The Preamble: What's in a Name?

Cory Ames: [00:00:00] Hey y'all, it's Corey here, and I'm thrilled to introduce a new format of the show, what we'll be calling ensembles. These ensembles are designed to be something of a meditation, helping us to explore the art of living and working sustainably and building a better world from a different perspective.

Cory Ames: These episodes are a shorter form complement to our longer, more narrative and educational shows. If our other shows are heavy on action, these ensembles offer a different pace, with analysis, reflection, a means to distill and name what matters.

Cory Ames: So our first ensemble here, uh, a preamble to all ensembles to come, if you will, will be digging deeper into this experimental format itself.

Cory Ames: This ensemble is titled What's in a name?[00:01:00] Welcome to our first ensemble, meditations exploring the art of living and working sustainably. With each ensemble, I'll share a story, a quote, an excerpt, a clip from the wide world of sustainability that evoked a thought idea or question within me.

Cory Ames: Perhaps unlike other media on sustainability, here we'll seek understanding. As we arrive at the material, themes, and stories we discuss, we'll seek out what matters. The principles, values, and ideas we can take with us on our collective journey to build a more sustainable world. Yes, we will discuss the [00:02:00] tactical and the practical of living and working more sustainably, but our driving motivation will be to find wisdom.

Cory Ames: Because I can't help but feel we have a problem. We might all want to live in a completely sustainable world, but are we sure what that means? What does that entail? How do we personally and societally have to change? Sure, we might have to plug our cars in at the end of the day versus stopping at the pump, but does that bring into question what values, beliefs, and stories are worth revisiting?

Cory Ames: We must consider if the tools we used in the past are the right ones for this job. We're not adequately critiquing what we value and how we think. We aren't interrogating what we believe is possible, the stories that we tell ourselves and others. [00:03:00] We aren't altering what we aspire to. A greened up version of the status quo will get us nowhere.

Cory Ames: Acting and seeing things in isolation will get us nowhere. It feels naive to believe that the understanding and level of consciousness I have today is all that is necessary to manifest an ecotopia that's habitable and fair for everyone. Did I miss us doing this before? Changing how we live in the world must require changing how we think about the world.

Cory Ames: Because living and working sustainably is not just about changing how we do the things we do. That is just one part. It's about from the ground up building a better More compelling and inspiring story for what we value and what we believe is possible

Cory Ames: to build. What's possible. We have to learn what's possible to build a better world.

Cory Ames: We have to [00:04:00] learn what's better by learning and understanding more about the world we inhabit and choosing to see things. As part of a greater whole versus in isolation, we can build the better, more sustainable world we've always wanted. We can corral the courage within ourselves, within all of us to believe that just the way it is only remains as such for as long as we allow it.

Cory Ames: We can believe how we live, run our economies and organize our communities can be restorative and regenerative just by. Nature. I'm grateful to have you here by my side as we explore and seek to understand this art of living.

Cory Ames: I'll share stories of people who have challenged convention for their conviction of what's right, not just for themselves, but for the greater [00:05:00] whole.

Cory Ames: Like my friend, Eric Henry, who believes you should only build your business's supply chain As far as you can drive in an afternoon, I'll share new visions and ideas of progress that might challenge the paradigm that bigger is always better. And scalability is an absolute like my friends at Bodhi Surf and Yoga, a resort nestled in Uviza, Costa Rica, where they have decidedly scaled in the depth of their participation in their local community versus scaled the presence.

Cory Ames: of their business. I'll share with you both the incredible innovations of today like a coral farm growing coral at 50 times the regular rate to restore the world's dying reefs as well as the wisdom of ideas of yesterday.

Cory Ames: Tactics alone, technology alone won't bring about the future we all hope to live in.

Cory Ames: Of course, strictly [00:06:00] philosophizing about it won't either. It's about all elements coming together, noticing the patterns between the seemingly unrelated performing music versus a bunch of notes or noise played in isolation. It's about viewing things as a whole rather than individually. It's about seeing the ensemble.

Cory Ames: All right y'all, that's a wrap. If you liked this ensemble and want to keep up with those to come, consider subscribing for free to my weekly newsletter, The Weekly Ensemble, where each week you receive a meditation that explores the art of living and working sustainably. You can find a link in the show notes or video description, or you can go to growensemble.

Cory Ames: com backslash newsletter. Until next time.[00:07:00]