Comment Log Display

OVERVIEW

It seems to me that the document so far looks excellent and right
on target, but I wanted to suggest some ideas for additions to
section #8 under strategies (“Implement policy changes at the
local, regional, and national level…”). While my suggestions may
seem too extreme to be accepted and therefore politically
non-viable, I would like the group to consider that probably most
of us are well-insulated from a real understanding of what it means
to be in a position of desperation – to be unable to afford food,
water, and housing, with no safety net of strong community ties to
fall back upon. Yet, as the world’s living systems begin to decline
in productivity with accelerating speed, economic systems will
follow hand-in-hand, and when large percentages of our population
newly find themselves in exactly this position, the threat to our
very society will make increased heating and floods look completely
inconsequential. As we have glimpsed with the credit collapse, in
an interconnected global economy any stress falls first on those
with fewest resources, and it is primarily their basic needs rather
than luxuries that are endangered. 
This phenomenon is already beginning to take place in many other
more vulnerable countries in other parts of the world in ways that
affect large percentages of local populations, and has resulted in
increasing numbers of refugees from environmental disasters and
ensuing social conflicts related to diminishing resources. The
United States’ tremendous overall wealth has insulated much of our
population from truly understanding and coming to terms with this
phenomenon for the present moment, but I would venture to project
that after another 20-30 years of declining ecological
productivity, the global economy may not be so full of surpluses
that the United States can depend upon extracting to its own
advantage. In other words, the sooner we fully understand the
implications of economic collapse the better, as most of our own
population will find itself in the same boat but without the local
relationship networks and social structures that have always
allowed cash-poor communities around the globe to survive. Whether
or not we can adapt with our society more or less intact will
depend on how forward-thinking our leaders are now, how quickly and
objectively we can evaluate the present, and whether or not we take
a leap of faith and boldly embrace changes that would seem absurd
and impossible to someone trapped in current patterns of thought
and action.

Enough background – while we can certainly lower carbon emissions
by retrofitting buildings, increasing fuel efficiency of cars,
etc., all of these changes will not be significant enough to reach
the goals that scientists have warned us we need to reach, and that
are now legally mandated in legislation. I believe that our key
strategies should pursue three large-scale goals, and that these be
made very explicit:
1.	Transition out of using cars as our main form of personal
transportation
2.	Transition cities from car-based environments into livable,
walkable/bikeable neighborhood-based communities
3.	Shift our base of economic activity from relying heavily on
global trade to become more region-centered
4.	The removal of a certain amount of key land resources (food
producing lands and low-income urban housing) from the speculative
market through the establishment of community land trusts in every
region of the state.

My suggestions seek to address root causes by: 1) reversing the
patterns of dislocation of people from land that got us into this
situation in the first place; 2) avoiding social collapse by
strengthening communities, creating an additional urban resource
base by reconfiguring land use, and facilitating residents of local
areas to work together to overcome the great economic inequalities
that presently exist. 

STRATEGIES

A number of strategies could be adopted to move toward these
goals; some are as follows:
1)	the empowerment of local and regional governments to take
strong, effective action through tax-based incentives that bring
about dramatic changes in the ongoing development and redevelopment
of our land use, transportation, and resource distribution
systems.
2)	The transition of taxation systems from income- and sales-based
to carbon based; in other words, a baseline level of acceptable
resource use and carbon emissions would be established using
existing ecological measures, with a “tax” levied on individuals
and businesses using more and a “rebate” going to those using less.
A percentage of this tax income could also be invested in the
development of systems and technologies that lower carbon use, such
as community farmland preservation, bicycle production and
distribution, public transit improvements, building retrofitting,
clean energy technologies.
3)	The creation of social networks and legal structures that
actively support accelerated resource-sharing and “economic
conservation” on a local level, to provide a safety net for basic
needs and soften the impacts of a collapsing economy. This could be
the expansion of food banks, the conversion of abandoned properties
into neighborhood resource centers, the use of abandoned homes for
housing Green Jobs crews, etc.
4)	The creation of land trusts that remove critical resources from
speculative markets with the mission of providing affordable
housing for low-income community members, preserving agricultural
lands, and maintaining an appropriate balance of open spaces and
urbanized areas.
5)	Encouraging the implementation of programs that enable a
reintegration of human communities and living systems – urban
greening, urban agriculture, watershed education
6)	Supporting initiatives that develop a foundation for a
productive green economy through green jobs training programs,
youth employment programs, and expansion of education programs in
K-12 schools and colleges related to ecological sustainability and
economic opportunities with local, green jobs.

Thanks very much,
Grey Kolevzon
greyloom@hotmail.com

Cycles of Change			HOPE Collaborative
www.cyclesofchange.org		www.oaklandfoodandfitness.org