Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Relocaliztion Handbook

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>
  • To: BPG <bloomingtonpermacultureguild@lists.riseup.net>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Relocaliztion Handbook
  • Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 12:33:55 -0400

If you've always wanted a guide for evolving a post-petroleum culture, here's a start.
Love,
Keith

--
Keith Johnson
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516
Bloomington, IN 47408
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
APPLE-B (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy - Bloomington)


Greetings
This Action Handbook is based on excerpts from the forthcoming
Relocalize Now!
Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil.
We have designed this handbook to share ideas about projects and
initiative that
Local Post Carbon Groups and interested community members can start
immedi-
ately in order to start developing a Relocalization strategy for
their community. Only by working together on Relocalization projects locally, such as
building a
community garden or starting a car cooperative, will we effect the
change we
would like to see in the world.
Each section of this handbook includes several synopses of
Relocalization projects
ideas for communities. For a more in-depth look at each of these
project ideas,
please visit the resource section on www.relocalize.net
<http://www.relocalize.net>.


Start a Food Co-operative

Help support local farmers and promote sustainable agricultural
practices by forming a food co-operative to purchase and
distribute organic and locally grown produce. Forming co-ops can
make organic local food more affordable because as mem-
bers of a co-operative your group will have more purchasing power.
Individuals can pool their orders and receive discounts
for large quantity orders. Develop a Garden Gleaning Project

Organize a Garden Gleaning Project to harvest fruit from backyards
where the produce would otherwise go to waste. Project
volunteers are matched up with property owners who do not have the
time or capability to harvest the fruit on their prop-
erties. The harvested fruit can be shared between the pickers,
property owners, community organizations and local food
banks. The Garden Gleaning Project can range from a few friends and
a couple of fruit trees to a citywide organization that
coordinates a large group of volunteers, runs workshops, hosts
harvesting celebrations and produces preserves, juices, and
jams. A Garden Gleaning Project can work both in urban and rural
areas, wherever fruit trees exist but are not being used for
their fruit by their owners.
Resources

Co-operative Grocers' Information Network: www.cgin.coop/manual.pdf
<http://www.cgin.coop/manual.pdf>
Cooperative Directory Service: www.coopdirectory.org
<http://www.coopdirectory.org>
Start or Join a Car Sharing Co-operative

Start a car co-operative in order to offer car sharing as a viable
transportation alternative in your town or area. Instead of
each owning a personal vehicle, members of a car coop own a number
of cars collectively for use when using alternative
mode of transportation, such as cycling and walking, is not
possible. Car sharing greatly reduces personal automobile use,
cuts the number of cars on the road and shrinks the financial and
air quality costs of our society's over reliance on private
transportation. At the same time cooperatives provide the
reliability and convenience of owning a private vehicle. Car co-
ops can vary in size from a few friends sharing a car to 30,000
members sharing a large fleet of vehicles.

Start a Walking School Bus

Organize a Walking School Bus so that elementary school children can
get to school in a safe, healthy and fossil-fuel-
free manner. Walking School Buses are programs that allow children
to walk to school in a supervised group along a
predetermined route and pick up additional students at assigned
stops. The program can provide an alternative to the
conventional and congested vehicle drop off and encourage both
supervising parents and children to get out of their car and
back into community space. The school bus program ensures that
parents feel confident that their children are safe, while
it providing the opportunity for kids to socialize, stay fit, and
learn the importance of people-powered transportation at an
early age.
Resources

Definition and history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_sharing
CarSharing Network: http://www.carsharing.net
Cooperative Auto Network: http://www.cooperativeauto.net
Autoshare Toronto: http://www.autoshare.com
Boulder CarShare: http://www.carshare.org

Produce a Documentary Film Meta-Project

Produce a documentary film about the work your local post carbon
group is doing, with a particular focus on the processes
behind each project. The film can centre on one project your group
has completed and can outline the various steps it took
to achieve your goals. Alternately, your group may wish to outline
several ongoing projects that you have been working on
and show how the initiatives were started. Your film will serve as a
tool to inspire other groups to begin their own projects,
a means of encouraging greater understanding of the challenges of
peak oil and relocalization, and a call to action for those
new to the issues. It is best to start documentary films during the
initial stage of a project so that you have footage of each
step along the way.

Develop a Community Walking Tour

Organize a walking tour of your community. Highlight the region's
pre-globalization history, discuss areas of concern,
and demonstrate to the participants the possibilities and working
examples of relocalization and positive alternatives. A
knowledgeable guide will engage participants by introducing points
of interest, explaining their significance, and share ideas
about how the situation could be improved. The purpose of the tour
is to educate community members about the localized
networks that used to exist in their community, to create awareness
about the current positive and negative attributes of
your region and to illustrate the potential your community has for
building a strong post-carbon, relocalized future.

Resources

Maps of communities by walking distance - A Very Beautiful Place:
http://www.authenticbusiness.co.uk/archive/AVBP
Common Ground: http://www.commonground.org.uk

Natural Resources

Understanding your community and bioregion and its resources is a
great starting point for deciding which projects and ex-
periments to undertake as a Local Post Carbon Group. An assessment
of your local natural resources requires researchers to
gather information and coordinators to compile the information in an
accessible and useable form. Map the natural features
of your community and bioregion and include the location of arable
land, weather, flora and fauna.

Society and Business

Along with taking an inventory of your community's physical
features, it is valuable to conduct a community asset inventory.
Do this by making a list of the community groups, public projects,
non-profit organizations and businesses in your community
that are working towards one or more aspects of Relocalization. This
type of assessment is a valuable first step in identify-
ing local capability and skills and will provide your region with a
list of resources that might be incorporated into a process
of neighborhood visioning or regeneration. The very process of
creating an asset inventory encourages community members
to start forming valuable connections and relationships with one
another. Find a way to share this information with your
neighborhood; your group could compile the information in a
Community Guidebook (see Engage in Local Governance &
Your Community).

Municipal and Regional Political Structure

Get to know the local municipal and regional political structure.
Doing research into the arrangement of local politics will
help your group understand who makes the decisions, who holds sway
in which areas and who to approach with different
ideas and problems. Compile a synopsis and contact information on
all advisory committees, commissions and working
groups. Find out what laws stand in the way of relocalization and
through what processes they can be changed.

Local Skills Database

Compile a database of who has what practical skills in your
community. Local skills can be as simple as an expert knot-tier
or as complex as how to build, install and maintain solar panels.
Community members may develop these abilities in their
paid employment, or practice these skills in the form of hobbies.
Organize the information in an electronic database, which
will allow you to make adjustments as community members learn new
skills and people move in and out of the area. The
database will allow you to quickly locate skilled people in the area
who can help your group conduct research projects and
undertake action-oriented projects. A skills database can also be
helpful when establishing local money or bartering systems.
Developing this type of database and presenting the information in
an effective way will help your community value and
appreciate local skills and talents.

Local Needs Assessment

Collect current information on the amount of locally produced food,
energy and water being produced in your region. Deter-
mine how much produce is transported into the region in order to
meet local demand. Identify local sources of food, energy
and water and calculate how much additional food, energy and water
is required to create a self-reliant region.

Conduct a Personal Energy Audit

Conducting a personal energy audit is a valuable way to understand
how deeply complex and interconnected our society's
relationship is with distant, unknown and non- renewable sources of
energy. The exercise will help you become more con-
scious of how much energy you use in a typical day.

Set Goals for Reduction

Once you and your group members have completed personal energy
audits, create goals to reduce the amount of energy
used by each member of the group, say by a factor of ten. By working
together, the group will be able to support each
other. The single, most effective way to reduce general energy
consumption is by sharing energy use. A large portion of
individual energy use is through private personal mobility, namely
cars, followed by electricity and heating. Taking action
to substantially reduce the amount of electricity or heating used in
an average home is a formidable, medium- to long-term
task. Do research into local and federal grants and investment
options to finance the retrofitting of homes for energy use.

Resources
Willits Economic Localization Project:
http://www.willitseconomiclocalization.org/Papers/Papers.htm
Resources
Home Energy Saver Web site: http://hes.lbl.gov
AC Power Measurement device:
http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop3.cfm?dv=3&dp=302&ts=1025344&kw=measure
<http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop3.cfm?dv=3&dp=302&ts=1025344&kw=measure>
US DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy "Energy
Savers" Web site:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/

Community Post Carbon Guidebook

Upon completing a Community Assessment Inventory (see the Take
Inventory of Your Community fact sheet), create a guide-
book that outlines the various businesses, services, manufacturers,
organizations, media outlets and programs that are work-
ing towards relocalization in your community. This informative
pamphlet, booklet or online resource will serve as a resource
for individuals and organizations that want to know where to put
their money, how to get involved and what is still needed
in the area to create a self-reliant post-carbon community network.
Form a Community Coalition

Form a coalition for groups and organizations in your community that
are working on relocalizing the local economy. The
goal is to have a wide range of informed organizations who are
interested in how their work fits into the bigger issues of the
global energy crisis and relocalization. Create the space for these
organizations to get involved in effecting solutions. Your
Local Post Carbon Group can assist coalition members create new
programs to deal with the coming crisis, add new thrust to
the organizations' existing advocacy programs and help them connect
with a network of organizations with similar aims. The
coalition will bring together people from different backgrounds and
allow members to see how their work fits into the peak
oil context and why what they are doing is important in a energy
constrained world.

Run for Municipal Office with a Relocalization Platform

Understanding your municipal government and how it works is
essential for working towards relocalization. Running as
a candidate in a municipal election on the issues of low energy
living will give these issues a higher public profile in your
community, especially if you win. If you are successful you will be
able to bring the issues of peak oil and the positive options
of relocalization to council chambers. By asking the right
questions, even during election time, you will be able to force other
leaders to address the issues of peak oil. Running for office is an
effective vehicle to share information about relocalization
with your community. We encourage anyone who is interested in
politics to consider running for municipal office. Regardless
of the outcome of the election, your voice, opinions and questions
will be heard and reported on in the local media.

Post Carbon Institute
action handbook engage in local governance & community
Resources
The book How to Run for Local Office: a complete guide for winning a
local election: http://www.winelect.com

Reclaim Public Space

Work with other members of your community to revitalize an existing
public space or to create a new site for neighborhood
interaction. Each community will have a different vision of how to
develop such a project and how the finished product will
look, function and be managed. Project ideas include reclaiming an
underused parking lot, converting an intersection into
public space, or redirecting an existing park back towards public use.

Barn Raising Project

Use Barn Raising as a means of getting work done on a community
project. Members of a community actively decide to
come to the same place at the same time to achieve a specific goal.
The activity can be something that benefits a small sub-
set of the population, such as installing a solar water heater for a
community member, or it can be a larger goal of the entire
community, such as creating a new community garden. The key features
of Barn Raising event are doing work and finding
time to socialize.

Resources
The City Repair Project: http://www.cityrepair.org
Project for Public Spaces: http://www.pps.org
Resources
Definition and history:
http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?BarnRaising ;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_raising

<http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?BarnRaising%20;%20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_raising>

Hold a Film Screening or Film Festival

Film screenings and film festivals are a valuable tool to raise
awareness about the energy and ecological predicaments of
our society's dependence on fossil fuels. Film screening and
festivals are especially effective if participants are given the
opportunity to discuss the film after the showing. These types of
events are a great opportunity to increase community
knowledge and advocacy, to raise funds for sponsoring groups. It is
a good idea to provide a sign-up sheet for participants
to get involved in the local Post Carbon Group events and meetings.
.
Coordinate Letters to the Editor

The letters to the editor section of your local paper represents is
a valuable forum for getting your message about peak oil,
low-energy living and global relocalization to the community, which
includes both local citizens and politicians. The editorial
section is one of the most read sections of any newspaper. Letters
to the editor help editors decide which topics to cover in
future news stories and editorials. Additionally, elected officials
often carefully monitor this section and the editorial page to
gauge local opinion. Coordinate your efforts: gather together
several local organizations and plan to write editorials to the
same newspaper within the same week. The more letters an editor
gets, the more weight your letter will have.

Raise Awareness with Press Releases

Writing press releases can be an effective means of sharing your
message with your community. Focus your story on specific
issues, perhaps something that is happening in your community, and
outline the positive actions that your group is taking
to deal with these challenges. A well-written press release can
raise community awareness about the ramifications of our
society's over-reliance on cheap energy and will encourage others to
speak out about these issues. Press releases can inspire
people to action and will give your group and its activities legitimacy.

Resources
Visit the Resource section of the Relocalization Network website at
http://www.relocalize.net/resources/
outreach/screenings
Resources
Press Release Newswire: http://www.prweb.com
Press Release Free: http://www.prfree.com

Form a Relocalization Committee

Form a Relocalization Committee in order to develop greater public
awareness about peak oil, the local and regional
ramifications of energy shortages and the looming environmental
crisis, and preparations at the municipal/regional level for
an energy-depleted future. The committee can work to identify local
laws and ordinances that inhibit relocalization and to
develop laws that would encourage local self-reliance.
www.relocalize.net <http://www.relocalize.net>

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 9/29/2006


  • [permaculture] Relocaliztion Handbook, Keith Johnson, 09/30/2006

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page