David Wann is an author, filmmaker, market gardener, amateur musician, father, husband and co-founder of a cohousing neighborhood in Colorado, where he's lived for 26 years, providing organic produce for 27 households. In some ways, as you hear Dave speak and look into what he is passionate about (sustainability, community, change), he sounds like what many label a "hippy." In the conversation we actually addressed that head on and Dave was not apologetic or bothered by this label. He feels there are certain ideals, or at least principles, we should all live by to take care of the earth, ourselves, and humanity as a whole.

The two things I found particularly interesting from this conversation were, firstly the juxtaposition of the free spirited "hippy" persona with the deep sense of responsibility and burden to strive for positive change and improvement. There is a very real sense of pressure and burden that Dave seems to feel to live up to his ideal values. That is why the value of "integrity" is so important to him, because it means no matter how hard it gets you stay true to what you believe in. 

The second thing was a common question that comes up on this how, trying to determine if there is one objectively "right" way to live? And if there is, what does it look like, how we do know if we've found it, and how far are we willing to go to ensure everyone lives by it? As a credit to Dave's authenticity but also his conviction, he acknowledged at times he can come off "preachy" or presumptive in what changes he thinks we need to make, but he has been very thoughtful and logical in the formation of his values and he believes in them deeply. This made for a really interesting discussion, where we were able to explore a lot and try to think through to some of life's biggest questions.