Novel Times, Novel Measures

[Note: This interview was written for the October 2006 Urban Alliance for Sustainability Newsletter, available at www.uas.coop. Also, Bay Area Relocalize now goes by the name Bay Localize.]

Effective leaders in the growing movement for social and environmental change recognize the need for both experience and humility. Further, without personal resolve to ground professional commitment, even the best ideas and actions can ring all too hollow. Aaron Lehmer of Bay Area Relocalize exemplifies these disparate qualities and has used them to craft an impressive and inspiring record.

By resume alone, Aaron’s experience speaks volumes of his dedication to the sustainability movement. His tireless commitment has improved the operations of 5 organizations over the past decade, including: ReThink Paper, Earth Island Institute, Circle of Life, Post Carbon Institute and, most recently, Bay Area Relocalize, which he co-founded with peak oil and energy preparedness expert David Room. Given this latest project, Aaron chooses to frame his personal and professional life in terms of “relocalization” – the process through which a community reverts from ever-increasing dependence upon the global economic system back to local and regional networks of economic interdependency. And so it is not surprising that his personal life mirrors that of his professional life. In his words, he strives to “leave a light footprint low on food chain, drive only when absolutely necessary and cut down on daily consumption as much as possible”. He derives his inspiration for these efforts from both positive and negative sources: increasingly precarious dependence on fossil fuel resources on the dark side and historic opportunity to become a more cooperative, community-based society on the light.

Aaron is the consummate professional, bringing clarity and precision to his speech, his relationships and to his work, especially Bay Area Relocalize. BAR embraces “a vision of sustainable communities living within their means, provisioning themselves in close proximity to the natural environment upon which they depend.” The current alternative to this model is one of “extraction, market importation and the need to take control over other lands and people to sustain itself.” Aaron notes that this unfortunate situation has led to approximately 1/3 of the Bay Area being “food insecure.” In the next breath he points to the Alemany farm in San Francisco as a wonderful, shining example of efforts to change this model. And that is exactly the kind of work BAR is doing, “helping people develop their own skill-sets, ability, and power to create what we need locally.” This mission has manifested as three of their current projects: the Rooftop Resources Project, the Relocalization Asset Map, and the Localization Strategy Campaign in alliance with Redefining Progress, the International Forum on Globalization, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, and the Center for Sustainable Economy.

These efforts do not come without their challenges. Aaron feels that one of BAR’s biggest hurdles is portraying sustainability so that it does not seem like “drudgery, but instead as something to enter into with sense of joy and creativity.” He feels that is often difficult to really communicate the positive advantages of adopting a new, more sustainable lifestyle. Another challenge for BAR has been getting volunteers “engaged in ways that they feel invested.” As a solution, Aaron points to their welcoming, open door policy as being a huge part of their success and momentum. He also says that providing lots of food and drink also helps to make meetings feel like more of a social occasion.

These challenges fade in significance when Aaron thoughtfully cites a list of positive trends that he sees in the sustainability movement. Primary among them is the mainstreaming of the movement: “A growing number of both young and older people are getting engaged with the issue (local food and energy) and are coming at it from different angles.” The growing response of local politicians such as Nancy Nadel and Supervisors Mirkarimi, Daly and Maxwell in SF also seems to indicate an institutional shift towards a greener perspective. From what he sees, “some policy makers are starting to wake up.” Aaron also cites the connections being made between grassroots organizations and projects as being an “extremely positive trend.” In particular, he is excited about “newfound collaborations between social justice and traditionally environmentally focused ‘name it and save it’ organizations and campaigns.” He points to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as a local example of this integration of environmental and social justice communities.

When asked if there is one thing readers of this article could do tomorrow to embrace a more sustainable society, Aaron’s answer was short and sweet, yet formidable: “Get rid of your car.” Challenging though this advice may be, such a change can bring about great benefits both personally and globally. It is this connection of part to whole that makes Aaron’s work so poignant, professional and vital as we enact our visions for a better world.

Filed under: Real Writing, Sustainability

[Note: This interview was written for the February 2007 Urban Alliance for Sustainability Newsletter, available at www.uas.coop.]

Would the world be a better place if we all just learned how to share? SpaceShare founder Stephen Cataldo thinks so. Imagine a society where we all have access to more while owning less, where local communities rally around their strengths and weaknesses and truly know each other, where idea is replaced by action originating from the true joy of being green. SpaceShare has been employing a mix of education and web technology to “help people rely more on and strengthen their communities, while relying less on oil and resources.”

Stephen embodies the idea of action and activation. Personally, his vegan diet, lack of a car and commitment to local, progressive economies — in his words, “putting money back into hands of others doing it right” — exemplify a sustainable lifestyle. But his passion for a very simple idea — sharing — blurs the line between his personal and professional life. “I like finding little ways to inculcate activism into the community”, he says. This philosophy imbues SpaceShare with incredible potential for radically transforming community through deceptively simple actions.

The SpaceShare model is simple — custom websites are created for short-term communities like conferences and festivals to coordinate resource sharing for participants from near and far. Carpools and taxi rides, hotel rooms, couches and meet-ups can all be organized using SpaceShare’s forums and reservation system. The results have been tremendous. Stephen cites the recent example of the 2007 Media Reform Conference held this January in Memphis, Tennessee (www.freepress.net/conference/). Out of the 3000 plus media reformers who attended the conference, over 350 signed up for SpaceShare’s services, an astounding 10% participation rate. Stephen tells how SpaceShare enabled some to attend the conference that would not have been able to otherwise. Beyond the obvious reduction of carbon emissions, he also excitedly estimates that many thousands of dollars were kept in progressive coffers instead of going out to corporations by savings on hotel rooms alone.

Resource conservation and local economies aside, the biggest impact of SpaceSpare could well be the act of sharing itself. Participants are left with the experience of action and community that will reverberate when they return home and back to their normal routines. “SpaceShare fits a unique niche,” Stephen observes,” It’s about teaching through practice, not through talk.” Unlike lectures or other forms of education, he feels that SpaceShare users will “understand the vision when they do it, not when they are told.”

In a few short years of operation, Stephen has a long list of success stories and inspiring anecdotes. When asked about why he started SpaceShare, he answers with a smile: “I wanted people to give me rides.” People make friends through sharing, the matching engines can be used to connect activists as well as carpoolers, and at least one local chapter of a progressive organization arose from a SpaceShare carpool. Hearing feedback from people about how much they enjoyed giving is the most satisfying aspect of SpaceShare for Stephen. “People saved resources and made a friend and, after doing it,” he adds, “they realize they liked being green.”

The future vision for SpaceShare is bright and broad, though facing the usual growing pains of an under-capitalized social enterprise. Stephen says that “SpaceShare is all about bringing sharing to communities that wouldn’t have done it otherwise,” and he’s not just talking about oil-addicted Californians. In 2007 SpaceShare will set its sights on synagogues and churchs, from Berkeley to the Midwest. “Imagine a mega-church carpooling!”

SpaceShare has faced different hurdles than expected: “It’s been easier than expected to get a conference in Middle-America to explore carpooling.” The number one frustration for Stephen: “Event planners that don’t return phone calls.” Stephen feels that this model of resource sharing is poised for success- “people across the country are ready to make this change” if only environmental activists build the infrastructure to support it. “The only challenge is doing it,” he says. “If we do it, people are ready for it — I see no other bottlenecks in getting communities to participate.”

If you see the radical potential in the simple act of sharing, visit www.SpaceShare.com to take advantage of their services for conferences, festivals and connecting with like-minded folks. If you are attending a conference that isn’t using SpaceShare, let the organizers know about it! Finally, SpaceShare is looking for dependable, energetic volunteers and paid-staff to help grow this vision. Contact Stephen at info@SpaceShare.com.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Real Writing, Sustainability