Latest from Willits - Peak Oil preparedness
Claudia Reed, Willits News
As described in the article Past the Peak, Willits is the little town in Northern California leading the way in local solutions to Peak Oil. The local paper carried two stories on the town's progress:
City talks economic localization Wednesday
Solar city and beyond: Speaker offers Sebastopol example, August 22
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City talks economic localization Wednesday
By Claudia Reed/Staff Writer
We believe responsible action can be summarized by the term economic localization, writes Community Development Director Alan Falleri. Quite simply, this means that what we consume here in Willits we also produce here in Willits.
Thats part of a statement Falleri will present to the city council Wednesday night for possible adoption. The item appears on the agenda of the council meeting for some time after 7 p.m.
We need to create a diverse set of new businesses that serve our common needs, Falleri continues. In doing so, our youth would find ample niches to vent their creativity. Our rural landscape would be enhanced by farms that grow a thriving, varied set of crops... Renewable energy and non-polluting transportation systems would give us a quieter, less expensive, and more dependable set of services...
In June, Falleri attended a conference in Great Barrington, Mass. on Building Sustainable Local Economies. He said conference participants from across the nation were aware of the post-cheap-oil community organizing coordinated here by the Willits Economic LocaliZation (WELL) group.
On his return, Falleri organized a steering committee of representatives of the city, WELL, the Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations to help guide and expand the localization process here. The effort, he said, would build on the information WELL has been gathering.
So far, the committee includes Falleri, Lynn Kennelly of the Chamber of Commerce; WELL founder Dr. Jason Bradford; Patty Bruder of North Coast Opportunities; Margie Handley of the Frank. R. Howard Foundation, which is directing the local hospital rebuild; Mike Aplet of the Willits Active Living Congress; Madelyn Holtkamp of the county-wide Economic Development and Finance Committee; and Cyndee Logan of Willits Actions Group, which sponsored Falleris trip to Massachusetts.
The new task forces first action will be to bring two speakers to Willits for an Oct. 15 Local First presentation: Attorney and economist Michael Shuman, who is vice president of the Training & Development Corporation of Bucksport, Maine; and Berkeley-based Marrian Fuller of the international Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.
Wednesday's city council meeting, like all council meetings, is open to the public and there will be time for public response to agenda items.
We call upon the people of Willits to learn about why and how we can reorganize our economy, and then add your ideas towards creating a place that is even more beautiful, healthy, and secure, Falleri writes.
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