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There is a plethora of other wonderful resources related to relocalization and sustainability. This page will hopefully provide most of the categories of relevance and interest. Please feel free to propose new categories and sites that interest you.
Below you will find links for:
The Simple Living Network - The Simple Living Network is a for-profit venture that has been providing resources, tools, examples and contacts for conscious, simple, healthy and restorative living.
Permaculture Institute - An organization designed to promote sustainable living skills through education, networking and demonstration projects.
The Anthropik Network - A site with resources on rewilding and primitivism.
New American Dream - An organization that works with individuals, institutions, communities, and businesses to conserve natural resources, counter the commercialization of our culture, and promote positive changes in the way goods are produced and consumed..
The three "legs" of sustainability are mirrored in the relocalization framework. While sustainability is a seperate discipline with its own domain of terminology, structure, and philosophies, it is important to refer to these resources to inform and instruct the longer term planning horizon within relocalization.
Many people who ascribe to peak oil theory, climate change science, relocalization, and transition culture are pragmatic enough to understand that positive planning, hope, and optimism are not sufficient to fully prepare for future scenarios. Pat Murphy describes four distinctive plans A through D which are seperate possible ways to prepare for the future related to the current cultural paradigm. Most rational people understand that all the best laid plans may still not be enough to stave off serious structural collapse of society, whether rapid or an agonizingly slow progression of slippages.
There is a need, therefore, to be reasonably prepared for a wide range of emergency scenarious which could last a few days in length at one end of the spectrum or permanently on the other. These could include epidenic or pandemic; weather related episodes like flood, ice or snow storm, tornadoes, hurricanes, or drought; pestilence; riots; war; bank and store runs; energy shortages, etc. Climate change will certainly exacerbate these events. People need to be prepared at the individual, household, and community level to respond effectively. The resources below are a good start.
Relocalizing Disaster Risk Reduction
When Technology Fails - A website developed by MIT mechanical engineer Mat Stein that provides advice for emergency preparedness.
"While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago"--John Adams
Adams had it right and we've made little progress since that time. The bureaucratic nightmare that is today's Federal government is surely no model in which to develop a new government. At the local level, resources are never sufficient to successfully implement often ambitious work programs. Local government is often seen as the agency where the buck stops as both Federal and State governments cut grants-in aid but keep local revenue generating options narrow.
The result is a collection of well-meaning and intelligent but under-equipped, under-staffed, and under-paid people in which we expect to achieve miracles. In many cases, the tasks assigned to local government could be better addressed through volunteer or private sector action (no, not the Grover Norquest bathtub option) that was the model before the 1940's. Robert Putnam's fine book "Bowling Alone" details the contributions of citizens through volunteerism and community giving that does not exist today.
With a proper distribution of tasks between the citizens, business community, and local government, a better balance of duties will result in better service provision and a work program that is achievable and optimizes skill sets. There is no question that this will not be workable until the economy frees up the workforce to be more available and rested. Today's economic system is burning out the workforce and leaving them with no time, energy, or spirit to engage in civic activities. Once this is addressed, we can begin to assemble a better model. In the meantime, we can call upon the individuals who have disengaged from this "treadmill of production" to pave the way.
The Progressive States Network
The Second Vermont Republic - A nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government, and committed to the return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly to the dissolution of the Union.
Toward a Bioregional State - A blog discussing merits of bioregional state idea.
The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America
The Civility Website - By Dr. P.M. Forni from Johns Hopkins University
Bright Neighbor - helps communities and local governments accomplish this through community organizing and Internet-based all-in-one living tools. Bright Neighbor’s combination of community involvement and social tools helps local governments increase livability, sustainability, and relocalization while simultaneously improving local economies.
Crash Course: Preparing For Peak Oil
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