Untitled Document

Essays related to the CSCC

Culture, Neighborhoods and Community Assets

Contents:
Culture, Eco Logical Culture Change I, Neighborhoods, NLC “Sustainbility” Committee, Communities of Faith, Schools and Food Projects, Rural Initiatives, Eco Culture Change II

Please read the “We Are No Longer In Oz” essay if you have not seen it. This Asset essay is second in a sequence and will offer more to the reader if the Oz essay is read first.

This essay will focus on both particular organizations and a type of organization, suggesting ways they can better serve the community in this period of profound historical change.

Every community has social assets that include many kinds of organizations such as government, non profit, educational, religious and service. They all have their own particular niches within the larger community but most do have a purpose, by definition or by tradition of service to the community. In addition to organizations, a community has its own particular character and history which can also be assets.

As economic and social conditions change [we are already seeing many changes related to economic disarray, the environment, climate and energy] many community organizations will see their traditional niches and purposes evolve along with those changes, or they may see lesser parts of their current service portfolio becoming more important. How our community's assets adapt and respond to changing times will determine a great deal of how the entire community fares.

Culture

Culture is the matrix of beliefs, values, behaviors, aspirations, mythologies, traditions that surround us every day. They do much to determine how we live, interact with others and make a living. Some of these cultural traits go back hundreds and thousands of years while much of our contemporary way of life is very new and centers around the “consumer culture.”

Through tens of billions of advertising dollars, largely by way of TV, movies, music and magazines; corporate commercial interests have imposed many values, attitudes and social priorities that focus on buying and using consumer products. Corporate interests have come to dominate our culture to such a degree that people and citizens are often referred to as “consumers.” The well being of the nation is defined by how many goods and services are produced and sold.

Much of this corporate consumer culture promotes vanity and shallow materialism. Every great religion and uplifting philosophy through history teaches modesty in things material, compassion for others, social justice and a sense of cherishing the natural world. Modern consumer culture does the exact opposite. It imposes a set of messages that resonate remarkably with the less uplifted aspects of our individual and community character. It elevates buying and consuming as the most important activity of life. Its values are determined by worth in dollars and seeks to turn as many human interactions into money transactions as possible.

An economy should be the servant of a society's uplifted visions and goals. What we have at present is a society that serves the base and vulgar demands of the corporate economy. It is this corporate economy that is the cause of climate change, resource wars, enormous social and economic dis equity, a degraded natural environment and a society that has had its common sense replaced with corporate mythologies.

Eco Logical Culture Change

The phrase “eco logical culture change” refers to the epic challenge of unlearning and saying no to the corporate consumer culture. Such a culture change would begin with unlearning the corporate propaganda, then redefining our relationships to ourselves, community and planet. Eco culture would be far more local, far more civic and far more cooperative. Its technology and economy would be servants for social uplift, economic equity, democracy and environmental well being where the culture's primary goals are bringing out the best in its citizens and providing their needs in a way planet earth can sustain.

Such a culture change would be holistic. A core ideal would be for individuals and societies to connect their actions to their consequences. Such a culture change would simultaneously address the issues of climate change, energy depletion, economic dis equity, the environment and global relations.

Here in the southern Willamette Valley, we have many of the assets that can play vital parts in this culture change. Some of those are geographic - our climate, fresh water, forests, fields, mountains, coast. Others are human – civic organizations, individuals, businesses, government, education.

We also have an existing regional eco logical culture, both rural and urban. Small as it is, it's one of the defining characteristics of this part of the country. It contains wisdom and many successful examples and models of eco culture change that can guide us and that we can expand on.

Lets take a closer look.

Neighborhoods

The City of Eugene has a neighborhood program with several city staff to manage and provide services to the program. The program also has a modest budget for the 19 different neighborhood associations. Each neighborhood association has a good deal of autonomy. They meet at different intervals both for board work sessions and for public meetings and special programs as well. Some issues are common to all neighborhoods such as land use, transportation, development, the environment and interacting with the city. Each neighborhood has its own particular issues as well.

Parallel to the formal city program is the Neighborhood Leaders Council or NLC. The NLC is made up of leaders and representatives from each neighborhood association and it meets once a month.
It contains several sub committees such as Neighborhood Empowerment, Infill, EWEB and Sustainability. The NLC is not formally recognized by the city so it is autonomous but still has the same concerns as the City Neighborhood Program. City staff are frequent participants at NLC meetings. All reps at the NLC are active in their respective city program neighborhood associations.

The City Neighborhood Program and the NLC overlap a great deal but the sum of the two entities is that there is a valuable and existing communications network, civic skills and a civic mindedness by all the people who participate.

Each neighborhood association can communicate with people in their respective neighborhoods using newsletters, website, e mail and meetings. The associations can communicate with each other as well at meetings, e mail networks and occasional neighborhood summits. With a larger budget, these modes of communications could be even more effective.

Neighborhoods are a perfect place to advance ideas for living more eco logically. Communications are human scale and populist. There already exists a civic cohesion. Progressive projects in the neighborhood are tangible, timely and will resonate at an increasing rate as the mainstream economy

declines. Those projects are accessible and directly benefit those working on them. The Matching Grant Program, where the city matches dollar value to in kind and “sweat equity” from the neighborhoods, is one of the most popular city programs and fits perfectly into greening our neighborhoods. Successes and challenges from the matching grants and other projects and initiatives around town can be shared so all the groups can learn from each other. Collaborations between different neighborhoods is made easier and there are unlimited opportunities to create new projects and to create new networks.

Already, several neighborhood associations [NAs] have eco/greening committees. Several have organized bike tours [50 to 60 people average] to visit model properties; several NAs have put together work parties, potlucks, workshops, asset surveys and beginnings to collaborate with other entities in the neighborhoods like churches and schools. There is an unlimited number of positive initiatives to take, ranging from modest to ambitious. Participation leads to new friendships, new skills, new understandings and adds to eco culture change.

NLC Sustainability Sub Committee

The NLC has a Sustainability Sub Committee with members from over ten different neighborhoods. This group has been meeting for half a year and has taken on several projects. One is to create a speakers bureau with a menu of topics with interest to the community. All the topics are about people taking action closer to home in the realm of energy conservation, turning grass to garden, neighborhood economics, creative green collaborations and more. The speakers are available to schools, churches, civic groups and neighborhood organizations.

The sub committee has entered into a creative partnership with the Green Home Show. The sub committee is producing four presentations [see the handout calendar] at the Home Show [January 23 -25], will have an informational booth for engaging the public and a “Courtyard” conversation/ presentation sitting area out in the midst of the Home Show to further engage home show visitors with positive ideas. Green Home Show publicity [with prominent visibility] along with the presentations, booth and courtyard will draw much more attention to greening our neighborhoods in particular and neighborhoods in general.

Initiatives such as the speakers bureau and home show both have the potential to lead to many productive connections. Making connections and creative initiatives for the good of individuals, the community and environment is culture change in action. Its dynamic, its positive, fun, its an adventure.

Communities of Faith

Another important member of the community that offers enormous possibilities are communities of faith [COF]. There are churches, mosques, synagogues and other faith organizations in nearly every part of town. They all exist to help elevate individual and social well being while advocating material simplicity and reverence for the natural world. Communities of faith and their ideals should be in the forefront of greening our community.

Communities of faith have important assets. They have buildings, communications, membership, cohesion and many have space for gardens. Perhaps most important, they have a set of values and ideals that fit perfectly with eco culture change. They all stand for uplift of the spirit, developing positive human potential, cooperation, social justice, service to the community and reverence for the natural world.

A perfect collaboration would be neighborhood organizations and COF. Together, they could organize and host greening the neighborhood meetings and workshops all over town. Workshops about property conversion, gardening, conservation, communication skills, neighborhood economics and more.
Today's NLC speakers bureau becomes a core part of tomorrow's community wide education campaign. When the COFs are not using their spaces for their own needs, they could become part time community centers with programs for the entire neighborhood with not only “green” learning but also story telling, music, arts & crafts, youth and senior activities and many other enriching topics.

Several COFs have notable projects already. The First Methodist Church is home to Thats My Farmer. TMF is a network of 16 churches and a synagogue that make a point to support local farmers. The yearly celebration for local farmers drew well over 300 people last spring. St. Thomas Episcopal Church and the Diocese it belongs to make two acres of land on its property available to Food For Lane County. The Grass Roots Garden produces many tons of organic vegetables that go to feed those in need. The garden also is a site where volunteers and members of the community can learn many different gardening skills.

Several COF have social or environmental concerns committees. These committees have wonderful potentials for taking initiatives within their own COF but also to collaborate with neighborhoods and other organizations in town. A number of churches host scout troops. Here is another chance to combine assets. Scouts are a natural for greening our community. Again, there is enormous potential for positive outcomes.

Schools and Food Projects

Schools are a priority part of creating a healthy future. The wonder years are when young people develop the values and perspectives that will inform their lives. Already, most schools and classes touch on environmental and social issues important to green citizenship.

At least two local non profit organizations are combining to provide participating kids in Eugene with vital information regarding food. The School Garden Project and the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition offer participating schools a wonderful curriculum. A number of local schools have gardens on site where students can learn about growing vegetables. Its part science, nutrition, geography, sociology where kids learn a great deal about food and what it takes to to produce it. Many kids in the program, including many from disadvantaged backgrounds, are learning about healthier food choices, for themselves, for their families and for planet earth. This is an education program that benefits kids right now and will empower them in the future.

Yet another program is Partners for Sustainable Schools. This ambitious project brings environmental education both to schools and weekend conferences and is working to create many kinds of partnerships among diverse organizations of the community with its focus on empowering students to become active green citizens.

These educational programs are models already doing wonderful work that deserve increasing support and expansion in all area school districts.

Another food project called Huerto de la Familia - the Home Garden. Huerto is another small non profit that does wonderful work in the community. Huerto works with Hispanic people in Eugene, teaching garden and nutrition skills. It rents space in several area community gardens for the use of participating families.

Participants grow a significant amount of their own food and learn related skills such as seed saving and food preservation. Growing techniques are all organic. Families are empowered by taking care of more of their own needs, can share time in the garden with family and friends and can use the skills they learn to teach others and for their own use at a time when such skills will be increasingly important.

Yet another food initiative is the Victory Gardens Project. Teams of volunteers transform grassy spaces into gardens in the course of a day. This is a wonderful change that transforms not only a grassy yard but also builds community, adds to local economies and resilience, contributes to individual and community health and is good for the environment.

Food is a natural focus for eco culture change. Please have a look at the food section of the CSCC for more examples of local food initiatives.

Rural Initiatives

Rural towns have their own counterparts to Eugene's green initiatives. Community gardens and school gardens are found in many locations in Lane County. Small town neighbors collaborate on food buying in a number of towns such as Marcola and Oakridge. Barter occasions and farmers markets are spreading. One town has a low power citizens radio station.

A number of Granges serve as rural community centers. Old grange halls are reviving and host events that build community and provide a place where locals can address issues important to where they live such as sharing rides into town, looking after water quality, creating tool libraries, teaching eco culture skills like rain water harvesting, food production solar design and much more.

There is a financial part of Eco Culture Change. Many have written and explained the benefits to keeping money local in terms of buying from local sources. Taking that further would include investing local and producing local.

Local community credit unions can play a key role in keeping money local. Such a credit union would have its corporate charter and bylaws specifically define its purpose to serve the local community. It would not accept money from outside the area, it would only invest in local projects that met certain criteria and the credit union would be overseen by a diverse board made up of local people.

A local credit union could allow people to invest in local projects that benefit the community such as manufacturing important green products, Block Planning, agriculture, home scale green retrofits, eco friendly co-operative ventures to name a few.

Eco Culture Change

Eco logical culture change is a profound and deep redefining of how we see ourselves, our planet and how we take care of our needs. Its not only a matter of responding to climate change, oil, environment, global affairs and water. There are other considerations. Whether one is religious, spiritual or claims no interest in those realms, the sharply declining condition of the human created and natural worlds should cause all of us to reflect upon how each of us shares a responsibility for this state of affairs and what we will do about it.

The issue and need goes beyond “I will do my part.” One's part should not be the approach, rather we should all do all we can.

Many observers through history have noted that crisis offers not only fear and uncertainty but opportunity as well. The deepening trends and crisis of the day provide a deepening opportunity where enlightened self interest, community well being and the survival of the planet come together.

Eco logical culture change starts at the personal level Making time to be a part of this change often means trading time making money for time engaging in the community. That is where redefining our values and priorities becomes visible - exchanging old ways of not using time wisely for new ways that do. The changes many would like to see will not happen by themselves, rather they will only happen with commitment and great investment of time. And that can even be fun.

Coming to terms with the material/consumer world is a challenge but a vital step. Choosing to be engaged in the concerns of the community instead of buying more stuff is confronting the consumer culture head on. Given the economic decline and outlook, many people will downsize whether they want to or not. Eco culture change will mean making adjustments in how we live and some of them will not be by choice but even unwanted changes can be turned to good advantage. Downsizing our material needs makes time available for public service and also reduces one's participtation in damaging the planet and supporting a corrupt economic system.

Primary to eco culture change is to redefine growth and progress. The corporate message for decades has been to equate growth and progress with increased producing, buying, consuming and affluence. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in advertising and public relations to create a near mythic status for growth and progres. We see the results and they are a disaster for the spirit and the Earth. Growth and progress need to be redefined in terms of growth in human well being – public health, education, equity, integrity in civic affairs, a restored natural environment, global cooperation and peace on Earth.

Eco culture change is inward, its personal and its expansive. Its staying closer to home and taking time to be engaged in civic affairs. Its recoginzing positive opportunities and adapting familiar elements of our current way of life for uplifted use in a changing world. Its neighborhoods, schools, communities of faith. Its economics that serves people, not the other way around. Its movement forward as we value and empower our own selves. Eco culture change combines individual and community moving towards a peaceful and healthy world that planet earth can sustain

Eugene has many non profit and ad hoc organizations that offer wonderful and timely services to the community. See the site below for a lengthy list of non profits in Eugene that have much to offer the community. http://www.heliosnetwork.org/search_switchboard.cfm?type=organizations&listall=name