"It Ain't Easy Being Green"

Berea founder Reverend John G. Fee was beloved and revered by people invested in the cause of abolishing slavery. But was Fee a popular guy in Madison County? Since Fee began his crusade in the 1850s, before the Civil War, I’m guessing he wasn’t.

When the good reverend dared to establish the first racially integrated college in the South, folks living nearby were probably a little less than enthusiastic about his innovative ideas on inter-racial education. They probably didn’t drop by the college, drape their arm around Fee’s back and say, “John, we just want to thank you for encouraging all those black folks to come to Madison County, because darn it, we really needed more cultural and racial diversity in Kentucky.”

I recall reading that one reception committee came to the campus on horseback in the dead of night, dressed in white sheets, shooting their guns into the air. Berea may be a very friendly place now, but the guys in the pointed hoods probably didn’t come bearing a friendly reminder of the annual white sale at the Richmond trading post.

John G. Fee was probably dismissed as an eccentric at best, a fanatic at worst. Fee’s vision of racial harmony took quite a beating along the way, but time proved it was the right thing to do.

Now Berea College is embarking on another project that is seen as visionary by a few and wacky by some…at least for now.

I began following the project a few years ago, attending a meeting at Berea College in which environmental consultants introduced ideas concerning the construction of an environmentally friendly, sustainable Ecovillage.

After the meeting some locals scoffed and rolled their eyes. Green design, it seemed to them, was for people who wore hemp clothing and beat drums out in the wilderness. It was for hippies, tree huggers, not for regular folks. The concept of reusing wastewater, composting toilets, or employing natural processes to treat sewage seemed just too primitive to even discuss.

When Berea’s Ecovillage opens late this spring, it’s going to take some time to make it work. Guys wearing sheets won’t show up on horseback, shooting their guns into the air, but there will be some minor setbacks along the learning curve. That’s how innovation is. As a result, it’s going to take some time and patience for people to fairly decide whether green design is a crazy idea or a visionary one.
Folks in the 1850s who dreamed of a community where black and white people could live and learn together were a probably a lonely bunch. Today the people who envision a whole community of ecologically friendly structures are probably just as few. Are they eccentrics or visionaries? Luckily for us Bereans, we’re going to have an opportunity to learn the answer for ourselves.

written by Andy McDonald