Posted by admin | Posted in Ideas to Love | Posted on 04-01-2010
I was reading Mother Earth News recently, from the Sharbot Lake library. The August/September ‘08 issue was on little known American communities that are favoured places to live. What they had in common was they’d built vibrant citizen response to the challenges of sustainability and in the process became places where quality of life and initiative was growing rather than shrinking.
Could this happen here in Central Frontenac? Sure!
What would it take? Vision and initiatives from us. We could wait a long time for someone else to do it for us, but don’t need to wait at all to move toward it ourselves. I’ve written about this here, but today want to point to these other communities and how a similar strategy has worked wonders elsewhere.
Generally the initiatives reduced energy consumption and created a sense of shared endeavour by doing so. Projects included home energy audits, edible yard projects and other local eco-activities (Berea, Kentucky); strong emphasis on land conservation (Bisbee, Arizona); strong emphasis on local food, restoration and preservation of regional trails (Bethel, Maine); becoming a stronghold of organic, sustainable agriculture and natural resource preservation (Viroqua, Wisconsin); restoration of prairie lands and native species (Moscow, Idaho); civic commitment to frugal lifestyle with a rich public life that makes large houses unnecessary (Greenbelt, Maryland).
We could portray ourselves as a go-to place for people seeking a sustainable escape from Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal. This doesn’t mark us as poor folks wanting to attract other poor folks but quite the opposite. Thinking “sustainable future” is smart thinking these days and smart and savvy folks throughout Ontario, including many whose resources include money will want to be here.
If we have the vision and the smarts ourselves.
I think we’re going to see a great deal of change in the decade ahead. Oil prices are set to rise and keep rising because we’ve passed the peak of what’s available for easy extraction. Peak oil will change our lives profoundly, as will climate change.
Frontenac residents are going to be impacted. The more we look backward and hope for someone to help us maintain the life we’re accustomed to the less we’ll be able to see what’s happening and respond.