2008 BOULDER COUNTY GOING LOCAL! Campaign Rollout

WHAT: On May 13, at 6:00 p.m., the “Transition Team” at Boulder County Going Local (a non-profit organization
committed to relocalizing the essential needs of our communities) will preview its 2008 BOULDER COUNTY
GOING LOCAL! Campaign at the Boulder Dinner Theater. The county-wide Campaign sets the theme for a
decade-long effort to make the transition to a stronger, more localized economy in an energy-constrained
future.

This special celebration will feature speakers from a variety of sectors in our community, including locally-owned
independent businesses, the local food system, county and city governments, and non-profit community
services, as well as a preview of upcoming Campaign activities, projects and events through the end of this
year. Highlights of the evening will include:

 Presentations by key sponsors and supporters of the BOULDER COUNTY GOING LOCAL! Campaign
 Introduction of Boulder County’s GOING LOCAL! Resource Guide, which will include articles and
directories covering the Campaign’s BUY LOCAL FIRST! and EAT LOCAL! themes
 Overview of The Great Reskilling, an educational program designed to rebuild the basic life skills that our
grandparents took for granted
 Announcement of the Chautauqua Summer Forum Sustainability Series of panels and presentations
 Announcement of the 2008 RENAISSANCE OF LOCAL! (Sept 27-28)
 Announcement of new community projects
 Announcement of the uplifting Transition Town Initiative in Boulder County, a direct connection to an
inspiring international movement of communities officially transitioning off fossil fuels and becoming
more resilient and self-reliant in response to the twin threats of climate change and fossil fuel depletion
(more at www.transitiontowns.org)

WHEN: Tuesday, May 13, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with complimentary hors
d’oeuvres provided by the Boulder Outlook Hotel.

WHERE: Boulder Dinner Theater, 5501 Arapahoe, Boulder
RSVP: Laurie Loughrin, 303-494-1521, lauriel@bouldergoinglocal.com

Permaculture and The Great Reskilling

Part of Boulder County Going Local's mission is to help prepare individuals and the Boulder community for peak oil and climate change by building the local economy. To that end, this spring they have been offering a variety of free talks and fee-based workshops collectively labeled The Great Reskilling, which include everything from building greenhouses and installing solar panelling to designing your own permaculture garden. I went to a vermicomposting workshop a few weekends ago and got myself a worm bin to help build up the organic matter in the dry Colorado soil. This Saturday I attended a Permaculture Garden Design workshop with Sandy Cruz. I learned a lot about permaculture, which I knew very little about before the workshop. Mostly, I learned how we should all be to develop our gardening and food preservation skills if our communities are to become self-reliant. Here is a quote from the Boulder County Going Local website:

Many people have first hand experience in growing or eating locally produced food at some time in their life. The idea that we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want–mangoes in the winter, Thai spices in Northern Canada or an American burger in Delhi for cheap–is still fairly new and is highly problematic.

In North America a revival is taking place. More and more communities and towns have at least one farmers market. Awareness is spreading. Some people consciously choose to buy local produce when they go grocery shopping or belong to a box scheme or even pick herbs, fruits and veggies from their gardens in the warmer months. Reducing consumption and starting to produce locally is sometimes easier said than done, but this is an area where there are plenty of resources and examples of community groups and also lots of potential for individuals and communities to learn and succeed at various levels.

Why not try googling "permaculture workshop," "community gardens" or "gardening workshop" in your state, to see if you can reskill yourself?

Boulder County Going Local

I may have mentioned that my family relocated to Boulder, CO from Boston last summer. Boulder has a fantabulous group called Boulder County Going Local that is working on relocalizing the economy, from food production and distribution to supporting local, independent businesses. Conscious Consuming is also interested in these issues, as you know. Boulder has long been known as an "eco-community," and people living here are often said to live in the "Boulder Bubble." People in Boulder, I think, are far ahead of most communities in terms of awareness of minimizing climate impact and activities that support doing just that. For instance, during the holidays the city sponsored an LED Christmas light exchange, in which people from the community got to exchange their traditional light strings with LED strings for only $5 (they are normally about $20 a string in hardware stores, if you can find them at all). The two day event "sold out" on the first day, with a line wrapping down the Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall. I am not advocating that all of you conscious consumers out there move to Boulder, but that we all follow their lead, and implement some of the programs Boulder non-profits have pioneered in our own communities.

Here is an excerpt from the Boulder County Going Local website:

"BUY LOCAL FIRST!" refers to a commitment to the community. Rather than simply promoting "buying local," the campaign suggests our larger role as stewards. By thinking local first, we can make choices that have dramatic impact on our community, our economy, and our environment. While it will rarely be possible to buy everything we need or use from local independent businesses, we are advocating for people to first think local in order to maximize the impact of daily actions and purchasing decisions.

I will be posting some snippets from the worthy eco-forward non-profits in Boulder this week. Hope you enjoy reading them!