Gina Guarascio

Valley Journal, June 22, 2006

http://www.valley-journal.com/article/20060622/NEWS/161013729&parentprofile=search

Carbondale already has a huge reservoir of resources to prepare for a world without cheap, abundant oil, said Brook LeVan, the director of Sustainable Settings, a local ranch dedicated to all things sustainable.

LeVan and others who attended a talk June 9 with more than 100 people and a weekend seminar on localization came out with a feeling that the Roaring Fork Valley is already well on its way to having an economy where things that you want and need are produced locally. But, he said, there is no time to waste in getting organized.

Brian Weller, co-founder of Willits Economic LocaLization (WELL), came to Carbondale to speak about the experiences that have made his northern California town a leader in preparing for the inevitable decline of the world’s oil resources.

Weller said more than 100 communities worldwide are actively planning for a different future. Before coming to Carbondale, Weller addressed an audience in Ireland concerned about the same issues.

Sweden has a national plan in place to be totally self-sufficient by 2020, said Weller at his talk. With the current administration, the U.S. federal government doesn’t seem to be making any strides towards self-sufficiency, but more and more cities and counties are taking the initiative to do just that.

“This is one of the most important public policy issues that we’re going to deal with in the next decade. We’re looking at different strategies,” said Carbondale Town Manger Tom Baker, who attended Weller’s talk. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. This involves a lot of planning for land use and emergency planning. We’ll want to preserve the agricultural lands around here.”

Carbondale Mayor Michael Hassig attended the lecture and an all-day seminar on Saturday with his 18-year-old son, Christopher. He said the topics of “re-localization” and peak oil interest him on a personal and professional level.

“These issues are worth investigating as a town. There is a group of active and committed people that think this is important. It is in the town’s interest to understand what this means,” Hassig said, adding that the town is already taking steps to do the right thing environmentally.

“It’s not as if we’re not interested and engaged in these issues,” he added. “The town can act. We have regulatory powers.”

For instance, when the Town Council decided last year to dedicate portions of the franchise fees to issues of energy and the environment, it charged the environmental board to come up with a plan for what that response should be.

The town’s environmental board has been working on a long-term energy plan that calls for more local energy production, like solar electric and micro-hydro. Hassig said the town is interested in helping to facilitate the process, but the budget for this year is already spoken for and town staff is busy. “We need to come up with a plan. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about it (localization). They (Willits) started with basic inventories — not just their ecological footprint — but what were their vulnerabilities,” said Hassig, who touted Carbondale’s involvement in Aspen’s Canary Initiative and ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives).

“It’s not unrelated to work we’ve done with the fire department and the Incident Command System to understand how we would respond to emergencies,” he said. “In some ways it’s not that different than the Chamber (of Commerce) exhorting us to shop locally. He (Weller) recast a lot of things that we know already.”

LeVan has been the de facto organizer of a series of meetings that started after a screening of “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream” in April. The meetings happen on the first Thursday of the month and regularly draw upwards of 70 people who are beginning to make an action plan for localizing. LeVan said Weller’s visit invigorated the process.

“Brian’s visit was critical,” he said. “For me it brought out the fact that we already have a lot of talent and skills here. This is an amazing place. People are really charged about taking this by the horns and getting organized.”

LeVan is setting an example with his ranch, which is dedicated to education and local food production.

“There are a lot of people here that already live on the edge,” he said. “What’s going to happen when gas is $5 a gallon or more? It’s really going to stress the system.”

Weller discussed what worked and didn’t work for Willits. He also made it clear that each individual town is different and will address issues differently. He suggested booking speakers and showing films regularly to enlighten the community and gain enrollment in the movement.

“The passion in the group is incredible because people love this place and they want to stay here for a long, long time. Every natural system is grunting in some way or another right now. This is way more urgent than people think,” LeVan said.

“The ripple effect is, the price for food, transportation, a two by four, clothing, a window ... everything will go up in cost. That’s going to be a real trigger for people to start working toward bringing industries and skills and services back to our community.”

A working title for the movement to localize is CELL (Carbondale Economic LocaLization), a name LeVan likes because of the dynamic nature of an ever evolving and multiplying cell. The next meeting of CELL is a potluck on Thursday, June 29, at Sopris Park starting at 6 p.m. The film “The Power of Community” will be shown for free. Bring a dish to share.

The next official meeting of CELL is July 13 (skipping the July 4 weekend). LeVan said that seemed like too far away after Weller’s visit, hence the potluck, which he claims is not a meeting. For more info e-mail LeVan at brook@sustainablesettings. org or call 963-6107.