Towards a local economy...

My friend Corbin recently posted on the need for societal transformation. One point of emphasis was the need for local and regional identity. While it wasn't his main point or emphasis, I feel as though this identity can become so strong as to chip away at the individualism of our society. I saw this happening when I visited my parents in Uniontown, OH. There is some fascinating history in the area and the locals seem to be in touch with it (a strong local historical society) This deep awareness of an Anabaptist heritage has led to a local identity so strong that tourism is the greatest grossing business in the area. My dad mentioned that tourism is stronger in their little town than the neighboring city of Canton where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is. A local identity is also being emphasized through the work of my very own father. He is superintendent of schools there and has spent the last 7 years of his life making the School a center of community. The Schools there recently finished a collaborative work between the local YMCA, Hospital, and public library, to build an all purpose community center of learning and wellness. I was real proud of him as I worked out at the YMCA and saw a simple building being used as a tool to build community, encourage wellness, and develop local identity.

By Wendell Berry,
from http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/berry206.htm

"If the government does not propose to protect the lives, livelihoods and
freedoms of its people, then the people must think about protecting
themselves. How are they to protect themselves? There seems, really, to be
only one way, and that is to develop and put into practice the idea of a
local economy Â? something that growing numbers of people are now doing.
For several good reasons, they are beginning with the idea of a local food
economy.

"People are trying to find ways to shorten the distance between producers
and consumers, to make the connections between the two more direct, and to
make this local economic activity a benefit to the local community. They
are trying to learn to use the consumer economies of local towns and cities
to preserve the livelihoods of local farm families and farm communities.

"Of course, everything needed locally cannot be produced locally. But a
viable neighbourhood is a community; and a viable community is made up of
neighbours who cherish and protect what they have in common. This is the
principle of subsistence. A viable community, like a viable farm, protects
its own production capacities. It does not import products that it can
produce for itself. And it does not export local products until local needs
have been met. The economic products of a viable community are understood
either as belonging to the community'?s subsistence or as surplus, and
only the surplus is considered to be marketable abroad. A community, if it
is to be viable, cannot think of producing solely for export, and it cannot
permit importers to use cheaper labour and goods from other places to
destroy the local capacity to produce goods that are needed locally.

"Without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land
no voice."

-- Wendell Berry