Hi Elan, I'd like > first to hear from you , preferably on the listserve for all, a few > > specific positive strategies and/or approaches to strategy > development that emerge from what you're saying, that could > substantially improve on what is currently being done.
This response may not be as long as either of us would like, as I am about to leave on a month-long farming related trip. First, a minor point, I want to provide the internet link to the Pfeiffer article that I quoted. I had converted the word "here" into a link to http://www.mountainsentinel.com/#escapesuburbia but the conversion somehow got scrubbed from the posting to the list. For relocalization to develop prescient strategies, I think a lot more people need to become knowledgeable in two areas: 1. The nature of the crises we face in the next decades, with outcomes not seen in Western civilization since the onset of the industrial revolution. 2. The forces and interests in our society that are arrayed against what will be a growing need for communities to take charge of their own destinies, and how that conflict is likely to play out. A lot of good information is available on these subjects, so here I will only outline some important points, and see what discussion that provokes. 1. As to the nature of the crises, Jon and the others in the Tompkins County Relocalization Project have expanded on some of these in a slide show at http://ibiblio.org/tcrp/pres/tcrp-intro.pdf I encourage them to organize more educational outreach (in which I would be glad to participate) on discussion lists like this one. The summary below emphasizes the effects on food production and security, but will have similar ripple effects on shelter, economic security, and other necessities of life. The Crisis, in its multidimensionality, with likely multiplier effects across its elements, and cascading effects over time: 1. Exponentially rising energy costs for coming decades as currently foreseeable alternative energy technologies fail to compensate for the end of cheap oil; 2. Increasing water shortage for the irrigated deserts that currently supply large proportions of the food economy, here (like the California Central Valley) as elsewhere in the world; 3. Gradual loss of high-energy inputs that currently prop agricultural productivity and mask the degraded state of most farmland. Present low agroecosystemic potential stems from decades of damage to its natural capital: the biodiversity and health of mineral, water and carbon cycles that provide essential ecological services. 4. Accumulation of persistent organic pollutants, degradation of genetic traits of sustainability in most agricultural plants and animals, homogenization of gene pools and extinction losses, are all nearing a tipping point; 5. Increasing weather volatility, a near term impact of climate change; 6. Increasing agroecosystem instability, a long term impact of climate change; 7. Increasing economic crisis in the United States as federal debt, corporate debt, consumer debt, and trade deficit approach a tipping point; 8. A declining domestic economy as the empire tries to salvage with military control what it is gradually losing in global economic hegemony. 9. A massive national disinformation bubble of which most people living in it are blithely unaware. Much could be said about the implications of each of these, but I will leave the subject there for now. As for the forces arrayed against relocalization, I suggest for starters a paper I available on my website: http://www.geocities.com/northsheep/foodchange.html In it I argue that the structure and nature of the political economy is such that most people's current change strategies - lobbying govt, changing consumer preferences, etc. will fail. A proper understanding of the present local and national structure of power (5% of the population holds 95% of the wealth) indicates that the construction of mass movements are necessary for significant change to occur, and then only as they are powerful enough to leverage policy changes deep in the system. I argue that due to the power entrenched in an elite minority, all serious attempts of local communities to take charge of their own destinies will confront a glass ceiling. It is glass (that is, invisible to most) because of the false understanding of the nature of our society that has been cumulatively manufactured in the collective consciousness. In sum, I argue that successful strategies for change will require a new understanding of the nature of our society. The walmartization examples I pointed to that hit that glass ceiling are but two of the increasing number all over the country, as locals finally become outraged at the declining quality of life in their communities. And this is happening before any of the crises listed above have reached a tipping point. I mentioned in the paper others that were happening as I was writing it, and that was several years ago! I realize that this posting only skims the surface of your request, pointing at prerequisites for good strategy rather than propose in depth specific strategies on specific issues. But let's see what kind of discussion comes of this. Thanks for your interest, Karl North Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA www.geocities.com/northsheep/ "Mother Nature never farms without animals" - Albert Howard "Pueblo que canta no morira" - Cuban saying On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:05:12 -0400 Elan Shapiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi Karl > I value your thinking greatly , and I'm very glad you are urging > people to think systemically, strategically, as well as politically. > > (though I agree with Simon that not all will be or need to be) > I'm not sure I agree with all the points you make which touch > directly on projects I'm involved with such as Ecovillage and Inlet > > Development. But rather than explore point by point what's not clear > > to me, or what I may not agree with, in your discussion, I'd like > first to hear from you , preferably on the listserve for all, a few > > specific positive strategies and/or approaches to strategy > development that emerge from what you're saying, that could > substantially improve on what is currently being done. > Gratefully > Elan > > -- > Elan Shapiro > Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair > Sustainable Living Associates, Principal > Frog's Way B&B > 211 Rachel Carson Way > Ithaca, NY 14850 > 607-275-0249 > > "We must be the change we want to see in the world" > Mohandas Gandhi > > _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
