Sustaining the Stones

The word on everyone's lips, more or less since I got here, is sustainability. There has also been a fair amount of confusion over what exactly it refers to. I have to show sustainability in my programmes when I apply for a grant from the Province every summer, and in that case, it's referring to whether we have the wherewithal to continue providing them.

On Thursday afternoon, I went in the torrential rain into a majestic, green forest, the kind that presages certain psychological states, to attend a meeting about sustainability - teaching it through environmental education.

The group I belong to are known as Lower Mainland Museum Educators, although it's rather a misnomer, since museum educators are really only a section of the members, many of us come from environmental organisations, or other extended education facilities such as the Planetarium and Science World, and that was never more true than on Thursday.

But watching a rather superb programme on National Geographic this morning, about an archaeological dig around Stonehenge and the theories it had given rise to, made me think about sustainability once more.

I am frequently, frequently finding myself in a conversation that has turned to Stonehenge and invariably one speaker will bang on about how they would never go to Stonehenge now, whilst in 1963 or thereabouts, they were able to go and sit on the actual stones, now you can just stand and look from the other side of the road or some such tosh.
This happened to me again last evening.
Well bully for them. The fact is, the organisation 'English Heritage', has made a brilliant job of rendering Stonehenge sustainable. No, people can't sit on the stones, but you can certainly get close enough to feel the vibe, you could touch it if you wanted to and you can listen to an excellent audio tour whilst you are going around the stones.

Stonehenge was a remarkable feat of co-operation by a determined people whose leaders had a burning vision and enough trust from their people to enact it. And the people of Britain itself, whilst tribal in nature, were nonetheless already bonded by nationhood based on spirituality.

We're still tribal, but on a planet-wide basis. And on a planet-wide level, we're a global society, and we have a mighty task to accomplish. Can we succeed as those early peoples did?
Do we have the will and vision?
Do we want it enough?