Chad Bliss, Founder & Executive Director, Cob Connection
When discussing the blog and the journey recently I find myself saying that I don’t know when it will end. There aren’t any criteria, there are no metrics, there’s no quantifiable data. What happens if after meeting 60 people I still have no idea what I want to do? 60 sounds nice but there is no way to make sure I find my passion or the issue I’m ‘most’ passionate about.
This is the conclusion I’ve come to. When something doesn’t let me sleep like the earthquake in Sichuan didn’t let Aron Solomon sleep, when I feel something that presents an asymmetry in heart or head- something that “doesn't fit” like we'll hear from Chad Bliss, I’ll know I’m on to something. Finding passion isn’t a matter of numbers or thoughts. Finding passion is less measurable than data yet just as tangible, just as necessary.
So goes the story of Chad Bliss, Founder and Executive Director of Cob Connection. 
Something didn't fit...until something happened. Something similar, as Mr. Bliss describes, to love at first sight.
The relationship continues now through the 'plan' Mr. Bliss alludes to called Communitree.
“And this [vision of Communitree] was like 5 years ago and it had food system, farmer's markets, it had a dormitory- it was going to be a shelter-, it had trees, greenhouses, a woodlot, all of that. And as much as I felt connected doing that Cob workshop I had this vision and I put it all down on paper and I knew that's what had to happen...Communitree had natural building structures, food systems, greenhouses and trees. It's a sustainable community right there-all the natural resources. So, then I started with cob.”
Since starting with Cob the organization has grown to more fully encompass the vision of Communitree.
“We have one of [Cob Connection's] lots where all the food gets donated to the food pantry. So now we're talking about food security so people know they're going to have food tomorrow by growing it here...We have workforce development so we teach people how to grow. And then we have the micro-enterprise of farmer's markets, restaurants and market baskets all right here as a system. So now we're developing systems. The very original blueprint of Communitree was that- was a system. Was a community system. In essence [Cob Connection] is a sustainable community.”
This vision required transformation. Everything about the founding and development of Cob Connection is based on transformation. To see what is and imagine what could be. From the cob itself, as Mr. Bliss mentioned, (combining clay, straw and sand to create and transform what was there into something else) to communities of which Mr. Bliss says this:
Cob Connection does transform. And how can it not when Mr. Bliss' own story is based on transformation, change and growth?
“Once we take responsibility for our lives then we can start transforming out there.” Cob Connection was founded in this decision. By taking responsibility for his life, Mr. Bliss has created an organization that literally transforms the world. Through cob, through working with people and communities, new ways of being with each other are created. Imagine the day when we all make the decision as Mr. Bliss did so that we too can start transforming out there. The story that starts with a love affair ends (in this post) with a challenge. (And really, love without challenge may just be, as Ed Chambers writes in Roots for Radicals, sentimentality.)
What was the last decision you made that changed the world?
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