Localization - Cities of the Future

Local food, local energy, local water, local money. Tonight I listened to a download of Dr. Jason Bradford of Willits, California organizer of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) Program. Bradford began by hosting free public screenings of The End of Suburbia about a year ago. The screenings grew to a size that became unmanageable for one person and at that time, more citizens became involved. They created working groups under the topics of water, energy, food and shelter. Steering committees grew from the community groups and a statement focusing on a re-localization of services was prepared and later endorsed by the Willits City Council.

Bradford’s vision for Willits is inspiring. In the next 20 years, he would love to see 40 community supported farms surrounding Willits, providing jobs at the local level. The farming he envisions helps put people back in touch with the cycles of nature. It reconnects children directly to the food that they eat. Through Harvest Festivals the community as a whole is connected back to the earth. He envisions a city that produces its own energy and manufacturing. It creates a diversity of jobs so that young people don’t feel the need to migrate to larger metropolitan areas. He also sees pedestrian activity and bicycles populating the streets and sidewalks. He sees a city where, “Life and the way we live it becomes terribly satisfying.”

His emphasis on localization is not only a response to Peak Oil but to national security. Bradford sees our constant influx of products, energy and food from thousands of miles away as placing us in a vulnerable position. We are by no means self-sufficient.

This past Sunday, the Spokesman-Review published an article entitled “China’s military has ‘sharper teeth’.” The article says, “The course of the 21st century will be determined in part by the relationship between China and United States,” and China is placing a growing investment in its military capabilities. Mike Ruppert, author of Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, said recently on his website (http://www.fromthewilderness.com/) that our true enemies in a political sense, are not the “Axis of Evil” but China and India. These are the countries that are growing exponentially and these are the countries that will want the world’s resources as much as we do.

The situation is all the scarier considering that China holds most of our bank notes through their purchase of US Bonds. Richard Heinberg, a core faculty member at the New College of California, has an in-depth essay entitled, “The Endangered US Dollar”(www.museletter.com/archive/149.html). He sees the dollar as our Achilles Heel and believes that Europe and Asia recognize this as well. Our ‘petrodollar’ is floated on tithes created through the buying and selling of OPEC oil. If OPEC decided to switch to the Euro instead (which is what Saddam Hussein did in 2000 and Iran has discussed doing in March of 2006) this could create a run on the dollar completely destabilizing our economy. Heinberg believes that increased localization of goods, services and currency is a valid and potentially hopeful response to this mess.

In the midst of all of this, it is great to hear about what is going in Willits, California. Cities and towns throughout the country, that are becoming more aware of the importance of localization are looking to Willits for organizational strategies and vision. Let’s hope the word gets out quickly enough.

For lots of great information and interviews on localization got to: www.globalpublicmedia.com/topics/relocalization