine, Boulder’s Topher Donahue, an accomplished alpinist and photographer, Portland’s Randy Gragg, the Architecture and Urban Design critic for the Oregonian newspaper, and Seattle’s Alex Steffen, the Founder and Executive Editor of Worldchanging.com.

A few nights ago Alex, who I wrote about previously, talked about the fact that we’re at a collective crossroads. He’s incredibly attuned to the most promising indicators of positive change and recognizes that there is now widespread consensus that we need to do things differently, in part because the stark realities of not doing so are readily apparent. Given the magnitude of the problems, we’re not talking about incremental change but a massive restructuring that will enable us to dramatically reduce our ecological footprint. According to Alex, the optimists think we have four decades to do so or else we’ll face a “a catastrophic collision with reality.â€?

I was particularly struck when Alex said, “In this day and age optimism is a political act.â€? Perhaps it’s his nature, but he sees our current circumstances as a “provocation for substantive innovationâ€? and goes on to cite specific examples, which is what he and the crew at Worldchanging do so well.

I feel an affinity with Alex’s optimism but, then again, maybe I’m just denying the mounting data that suggests we’re heading straight towards a terminal crisis. So, which way do you lean when you wake up in the morning and what is it that tilts you in that particular direction?