News-Record.com

Following is an opportunity to start a dialogue with Mayor Yvonne Johnson about how she plans to lead the city of Greensboro into a more sustainable future. The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress (GNC) will sponsor the first town hall for her on Monday, Feb. 11 from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. The event is open to the public and will take place in the fellowship hall at the corner of Friendly Avenue and Commerce Place in the West Market Street United Methodist Church building.

According to an e-mail I received,

Mayor Johnson wants to hear from the residents of Greensboro and answer as many questions as she can during this meeting. Therefore, she will keep her prepared comments to a minimum and take written questions that are presented prior to the meeting and during the meeting. Marsh Prause, the Chair of the GNC Bylaws and Issues Committee will categorize and present the questions to Mayor Johnson.

Residents can e-mail questions to bdnewt@yahoo.com. Please enter Town Hall Questions in the subject
line.

Some questions I have for the mayor:

1. Are you aware of global peak oil production and if so, how do you propose residents and city leaders prepare for it? 

2. What do you believe are Greensboro's strengths and weaknesses in adjusting to the changing social, economic and physical environments brought on by climate change and peak oil production?

3. What are the appropriate responsibilities of city government in creating a more sustainable city and what are the responsibilities of community groups/individuals?

What would you ask?

I started reading this weekend "The Great Turning", by Michael Korten, a challenge to global citizens fed up with Empire's 5,000 year run to help usher in modern societies' conversion to earth community. Korten, who has worked for many years trying to rebuild third world communities, is co-founder of the Positive Futures Network and People-Centered Development Forum.

I didn't wait to stop reading the book before I started wondering to those Web sites and discovered WiserEarth, a Web portal that connects activists all over the world. I poked around some more and found a Google map that displays the locations of local groups such as Food Not Bombs Greensboro, Triad Sustainability Cafe and Earth Culture. Amazing.

Have any of you read "The Great Turning"? What do you think of it?

Not necessarily, according to The Times (UK), The Daily Kos and the San Francisco Chronicle.

I was visiting with the owner of Addie's Living Room, a new coffee shop in the Glenwood neighborhood near downtown Greensboro on Jan. 26, when I decided to check out the unveiling of the new sculpture garden in a community garden off Glenwood Avenue and Grove Street. UNCG students completed the art work and it was fascinating to see yet another example of community building and pride in action.

My husband and I have been following Glenwood's progress for the past year as we are considering moving there. More motivation: City Council approved a new neighborhood plan this week. Do you know of any other Greensboro neighborhoods where similar work is going on?

Anyone interested local energy policies and initiatives, effects of climate change on minority communities or careers in the industry might want to sign up for a conference to be held here by The American Association of Blacks in Energy. The event takes place all day on Feb. 21 at the Marriott Hotel on North Green Street.

Something is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth about Greensboro and it's not just the water. It's the persistent undercurrent of racial tension in this city that makes me wonder how it will socially accommodate any challenging times brought on by climate change, resource depletion (water) and more expensive oil.

A lot about the city I like: it's big enough to not be parochial, but not too large a city to get lost in. A good arts and alternative medicine community exists as well. But it seems like every time I turn around, there is this real or perceived conflict between whites and blacks that makes me question my prospects of living here over the long term.

In addition reading about it as an issue in city government/police department, I hear about it constantly on the public school level as I cover it for the News & Record. I recently interviewed a black man who said he was so tired of the racism that he was willing to move back to Washington, D.C.  Now I have family in D.C. and can tell you it is not the greatest place to live if you are on the lower side of the economic continuum (think children dodging bullets behind trash cans). True gangstas reside in the District of Columbia, not in Greensboro, this man told me.

I've also heard minorities constantly complain about the amount of school construction bids going to white versus black contractors, something that the Guilford County Board of Education is trying to address. 

Now, how do we go about incubating creative and innovative ideas and following through on their implementation on a community-wide level if black people can't trust white people to fairly distribute the jobs or if white people can't trust blacks to tow the line? How do we motivate young talent to stay in Greensboro instead of fleeing to more progressive cities elsewhere? If we can ill afford to lose them in this economic environment (post outsourcing of thousands of manufacturing jobs), we certainly can't afford to lose them as the next economic shift occurs.

This is the 21st century, and honestly, I and others I know here would like to move on. Do you see this as possible? And do the residents of Greensboro face any other challenges to building community?

This is the cutest little thing: Undriver licenses that were issued in Ballard, Wash., last year as a way to discourage automobile dependency (part of a Sustainable Ballard initiative). One woman writes about her experience for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Members of the N.C. Green Industry Council are fighting back on severe water restrictions that have been issued by various municipal governments because of the southeastern drought. Greensboro's restrictions here.

The council announced in a Jan. 30 press release that it has launched a major communications and educational effort to explain the economic impacts on the industry:

"Many landscape and irrigation contractors, nursery producers and other related businesses are reporting workforce reductions of more than 30 percent and decreases in revenue of more than 40 percent due to water restrictions associated with the drought.... Many leaders in the green industry have expressed concern and frustration that governments have failed to adequately plan for increased demands for water."

Well, this group has a point. Wasn't there a severe drought in North Carolina in 2002? But cities have continued to approve housing developments and such since then. What benefits have we seen from the planning that was supposed to be occurring, other than governnment officials trying to scramble for increased shares of river water?

I remember the stink caused a few years back when I was reporting in Gaston County on the efforts of Concord and Kannapolis to pull water from the Catawba River, to the dismay of conservation groups and folks in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. I think some city governments have also been preoccupied by the need to update their antiquated water plants, a very expensive and time consuming process.

Question is, will North Carolina politicians and community leaders succeed in motivating the public to make true sacrifices when it comes to water consumption? And are the restrictions disproportionately placed on businesses, rather than individuals?

Are any of you members of the green industry council, or businesses that have been affected by water restrictions?

If you are a bird lover, or have 15 minutes to spare Feb. 15-18, join thousands of others across the U.S. and Canada for the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count.   You only need to contribute a few minutes of your time and you can do it at home, at your local park or nearby wildlife refuge. Last year, participants submitted a record-breaking 80,000 check lists. The count is done as an educational tool for the public as well as a way to help biologists determine the health of various bird populations.

If any of you participate, e-mail your bird photos to me and I will post them here.

Today, members of the Greensboro Environmental Stewardship Group, an alliance of members from several local churches, met to help plan a faith and environment forum taking place at the Center for the Environment in Salisbury this spring (I was there representing the environmental stewardship committee at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant).   Director John Wear was at the meeting at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church brainstorming ideas, and said many people of faith have approached him about holding a conference.

"I'm seeing tremendous enthusiasm on this particular topic," Wear said.

A few of the goals of the conference, according to the center's winter newsletter are to:

• Convene faith and environmental leaders for the exploration of environmental issues and the scriptural mandate to care for God's creation;
• To bring diverse people together to examine the relationship between faith/spirituality and the environment and to promote dialogue and strategies to address the environmental challenges we face;
• To inspire participants to assume leadership roles in their communities or churches/temples in developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges.

Workshop ideas were myriad and included: determining your carbon footprint, buying local food, recycling, water/air quality, relocalization and public policy. What would you suggest?

The Greensboro ESG group has been meeting since last year, originating out of a conference sponsored by Holy Trinity. The group is still establishing its goals but has been involved in some local initiatives, including an effort to get free rainwater harvesting barrels to members of the Glenwood neighborhood and the study of  Greensboro "geologian" Thomas Berry's The Great Work.

You can still catch the six-week study groups taking place from April to May at the following locations:

• First Friends Meeting: Contact Valerie Vickers (natureteach@ bellsouth.net), Paul Mitchell (pdmitchell@bellsouth.net) or Emilie Sandin (emilieandtom@yahoo.com) for details.
• St. Paul the Apostle Church: Contact Jacqueline Messick (jmessick2@triad.rr.com) for details.
• The Servant Leadership School of Greensboro: To register, visit www.servantleadergreensboro.com or call 275-0447.

Additional groups interested in having a study leader for their group or sending a study leader to be trained may contact F. Nelson Stover at stovern@bellsouth.net or Steve McCollum at smccollum@triad.rr.com.

The next ESG meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 30 at Holy Trinity. You can also join the Yahoo! group listserv at "Environmental Stewardship GSO."

City Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has expressed an interest in holding a green fair in her district during Earth Day in April. I spoke to her briefly about it this afternoon. Bellamy-Small has only had preliminary conversations with folks, but thought the fair could be held as a pilot before becoming a city-wide event. I don't have details, but Bellamy-Small said she was looking for someone who could coordinate it. So if you are interested, give her a shout-out.

By the way, find out about the city's green initiatives here.

I had the pleasure of listening to the Rev. Mac Legerton, Robeson County educator and community activist, speak to doctoral students at UNCG's School of Education last night.

I found that the organization he represents -- Center for Community Action -- can serve as a model for social/economic justice and community building here in Guilford. The center is a multicultural, community-based, nonprofit organization that specializes in grassroots empowerment and multi-sector collaboration as the foundations for social change. Some of the center's projects include training unemployed and underemployed women for health and education careers, helping high school and university students map the county's assets ("green mapping"), and creating an alternative economy based on the exchange of time and talent versus money. The center has helped Robeson County, the third poorest county in the nation among those with populations between 65,000 and 250,000, rebound from the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.

Now, Guilford is not in as severe a shape as Robeson. But the county does have its fair share of challenges, including a flattened tax base and racial tensions. Some have questioned the quality of our public schools. I also wonder if the county relies more on a secondary export market than local economy. What do you think?

Anyway, Legerton said yesterday that communities must learn to hold each other "capable" instead of focusing so much on holding businesses and government agencies "accountable." That means becoming a vested stakeholder who actually participates in providing people and their representative organizations with the tools to tackle ecological, economical, political and social issues, rather than finger-pointing from the sidelines.

An essay called "Global Justice and Local Practice" Legerton co-wrote also says this:

"One response to the challenges of this narrowing view of the economy has been to further silo the social justice vision into distinct and separate issues and strategies: racial, political, legal, economic, gender, lifestyle, ecological and cultural justice forms. While each organization and groups in these categories have worked diligently on their social justice issue and constituency, the sector as a whole has continued to lose ground. Justice advocates too often end up competing with each other -- for public recognition, for private funding, and for citizen involvement....

What we need is a clear and concise, long-term vision for comprehensive, cooperative social justice, complete with short-term goals and benchmarks. Without a long-term vision with clear definitions and directions, our central convictions get lost and our strategies have limited results. With a coherent, concise, and comprehensive vision, we are not only clear about what we are pushing for, but also about the concrete goals towards which we are being pulled."

Legerton said many people want to be a part of "movements," but don't want to sacrifice their time for the more difficult task of community-building. Any group that wants to make significant change must meet once a week, he said.

"In this day and age, that's really hard," he said.

Mr. Legerton is right. And here is an example where the whole is better than its parts: Say a group called Relocalize Greensboro wants to work for policies that will help the city become more resilient against the outsourcing of jobs. But the group finds its members can't contribute adequate time because of job commitments. Well the next street over is a group lobbying state and federal congressmen and women for laws that will increase vacation and sick time for workers while giving them more desirable choices for part-time work. And another group wants to increase the amount of parent involvement in the schools. Maybe these groups are more likely to accomplish their tasks by working together, even though their specific missions differ.

That's why I get excited when I see umbrella groups such as Sustainable Ballard in Washington and WELL in California.

Greensboro and Guilford County have a lot of organizations pushing for "change." How can those groups work together so that the change that occurs is comprehensive, long-lasting and paradigm-shifting?   

Don't you just love the bicycle? The way you hunch your back and grip the handle bars in exhiliration as you speed down hills and around corners? The sense of pride you get as you advance from sweaty, struggling, out-of-shape peddler to fit and enraptured sightseer? Or how about the ability to stop and chat with a neighbor without hogging up the street or having to turn off and open anything? You don't have to curse under your breath at the high gas prices or sit in a line of traffic.

I was thinking about my bicycle sitting out on the patio and couldn't let the day pass without giving it some love.

I purchased my bike -- nothing too fancy -- early last year as part of my transition into a more sustainable, slower-paced lifestyle (not too slow now afer having a baby). I had not owned a bicycle before then since my early years of high school and at that time I viewed it as a way to kill some time outdoors and get a little exercise. I spent three of my years of high school in Mira Mesa, San Diego. There, I could walk or bike to school, to work, to the mall, to the movies and grocery store. In retrospect, I realize the city was very pedestrian-friendly. When I moved back to Jacksonville, N.C., I had to rely much more on the car. I took cabs to work and only rode my bike in the neighborhood (a lot of it being cul-de-sacs). Most of the time my bike stayed in the garage.

Now I live in western Greensboro and even when it warms up, my husband and I will find it difficult to ride our bikes from our apartment. We live off a bike-lane-less busy five-lane street and less than a half-mile from an I-40 interchange. I just don't want to get run over.

I won't be sneaking off to any afternoon rendezvous with my bike anytime soon, so my husband doesn't have to be jealous. But the next place we move definitely has to be bike-friendly. Bike lanes would be best and proximity to stores and such better.

What do you love about your bicycle?

Is it possible? One Greensboro man is helping residents find out. Kyle Smythe has started a business called Green H.O.P.E., which enables customers to reduce and offset their carbon footprint by purchasing renewable energy certificates or carbon offsets.

The RECs help finance the generation of electricity through renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Carbon offsets essentially help companies lower their own carbon emissions through steps such as capturing carbon and storing it underground.

Smythe said as RECs gain demand, customers may actually get to decide where their power comes from, such as the sun instead of coal.

"The more RECs we can buy as consumers, the more they will realize there is a demand," he said.

Smythe, whose primary job is in the commercial insurance business, said he started researching global warming about a year ago and launched his site in November. Smythe attends Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and is a member of the city's Environmental Stewardship Group.

"Growing up in the mountains I think I have a different appreciation for nature than most people do," he said.

By the way, for you eco-preneurs, be sure to check out a new $1 million North Carolina fund that will provide grants to those who come up with innovative green business ideas. Find out more information about this at the N.C. Board of Science and Technology.

Check out today's New York Times article about the U.S. Department of Agriculture issuing the nation's largest recall of ground beef (143 million pounds). It follows the airing of a scandalous undercover video showing workers abusing downed cows. How many times do you have to hear/see stuff like this before you just give up eating beef? 

I can probably count you all on two hands here in the great GREENSboro, but perhaps, in time, some of you will be sending me tips.

The following lists are pretty comprehensive -- and overwhelming for the peak oil/green novice. But I find if I take a slow, steady approach and be honest with my resources and time commitment I can realistically work on a few of these each year. Just last year I started gardening and shopping at farmers markets, replaced paper towels with cloth towels, changed my bulbs to compact flourescents and bought two racks to hang dry clothes indoors. Remember, slow and steady.

This list of 100 steps by Sharon Astyk breaks down steps by season. Examples include setting up rainbarrel systems and joining community-supported agriculture. Residents can find resources for doing these two things right in the city. Astyk's remaining 100 steps are here.

Some of these tips are good to do even without peak oil or climate change as a motivating factor. I view them as part of a general lifestyle change to self-sufficiency and simplicity. I also find them quite an experiment in self-education and discovery. So much about our local environment people do not know. And so much knowledge has been lost because of an economy that promotes a complex division of labor and outsourcing of generalist skills that a couple generations ago people took for granted (i.e. food preservation, knitting, herbal medicine, bartering/bargaining).

For example, how many of us know how to treat a cold without running to the local drugstore? While my maternal grandmother didn't frown at over-the-counter medicines, her repertoire of cures included prune juice and castor oil for regularity, honey/lemon and onion tea for coughs, steam for runny noses and cold baths/alcohol rubs for fevers.

And what about bartering/bargaining? That's looked down upon in commercial shopping centers that increasingly rely upon credit (kudos though to the 50% off sale on China-produced sweaters that will unravel before the winter's out). But in some parts, bargaining is an acceptable part of the purchasing process. Bargaining can go a long way in a financially contracting economy, but it does require skill.

Some people may find these skills obsolete but I believe they will regain popularity over time because they are actually more efficient than buying a whole bunch of stuff at the store. For example, honey has many uses so even if I don't use it to treat a cold, I can still eat it. But there have been many occasions when I have purchased a medicine that did not work as advertised, or combined with other chemicals had the potential to cause a negative reaction. Some medicines and antiobiotics, such as penicillin, are a must. But how many types of cold and sinus medicine do we need?  Of course, one of the main reasons we take medicine is not because we can't recover without it, but because we can't let a cold (or menstruation, for the ladies) interfere with our paychecks.

Megan Quinn Bachman, outreach director for The Community Solution in Yellow Springs, Ohio, spoke to members of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant tonight in advance of a film showing at UNCG on Thursday about Cuba's loss of access to oil in the 1990s.

She talked to a crowd of about 40 about the need for American towns and cities to radically curtail their energy use and rebuild community connections as preparation for the approaching era of dwindling fossil fuels. That means retrofitting existing homes to save energy, growing more food at home, decreasing the amount of grain-fed meat and processed foods in our diets, using public transportation and creating car-sharing plans in cities where public transportation is not feasible, she said.

"We got into this one bad decision at a time and we will get out of this one good decision at a time," Bachman said about the nation's oil dependency. "We need to recognize that if we don't choose a different path, then the choices will be made for us."

The country will need practical models of low-energy living and community building and the changes will have to come from within the community rather than top down from the government, she said.

"I really think Greensboro is on its way to becoming one of those models," she said.

Greensboro has a long way to go, but the fact that Bachman found her way to the city this week gives me some confidence that the paradigm shift that is coming may soon be at the forefront of people's minds and actions. 

Did you know that African-Americans faced a higher immediate unemployment rate following the Middle Eastern oil embargos during the 1970s? Or that American families earning $10,000 or less per year spend 29 percent of their income on energy versus 13 percent for families with incomes between $10,000 and $25,000 and 4 percent for those earning more than $50,000?

Energy professionals and students from N.C. A&T State University gathered for a one-day conference on Thursday to discuss ways to overcome the vulnerability of minorities, particularly low income blacks, to climate change and environmental damage. The American Association for Blacks in Energy and the university co-sponsored the conference and the two hope to work together to provide internships and mentoring in the energy sector for engineering students.

Read more about the conference in Saturday's Monday's News & Record.

One of the reoccurring questions at the conference was the balance between innovation/technology and actual downsizing and sacrifice. For example, Carl Wilkins of Advanced Energy brought up the point that many newer model televisions use more energy than the older models and on top of that people just move the old tv to another room, not reducing energy consumption at all. Another issue is the paradox of energy efficiency in the fact that it can actually help increase consumption. So are we just kidding ourselves that Americans can actually have declining per capita energy consumption (let alone declining consumption as a population)?

One of the funnier points made was by Leslie Fields, director of environmental justice with the Sierra Club on how difficult it is to change the mindset of the American consumer:

"It is a huge disconnect," Fields said. "There is a disconnect in my own family. I'm a failed environmentalist. My brother drives an Escalade and he doesn't care what I think."

At lunch, Hilda Phinnix-Ragland of Progress Energy asked who in the room was driving an energy efficient vehicle. Only one person out of about 50 raised his hand (Read my reflection on that issue here). She asked who was conserving water? More hand went up, but there were several untouched glasses of water on the tables. Hello.

"We're so accustomed to heavy flows," Phinnix-Ragland said. "We expect to have water on the table whether we drink it or not."

But many at the conference aren't giving up hope. As Morry Davis of Peabody Energy Corp. cleverly put it: "There's no silver bullet. There's silver buckshot."

On a lighter note, UNCG had a strong turnout of about 175 people at the showing of Power of Community last night. After the showing, Joel Landau, owner of Deep Roots Market and former city council candidate, announced that he and others are working with Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson to try to establish an environmental working group for city council. Let's hope for progress there.

Plug these events into your planner, courtesy of the Piedmont Environmental Alliance:

CFSA Triad Chapter Forming, Tuesday, Feb. 26 from 6:30-8 p.m.
The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) is pleased to announce an organizing meeting for the CFSA Triad Chapter. The purpose of the meeting is to choose Chapter Officers and prioritize sustainable agriculture initiatives for the area's CFSA membership.  The meeting is open to all current and prospective CFSA members in the Triad Region, including Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin Counties.  Chapter organizations are one of the most important ways for CFSA to advance the cause of sustainable agriculture across the Carolinas' diverse communities. Come help fellow sustainable food advocates chart a course that is good for the Triad's farmers, consumers, and soils.  The meeting will be held at Goat Lady Dairy in Climax.  Light refreshments will be served.  Goat Lady Dairy is located at 3515 Jess Hackett Road, in Climax. For directions visit www.goatladydairy.com. Special thanks to our hosts, Ginnie, Steve and Lee Tate for graciously allowing us to come together on their farm.  Please RSVP to the CFSA office, 919-542-2402.

North Carolina Alliance for Transportation Reform Meeting, Saturday, March 8, 10 a.m.
NCATR invites the public to their next meeting.  This organization is dedicated to providing information and education to local officials and citizens throughout the state in an effort to persuade them that the principles of democratic, accessible and efficient transportation systems will enhance the quality of life for their communities and their state.  Come to this meeting to hear the latest updates on Heart of the Triad, Northern Beltway and other land use transportation issues.  The meeting will be held at Glenwood Library, 1901 West Florida Street, Greensboro.   

Living Roofs, Thursday, March 13, 3 p.m.
The Piedmont Triad Branch of the U.S. Green Building Council invites you to their Speaker Series.  This month guest speaker Emilio Ancaya with Living Roofs Inc. from Asheville, NC will discuss green roofs.  The event will be held at the Moose Café at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, located off of Interstate I-40 between Greensboro and Winston-Salem at 2914 Sandy Ridge Road, Colfax, NC, 27235.

Southern Energy and Environment Expo 2008, Aug. 22-24
The annual S.E.E. Expo provides the general public an opportunity to see and learn about - first hand- the practical and presently available options for utilizing clean, renewable sources of energy, protecting our natural environment and working towards a sustainable economy for the region. By working together, businesses, conservation organizations and government agencies have already made the S.E.E. Expo the largest event of its kind in the Southeast. 

If you have a couple free hours on Sunday afternoon, check out this community-building opportunity at the HIVE in Glenwood. The announcement:

"The Really Really Free Market is an event with a purpose: to show what the world looks like when we share our resources--when exchange is based on generosity, community, and caring, not on money. (To get an idea of how a Really Really Free Market works you can read about the Markets held regularly in Carrboro.)

WHAT: Really Really Free Market

WHEN: Sunday, March 2, 2:00-4:00 pm

WHERE: Parking lot of the HIVE, 1214 Grove Street (corner of Grove & McCormick Streets)

HOW IT WORKS: The Market is what its participants make of it. It's a little bit like a community yard sale, it's a little bit like a potluck picnic, it's a little bit like a festival. The idea is to bring whatever you want to share--even if it's just your enthusiasm!--and go home with things that others want to share with you. Anything is fine as long as it is FREE!

Some ideas: Clothing, books, household goods, performances, skill shares, workshops, information about other community events and organizations, garden produce, flowers, food, services such as massages, haircuts, and palm reading, toys, tools...and that's just a start."

I see this as the potential for generating interest in a community currency, something promoted by economists and monetary experts, such as Bernard Lietaer and Thomas Greco, for building a hedge against a falling/collapsing dollar and corporate globalization and making local economies more efficient and self-sufficient. Many communities in the United States have alternative currencies, including in Ithaca, NY, and in Berkshire, Mass.

A speech by Greco on Youtube:

And here are print and video interviews with Lietaer:

Time Banks is a national organization that promotes "paying" for services through time, not money, and represents a social change movement occurring in 22 countries:

"Have you ever wished you had someone around to give you a ride somewhere, help you run some errands, pick you up after you’ve dropped your car off for repairs, or just give you a hand when you need it. Someone you really trust?

Many of us have friends, neighbors and family members who help us out, but they can’t always be there in a pinch. In a Time Banking community, someone is always there when you need them.

It is like having an extended family to help out—with rides to the doctor, trips to the supermarket, help with the yard, chores around the house or childcare.

With Time Banking, sharing gifts means building trust.

Time Banking honors the unique gifts, talents and resources that each of us has to share, regardless of age, employment or ethnic background — such as tutoring, yard work, simple repairs, running errands, and storytelling. It’s labor with love."

Perhaps Greensboro residents would have more of a reason to get out and meet their neighbors and develop relationships. Those with useful but unmarketable skills could also contribute and people without a lot of money could receive the services they need. Time dollars or other community currencies can also support local businesses.

Greensboro politicians talk about drawing businesses to the city, but what about developing the "services" that already exist here? What would it take to get this going?   

Shell just released a report summing up the dialogue that occurred between company executives and the consumers, community groups and politicians in 50 cities over the past two years. The purpose of the tour was to better educate the public about the challenges the country will face in diversifying its energy portfolio and to find out what was on the minds of the average Sally and Steve.

So what did Shell learn? A few notable points:

Further along the coast, in the Southeast, we found a focus on education. Residents want the public to be more aware of the current energy situation -- and they also emphasized the need to educate elected officials. We found considerable support for increased access to domestic resources and greater refinery output, again balanced by a concern for safety and environmental protection. Clean coal and carbon sequestration were in the mix. We also heard a call for greater fuel efficiency through automotive technology improvements and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, commonly referred to as CAFE standards. Throughout the state of Florida, residents told us that they did not want, and would fight, new exploration and production off the Florida coast."

Shell stated in its report that while it does not buy the "peak oil" argument (instead believing in a plateau and then general decline of oil supplies), the company is concerned about unrealistic expectations of energy independence from the public:

"What was most frightening? The overwhelming disconnect between the perceptions of many consumers and the hard realities of the energy picture. This is the crux of our dilemma as a country in determining an energy path forward – the belief that there are easy answers that are readily available, when in reality the choices we have to make will not come easily or swiftly."

Obviously there is a disconnect in the political sphere when our Congressmen and women are busy talking about profits from greedy oil companies rather than engaging in a comprehensive public discussion about the changing energy environment we find ourselves in. We need to move from scapegoating to honestly assessing our predicament and devising appropriate strategies for adaptation.