Tuesday, April 1, 2008

And So It Begins

Is It Any Wonder We're Anxious

The signs are all about. Every day there are more and they are escalating in their degree of seriousness. Here's a few I noticed over the past couple of weeks:

Delta Airlines is significantly cutting its number of flights this summer. Flights that aren’t full in time for take off will be cancelled.
Middle-aged white-collar workers in the 40’s and 50’s are moving back into their parents’ homes for shelter.
Twenty-four states are now paying $4 or higher for gasoline, so to save money and stay in business truckers and carriers are slowing down and carrying loads for multiple suppliers at a time. Seems they are now also poised to strike.
Bread, a friend complained, is over $5.00 for a standard brand loaf of bread at the supermarket where she shops. A loaf of our spelt bread, which we eat because we are allergic to wheat, costs over $6.00 now
Merchants are resorting to haggling in order to sell their merchandise.
Airlines are returning to prop planes for regional flights because they use less fuel.
Worldwide food shortages are arising in Africa, Central American and Afghanistan and food prices are escalating not only here but everywhere, even Rome and Paris.
Water wars are developing now in Colorado.

The changes we've been feeling anxious about are no longer things to worry might happen. They are happening. It's crucial we take note of them, heed them and help others to do so without undue stress. We can take steps individually to reduce our energy footprint, but even more crucial is to begin joining with others and encouraging those we work with or know otherwise know to be concerned to create small, sustainable, walkable, food-producing local communities right within our own towns, neighborhoods and bioregions.

Many people are already beginning to do this. We can learn more about how to do this and find out the efforts and progress of others through such organizations as the Relocation Network (www.Relocalize.net) or BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (www.livingeconomies.org). The sooner we begin such efforts, the less difficult they will be to realize.

5 comments:

  1. and so it begins... thanks for all your work sarah! I'm friends with bob banner and live in slo ! going to get involved in relocalization here.. I also have a blog - infopatriots.org

    respect!

    zachary

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to meet you Zachary. I look forward to visiting your blog. I'm glad you are getting involved in relocalization. As you can tell from this Blog I think it is THE avenue we have for preparing for the future that's ahead. It can be slow going here getting efforts underway, but our 1st project is getting underway - a pellet-buying coop. We're half way to our subscriber goal now. I hHope we can stay in touch and share ideas and progress.
    Spring Cheer,
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have you heard of Rob Hopkins and Transition Towns? I just posted a video interview with him and a link to an article. VERY inspiring to see relocalization in action with a POSITIVE approach!

    We'll need coop's all over. Luckily we have Natural Foods Coop in SLO! I love those guys & gals!

    We also need to get a local distributor for food. Then businesses can start buying local produce to use in restaurants/schools/etc

    Our whole infrastructure needs to change.

    Step one is awareness. I am going to start networking with anyone I can get in contact with to start a peak oil group to get the ball rolling. If you have any leads on people who may be motivated to get together please send them my way!

    My email is zach (at) infopatriots.org

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the connection with Rob Hopkins and the Transition Culture website, Zachary. I agree it's inspirational. I added it to the resources on the blog. I particularly love the idea of city orchards. We've planted a number of fruit trees on our property now and one of the projects our Let's Live Local group has talked about is to do a community fruit tree inventory and work out mutual harvesting and distribution. So much of the fruit here is enjoyed by the birds or just falls to the ground. I hope you find others in SLO to work with. So much is possible. Our challenge here is to get folks past the idea stage and into the implementing stage. That's one reason I'm so excited about our pellet co-op.
    There are many sections on your blog I look forward to reading. Thanks for staying in touch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so glad that the blog info is useful and being read! :) you can also subscribe to email updates at the top of the page.

    Thanks for everything and I hope to get a group going like you have! how cool! I look forward to some community!!!

    ReplyDelete