It’s the end of the world as we know it

Local News

Related Photos

Nancy Taggart

December 30, 2009

And Berea feels fine

By Bill Robinson The Richmond Register Wed Dec 30, 2009, 08:29 AM EST

BEREA — Tomorrow is the end of the year, some say the end of the decade, but will the world end on Dec. 21, 2012?

According to interpretations of an ancient Mayan prophecy and a prediction by the French mystic Nostradamus, the Earth, or at least civilization, has less than two years left.

No matter what you choose to believe about “the end of days,” a book published nearly three years ago recommends Berea as the place most likely to survive the Apocalypse, whatever form it takes.

This town, founded by utopian abolitionists nearly 155 years ago, has received much praise attention over the years. However, author Lawrence E. Joseph’s assertion about Berea’s durability has piqued some curiosity and gotten a few laughs

The NBC network’s “Today” show was impressed enough to send a film crew to Berea early this month to look the town over and interview some community leaders.

The segment is expected to air at 7:21 a.m. on Friday, said Belle Jackson, who heads Berea’s tourism department.

Joseph, who lives in Beverly Hills and chairs a New Mexico-based plasma physics firm, first visited Berea in the 1990s. His book, “Apocalypse 2012," cites the spiritual and environmental values espoused by Berea College and the sustainability efforts of Berea residents for his belief that the community may survive a world-ending cataclysm.

No other place on Earth “embodies the sacred Mayan values of service to humanity and Mother Earth like the town of Berea, Kentucky,” he writes.

Joseph also praises the college’s Ecovillage and likes the area’s lack of volcanic and seismic activity.

While she discounts Apocalyptic predictions, Jackson said the points Joseph makes help explain why Berea has survived and thrived for more than a century and a half and can look forward to a promising future.

Economic and environmental sustainability are peace and justice issues for today, just as equal educational opportunities for all races and genders was for an earlier age, Jackson said.

“People who have lived their entire lives in Berea as I have may not think about it being so different or special,” Jackson said. “When people from elsewhere say it, however, it prompts us to be more appreciative of what we have here.”

Mark Jeantheau and Donna Wellman were living in suburban Washington, D.C., more than four years ago when they decided to look for a more peaceful and sustainable existence.

After looking about the country, they settled in Berea.

The couple has installed a 10,000-gallon underground cistern to irrigate the food plants they grow on their property on Owlsley Fork creek. They also generate electricity with solar panels.

The cistern got them through he droughts of summer 2007 and fall 2008, Jeantheau said. Their electricity use is about net-neutral over the course of a year.

In general, however, Berea is not much more sustainable or resilient than other communities, he said.

Still, “Berea is a good place to be. But becoming more sustainable will take personal and community efforts. That's where (the community group) Sustainable Berea comes in,” he said. “It’s trying to educate people about the need to be more community-based and self-reliant — and get them involved.”

Richard Olson, who chairs Sustainable Berea and heads Berea College’s department of sustainability and environmental studies, said he sees “nothing precipitous about the year 2012.” However, interest generated by books such as Joseph’s and the movie “2012” are useful in getting people to think about sustainability.

“We have some very well documented economic and environmental challenges facing us” without delving into ancient prophecies, he said.

“The world’s population is growing by a billion people every 12 years," he said. “And, our capacity to pump oil and extract coal from the ground is going to peak in the next 15 to 20 years.”

Whatever the limits of their production, burning fossil fuels is driving global climate change, Olson said.

“We’ve have seen in the past two years just how fragile the world financial is,” the professor said. “We’ve have gotten through this most recent crisis only by printing money, and that is going to cause inflation down the road. We also can’t depend on China for all of our manufactured goods.”

To survive, “We need to design communities, homes and businesses that can get by using half the energy we are using today,” he said, “because that is all that will be available or affordable.

“We also need to produce food and consumer goods locally and teach people the skills to do that.”

Sustainable Berea promotes planting fruit trees and bushes as well as vegetable gardens. It also encourages the use of rain barrels for irrigation and teaches sustainability skills.

Olson does not see himself as a prophet of doom.

“We can exist comfortably in the future if we prepare properly for it,” he said.

“In a future based on enjoying our families, cultivating creativity and useful arts, as well as eating food that we have grow ourselves, we will probably live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives,” Olson said.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.

Text Only

Local News

‘She wasn’t just a teacher’ : Lambert retires after 43 years at Berea
Scroll to the bottom of the story to read "Love for Lambert: Berea graduates share memories of their teacher," as well as a list of other Berea retirees this year.

Writer’s Note: Brenda Lambert is the reason I write articles today (Class of 2000).

Years ago, a little blonde-haired girl from Rockcastle County gathered her friends to “play school” in a 10-by-10 foot playhouse her father built.
Even at 12 years old, Brenda Lambert knew she wanted to be a teacher one day.
“I always felt like an old person trapped in a young person's body,” said Lambert, who is retiring after 43 years of service to Berea Community School.

May 27, 2012 5 Photos
Special Olympics return for 18th year at EKU
Next weekend, the Special Olympics Kentucky State Summer Games return to Eastern Kentucky University campus. This is the 18th consecutive year EKU has hosted the event.
The games will be Friday through June 2. About 1,300 athletes will compete this year.

May 27, 2012 1 Photo
Assault charges reduced, dismissed by grand jury
Two men arrested in connection with serious assaults had their charges reduced, and in one case dismissed, by a Madison grand jury.
Jerry Wayne Edington, 34, of Berea Road, was charged Jan. 19 with second-degree assault after an altercation at the Blue Moon bar on East Irvine Street, according to a Richmond police report.

May 27, 2012
Dump of the Day
The Dump of the Day is a recurring series the newspaper publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Page A7 in Sunday's paper to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.

May 27, 2012 1 Photo
Paradise Cove open through Labor Day Opening day of Paradise Cove Family Aquatic Center coincided with a spike in temperatures Friday which reached 90 degrees. The facility, located in Richmond’s Lake Reba Park, will be open through Sept. 3. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
May 26, 2012
Dump of the Day
An old mattress, a car seat and other debris sit Friday afternoon on North Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets where it was first spotted Thursday. The “Dump of the Day” is a recurring series the Richmond Register publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Sunday’s Richmond Register to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Undefeated academic team brings pride to Madison Middle School
Madison Middle School 6th and 7th grade academic teams have been undefeated for the last two years.
The 8th grade team also has done well, having some students qualify to compete at the state level.

May 26, 2012
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Man is indicted on additional sex charge involving teen in 1998
A man already accused of sex abuse in November 2011 has been indicted on a charge of first-degree rape involving a child in 1998.
Charles W. Peyton, 63, of East Irvine Street, was indicted Wednesday by a Madison grand jury. He used “forcible compulsion” to have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl between March 1 and May 1 in 1998, according to the indictment.

May 26, 2012
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.
Officers responded to a call in the 1000 block of Scaffold Cane Road about a man trying to break into a home, according to a release from BPD Public Information Officer Jake Reed.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Related Photos

It’s the end of the world as we know it

And Berea feels fine

A recent health ranking listed Madison County as the 20th healthiest county in the state. It measured factors such as exercise, access to health care and smoking. Do you smoke cigarettes?

Site Map