A Conversation with D.

A Conversation with D.

As I prepare for my presentation to Chicago Wilderness Sustainability Committee, a recent conversation comes to mind. A few weeks ago I attended an event and met a friend and colleague, the conversation led to what each of us was up to and he expressed genuine concern on my professional state. I told him I was no longer a member of the American Association of Landscape Architects or a member of many of the previous professional associations I belonged to.  He was stunned at my purposeful exit from these groups: “many people want to belong to as many professional associations as possible and here you are negating yourself doors that may open for you! “What doors?” I replied, “I was a member of the ASLA for decades, paid my yearly dues, attended conferences and subscribed to their magazine from which I learned precious little. I was constantly told that the society was there to help its members get their voice heard. In the last decade I submitted numerous abstracts of my research and work, all denied, while during the same period I presented numerous times including at the Society for Ecological Restoration conferences, at the Future Cities conferences, at Cities Alive conference and a number of International Ecology conferences.  The only time I received a note from the ASLA was after my decision to leave the group expressing their disappointment in seeing me go. It is not I that left the association rather the association was never there for me, all they were interested in was the yearly fee. If you accept my money and not my voice then it would be stupid of me to continue the relationship, don’t you think?” He looked at me with a frown that transmitted disbelief. “Now you won’t be able to use any of the anagrams after your name and you won’t look as professional as others who do”. I had to admit that was the case, we have a certain regard for accumulating professional badges, each one a symbol of accomplishment and here I was negating my own. The paper chase has been part of our educational system since the very beginning and a measure of professionalism. “Who would you consider the right professional person to tackle today’s problems?” I blurted out in self-defense.  He brought the glass of beer to his lips and took a longer than normal sip, I could see that he was giving the question some serious thought. “Well you know, all the professions are struggling to come to terms with this, we need to think outside the box; Nico, I know your work is a little before its time.”  “What does that mean?!” I said in a louder voice than intended. “How could it be before its time when I am proposing it in the present?” I could see he was taken aback by my tone so I recomposed myself “I mean, to meet the challenges we face there must be an open dialogue, this means open to all not only those with badges, or those in position of power, and no one is ‘THE PROFESSIONAL’ any more, not with climate change and the uncertainty it brings, and besides looking back it doesn’t seem that the professionals have led us to a good place. Yet I see the ASLA promoting municipalities should only consult with ASLA professionals, and this turf war is being carried out by all the professional fields.” “Well you can’t have any John Doe come in and be part of a professional solution!” he said with a snap to his voice. “What about all the value we place on community involvement?” I replied. “Yes you need community feedback, but then we need to leave the rest to the professionals” he seemed very pleased with what he perceived as the conclusion to the discussion. “We are back at the same question then, what constitutes a professional? Or better who is more suited to resolve the issues?” I said in a forced calm low voice. His expression begged for clarification to what I just said. Now it was I that took a longer sip than normal and thought that my framing was wrong. He interrupted my thought, “you know, your problem is that you practice your work as art”, he got my attention, “you can’t treat it as a personal goal, it must be done in collaboration”. I interjected “I believe I am collaborating, I am working with others to realize the work”. “No, I mean that there is a pace that things evolve and your work is not recognizing that pace”. “But isn’t that what we call breakthroughs?” “Well you can breakthrough your way to poverty, my advice to you is to try and fit in more, you don’t have to negate your work but you should really try to be part of the same scene”.  “I think the pace of the profession is too slow, we are not solving the problems and just keep fooling ourselves by always striving for the lowest hanging fruit. We have surpassed the 350 threshold for CO2 in the atmosphere and the occasion had hardly any ripple effect, we continue to talk ourselves into a state of inertia, in fact we are prepared to drill and frack for more of the poison to spill into the atmosphere. Doesn’t that bother you?” “And you have the answer!?” “At least I am trying to do something alternative!” “So are many people, much smarter than the both of us.” “So what are you saying, that we should not participate and let the ‘smarter people’ do their job?”  “Hey, do you see anyone sacrifice their future? They operate within a structure, in universities, in organizations, they don’t go ‘lone ranger’. Don’t you know of any firm you could work in and still be able to participate?” “There are a few I respect, companies like Rana, for example.”  “Then why don’t you approach them?” “I did, they were not interested. And before you ask, I also tried to teach again, it seems I am out of the loop in both counts.” “That’s what I mean, your demeanor and attitude bothers people. Why don’t you try fitting in first and then work your way into a position where you can address the issue your way?” “What do you think I was doing the last twenty five years? There comes a time when you realize that your ideas won’t be fulfilled by anybody else.” “OK, so where are you at now?” “I am at the cusp of building a pilot project at ICA in Chicago.” “How is that going?’ “Painfully slow, we are depended on getting some grant money and perhaps raising some funds through the social networks.” “Good luck with that! What you need is some serious doe and with the economic times the way they are you may be looking at a long wait.” “We have somewhat of a strategy, maybe it will work.” “Look I know you are passionate about your work and I wish you the best, but you also need to face up to reality and be prepared to fail.” “Thanks D! That’s encouraging!” “No. But it’s reality!” He had enough of the conversation, pretended to see someone and excused himself. As he stepped into the crowd he looked back and in a loud voice said " China, that's where things are being done these days, give it some thought." I sat staring at the half pint of Guinness in my hand “shit! I hate these conversations that make you think twice about what you do.”

I am presenting my work at the Chicago Wilderness Sustainability meeting on July 11 at the CMAP offices, Willis Tower, 8^th floor, hoping to get others interested in the work and elicit support. If you are interested in attending please contact Chris.mulvaney@chicagowilderness.org so as to be placed on the list of attendees for the security screening.