I still remember meeting Dr. Jason Bradford on October 18, 2004 when he organized a showing of the film “End of Suburbia” at the Willits Environmental Center. About 20 people came, including the mayor, another city council member, and a local reporter. After the film we sat in a large circle and had a lengthy, sometimes heated, discussion.
Jason had moved to Willits in August, 2004, along with his wife Kristin and their 6-year old twin boys. Before moving to Willits Bradford had been a highly mobile tropical biologist, but had become disillusioned by the failure of various institutions he worked with to initiate any long lasting, fundamental changes related to the realities of climate change and the impact of “peak oil” on communities throughout the world.
Following the initial positive response to the film, other meetings were held with ever larger numbers attending. On November 23, 2004, 90 people showed up at the Willits high-school cafeteria. The group was divided roughly in half between those who wanted to watch the movie and those wanting to start “doing something.” There was a need for an organization and groups to study different issues including Food, Water, Energy, Shelter, Transportation, Security, Local Currency, Education, Politics and Governance, Community Farm and Ecovillage, Funding, etc.
Soon Willits Economic Localization (WELL) came into being and is still going strong, even after Jason and his family moved to Oregon to continue to expand and deepen their work. Speakers, from inside and outside the area, have come over the years including: Richard Heinberg, Ann Hancock, Gloria & Steve Decater, and John Jeavons.
Even though John Jeavons has been doing work here and around the world for years, many are still learning about the life-changing programs he has developed. I highly recommend you take a look at A World of Hope. A World of Hope is a series of episodes that discusses the challenges facing us and some potential solutions available to us as we enter into a new era of enjoyable relating with our planet.
Bradford’s comments at his initial “Outpost Guide” on March 30, 2005 are instructive:
“It is important to appreciate the organic and unpredictable nature of such a movement. We are constantly questioning our methods and anticipating needs. The key to long-term success will be enrolling new people without tiring out the core. The more cynical in the community may not believe that a grassroots movement like this can hang together long enough to reach critical mass.”
Transition Streets Pilot Project
One of the key ways that WELL has continued to keep people engaged is that we have networked with other like-minded people from all over the world who are working on similar projects. I recently heard from Christopher Thompson who is a member of the Transition Town group in Bozeman, Montana. They are developing a very valuable resource to bring people together to implement specific ways that a group of people can work together in their neighborhoods to put these localization ideas into practice.
They are developing a workbook that guides people through the whole process that is fun and easy to engage. The Transition Streets project helps you save money. Households cut their bills by an average of $1,000/year. It can also help reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 tons. But perhaps the most important thing it does is to help build community. As people come together to address these important transition issues, neighbors formed a rich social bond and glimpsed what a low-carbon future might resemble – and they liked it!
Richard Heinberg has been writing a long time about environmental changes and the importance of communities coming together to prepare for the difficult transition times that we are all facing. In his book Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, he says that we’re not only reaching the end of the cheap fossil fuel era, but the end of easily available water, minerals, and other necessities.
In the End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality, he describes how these changes will impact our economy, why prices will rise for basic necessities, and what we need to do as individuals and communities to keep ourselves afloat. In his latest book, Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels he confronts the realities of these changes and predicts that we should prepare for a very rough ride as we make the transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels to drive our economy.
When I look at the news and watch our corporations and governments looking ahead, it feels like we’re following the dictum “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” We seem to be on a splurge to wring the last bits of available resources out of the earth and go out in a blaze of glory. The problem is that this isn’t a kind of glory that most in the world can share. While the richest 1% are having their fling, the rest of us are choking on pollution, dying in needless resource wars, and being killed by the stresses of life.
This approach may be worth it for old guys who have gotten theirs, but how about the future of our children and grandchildren? Native Americans think about how our practices will impact 7 generations in the future. Too many look to the future generations and conclude, “To hell with them, I’d rather have some fun while it lasts.”
Clearly, we can do better. With systems failures looming in many segments of society, visit TransitionUS.org to sign up for Transition Streets and empower your community with the national rollout this Fall.
In working locally over the last ten years, I’ve found it can be overwhelming to deal with the huge changes going on locally and throughout the world. Too many of us become depressed and overwhelmed. Now we’re all worried about water and how shortages will impact our lives.
I have to remind myself of the words of Nkosi Johnson: “Do all you can, with what you have, in the time you have, in the place where you are.” So, let’s continue our work to make our communities livable and lovable, now and for our kids and grandkids and their kids and grandkids. I look forward to your comments and questions.
Jed, Thanks for posting on this important topic.
It might seem odd for a big truck owner to be excited about this kind of work, but in reality, my husband and I ARE interested in this issue. I took great solace from a wonderful Buddhist monk I know who told me. “You are the true environmentalists because your 1 trip in your big truck saves a bunch of individual trips in cars.” I had always worried that I was creating horrible karma from driving our truck!
In our case had our community been much more locally-oriented a decade ago, my husband would have been able to find work locally and wouldn’t had to have turned to driving a big truck.
As communities, we can produce our own products in eco-friendly ways, forge strong social bonds allowing for “villages,” in which the community’s children can grow up connected to the elders’ societal riches.
Also, it’s an entirely appropriate proposition for a mental health professional to be involved in these important issues. The more we can obtain what we need within in our communities – close to home on foot or bicycle, the less stressed, more cenetered and connected we can become.
Keep the good stuff coming!
Namaste’
Rebecca
Thanks again for your great article Jed and I emphatically agree with all that you said Rebecca, especially the part about a mental health professional’s involvement in this important social movement as most societal maladies will be resolved by curing the underlying problems that are causing them! Is there a Transition Town in your community?
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate them.