Viva la NashVitality, Y'all!

As far as many members of the East Nashville Farmers Market faithful are concerned, every Wednesday at three-thirty is a time that is spoken for and will be until late Fall.  Upon entering the circle of vendors' booths, people wander, socialize, and exchange tips on cooking and admiring comments about the various dogs and babies that accompany nearly everyone on the premises.  It's a market.  It's also an established component of the culture of East Nashville and a vital part of the growing sustainability movement. 

Wait a minute.  Buying a chess pie or the world's tastiest kale is part of a movement?  Goat's milk soap is revolutionary?  Yes.  The Metro Public Health Department and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean want you (yes, you over there, we see you hiding that Moon Pie) to live a healthier lifestyle. Here's what Mayor Dean had to say about the subject:  

 “Fresh fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy lifestyle, and Nashville is fortunate to have many local farmers and farmers markets to provide these natural and nutritious foods to our community. The East Nashville Farmers Market is an example of the many markets that are important for shaping and sustaining a healthier Nashville.”

So this, uh, thing? This big green revolution...  How is it different from any other city's efforts to make everyone hug a tree and eat an egg from a happy chicken with friends and lots of sunshine?  The thing is called NashVitality; and what sets it apart is the focus on creating and promoting opportunities for positive change at a communal level, 

When most city leaders decide to go green, they start with architectural revamping and large scale infrastructure conversions that are expensive, flashy and create a lot of media noise. The result is often pretty and it does offer a degree of benefit in terms positive environmental impact.  Those big measures are brave.  They merit the attention and serious evaluation they garner by those who want to develop more sustainable urban spaces in their own towns.  However, when the human scale of civic change is not a central part of the picture, adoption of more immediate, localized measures can be abbreviated.

This is especially true when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of a citizenry who wants to see a greener, cleaner, healthier city, but is also devoting a large portion of its time and resources to taking care of individual and family concerns.  When the scale moves beyond individual reach, when the time frame for viability stretches too far into the future, it is easy for many people, no matter how fervently they believe in the ideals driving the changes, to check out, leaving completion in the hands of future generations. What sustainability activists sometimes overlook is the need for smaller, attainable goals, measures that give everyone a taste of (and for) a future that is less taxing on the environment and each other.  

Marne Duke, manager of the NashVitality campaign, sees the solution as somewhere in between the grander Tomorrowland of acres of solar arrays and a car running on fuel courtesy of a household Mr. Fusion in every garage.  According to Ms. Duke.

" The campaign is really about creating opportunities where we live, work, learn, worship and play to live healthier lives. We try to focus on places and opportunities, rather than individual actions. We’ve found it’s less overwhelming for folks trying to make lifestyle changes to feel a part of a larger movement and supported in all the places they visit" 

The opportunities NashVitality promotes are plentiful and diverse.  The initiative's website serves as a green information nerve center where Metro Davidson County residents can find information about everything from events that promote a healthier lifestyle by getting active to workshops on improving life at the office to the best places to buy that perfect tomato or learn to grow one of your own. 

According to Ms Duke, the program was created by the Metro Public Heath Department in collaboration with the Mayor's Office and a collection of community movers and shakers.  The MHPD funded the creation of the NashVitality brand through a grant called Communities Putting Prevention to Work that was initially awarded to the city by the Department of Health and Human Services as a part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

The result was an unprecedented outreach effort that announced the existence of the new program in the various weekly papers, on billboards, buses, and benches all over Nashville.   The campaign included images of people from all walks of like engaged in activities associated with the lifestyle that would become the benchmark for NashVitality's goals.  The success of the program is borne out in the pictures that followed the initial unveiling of the program.  The idealized vision of a healthier Nashville is getting closer to reality every day thanks to NashVitality.  

So the next time you bite into a local strawberry or pass up processed corn meal for open-pollinated meal that was grown and ground in Middle Tennessee, keep in mind that you are committing a revolutionary act.

Viva la NashVitality, y'all!