Choosing Rachel Carson Ecovillage is an act of faith in our collective future, a unique opportunity to work with others in building a sustainable world. In developing Silent Spring, Rachel Carson was battling her own pessimism about humanity’s ability to change course. Deeply admiring Albert Schweitzer’s theme of “Reverence for Life,” she also identified with his statement “Modern man no longer knows how to foresee or to forestall. He will end up by destroying the earth from which he and other creatures draw their food.” If Silent Spring showed us what a world without birdsong looks like, the deeper question is: what does a world that gets it right look like?
For me, this is about the technical aspects of building a certified Passive home, landscape management that minimizes degradation, avoiding stormwater runoff, and the opportunity to work with others in making the most of regional assets. The Sisters of Divine Providence have given us an oasis of walkability with many conveniences within a fifteen-minute walk. We will live in homes that will radically reduce the 25-40% of conditioned air leaked by the average home and we will prosper in a natural Blue Zone with numerous rain gardens filtering the storm water on our forested property. We are fortunate in having public transportation within walking distance and local partners working with us to make it even better.
Pittsburgh has a rare abundance of fresh water and ranks high among livable cities, with a cultural bounty for above cities with a similar number of people, but its greatest asset for our North Hill community is in healthcare, robotics, and AI. We are blessed with a great hospital on our doorstep. Robotics reduces dangerous, wasteful, and carbon-intensive work (inspection, maintenance, precision construction, leak detection, grid monitoring). The Mon Valley/Beaver Valley power-hungry facilities for AI will benefit the whole region in better planning in a wide range of applications and our grid infrastructure will be far cleaner and stronger as electrical systems grow in importance.
The land use issues, especially in old leaky housing, pollution from infrastructure built around cars (often dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists), and storm water runoff will take time. The good news is that anyone choosing our community can avoid many of these and simultaneously work with us to further expand Pittsburgh’s well-deserved reputation for resilience and success.
– David Clapp, Founding member