Community in 17 Sensible Steps by Wendell Berry
-I think there's a natural tendency we have to preach to the choir. The choir is much more sympathetic. Sometimes I doubt the sincerity of people when they listen to someone with the exact same views as them and then say, "Wow, that was really convicting. I really needed that." Maybe they're being honest, but usually those statements are reserved for when someone tells you something you really are not comfortable hearing. So I'd like to assure you of my sincerity when I tell you that the following list written by a guy I tend to agree with was very convicting. If I agree with this stuff, why won't I act on it? My comments are included here, but should not be compared with the prose of Mr. Berry.-
"How can a sustainable local community (which is to say a sustainable localeconomy) function? I am going to suggest a set of rules that I think such acommunity would have to follow. I hasten to say that I do not understandthese rules as predictions; I am not interested in foretelling the future.If these rules have any validity, it is because they apply now.Supposing that the members of a local community wanted their community tocohere, to flourish, and to last, they would:
1. Ask of any proposed change or innovation: What will this do to ourcommunity? How will this affect our common wealth?
2. Include local nature - the land, the water, the air, the native creatures- within the community.
3. Ask how local needs might be supported from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.
-I've had the desire for a long time now to make the overwhelming majority of my purchases from local businesses and farms. Tiffany and I do that, to an extent, but I especially haven't been proactive enough in terms of food. We buy all of our food from Shaw's and none of it from local farms.-
4. Supply local needs first (and only then think of exporting theirproducts, first to nearby cities, and then to others).
5. Understand the ultimate unsoundness of the industrial doctrine of "laborsaving" if that implies poor work, unemployment, or any kind of pollution or contamination.
6. Develop properly scaled value-adding industries for local products in order not to become merely a colony of the national or global economy.
-What does this mean? What kinds of industries would that be? And how would we develop them?-
7. Develop small-scale industries and businesses to support the local farmor forest economy.
8. Strive to produce as much of their own energy as possible.
-I don't produce anything. Absolutely nothing. I don't grow anything. I don't make anything.-
9. Strive to increase earnings (in whatever form) within the community, and decrease expenditures outside the community.
10. Circulate money within the local economy as long as possible before paying it out.
-I would say that 99% of the things I purchase ship money out of our local economy. How does this affect my decision even to purchase books from Amazon.com? In that instance, I feel somewhat justified because we don't really have a local bookstore. Maybe opening my own local bookstore would be a start?-
11. Invest in the community to maintain its properties, keep it clean (without dirtying some other place), care for its old people, and teach its children.
12. Arrange for the young and the old to take care of one another, eliminating institutionalized "child care" and "homes for the aged." The young must learn from the old, not necessarily and not always in school; the community knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young.
13. Account for costs that are now conventionally hidden or "externalized." Whenever possible they must be debited against monetary income.
14. Look into the possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan programs, systems of barter and the like.
-Where would I go to look into this?-
15. Be aware of the economic value of neighborliness - as help, insurance, and so on. They must realize that in our time the costs of living are greatly increased by the loss of neighborhood, leaving people to face their calamities alone.
16. Be acquainted with, and complexly connected with, community-minded people in nearby towns and cities.
17. Cultivate urban consumers loyal to local products to build a sustainable rural community, which will always be more cooperative than competitive."
-Wow. What would a "cooperative" economy look like? Competition is how we've been taught to think of economics.-
>From a speech delivered November 11, 1994, at the 23rd annual meeting of theNorthern Plains Resource Council.
"How can a sustainable local community (which is to say a sustainable localeconomy) function? I am going to suggest a set of rules that I think such acommunity would have to follow. I hasten to say that I do not understandthese rules as predictions; I am not interested in foretelling the future.If these rules have any validity, it is because they apply now.Supposing that the members of a local community wanted their community tocohere, to flourish, and to last, they would:
1. Ask of any proposed change or innovation: What will this do to ourcommunity? How will this affect our common wealth?
2. Include local nature - the land, the water, the air, the native creatures- within the community.
3. Ask how local needs might be supported from local sources, including the mutual help of neighbors.
-I've had the desire for a long time now to make the overwhelming majority of my purchases from local businesses and farms. Tiffany and I do that, to an extent, but I especially haven't been proactive enough in terms of food. We buy all of our food from Shaw's and none of it from local farms.-
4. Supply local needs first (and only then think of exporting theirproducts, first to nearby cities, and then to others).
5. Understand the ultimate unsoundness of the industrial doctrine of "laborsaving" if that implies poor work, unemployment, or any kind of pollution or contamination.
6. Develop properly scaled value-adding industries for local products in order not to become merely a colony of the national or global economy.
-What does this mean? What kinds of industries would that be? And how would we develop them?-
7. Develop small-scale industries and businesses to support the local farmor forest economy.
8. Strive to produce as much of their own energy as possible.
-I don't produce anything. Absolutely nothing. I don't grow anything. I don't make anything.-
9. Strive to increase earnings (in whatever form) within the community, and decrease expenditures outside the community.
10. Circulate money within the local economy as long as possible before paying it out.
-I would say that 99% of the things I purchase ship money out of our local economy. How does this affect my decision even to purchase books from Amazon.com? In that instance, I feel somewhat justified because we don't really have a local bookstore. Maybe opening my own local bookstore would be a start?-
11. Invest in the community to maintain its properties, keep it clean (without dirtying some other place), care for its old people, and teach its children.
12. Arrange for the young and the old to take care of one another, eliminating institutionalized "child care" and "homes for the aged." The young must learn from the old, not necessarily and not always in school; the community knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young.
13. Account for costs that are now conventionally hidden or "externalized." Whenever possible they must be debited against monetary income.
14. Look into the possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan programs, systems of barter and the like.
-Where would I go to look into this?-
15. Be aware of the economic value of neighborliness - as help, insurance, and so on. They must realize that in our time the costs of living are greatly increased by the loss of neighborhood, leaving people to face their calamities alone.
16. Be acquainted with, and complexly connected with, community-minded people in nearby towns and cities.
17. Cultivate urban consumers loyal to local products to build a sustainable rural community, which will always be more cooperative than competitive."
-Wow. What would a "cooperative" economy look like? Competition is how we've been taught to think of economics.-
>From a speech delivered November 11, 1994, at the 23rd annual meeting of theNorthern Plains Resource Council.
