Tonight marks my last meeting on the board of Somerville Local First.
After three and half years, I’m stepping back in order to focus on my studies as I begin a Ph.D. program this fall.
But the work goes on.
Somerville Local First builds a sustainable local economy and vibrant community. We work with business owners and entrepreneurs, providing technical assistance and networking opportunities. We educate community members on the value of shopping locally, and we bring the community together in celebration of our local charm.
(Pro Tip: Somerville Local First is hosting a Back to the Future, 50’s-themed prom on June 26._
There are lots of reasons while local is important.
Local businesses create more and better jobs. Locally sourced products tend to be more environmentally friendly. Locally owned businesses are better for the local economy – bolstering the tax base and benefiting from owners invested in the community.
But more even than that, local businesses are important because –
Local businesses are who we are.
Local businesses determine the character of a community.
Whether quirky or traditional, upscale or casual, it’s the local businesses that stand out when thinking about what makes a community unique.
Anyone can have an iHop, but only Somerville has the Neighborhood Restaurant.
A community with local businesses is one where people know each other. Where neighbors say hello and the guy behind the bar is an old friend. Indeed, they are communities where everybody knows your name.
In our increasingly anonymous, standardized world, you can’t undervalue the importance of that.
Nobody wants to be a cog in the machine or a brick in the wall, and local businesses help fight that tendency.
There’s something profoundly radical, something subversively democratizing, in the local movement.
In response to the trend of big box stores putting mom & pop shops out of business, the local movement seeks not only to counteract the negative environmental and economic impact, but more fundamentally, the local movement seeks to reclaim our communities as our communities.
There may be red states and blue state, liberal brands and conservative brands, but local businesses remind us – we are all just people.
People with different interests, experiences, and affiliations, of course, but people who share a community, and who can find – literally – common ground, even if they can’t seem to agree.
If we are ever to solve the great problems of our country, if we are ever to unite and find ways of working together and improving together, we will need local businesses to get us there.
So, yes, even as I step back from leadership with Somerville Local First, the work goes on.
The work always goes on.
Please consider supporting this work by making a donation or attending Prom.
The folks at the Public Conversations Project – an NCDD organizational member – recently posted another installment of their “A Better Question” series aimed at helping folks have better conversations on controversial topics. This time, they look at same-sex marriage, and we’re happy to share their post. We encourage you to read the piece below or find the original here.
A Better Question: Same-Sex MarriageIn recent weeks, country has been tuned into the arguments around same-sex marriage posed to the Supreme Court.
The courts and legislatures around the country have a critical decision to make. But after that, regardless of the outcomes of their votes, we as the public have the job of living together.
Beyond the question of Constitution is the question of community. In the wake of monumental decisions like this – whether the issue is same-sex marriage, abortion, or immigration – we still have to figure out how to be together: working together, worshipping together, volunteering for community efforts in our cities and towns, sharing the playground and play-dates. The task at hand is undeniably, but not impossibly, difficult. We must acknowledge that there are very real, deeply felt differences in the way people approach the questions of marriage, family, sexual orientation and child-rearing, all of which come into play in this particular conversation. The higher the stakes, the more critical it is that we are able to speak openly about these issues, and able to hear each other.
Alongside the passionate advocacy for our positions must come an equal measure of our curiosity; and from that we must ask a better question.
Here are some questions that can frame more constructive conversations about same-sex marriage, and help communities navigate the inevitable aftermath of whatever decision may come from the courts. If you find yourself in conversation with someone who believes differently from you, you might lead with one of these:
For context, here are the other questions from our blog on vaccination:
What other questions would you add? Let us know and join the conversation.
You can find the original version of this Public Conversations Project at www.publicconversations.org/blog/better-question-same-sex-marriage#sthash.dg1iUgpn.dpuf.
The National Issues Forums Institute published the Issue Guide, America’s Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge?, in January 2015. This Issue Guide puts forth three options for deliberation of how America can address its energy consumption and how to deal with it in the future.
From the guide…
Americans depend on easy access to energy. Most of us take it for granted that we will be able to light up a room with the flick of a switch, adjust the temperature of our homes at will, and climb into our cars every morning to go to work, often at distant sites.
We use more energy than any other country. Americans make up only 4.5 percent of the world’s population, yet we consume about 20 percent of the world’s energy production. Collectively, we drive more, heat more, air condition more, and plug in more electronic devices than anyone else. We use 22 percent of the oil consumed in the world each day.
Worldwide energy use is on the upswing as well, and is projected to keep increasing, as rapidly developing countries, such as China, India, and Brazil, become bigger players in the worldwide market for energy supplies, especially oil. And— sooner or later—the world’s available supply of oil will run out.
The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:
Option One: “Produce the Energy We Need to Maintain Our Way of Life”
We need to control our own sources of energy so that we do not have to depend on other, possibly unfriendly, countries for our supplies. We have abundant sources of energy in this country and off its shores. We should develop and use them.
Option Two: “Put More Renewables and Clean Energy Sources into the Mix”
Not only is our lavish use of fossil fuels causing untold damage to the environment, but someday we will run out of oil, coal, and natural gas. We need to make the switch to renewable sources of energy, such as wind and sun, as soon as possible.
Option Three: “Find Ways to Use Less Energy”
The most practical way to deal with our current energy problems in not to produce more energy but to use less of it, and to do more with the energy we do use. This will involve both stricter government regulations and changes in our individual lifestyles.
More about the NIFI Issue Guides
NIFI’s Issue Guides introduce participants to several choices or approaches to consider. Rather than conforming to any single public proposal, each choice reflects widely held concerns and principles. Panels of experts review manuscripts to make sure the choices are presented accurately and fairly. By intention, Issue Guides do not identify individuals or organizations with partisan labels, such as Democratic, Republican, conservative, or liberal. The goal is to present ideas in a fresh way that encourages readers to judge them on their merit.
Issue Guides are generally available in print or PDF download for a small fee ($2 to $4). All NIFI Issue Guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides.
Follow on Twitter: @NIForums.
Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/americas-energy-future
As I was reeling yesterday from the seemingly unending stream of assaults on people of color in this country, I was struck by a concern which I’ve often heard echoed:
Yes, there is something wrong in this country, but the real question is what should we do about it?
In many ways, one more blog post decrying the national tragedy of police brutality and our unjust criminal justice system seems vain. It is almost certainly issued in vain, unlikely to affect any real change, and it would most certainly be vain of me to think it might have an impact.
But I keep writing.
I don’t know what else to do.
To be clear, I don’t think my commitment to social justice is fulfilled by a few strong words and inciting posts. But I also don’t think writing is completely superfluous.
It does have value.
And I don’t mean my writing – I mean everyone’s writing, or more specifically, everyone’s self-expression on this topic. In whatever media fits them best.
That has value.
We’ve grown so accustomed to relying on professionals and experts, we’ve become so focused on the institutions and the systems, that we’ve nearly lost track of the individual. We’ve forgotten about our own agency.
Our systems and institutions are broken, and we must surely find ways to tackle those challenges, but even with a terrible police response, we ought to remember –
The police aggression at a Texas pool party was started by a white woman yelling racial slurs.
Our problems aren’t about a racist cop, and they’re not about a racist police department. They are problems endemic within our society.
We each play a role in perpetuating, experiencing, or interacting with racism, and the solution must come from all of us.
We shouldn’t let the cop off the hook, and we shouldn’t let the police officer off the hook, but we should also look at ourselves and look at our communities.
We should ask how we can do better, individually and collectively.
We should share our stories, we should share our views, we should learn from each other and we should work together.
We should talk together as much as we should decide how to act together.
Indeed, the question may be “what should we do?” but to find real solutions, we must ask that question together.
There has been a real surge of festivals on the commons in recent months, and in the months ahead! The First International Festival of the Commons – Festival Internazionale dei Beni Comuni – will be held in Chieri, Italy, from July 9 to 2. The event is a cultural happening sponsored by the borough Chieri near Torino.
The festival will consist of meetings, round tables, music, cinema, theatre, art and performances (hashtag, #commonsfestival). The primary focus, organizers declare, is “how to live and produce in common…..The Festival will be well more than an extemporaneous and spectacular event: it will bethe beginning of a shared journey to the imagination and construction of a more just, open and participated society.”
While there will be plenty of focus on “global theories” presented in Chieri, there will also be a focus on how to reclaim “those local spaces left empty and useless by the crisis of Fordist production.” A number of panels will look at how to develop alternatives that are not just sustainable, but generative, and political models that let people share responsibilities and choices.
The legendary Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil will perform reggae, samba and folk with Caetano Veloso on July 10 at Piazza Dante in Chieri. Tickets are available now. Free culture fans will recall that Gil, besides showing exemplary courage as a political dissident in Brazil decades ago, was Culture Minister in the early 2000s and an early, critically important champion of Creative Commons licenses.
The Chieri festival will feature a number of headliners such as Vandana Shiva from India; Italian legal scholar, politician and commons theorist Stefano Rodotà; Italian legal scholar Ugo Mattei; Salvatore Settis, President of the Scientific Council of the Louvre; Italian jurist Gustavo Zagrebelsky; and a number of prominent Italian writers, directors and cultural figures.
I am pleased to join this august roster of commoners for a panel on “The State of the Digital Commons” on July 11 at 10 am. I will also have the opportunity to celebrate the release of the Italian translation of Think Like a Commoner, as masterfully translated by Bernardo Parrella. Professor Ugo Mattei has contributed the preface.