Relocalization

[Sivart]

I think this is the key to a livable future. Relocalization of goods and services, as much as possible. Corporations and Government wont do it, so it is going to have to start at the individual level.

There is info out there on how to get the ball rolling.

The more a small community or neighborhood can depend on itself, the better.

Start a neighborhood garden or food shed. Offer up your talents in exchange for your neighbor's talents. Make sure your community knows that you are all looking out for each other.

And make friends with the people around you in the process. I think we are going to have to depend on each other more and more, the way things are looking.....

[rucky]

1. K&R. We need alternatives to the multinationals

and moving things closer to home is the best way to start.

[ixion]

2. I agree 100%... and for my part

I've already disconnected myself from the grid, and am now in the process of disconnecting myself from the rest of it, and going local.

I believe that's the only way we'll get through, is to work together, locally, as a community.

[WatsonT]

3. Obviously many factors are at play but I would think that if gas prices

get beyond a certain point that may happen on it's own.

The reason suburbs exist is cheap gas.

The reason we can get goods from halfway around the world cheaper than from the next county is cheap gas.

The reason we can import fresh veggies from argentina cheaper than California is cheap gas.

[Blue Meany]

23. I buy everything I can locally, but I would like to also invest locally...

and my retirement is set up so that I have not option to invest locally or event to buy anything but the various funds created on Wall Street. This is nothing but a subsidy for financial industry who get to charge fees and have my money to invest. I think if we could get the federal law changed so that we could have true control over our retirement investment, we could revitalize local economies and, at the same time, whittle down the size of the financial industry, which is really a parasite on the productive sectors of the economy.

[bvar22]

4. Doing our part...

...In the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas since 2006.
So far, so good.
:hippie:

[NightWatcher]

5. the only system of ANYTHING that has ever worked long term was local based

or tribal based when the number of members was well below 1,000.

Maybe now we'll return to the land, return to smaller things, return to simple things.

[WatsonT]

9. Like no more computers or internet?

;-)

[jwirr]

6. This is already happening on so many levels. Read Paul Hawken's

Blessed Unrest. All over the world there are individuals and groups making strides in the kind of change that is leading us into this direction. We can see it happening in our communities if we look. I rode the bus around a rural area when it picked up passengers. What I saw made me feel so much better. Almost every house we stopped at had a garden - some small others huge. I went to a rummage sale and found a family that had chickens, ducks, geese and a turkey. That is just on the individual level. Here we do not so much have community gardens as cooperative gardens where you buy a share in the final product a farmer grows.

We talk a lot about revolution. This is the quiet revolution. The one that starts from the bottom up. The kind of revolution that cannot be stopped.

[ljm2002]

7. Absolutely agree!

It's the only thing that makes sense. It also would mean less fuel used to transport goods.

I don't think we outlaw shipping goods to and from everywhere, rather, we do exactly as you suggest and concentrate on local production of food and energy and anything else that is easily or efficiently produced locally. Lighten the load we are placing on the planet, while becoming more self-sufficient and strengthening the bonds within our communities.

It will happen, the only question is will it happen after the whole damned edifice comes crashing down and there is bloodshed and chaos? or will it happen by the conscious choices of us little people, as we communicate peer-to-peer and come to understand that we really don't have a quarrel with one another, that most of the quarrels we have on a large scale are manufactured by the ruling classes whose only motive is to increase their own wealth and power and to maintain the structures that are killing us all and killing the planet.

[Sivart]

8. Sharing

Sharing is the key. It has become a dirty word, but we have to change that. We are all better off if we are all better off.

You can share a garden, help roof a house, help fix a car, and the list goes on and on.

If we can learn to trust and depend on each other at the local level, then the DC politicians become less and less relevant.

I am not a people person - never have been - but I am forcing myself to do this. I have four sons, and society will teach them to be selfish and mean.....and no one wins when this is how we feel and act. I am also trying to get the kids and adults working together.

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Wouldn't work in my neighborhood. Next idea?

[Skidmore]

12. Have you tried?

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. Yeah. Actually I set aside some space for a community garden in our neigbhorhood.

And advertised it on the website. Not a single person was interested.
Nobody even talks to one another here so I didn't have really high expectations anyone would ever actually use it.

[Skidmore]

14. Perhaps arranging for a meeting room and

putting together a meet-and-greet would help. We did this when we had several new people move to town. It was simple. Cake and ice cream with coffee for the adults and juice for the kids. We distributed fliers door to door, chatting with people who were home and taping them to the door of those who weren't. We had good turnout and had a brief discussion as a group when all were assembled. We exchanged phone numbers. Got to know the names of everyone, children included. Not everyone has a computer and sometimes you just have to meet people face to face to get them to invest.

[Sivart]

16. Or just do it

Just plant your garden.....and make sure it is known that it is everyone's. People will come around when they see what you are up to.

I used to think that one person could not get anything going....so I never even tried. But those days are gone. These politicians are not better or smarter than us. They act as if we cannot live without them, so we need to prove them wrong.

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. Nobody gives a crap...

I even blazed a long hiking trail through the woods and built a picnic area. I hike a lot and I know a pretty trail when I see one and I was very proud of this one. Advertised it to the neighborhood. Dozens of homeonwers can see me using it on a daily basis and I have yet to see anyone use it except for some teenagers which found it pretty quick and leave trash and cigarette butts.
Aside from that, nobody in the nearly 1 year the trail has been there has stopped me and said "hey, what's the story with the trail" or "lets go for a hike" or "whats back there" or "are you growing marijuana or something?"

I routinely plant flowers in the front and pick up trash when I see it. Nobody so much as waves or even acknowledges that you're there, let alone say thank you.

Like I said, nobody talks to one another and nobody gives a crap.
I've lived other places. I know it's not typical for an entire community to be so cold.

[Shagbark Hickory]

20. Tried it. You can't even give away free food. I don't get it either.

[Skidmore]

11. Rural village answers

We live in a small village of 200 people. Our village is unincorporated so we have what is known as a "Welfare Club" to which people pay $5/yr for membership. The purpose of the group is to coordinate village-wide social activities several time a year and to conduct fundraisers to maintain the organization and the building which is used for a variety of activities. We are a nonprofit group. We meet once a month to discuss issues affecting the organization and the larger community (e.g., sewer, maintenance of common land, annual picnic, etc.).

For the past 3 years we have undertaken a community garden and it has been a great success. First, we allocate roughly $25 from our funds for the purchase of seeds and plant sets. Someone steps forward and volunteers to till or plow the plot, which is donated for use by the village church. We set a day, usually on a Saturday, for people to meet and plant the garden. Throughout the growing season, people volunteer time to weed or till. No set schedule. People just show up and work. One of the men in town made wooden signs painted with crop names. If you are over at the garden and note that a crop is ready, you drop by and hang up the appropriate sign to let people know what is ready. These are hung out in front of the club building. All produce is available to the elderly free of charge or labor. Younger folks may take produce provided they volunteer time working in the garden. We had a bumper crop of pumpkins a couple of years ago and sold them at the farmer's market and put the money back in the till to support the purchase of seed in the following year.

Other things we have done for the community is pay for the gas and volunteer to mow along the road sides and other common grounds at the town entrance. We maintain an apple orchard on a bit of the common land and people get together every Feb-Mar to prune the trees. Anyone can pick apples from the orchard. We collected heritage recipes from the older people in town and had them printed in a book which we sell. This is another source of funds. We have most recently used some these funds to repair a section of the sewer and to purchase a new mower.

There is a strong community participation ethic in this village. People help one another. Our garage door finally gave out last year and we purchased another. A couple of guys down the road came over to help put it up. This past year we had problems with one of our windows, a brand that is no longer manufactured. A wood worker down the road milled a replacement section for the lower sash and spared us the expense of replacing windows. My husband quite often repairs small appliances for people and doesn't charge them. In the winter, those who have snow blades on their pickups will plow out the driveways of the elderly or will shovel walkways for them.

About 3 years ago, a young couple moved to town and started an organic grocery. It's not a large one, but townspeople make it a point to give them business so that we can have access to staples. Comes in handy when the weather is bad and travel into the nearest large towns becomes difficult.

These are not huge tasks to do, most just take time. People are willing to step forward and provide service in the absence of a formal government structure. We do this because we take pride in our town and care for one another. That is where it needs to start. Stop fearing one another and start finding common needs and work together to meet them.

[Sivart]

15. This is how it is done....

Sounds like you are ahead of the game, Skidmore.

Now, if the shit hits the fan, whatever that may look like or mean, you have a community of people that you know you can turn to, rather than be afraid of.

If we can all get something like this going on, it provides peace of mind, pride, new friendships, and the sense of self reliance within a community. These are powerful things in a time when our federal Government has turned in to a bunch of self serving wannabe rockstars.

[Skidmore]

17. Something that is sorely needed is for a collection system

for lore in how to do things without electronic technology or manufactured products. How to make things from scratch. A good compendium outlining materials and processes which is affordable. In our home we have the reader's digest books for home maintenance but that is not enough.

[Sivart]

18. I re read your post...

I re read your post, Skidmore, and I am not only envious, but impressed as hell. This is people taking care of their community. This is what democrats are all about.

Your post makes me proud to be a democrat and an american......This is what we are supposed to be about.

Hats off to you!!

[Skidmore]

19. Thank you. I feel fortunate to live here and am very proud that

our next generation participates as well. The Boy Scouts collect the walnuts from under trees on the common land and take them to the forester who plants them. Local crafts men can harvest these trees to make cabinetry. These boys also help with repair work and errands for some of our older widows. We have a couple of teenagers who have been known to show up to rake leaves or mow for these ladies as well. They also volunteer time for serving at fundraisers.

I forgot to add that part of serving the community includes service in dark days too. Several years ago there was an elderly man who committed suicide down the road. Several women helped clean the room he died in so his wife would not have to. That's what neighbors are for--that is what community is for.

[Shagbark Hickory]

22. Sounds like a friendly place. What's the name of the village? Or what state are you in?

[Skidmore]

24. We are in south eastern Iowa.

Near the Amana Colonies.