Thanks
to Rick Meagher for tuning me into this organization from Western Maine.
Will the world become part of a post-fossil fuel economy faced with challenges of an increasingly unstable climate? Can we choose to plan now, while resources are available, to transition towards a more resilient and ecology-based economy that provides for our perennial needs and celebrates the strength of our communities?
Please don't think a Politician/Savior is going to get us out of this mess. The power to change is within us. Not them! Point the finger at the screen and say, "its your fault." Notice you now have three fingers pointing right back at yourself. Thus is the responsibility of a Bottom Up world. We are all responsible.
How do ecology and economy relate? Consider learning about the work of The Center for an Ecology-Based Economy. This organization helps us to realize the dream of healthy, sustainable communities while achieving greater resilience in the face of climate and resource instability. Only by working together and celebrating our diversity and collective knowledge, will we realize our greatest potential as a community and thrive well into the future.
For example, the Center for Ecology Based Economy in Western Maine gazes into the future of transportation in rural areas. This future includes the use of public, electric, and human-powered forms of transportation resulting in the lowering of our carbon footprint.
The Center focuses on food because they asked the question: What are we without food? My answer is that food is central to your health, wellbeing and evolution. Without it, you're dead. Eating garbage from the grocery stores (especially the center isles) is not good for you or the planet. What's good for Mamma is good for baby.
The Center for Ecology Based Economy states their goal as being to foster human-scale food systems providing an abundance of local food and jobs, while using the land, regenerating soils, and restoring people's health in Western Maine.
The Center also helps people and families by building affordable and efficient low-impact housing.
The Center was officially launched on Earth Day in 2013. The website states:
The timing was not perfect, nor the planning complete, but spurred on by ever starker realities of climate change and resource depletion, four friends and neighbors, new parents all, decided it was time to take action. The availability of a prime Main Street meeting space sealed the deal.
With a diverse range of skill sets and armed with the conviction that only by tapping into the creativity and collective wisdom of our community could we build resilience to the economic and ecological challenges ahead, we realized we needed support.
As I read this, I thought about multiple consequences. For example, can fostering real community, instead of apart-ments, also foster a sense of belonging? Perhaps uni-ments are the future? Does wholeness lean us towards real, equitable and self-sustaining community?
Thus the Center states:
CEBE has also hosted over fifty events, from film screenings in collaboration with the Fare Share Co-op, 350.org, Healthy Oxford Hills, Efficiency Maine and Revision Energy. Speakers have presented on everything from micro lending and earth art, to cooperative business models and eco-village design. Workshops have ranged from a two-day Introduction to Permaculture and a three part series on Food System Dynamics, to Yoga for Gardeners and Seed Saving and Swapping.
The Ecology Based Economy will ultimately create vibrant economies and towns that are in transition towards a sustainable world.
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