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(while ignoring real economic costs); the second is to call for national policies to shrink economic
throughput, knowing that no high-level policy maker is likely to sign on.
Localism offers a third approach that does not directly conflict with either of these. Simply:
Let's do what we can locally to reduce consumption, thereby lessening the global carbon burden
while building personal and community resilience so we can better respond to the now-unavoidable
climatic and economic impacts. Typically, it's easier to change personal behavior or local ordin-
ances than to enact national or international policies—so why not start small?
Most of the good news with regard to climate mitigation efforts is coming from small countries,
states, counties, and towns anyway. Here in Sonoma County, a nonprofit called the Climate Pro-
tection Campaign has signed regional cities onto the most ambitious carbon reduction goals in the
nation. Transition Network, which promotes “small-scale local responses to the global challenges
of climate change, economic hardship, and shrinking supplies of cheap energy,” boasts thousands of
projects in 44 countries—including five in Sonoma County. 7 Many more examples could be cited.
Since localization efforts often target reducing consumption as one of their subsidiary goals,
policy makers actually have a disincentive to support such efforts. After all, if everyone were to
reduce spending the economy would contract and tax revenues would shrink.
Just as some policy makers have better climate scorecards than others, we can expect that some
will be more (or less) supportive of localization. State, county, and city officials need to be re-
minded that money spent in local businesses tends to stay in local communities and gets recycled
three times more than money spent at chain stores. 8
The path to a more localized future holds both promise and peril. There are lots of clues and
opportunities we can grasp now to help us realize promise and minimize peril later on. We're more
likely to recognize those clues and opportunities as we begin to pay better attention to our neigh-
bors, our regional history, and our local ecology. Our sustenance and survival will increasingly de-
pend on relationships with the people and natural systems around us; as we nourish and protect
them, they will have greater capacity to do the same for us.
— IN PRESS
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