The Dear Mr. President Club

[This is Part H from Appendix 3 of the original 161 page document “1000Communities2” (see p. 125-126)]

H.  Bringing it all together at the local community level

1.  From the article “Energy and Permaculture” by David Holmgren, co-creator of the “permaculture” concept)  (article first written in 1990, published in “Permaculture Activist” Issue #31  May, 1994) (see subsection titled “Mollison”) (http://permacultureactivist.net/Holmgren/holmgren.htm) (Confirmed June 8, 2008)

“The transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy back to a solar-based (agriculture and forestry) economy will involve the application of the embodied energy that we inherit from industrial culture.  This embodied energy is contained within a vast array of things, infrastructure, cultural processes and ideas, mostly inappropriately configured for the “solar” economy.  It is the task of our age to take this great wealth, reconfigure it, and apply it to the development of sustainable systems.”

2.  This proposal “1000Communities²” advocates 3 propositions which are especially relevant when considering the value of local community information clearinghouses and ongoing workshops:

a)  There are countless numbers of “things people can do in the everyday

circumstances of their lives” which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regions—and in other parts of the world.

b)  People can, one by one, decide to deliberately focus the way they spend their

time, energy, and money so that their actions have positive repercussions on many or all of the 105 fields of activity (see Appendix 7).

c)  The result can be that there are countless “ways to earn a living” which

contribute to the peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts necessary to overcome the challenges of our times.

3.  The UNEP/ILO/ITUC Green Jobs Report emphasizes the concept of just transition.  (See the Preliminary Report:  Green Jobs: Towards Sustainable Work in a Low-Carbon World”  accessible at http://www.unep.org/civil_society/Publications/index.asp)

One aspect of this just transition can be that people who do deliberately focus their investments of time, energy, and money towards solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative being carried out in their community may receive, as encouragement, local currency.  And then such local currency can, in its turn, be redeemed in ways which will be particularly helpful to people transitioning from less solution-oriented employment to more solution-oriented employment.  (There is much that can be done to generate goodwill and promote peace that has not yet been done.)

4.  A question which would be recommended for the “Preliminary Survey” step (See Step #3 in Section 6) in a Community Visioning Initiative is as follows:

Engines of Economic Stability

Many people seem to be worried that “the economy” will collapse if some form of “voluntary simplicity” philosophy becomes more and more accepted… and yet many of the challenges of our times have chronic elements (see Appendix 1), suggesting that it may require decades, generations, or even centuries to overcome such challenges.  (There will be work to do….)

a)  Please name as many engines of economic stability and methods of economic conversion as you can which you believe would result in communities that

minimize resource requirements

maintain ecological sustainability

maintain a high level of compassion for fellow human beings

and which represent what a significant majority of community residents surveyed

would describe as a high quality of life.

Important Note:  Having responses to the above question (and many others, through “Preliminary Surveys”) from 150 key leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity in the community will, by itself, be a significant contribution to the “(reconfiguring) the embodied energy from the industrial age, and applying it to the development of sustainable systems”.

[Additional Note:  The above question is one of 60 questions which are a part of The IPCR Initiative’s “Building Caring Communities” Questionnaire.  This questionnaire can be accessed at the website of the IPCR Initiative, at www.ipcri.net.  (see http://ipcri.net/images/2-The-IPCR-Building-Caring-Communities-Questionnaire.pdf)]