Are communities with more attached residents better off?
The Knight Soul of the Community project started in 2008 with these questions in mind. Over 3 years they interviewed close to 43,000 people in 26 communities in the United States. The study found that three main qualities attach people to place:
Social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet,
Openness (how welcoming a place is)
Aesthetics (its physical beauty and green spaces).
At the heart of our market thinking is the idea that consumers will always act in their economic self interest, and will always procure goods from the lowest cost producer. In our current world, that can leave our local economy in shambles.
. . .
Although we can put up protectionist trade barriers and cry foul over working conditions and lax environmental regulations in our competitors lands, the reality is that this is how we like it. The free hand of the market is working great. It is in our best interest to get cheaper goods, and voila, we are awash with cheap stuff. - From "Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy " by Lyle Estill
Surely food must be at the very heart of sustainable living. What we eat, how we produce our food and where we get it from affects ourselves, the environment and our communities. Our food choices affect everything from deforestation in the Amazon, to the accumulation of fast-food litter in our streets, to our individual health and wellbeing. And it isn't just the food itself we need to think about, but how it is transported, packaged, prepared, and sold. When you take all that into consideration, the true cost of your groceries could be well above the price you pay at the supermarket.
Here's just a few reasons why going out of your way to eat local is worth doing:
It tastes better
What could possibly be more delicious than freshly picked fruit and vegetables? When you buy locally you know that your produce hasn't been sitting in a warehouse for months or endured kilometres of travel to reach you.
Its healthier
Food produced locally is fresher, more nutritious, less likely to contain additives and preservatives. Not only that, but you can make sure you are buying food that isn't grown using unhealthy chemicals that also damage the environment.
It helps you stay in touch with the seasons
Believe it or not apples don't grow all year round, strawberries only grow in summer, and leeks are best in the late autumn and early spring (at least where I come from they are!). Eating local food helps keep you in tune with nature's cycles.
It helps you support your local economy
By buying from local producers you keep your money in your community longer. You create local jobs and a stronger sense of community.
It helps you get to know your neighbours
Buying local helps you get to know your neighbours, and your neighbourhood. You get to experience new flavours, meet new people, and see new places.
Of course you did . . . right? And now you're wondering what to do next? Why not commit to an hour of world changing, earth saving action every day between now and Earth Day on April 22nd - that's 26 days ... 26 hours of making a difference! Imagine what you'll achieve!!
Need some inspiration? Here's 26 ideas to help get you started:
Go for a walk
Get to know your neighbourhood, get some exercise and give your car a rest!
Cook up a storm
Get together with a few friends and fill your freezers with delectable dinners and tasty snacks. Its fun, its real food - and it will save you money and make eating in easier than take-out!
Attend a Council meeting
Find out what the issues are in your community. Attend local government meetings. Have your say. Get involved!
Plant something
It can be basil on the windowsill, tomatoes in the patio, a tree in the backyard or a glorious edible landscape. Join a Community Garden (or start one), engage in guerrilla gardening, get some dirt under your fingernails and enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature!
Play board games
Turn of the TV and have a night in with the family. Board games are fun and teach kids to take turns, to count, to strategise, and to win (and lose) with grace - among other things.
Shop local
Have yourself a local meal - with nothing on the plate that comes from further away than 100 miles. Invite your friends and neighbours and help spread the word about the great food producers you have on your doorstep.
Volunteer
Donate an hour or two of your time to a good cause.
Clean Up
Take a walk around your neighbourhood picking up litter, or clean up your favourite spot in nature.
Read Aloud "When parents take time to read aloud, children are touched not only by the stories, but also by their parent's love" Calm and Compassionate Children by Susan Usha Dermond
And you don't have to stop just because your kids can read for themselves. Some of my most vivid and comforting childhood memories are of my father reading to me as a 'big kid'.
Make Do
Do you really need new? Or will what youhave already do the trick? Can you borrow from a friend or neighbour? Can you repurpose something else to do the job? Making do isn't just about doing without or being frugal, its creative too!
Pay AttentionMake a point of noticing the good things that happen in your day, share them with your loved ones and encourage them to do the same. Keep an eye out for the beautiful, the unexpected, the inspirational, those little things its so easy to miss as we go about our busy lives. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."- Albert Einstein
Go Without
Try 26 days without buying anything new, or without buying any chocolate/coffee/shoes . . . and use the savings to help pay off any debts or donate it to a cause that moves you.
Give Give something away every day between now and Earth Day. Make a point of being generous.
Bring Your Own
Take your lunch to work each day. Take a reusable coffee cup for your morning coffee on the way to work. Make sure you have reusable cutlery in your drawer at work so you can say no to plastic stuff if you get a take-out lunch . . .
Get Rid of Clutter
Clear out your closets and cupboards of things you no longer need - hold a garage sale, list your goodies on FreeCycle, hold a swap party or donate them to charity.
Be Prepared
Put together a 'going green kit' stocked with reusable grocery bags, a BYO lunch kit, Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs, a water bottle, a travelling coffee mug, a selection of green cleaning products . .
Start Composting
You don't have to have a big back yard to be able to compost your food waste. A Bokashisystem can fit under your bench, or you could set up a worm farm on your patio. And if you don't have room for much of a garden you can always donate the results to your local community garden or share it with your neighbours.
Build a Community
Invite your neighbours over for a board games extravaganza, organise a street party, play charades, start a food co-op, have dinner with friends. Connecting with others is good for the soul!
Watch a Movie
Get inspired, get outraged, get informed. Invite your friends around to watch a documentary about an issue that you are passionate about or that you feel you need to know more about. It could be coffee, dolphins,capitalism orsustainable living . . .
On Yer Bike
Ditch your car and bike to work.
Smile
Make a point of smiling at people. Even when you don't feel like it. Especially when you don't feel like it!!
Make It Yourself
Make your own jam, knit your own socks, bake your own bread . . . pick a project and perfect a new skill over the next 26 days.
Help Someone
Mow your neighbour's lawn, share your umbrella, look after your sisters kids for an hour. Go out of your way to lend a hand every day for the next 26 days.
Do It By Hand
Do you really need a machine to do that? Get out your shovel to clear the snow from you driveway, use a rake to tidy up the autumn leaves in your back yard, try opening the cans with a manual can opener, get out of your chair to change the channel. There are gadgets for everything - and sure they can make life easier, but they use power and make us less active. How much technology do we really need to live happy, productive lives?
Spread the Word
Tell as many people as you can reach what you are doing to change the world between now and Earth Day. Share your actions in the comments below, on your blog, with your work colleagues, family, neighbours, the guy next to you on the bus . . . Who knows what movement you will inspire :)
I loved Lyle Estill's "Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy". It's a fun, inspiring collection of stories from Chatham County, the author's home town. It chronicles the successes and failures of the resident's attempts to build a sustainable, local economy and thriving community.
The large collection of characters at times seemed to rival War and Peace in complexity. I occasionally had to flick back to remind myself who was who, which interrupted the flow a little.
I'm involved in my own town's attempts to build community and rebuild our local economy. I find it both fascinating and disturbing that for many people here the idea of a thriving town means 'growth' and the idea of a local economy, supporting and supported by a local community is swept aside in the quest for bigness, progress and outside intervention (from big government or big business).
The book hinted at times that there was another side of the community in Chatham County that is perhaps less interested in the possibilities of small and I would loved to have heard more about the context into which the attempts at local sustainability fit.
All in all, a compelling read for anyone interested in sustainable, local living and building community!
Mataura is in the planning and consultation stages of a makeover of our main street. If it all comes together it will be a hugely positive and exciting development for our town - and as a community we all stand to benefit immensly.
Tonight Mataura was featured on TV3 News - I don't quite know why they did it, but what is essentially a positive story about a small town getting off its arse to do something fantastic, ended up coming across as a really negative story. I can't even begin to express how hugely disappointed I am.
I've been speaking recently with a prominent New Zealand businessman/tv personality about how to resurrect Mataura and encourage business back into the town. I had hopes that he would be able to offer some pearls of wisdom, perhaps some encouragement and avenues of investigation for us to follow. But no, unfortunately he pronounced Mataura dead and told me that we are wasting out time trying.
Today, I was walking around Mataura delivering 'The Mataura Messenger" - our monthly news sheet and it struck me how very alive Mataura is.
I was impressed by how many tidy, well cared for homes there are. I saw groups of kids playing together and enjoying the summer evening. I admired beautiful, well-tended gardens. I noticed (with some envy) how many homes have bountiful vege gardens. I strode past neighbours talking to one another. I was greeted by people I knew - and people I didn't.
Our main street may well be dilapidated and almost empty, we certainly have more than our fair share of run down homes and uncared for sections of land, and there is no doubt that apathy is hindering progress towards a stronger community. But Mataura is not dead.
I think our Businessman's idea of a thriving, successful community is different from those of us that live here. We aren't looking to create a megacity generating huge profits (although huge profits would be nice I guess) and we don't need to be the centre of the universe to have achieved our goals. What we are looking to create is a community where people have choices. We want to be able to run our businesses in our town and have some control over our community destiny.
It will take time to rebuild our community. But there are certainly people who are prepared to invest their time to make a difference. It will also take perseverance and continued effort. Fortunately there are people who have been working towards this goal for sometime already and who are willing to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of the community.
Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. --Margaret Mead
Volunteers are the lifeblood of every community. From Victim Support to the Volunteer Fire Brigade, the local school to the Scouts and Girl Guides, from Local Government to local sports clubs, they work hard to provide for the needs of the community for little or no financial reward and sometimes at significant cost to themselves.
Volunteers help to build strong, sustainable, connected communities. Without them our communities would be unsafe, unfair, uninteresting and without direction.
In New Zealand, volunteers contribute some 270 million hours of formal, unpaid work for non-profit organisations annually. These millions of unpaid hours benefit human rights, faith communities, health, education, sports and recreation, social services, arts and culture, emergency services, the environment and conservation, animal welfare, and community support and development.
Often their work goes unnoticed - volunteers seldom make the headlines. They do, however, make a significant difference. Imagine what our communities would go without if it weren't for all this unpaid effort? The work that volunteers do is often of such value to those who benefit from it that it is quite literally priceless.
Lets hear it for the volunteers in our communities!
Gone are the days of the front porch communities. Yet, I did some research and I found that the average person spends more than 5 Years in line. 5 years, that translates into 1,825 days or 43,800 hours or 2,628,000 minutes! That is more than two and a half million minutes. Think about that the next time you are standing in line at the local supermarket, bank, or at your local coffee house? What could you do with 2.6 million minutes? What kind of community could you strengthen?
There are so many opportunities in everyday life to strengthen our communities if you are prepared to be brave enough to stand out from the crowd and make a difference.
It doesn't take much - a smile here, a compliment there, a little bit of chivalry . . . but these days its not the norm and for many people the sheer randomness of encountering a bit of 'nice' in their day puts them on guard. And for many of us, the possibility of sideways glances or brusque rebuffs is enough to put us off even trying.
If we want to make our cities, towns and neighbourhoods into really strong, socially cohesive communities, then we need to be prepared to personally make the difference. If other people look at us askance, so be it. There's no need to start with a dramatic gesture like Juan Mann and his Free Hugs campaign if that's not your style, there are lots of little things you can do as you go about your day that can be just as effective.
Here's some ideas for everyday community building to help get you started. Go on, be brave, be nice, have fun!!
Pay someone a compliment. Its amazing what a conversation starter a compliment can be. Compliment someone on their hair, their kids, their shoes . . .
Open the door for someone. I know, as a Mum of two (one in a stroller), just how much of a help this can be. But you don't have to just help someone with their hands full, simply holding the door for the person coming up behind you is a gesture that doesn't go unnoticed.
Pick up rubbish. Nothing says 'community pride' like tidy streets and parks! If you see litter about in YOUR community, pick it up!
Say hello to your neighbour. You can't have a strong community if you don't know your neighbours. Start by saying hello next time you see them!
Remember people's names - you know, the guy at the local dairy, the gas station attendant you see every day, the postman, the local librarian . . . if you want to make people feel part of the community calling them by name is a great start!
Since TV3's Campbell Live story aired a couple of weeks ago, Dr Jack Phillips has put several of his commercial properties in Mataura up for sale.
There are 4 shops for sale on Bridge St, and the movie theatre on the main highway is also for sale. I like to think it was something I said . . . but I have a sneaking suspicion that he has had plans afoot for a little while. Either way, it certainly gives Mataura a chance at a new lease on life and it couldn't have happened at a better time. There is so much going on in Mataura in the aftermath of our Community Planning day.
I am involved with a group of people working to set up a Co-Op and to foster business development in Mataura. We have a meeting tomorrow with David Wilson - a rural change consultant (and penny farthing enthusiast!) - to discuss the way forward. We will definitely be needing a premises at some time in the future and its nice to know that if we can find the funding there are buildings available for purchase on our main street. Fantastic!!
Any investors out there with a real community based vision willing to invest in our town?
This weekend I took part in the 'Imagine Mataura' planning day in our fabulous new Community Centre.
The event was hosted by Imagine Chicago President, Bliss Brown and was the most positive and inspiring day.
It was attended by some 80 or so locals who were keen to see Mataura going places and determined to make a difference. Dr Jack Phillips, a retired American Dentist who owns the majority of commercial properties on our main street was not in attendence and had not arranged for a representative to attend in his stead. It is a shame that he did not make the effort as it was a truly fantastic day and I'm sure he could have contributed a great deal.
The most amazing thing I noticed was that despite the diversity of people in attendance, the hopes and dreams we all held for Mataura were essentially similar. Most of them revolved around people, increased community connections and building a town that we all could be proud of.
The planning day has generated so many wonderful ideas for the future of our town. There are groups meeting together to help achieve our goals for the community. These include organising events for the community such as free video nights in the Community Centre and a Talent Show, discussing how to improve Mataura's image and show the world what a great town we are, setting up activities for the kids in our town and starting a business co-op and community garden.
Image by elycefeliz via FlickrI read a blog post at Platonic Trip a while back that has stayed with me, kind of like a splinter that I just haven't been able to dig out. Its been irritating me beyond measure!
The gist of the post is that the writer was amongst a group of people approached by a man asking for money to buy medicine for his sick kids. Only one member of the group gave any money. The writer of the post outlined his reasons for not giving. According to his way of thinking the man asking for the money should have gone to the Church, or some Government agency to ask for help rather than bail up a group of individuals and try to emotionally blackmail them into helping him and his family out. The writer felt that there was no point in helping the man as he should have gone elsewhere to get the money he needed and drew the conclusion that kindness is a weakness and therefore not a virtue worth pursuing.
This post bothers me on many different levels.
I am not a fan of being approached by people in need asking me for money. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I like to have time to consider my options, to feel that I am not being taken advantage of. Giving in a face to face manner makes me anxious - I worry that I am not giving enough, or I'm giving too much, or I'm not being effective in my giving by giving directly to an individual. Given all this, I can relate to the fact that the writer of the post wasn't thrilled at being approached by the man asking for money.
However, his reasons for not giving seem shallow and badly thought out.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is a bad thing to not give money in situations like this. Many people are on limited or fixed incomes themselves and don't have spare for spontaneous giving. And the writer is correct, there are agencies and institutions in most countries that are set up to help people in just these circumstances. I'm sure the man in need could have visited them.
Perhaps he didn't know where to go? Rather than simply ignore him and his story, perhaps someone could have shown him a kindness and pointed him in the right direction to get help?
Was it really emotional blackmail appealing to the kindness of strangers in a time of need? I'm not advocating that anyone hand their life savings over to the first desperate sounding stranger with a sob story that approaches them, but surely, if you have a little money (time, food, other appropriate item) spare would it really hurt to share? Even if it does make you anxious or uncomfortable?
While his reasons for not giving disappoint me, the writer's conclusion that kindness is a weakness gobsmacks me.
Kindness is not the same as naivety. Its not blindly giving to everyone who asks, its not meekly accepting other people's bad behaviour, or unquestioningly believing whatever you are told.
Kindness is about choosing to make cups of tea for angry people because you know that your actions will make a difference. Its about being generous when you can do so, and respectfully saying no when you feel it is inappropriate or simply not possible. Kindness is about being strong and standing up for what you believe in, about being respectful and assertive. Kindness is about cultivating connections with others and building community.
Kindness would have to be one of my favourite virtues. It shows real strength of character.
The best way to save the world is to save yourself. Sweep your own doorstep. Tend your own garden. Always do what you've agreed to do. Never take anything that's not yours. Be generous, but sceptical, kind, but not naive. - The Daily Reckoning Australia
Poverty, violence, hunger, war, global warming, religious intolerance, terrorism . . . the problems of the world may seem big, but the solutions to them are small. They start with one person, you. They start with simple actions, the kind of things that you, and I , can do everyday. Grand gestures are exciting, but its the little things that really count. Their effects ripple out from our own lives and make a difference in the lives of others.
Put your money where your mouth is Live by your values. Its easy to complain, its easy to throw up your arms in horror. But if you want to make a difference you need to have the courage of your convictions and you need to take action. Stand up for what you believe in.
Do less Sometimes less really is more. Spend less time talking and more time listening to others. Make a point of consuming less. Use less resources. Drive less and walk or cycle more. Eat less meat. Slow down and enjoy life.
Value the things you have Do you really need more Stuff? Do you need a new car, a bigger house, another TV? For many of us more stuff means more debt. And more debt means less time and more stress. Appreciate the things you already have.
Build relationships People are more important than things. Really! Make your life's focus more about people and less about Stuff. Cultivate your friendships, treat everyone you meet with respect, be kind.
Share what you have If any one thing can make a difference to the world then it has to be generosity. It doesn't have to be on a huge scale - we can't all give like Bill Gates. Be generous with your love, your time, your possessions, your money. Giving generously creates a feeling of abundance. It makes us less afraid of what we might lose, it builds community and connects people, it creates opportunity.
This evening Cambell Live aired Mataura's story about how a wealthy American dentist brought up our town after the local paper mill closed and has since let it fall into disrepair.
Given that we only had a five minute slot, I think Natasha Utting and the rest of the team involved in editing the story did a great job. You can watch the video at the Campbell Live Website.
It is already creating debate and discussion in the community, which is fantastic. And the timing is wonderful as well. We have a Community Planning Meeting coming up this Saturday and it will be a great forum to discuss the future direction of our town.
Today I spent the afternoon with Campbell Live's Natasha Utting doing a piece for national television on the difficulties Mataura is facing. It is such an exciting development and it has spurred Dr Phillips on to great things. Since Natasha contacted him last week to organise an interview he has had his staff out in full force sprucing up the town.
The broken window panes on the movie theatre have been repaired finally - after being broken for months. Buildings on the main street were being painted as we filmed today. We even saw workers tending to the interior of one building.
And the story hasn't even aired yet!
Here's hoping that this is just the nudge Dr Phillips needed to remember that with his rights as a property owner - and the major property owner in our town - come some responsibilities to the community. Hopefully now he will start some kind of dialogue with the Mataura Community to form a realistic, fair and community centred vision for Mataura that will benefit all parties involved!
Image via WikipediaThe current economic instability seems to be encouraging an increasing realisation that we need to move on from the hedonistic, consumption focus that got us all into our current mess and embrace a more sustainable, community based model for living.
Unfortunately its not as easy as it sounds. The art of building community has been sorely neglected - if not actively discouraged - in many places and healthy communities don't just happen because people finally realise that we need them. They take work. They need active citizens willing to get involved in community initiatives and prepared to participate in the decisions being made that will affect their neighbourhoods, families and livelihoods.
If we want to rebuild Community, we need to understand that our rights as property owners, business people and community citizens come with responsibilities. It is our obligation to be actively involved in the well being of our neighbourhood. Whether that is standing for office in Local Government, being a contributing member of the local school community or making an effort to attend community events.
When we choose not to take an active role in our community, and hand decision making power over to Government, big business, foreign investors or even just let it concentrate in the hands of a select few of our neighbours then our communities wither and die. In a healthy community, people feel that they are listened to, they know they are valued, they are empowered and they have control over their collective destiny.
We need to realise that working for the common good doesn't undermine our rights as individuals, it strengthens them. Building Community isn't about some people having less so that others can have more, its about making sure that everyone has enough and that all our needs are met. In a healthy community those who can look after themselves and contribute to the community do so, and those who can't are respected and supported.
Strong communities offer support when times are tough. They advocate for the weak. They take care of their own. Because of this they are resilient. Because when it comes down to it self-reliance is a cooperative activity. In order to survive comfortably in hard times going it alone just doesn't work, instead we need to build and nourish our community connections.
Image by lumierefl via FlickrIf you have aspirations to Make a Difference, but are hamstrung by indecision about where to start, who to support or how to put your money where your mouth is, consider starting local.
Supporting your community, neighbourhood and local economy makes a huge difference, and the effects don't just stop at your backyard, by keeping your focus local you can have a global impact. See the list below to find out how living local can positively impact you, your community and the world:
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goods that are locally made or grown don't have to travel so far to get from the producer to you. According to the World Watch Paper "Home Grown: The case for local food in a global market" a basic diet consisting of imported ingredients can use around four times the energy, and generate four times the greenhouse gas emissions, of an equivalent diet from local ingredients.
Keep your Money Local A study by the Independent Business Alliance in Austin, Texas found that for every $100 spent at local businesses $45 went back to the community. By comparison, for every $100 spent at a Chain Store, only $13 stayed in the community. This money helps to create jobs, supports local producers and raises local incomes. On a global scale, for developing nations, a focus on local production and local markets ensures that people are fed, that precious foreign exchange stays in the country, and that they are not so dependent on fickle international markets.
Reduce Waste & Pollution Products that travel long distance need extra packaging for the journey. Food is treated with preservatives and additives so it lasts the distance. Local products don't need this extra, and locally grown food is fresher, tastier and healthier.
Industrial agriculture is chemical and energy intensive. It pollutes our land and our water ways. Greedy global corporations focused on profit exploit workers in sweatshop conditions. Local producers working for local markets are more accountable to their communities. They are not focused on constant growth, and work within a more sustainable economic model.
Encourage Crop Diversity Industrial farms like economies of scale. Its easier and more 'efficient' to grow one variety of carrot than half a dozen. Its much easier to just grow carrots instead of carrots and potatoes and broccoli and tomatoes. Industrial farms growing for export grow food that will travel well and still look the part when it gets where its going, and that isn't necessarily the best tasting or most nutritious variety. Image via Wikipedia Local farmers producing for local markets can grow what their customers want to buy. They can grow varieties of fruit or vegetables that suit local conditions, which reduces the amount of chemicals used on the crops. According to Home Grown "diverse organic and ecological farms, which rely less on purchased inputs and more on taking advantage of the ecological processes in the field, cost less to maintain and make more efficient use of land, nutrients, energy, and otherinputs, than do chemical-intensive monocultures."
Fair Made-Traded-Grown Producing for the local market cuts out the middlemen that eat into producers income. In America studies have shown that farmers only get 20 cents of each dollar Americans spend on food. The other 80 cents is gobbled up by packaging, transportation, processing and advertising. So buying local, from local farmers, businesses, and producers means they get a fair price for their hard work - and you still get things cheaper!!
" by Lyle Estill
. Join a Community Garden (or start one), engage in 
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