[Lapg] Summary from CA workshop on creating a sustainable local economy

[Eric Einem]

I beleive this workshop took place in Willits, CA, and that it was attended
by Dave Room (www.postcarbon.org & www.globalpublicmedia.com).  Perhaps we
can get ideas from them for the Los Angeles area.  Also, this summary
highlights to me how our local LA Permaculture, LA City Repair and LA Post
Carbon groups really overlap (and I'm sure many other local organizations as
well).

From:
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/323

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In Brief: Dec 15, 2004.  Despite a chill down-pour, about 60 people attended
last week's workshop on creating a sustainable local economy. Participants
divided into groups studying the elements of a petroleum-free community:
food, water, shelter, health and medicine, and alternate energy sources, and
one group applied the eco-village concept to Willits.


Sustainability planning underway

By Claudia Reed/Staff Writer, www.willitsnews.com

Despite a chill down-pour, about 60 people attended last week's workshop on
creating a sustainable local economy. Newcomers watched The End of Suburbia,
a documentary predicting global oil extraction will become increasingly
costly, bring an end to America's gasoline-dependent lifestyle.

Those who had seen the film at previous sessions divided into groups
studying the elements of a petroleum-free community: food, water, shelter,
health and medicine, and alternate energy sources. An additional group
struggled to apply an overall "eco-village" concept to the Willits area. The
format called for developing research questions, doing the homework, and
presenting the results at the next session, at 7 p.m. Thursday, December 16,
at the Willits Charter School.

The energy group, which includes two solar equipment installers and a
retired engineer/physicist, will study existing alternative energy sources
and determine which are possible here. City Councilman Ron Orenstein will
look into citywide independent energy systems, similar to the one already
established in Sacramento. Also on the list are alternate-fuel transit
systems, energy waste and conservation potential, and the offerings of at
least two bio-diesel suppliers.

The shelter group is considering such alternate building styles as strawbale
walls (not unlike Mexican adobe) and how much of the needed material can be
produced locally. Group members want to know how many people will need
housing in the future and how to develop new housing without jeopardizing
agricultural land. Opportunities for making existing housing more energy
efficient and building shared-housing communities are also on the list.

The health and medicine group is looking at incorporating alternative
healing systems in the incoming hospital, social service networks, local
cultivation of medicinal plants, and legal obstacles to alternative medical
approaches. Similar approaches in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in the
licensing of midwives to assist with home births and the creation of
"birthing rooms" open to family members in many hospitals.

The water group wants to know the amount needed for a family of four and the
possibility of salvaging more of the rainy season's abundance.

The food group wants to know how long retail supplies would last if
gas-short delivery trucks failed to bring in more, which crops are locally
available in each season, which foods grow wild in the area, and the
possibilities for community gardens, farms, and composting sites. The
feasibility of "community subscription agriculture" units is also on the
list. CSAs supply year-round income to local organic farmers in return for
guaranteed supplies of fresh, organic, seasonal crops.

The eco-village and farm group is asking whether the Willits area is too
large to use the village model. Either way, group members are studying
rental or lease of existing rail lines for distribution of goods, collective
purchase and management of land parcels, and whether food crops should be
produced by and for those within each parcel or distributed to outsiders
through donation, sale, or barter.

A final report on the various subjects and related projects that may be
underway will be shared with the general community at a symposium, possibly
this spring.

The session was facilitated by Dr. Jason Bradford, formerly of UC Davis,
with the help of new Willits residents George Cottrell and Jackie Elek, who
have been involved in such community-building programs as Habitat for
Humanity. Communication beyond the meeting room is being offered through the
website of the nonprofit Cloud Forest Institute,

www.cloudforest.org. One item offers "Sustainable Northern California
Links." One of the interactive links is "Willits Economic Globalization."

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For more resources I would suggest visiting this page:
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/topics/relocalization


And for a few local resoures:

LA Post Carbon
http://LA.PostCarbon.org

LA Permaculture Guild
https://www.arashi.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/lapg
Find related tribe at http://losangeles.tribe.net

LA City Repair
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/cityrepairla
Find related tribe at http://losangeles.tribe.net

LA Eco-Village
http://www.ic.org/laev/

Path to Freedom (Pasadena)
www.pathtofreedom.org

Kind Regards,

Eric Einem
626-294-0520
714-926-1916