Relocalization System Catalysts

Relocalization groups operate in many different and resourceful ways. In my phone calls to group coordinators, I am collecting effective strategies to address the many issues of relocalizing our communities. Today, I am featuring the CELL (Coast Economic Localization Link) group of the northern California coast for the innovative ways they are acting as catalysts, aligning with already existing local groups, and giving people opportunities to work on just the projects they have passion for. Deb Smith was my informant. She’s on the steering committee, and is active in many of CELL’s projects.

Relocalization is a systems response to a systems problem. What do I mean? All of the food, transportation, waste, and electricity systems that support modern human societies are based on “cheap” fossil fuels, particularly petroleum and coal. These systems allow us to ship things we want and need around the world with the greatest convenience and least cost to us.

When people learn about Peak Oil and start assessing what needs to be changed in their community to become less dependent on fossil fuels for their food, transportation, electricity, and waste disposal, people often feel overwhelmed with the size and scope of the problems we are facing. Even so, they often start off with high hopes, strong commitment and clear intentions. A core group forms and a relocalization group is born.

There is so much to do to create an alternate system. Once the new system is in place, it can be maintained with far less effort.

Creating a New System- Curbside Recycling

Take recycling as an example, in the 1970s, the only recycling in San Francisco (where I lived then) was done by volunteers. Only newspaper, aluminum cans, and possibly glass were recycled. The recycling center was only open one day a week or a month for a few hours at a time. You had to save up your recyclables, store them, drive them to the center when it was open, unload everything, and drive your car home. The process took lots of commitment, time, and effort. The payoff was the feeling that you were doing something about saving the Earth’s resources.

Today, San Francisco and many other places, offer a one stream recycling system. A waste disposal truck comes to our house weekly and picks up the waste, recycling, and yard waste and food scraps in three bins. Trash goes to the landfill, all types of materials are recycled and green waste is composted. Here it is easy for people to recycle now.

CELL’s Organizational Strategy – Zeroing in on Passion

CELL spans a rural breathtakingly beautiful coastal area in northern California that is nestled up against coastal mountains. Population areas are spread out. Highway One is the main north-south road. The lumber trade once reigned supreme there, but now it has primarily moved on. Tourists from all over the world come to visit Mendocino and Fort Bragg, artists work there. Agriculture is limited, and transportation costs are high.

Relocalization groups are the pioneers of a Meta system change that is so vast that often activists burnout trying to change everything at once. CELL has established three areas where they concentrate their efforts: Local Food, Electricity and Transportation. They have three goals: 30% local seasonable food requirements be sustainably produced and processed within 100 miles by 2015, 30% of the local electricity requirement be generated by renewables by 2015, and 30% of local transportation be fueled from renewable resources by 2015. By focusing everything they do around these three goals, they are saving themselves from exhausting their limited people resources, as well as ensuring that their ‘human energy’ resource is constantly focused on movement towards their goals.

Their organizational structure consists of a consistent and self-sufficient steering committee which averages eight people. Each of the three goal areas has two teams: (1) an “Information Clearinghouse” team responsible for goal-related public education and making goal-related local information and expertise generally available and (2)a second Agents for Change’ team that does projects in their community, and also does tasks focused on “big picture” system changes. Since team members are only expected to attend meetings that are for their chosen area(s )of interest, they are free to participate in what they are passionate about.

To attract more community involvement in the larger projects, Deb told me that most people are glad to answer a call once or twice a year for a project in their favorite area of interest. For example, during October 2006 CELL helped to create (along with other county localization groups) a month of activities focused on local food availability (within 100 miles) referred to as “C’Mon Home to Eat”. Many, many locals were very happy to help out with one or two of the month’s events/projects, even if they were not able to attend regular meetings. Some of these activities included an Abundance Festival feast and workshops, talks within schools on the importance of local, sustainable food production (and associated health benefits), and helping two of the local markets add tags on their shelves to identify local products, etc. The Abundance Festival near the end of the month included workshops on sea vegetables, kefir, local mushrooms, solar cooking, etc., and was followed by an incredible feast of local food. The Food Education team also posts local organic growers and stores on the CELL website. http://www.coastlocalize.org The CELL website also includes a treasure-trove of information on using solar energy for passive house heating, water heating, electricity generation, etc.

Join with Local Organization for Synergy

CELL has just begun forging what they expect to be strong, synergistic relationships with the Grange to encourage and support local agriculture. Their local Grange has been in place for around 100 years and has a meeting hall with a commercial kitchen in which CELL and Grangers together will give local food cooking, canning and preserving demonstrations. Both CELL and the Grange expect to benefit largely from this collaboration.

CELL also has a member on the county-wide Energy Working Group that has focused on making policy recommendations for the county’s new General Plan that will support conservation and local energy creation. CELL also has close ties with several solar energy organizations, and with local environmental development group NHUDG (Noyo Headlands Unified Design Group).

Just get started

Deb shared with me her favorite organizational quote with me, “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going” –by Michael Litman. This means to her that even when things seem overwhelming, one way to avoid burn-out is to remember that a series of small accomplishments is how every large goal is reached. Nothing is accomplished overnight. Deb says that “any movement towards our goals matters a lot. ‘Getting it right’ would mean reaching our goals 100%, and that will take time. A steady series of constant accomplishments, both large and small, have a very good chance of getting us where we need to go.”

CELL‘s winning strategies have brought them closer to their goals. By having a few clearly defined goal s, by having a stream-lined team structure, by zeroing in on people’s passions and talents, by acting with other organizations for synergy and by being a catalyst in their local community, they have a viable, active group that is bringing new localized food, electricity and transportation systems into their communities.