We are getting futher settled in the new town/house/routine (or lack there of) in Owen Sound and I am very happy with how things are going. I have had time recently to reflect on the decision to move and with out a doubt it was an excellent decision to make.

I spent the morning at the market getting some fresh produce and chatting with a number of new aquaintances. I have quickly found myself mingling with a very aware, very active group of local citizens. Especially those in the “green” arena (the Grey Bruce Owen Sound Greens, Green Owen Sound, and Local Motives . The green forward thinking of the place (I am a sustainability super geek after all )was significant part of the decision to make the move. (The federal riding for the Owen Sound area had the highest % green party vote in the last election) To give you an idea of the thinking going on here is a post (copied from the Saugeen Community blog) by Shane Jolley (who incidentally was the green party candidate in the last federal election). Given the scope and timeline on this thing any thoughts, ideas or links you have to share are welcomed, so post a comment below.

The Local Motive Project

While blogs can be excellent forums for communication and the sharing of ideas, they often tend to create a lot of talk and not much action. Many of the discussions happening on this blog are important and interesting of themselves, but I believe it’s important to take it to the next level.

For some time now a group of us have been discussing something called “Local-motive”. The purpose of Local-motive is to form a model, guided by the principles of community and sustainability, that can be used to move us, the citizens of Saugeen to a position of leadership in Canadian and global society.

Sounds too lofty? Consider the following:

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

-Elinor Smith

“Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - always see them, for they’re always there.”

-Norman Vincent Peale

Now for those of you who are of a more pragmatic nature consider this place in which we live called Grey/Bruce or Saugeen. Think for a moment about the geography, geology, social mix, skills and knowledge base, regional political structure, agricultural base, natural heritage, climate, and resources, amoung other things.
One does not need much imagination to realize that we as a community have the potential to be self-sufficient in most respects and to create a legacy of quality, respect and responsibility, in terms of work, relationships, and stewardship of our natural environment.

In order to accomplish the creation of this type of society we need to develop a regional model that can be implemented step by step over time and which is flexible enough to change with new realities as they arise.
This type of proactive planning is rare in any level of government, which is why we as citizens should inform our governments, not follow them. If they are truly in office to be servants of the public good then they should welcome citizen direction , not be threatened by it.

What does a model of community and sustainability for Saugeen look like? Needless to say I do not have all of the answers, and in the grand scheme of things I likely have very few. We need the participation of people from all walks of life and areas of expertise to build the model. What I can do is help facilitate the process.

So, here’s my ambitious plan. The timeline for this project (creating the model) will be 1 year starting now (Sept.1/06 – Sept.1/07). The following are some of the things we need to consider as part of the model:

• Local energy production.
• Local food security which includes returning our agricultural sectors to profitability and more sustainable production.
• A co-operative relationship with our First Nations communities.
• Local manufacturing for local consumption.
• A zero waste initiative.
• Sustainable transportation infrastructure.
• Municipal/regional political restructuring to create mutually beneficial governance.
• Wiser (value added) resource use.
• Higher quality employment based local business, services, and ownership.
• Improved social structure that better cares for our elderly, impaired, or economically disadvantaged citizens.
• Localized holistic health care, responsive to the unique demographic of the community.
• Improved criminal and civil justice initiatives focused on personal responsibility and
  restorative processes.
• And much, much more…

By the end of one year it is my goal to have a workable model and enough community support and cooperation on the ground to begin implementing the model in a series of stages. As a rough timeline, I will set a goal of full implementation over 5 years. If we are successful the nation will look to us as an example to follow. This will require support from all levels of government but will be lead by you the citizens of Saugeen.

As we build the model, I will post continual revisions to it under the “Local-motive Project” heading on the right sidebar. We will also develop input mechanisms for the less web-savy to include everyone who wishes to take part.

So, who’s ready to take control of the future? Let’s get started. Life’s short.