ONE TOWN SQUARE: at the intersection of peak oil, climate change, and land use

The following is the first installment of a narrative of a visit to Washington State I made in July. The goal of my trip was to meet eco minded people in a number of different locations and to find out from them what kind of positive on the ground models of eco logical culture existed where they live. I also made five public presentations on culture change, in Okonagon, Bellingham, Snohomish/Everett, Seattle and Olympia.

It was a great trip! I found out a lot. The narrative also includes comments on Washington state rural land use. It’s really bad. Eventually, this site will link to another with fotos to illustrate the trip.

This narrative will be in several parts. First will be a brief description of highlights of the tour. Next will be an overview of the content of the presentations I made which include comments on global capitalism, global trends, community cohesion, eco humanism, assets and models. It’s very good.

Finally, I will sum up with overall impressions of the tour/visit. If I can, I will eventually include images of the tour either on this site or my own website.

The Kindred Spirits Tour took me to a variety of places in the second half of July. I hadn’t been out of Lane County for a couple years and most of my transportation in Eugene is by bike so driving a couple thousand miles with my ’91 Ford Ranger in Washington State was a real contrast.

The intention was to make contact with people and projects I would describe as in the realm of “Culture Change.” Places I visited included Okanagon, Tonesket and Twisp east of the Cascades. Then to Bellingham, Snohomish/Everett, Seattle and Olympia.Culture Change refers to the idea that our middle class energy and resource intensive way of life contains many aspects that would suggest we create other options in a timely way to take care of our physical and cultural needs. Culture Change is about shifting our personal and collecitve priorities from material affluence to nurturing human potential and relationships in a way that do not ruin Planet Earth.

During the Tour, I made five presentations in different towns, mentioned above, to explain why Culture Change is such a compelling issue. Another part of the tour was to meet people and visit examples of what could be described as models of Culture Change. I took along slides to illustrate examples of Culture Change in Eugene and several other locations. My intention is to make a presentation in September in Eugene to share my impressions from the tour and to show images of places and projects I came upon that are good models.

The Tour began in Eastern Wahington as I started out in Spokane after leaving my brother from Texas at the airport after a week of camping in Canada. My first destination was Okanogan. From Spokane to Okanogan, one must cross a remarkable landscape in central Washington that was the scene of floods of Biblical proportions 15,000 years ago during the last period of continental glaciation. In brief, a lobe of ice periodically blocked the Clark Fork River in northern Idaho, created a lake with an estimated volume at half of modern Lake Michigan. For several thousands years, the dam would wash out every 50 to 70 years, the lake emptying out in less than a week. The floods were among the greatest ever to occur on Planet Earth. Gouged out channels, lakes, terraces, giant ripples, stranded boulders and immense former waterfall sites are still evident as the visible product. Planet Earth is a dynamic place.

I had made contact with Larry and Cathy by way of internet and e mail networks. We had chatted on the phone and e mailed. Larry had seen my suburbanpermaculture.org website with its many before and after fotos of my ¼ acre suburban property along with links to a 25 minute video interview’/tour along with several published articles and essays on Culture Change.

Okanogan is a 4,000 population town with apples being a traditional important part of the local economy. The town is modest but home to a number of residents looking to take care of more needs closer to home. I met Larry and Cathy at their place in town, a quarter acre lot in a neighborhood. They had lived for years up in the hills miles from town but had decided living in town made more sense for their needs, becoming less automobile dependent. They had carried some of the back to the land ethic with them. The driveway was the site for new raised beds, a small green house and stack of firewood. The driveway’s future seemed to be less for cars and more for food production. The rest of the property was in change as well with fruit and nut trees planted, composting and intentions to trade more grass for garden.

We visited several other places in town including a large garden that supplied several local restaurants and grocery stores. Another place was a great transition from compacted soil to fuit and nut trees, brambles and veggies. One key element was worm composting. A cloche within a greenhouse allowed for some winter salad even in the cold winter with temps on occasion, below zero.

Another visit was above nearby Omak. A couple I met had five acres and had built a very attractive straw bale house along with a sizable garden and root cellar. The plan is to raise sheep for food along with their garden.

The presentation I gave in Okanogan was billed in the newspaper as being on Permaculture. It did mention Permaculture but the first part focused on why globalized capitalism is not an ally for a peaceful world with uplifted culture and healthy environment. A number of people left early, I hope they knew that bit of reality already. After the presentation, fifteen people stayed to discuss “what can we do?” There is agreement that progressives in Okanogan need to advocate for a greener community. Moving forward with an agenda, like many other places, is a challenge with busy schedules.

Another day I visited Tonesket, 20 miles north. The small town has a community culture center. It has been going for about 15 years, a place for music, civic events, rental space. It has been mostly a counter culture effort but is now reaching out to the broader community. It shares a building with the food co-op. Both entities benefit from income from the sizable yearly barter fair. The rest of Tonesket looks mainstream.

Returning to Larry and Cathy’s, I stopped in Omak to look for Irene Welling. She had come to the presentation at the Grange, having heard the radio interview Larry had set up on the local station. Irene lives in an apartment across the street from “God’s Green Acre,” where she and a friend have initiated a small but significant garden project on a vacant lot. The site was lush with squash, cukes, tomatoes, lettuce. The work has brought several people into the project. Neighbors donated seeds, tools, water, hose, plants and an artistic painted rock with the garden’s name. Its very nice with plans for expansion next season. Good work Irene!

I left Okanogan for Twisp in the Methow Valley and had breakfast with ten area residents at the end of a two mile long driveway. Several people came on bikes. Everyone was concerned with the state of the world. I asked people to describe some charactreristics of where and how they live. It was fascinating to hear the brief overview of respective efforts. Circumstances had similarities and differences. Some close to town, others miles away. Some places in suburban size lots, others multiple acres. Some people lived alone, others with families, renters, partners. No one had all the prefered ingredients for the ideal eco way of life. A number of people mentioned someone had talked about a co-housing idea but it had not come to pass.

After the narrations, I suggested an idea probably some had mused about. How about an asset inventory of all the properties? Location, water, size, people, food production potential, etc. Then, with the best inventories available, come up with a plan that makes best cooperative use of what the group has. Choose the best place to locate a collaborative eco village. Sell the properties with no viable future. Set up a framework for a land trust or something similar all can agree upon and make a plan to create the collective dream.

Sure. What a nice idea. Easier said than done. Such an effort would be a huge challenge. But it makes tremendous sense.

Bob Dylan had a song on Slow Train Comin’. His Jesus period. It’s a great album. One song talks about not so much learning but unlearning.

The culture we have grown up with is highly individualistic, a perfect fit for divide and conquer in a political sense and also a perfect fit for selling tons of goods that see limited use becauses everyone has one of nearly everything even though they uses it infrequently. Why not share and cooperate? It is one of the most radical things we can do. It sounds close to impossible but its what Dylan is singing about. Our culture and way of life has divided and separated and disempowered all of us. We are far more able to move towards our goals of liberation on a peaceful and green planet when we work together. In new ways that will challenge under evolving conditions that very well may compel us to do things we cannot imagine at this time.

We already have a clue of what that may be like. Seems like a good idea to start sooner rather than later. Will friends in the Methow Valley be some of the first culture change prioneers?