The Geography of Hope

Chris “Turner” Turner, my fellow DJ at Clark Hall Pub back in my days at Crazy Go Nuts University, is currently touring the globe with his wife Ashley Bristowe and daughter Sloane, doing research on his next book, titled The Geography of Hope: A Guided Tour of the World We Need. The book, from what I recall of Chris’ description last summer, is a guided tour of things that people are doing to create healthy, sustainable places to live with a sense of community. Being a believer that progress and good planetary stewardship needn’t be diametrically-opposed mutual exclusives, a guy who likes to think about communities and being an optimist in general, I find the idea of Chris’ upcoming book fascinating. I look forward to getting a copy once it comes out next year.

In the meantime, Ashley’s been dutifully blogging their research trip, which has included:

• Berlin, where he caught up with Ian Conacher, whom I knew from the late Shift magazine, where he’s shooting a documentary about solving the plastic problem (made from oil, takes forever to break down, and yet we chuck it at an incredible rate).
• Staying in an Earthship in Taos. Earthships are houses that are designed to be as self-sustaining as possible while keeping environmental impact to a minimum.
• Restaurant recommendations, should your travels take you along paths near theirs.

In addition to the Geography of Hope blog and Ashley’s personal blog, they’ve also got a Flickr photoset that covers their travels.

Safe travels, Ash and Turner, and I’ll be reading!