Smoke Trails #3 Possibility Alliance You know how there are certain times and places you sometimes wish you had been born into? Like Barcelona in the 1930's? Paris in 1880 or 1968? San Francisco in, uh, just about anytime? Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that years from now, decades from now, perhaps even centuries from now, our children's children will pine away for a better time, wish that they had been among the pioneers that founded the sanctuary that is known as Possibility Alliance. Today, to visit the PA, you wouldn't necessarily guess that the place would ever amount to anything. On the surface, there isn';t much that distinguishes it from any other single-nuclear-family hippie household of Northerners going back-to-the-land. There's a house, there's a barn, there's a shed. There are rolling hills and a rippling pond. There are gardens, fields, and fruit tree forests. There are a couple of horses, a handful of goats, and about a dozen roosters. There are hand-painted signs and hard-carved hard tools. But it's thick with endless, infinite possibilities. Because the founding members of the Alliance are Ethan and Sarah Hughes -- the dynamic duo behind the Haul of Justice. For the last 9 years, a fleet of freaks dressed up in super-hero costumes have biked across the continent, approaching people and offering their aid to any and all, regardless of political persuasion. For one month out of the year, they operate entirely by gift economy, giving their time and energy in any which way they can, without any thoughts of being compensated in return. As an avid comic book reader who's prone to dressing up in costume even when I don't have any excuse to do so, I'm excited by the oportunity to re-invent myself simply for the fun of it. But I'm also moved by Ethan's reasoning to explain the importance of taking on new identities: like author Joseph Campbell, he insists that myths and legends are absolutely critical to our culture, and that in our modern industrial societies, they're largely absent. We need to be inspired to become our higher selves. In the immortal words of Mahatmas Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." And in the mortal words of Bonnie Tyler, "I need a hero!" Over the last decade, they've created a culture, formed a tribe of nomadic do-gooders who insist on being as ecological as possible, without being holier-than-thou. They can't take themselves too seriously because they're wearing capes and costumes. It's an extremely rare combination, people that work to create social justice, without passing social judgment. This road-trip revolution isn't just a dance party, it's a dress-up dance party, it's Emma Goldman at Burning Man, riding by on a mutant bike! But the Haul of Justice only lasts for a month out of the year, what about the other eleven? Is it possible to take the spirit of the super-heroes and transition it to a lifestyle that's not transient? The heroes have managed until now without a Fortress of Solitude, but is it possible to take these noble principles and apply them to year-round living? What would it look like to live non-violently in every way? And what would it take? Ethan, Sarah, and their baby daughter Etta acquired land in La Plata, Missouri, on the railroad line between Kansas City and Chicago. And on that land, they live without using any electricity whatsoever. Now, I don't mean that they have solar panels and wind turbines amd that they've gotten off the grid. I'm saying that they have taken vows of radical simplicity and intend to survive by the sweat of their brows. They prefer to leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong, thank you, and live on the bounty of the earth itself. The same can be said of the Amish neighbours that have lived here for generations. But here the foundational texts aren't the Gospels According to Patriarchy. At the Possibility Alliance, they start off with morning meditations on Rumi, and gather together at night to read Hafiz poems by candlelight. Without a website to advertise their existence, they receive hundreds of guests every year, and plot to start up a satellite community in the ghetto that will map the urban areas for fruit trees, start up a permanent Food Not Bombs, and funnel people out to the country. And of course, they don't wear all black -- at the PA, it's pretty much anything but! So far, they haven't found any other couples or single folk willing to join them in their sufi crusade to squash scarcity. Anticipating the post-carbon economy and insisting on doing at least their fair share of fossil-fuel frugality, they're living simply so that others may simply live. But they're doing it with gaeity, not guilt. Will your direct descendants get to grow up in this way? Will you come to save the day, today and every day? Remember, with great power comes great responsibility; and if you've been born into this era, and you're reading this e-mail, then you have great, great power indeed!