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Shining Communities, Shining Rainbows

The May Schumacher Center seminar “Building Sustainable Local Economies” ended with a double rainbow arched over the Schumacher Center Library. It is visible in the concluding picture of the seminar photograph collection developed by Dane Springmeyer. You will also find all of the seminar background documents gathered together and edited by Merrian (Fuller) Borgeson, seminar coordinator. Please share these resources freely with members of your local community. Dane’s new design of the web site ensures easy access to the material.

Seminar registration was filled within two weeks of its announcement. Attendees—coming from fifteen different states, including the island of Maui in Hawaii—represented various community based initiatives. They were eager to learn about and share economic “tools for change.”

We began the training by imagining an economic system based on the values of cooperation, fair distribution of wealth, mutual aid, ecological responsibility, social accountability, respect for cultural differences, human scale, and local production for local consumption. What would the economic institutions for land tenure and capital flow look like in such a value-based economic system? How could labor be organized to protect the dignity of workers and achieve production of diverse goods at a local scale?

In addition to Fritz Schumacher’s classic book Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, we referenced:

  • Why the Village Movement? by J. C. Kumarappa, the Gandhian economist;
  • Paths in Utopia by Martin Buber, author of I and Thou;
  • Cities and the Wealth of Nations by the regional planner Jane Jacobs;
  • Mutual Aid by Petr Kropotkin; and
  • World Economy by Rudolf Steiner.

These books form part of a collection of writings that reconsider basic economic principles and assumptions. They constitute the foundation blocks for rebuilding local economies.

Elizabeth Keen and Alexander Thorp presenting.

The seminar program then turned to practical examples for implementing value-based economies. A community land trust is a tool used by a regional community to take land out of the speculative market while providing private equity to leaseholders in the buildings and improvements on the land. Farmers Alex Thorp and Elizabeth Keen gave us a tour of Indian Line Farm, the first Community Supported Agriculture farm in this country. The land is owned by the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires, The Nature Conservancy holds conservation easements, and the farmers own the buildings.

Michael Shuman examined how to structure business ventures to ensure accountability to local place and local community. He analyzed areas of capital drain from local economies and described various methods, both tried and in planning, to stop those leaks and create “import replacement” businesses. The Schumacher Center’s micro-credit program (SHARE) and store scrip (Deli Dollars and Berkshire Farm Preserve Notes) are examples of how citizens can band together to finance businesses identified as needed by a community. In addition Michael described plans for a “local stock market” to provide capital to local businesses—in start-up phase, refinancing stage, or expansion—by taking equity positions in the businesses.

Eric Harris-Braun and Christopher Lindstrom reviewed the theory and practice of issuing local currencies, including a discussion of Time Dollars, LETs mutual credit programs, Ithaca Hours, and programs such as Salt Spring Dollars and Cheimgauers that depend on backing in federal currency as an initial way of starting. Eric and Chris then went on to argue that each of these systems serves a different function in building a local economy. Ideally a local community would adapt a combination of these systems. Columbia County Alliance for a Sustainable Local Economy (CCASLE) is proposing just such a combination currency program under the leadership of Eric and Chris.

Chuck Turner, an elected representative from the Roxbury/Dorchester communities to the City of Boston, reminded us of the roots of our activism for just economic systems. He finds strength to do the hard work of local economic reform through an understanding of our history and our responsibility as cosmic citizens. He then described the Mondragon system of cooperatives developed in the Basque region of Spain, a system that has incorporated a commitment to people, land, and community.

Equal Exchange, which distributes Fair Trade coffee, tea, and chocolate, is a well developed model of worker ownership and management. Seminar participant Erbin Crowell, a worker-owner of Equal Exchange for ten years, described how the cooperative has helped the coffee and cocoa farmers purchase their own processing and transportation equipment in order to retain additional income for the farmers. Equal Exchange provides a fine example of applying the coop model throughout a distribution system.

The seminar forums moved from the big room of the Schumacher Center Library to Blodgett House at neighboring Simon’s Rock of Bard College, which also provided accommodation in dorm rooms. But we spent time outdoors as well. Martin Ping gave us a tour of Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, New York, which integrates a working bio-dynamic farm with a Waldolf School and a retail store serving its Columbia County neighbors. Adventurous attendees climbed to the top of Jug End Mountain on the Appalachian Trail, beginning from the path outside the Schumacher Center Library. Merrian conducted silent morning walks through the woods and fields surrounding Jug End.

And food! Our neighbor, Fiona deRis, catered lunches in the courtyard of the Library, using locally sourced food such as stinging nettles and chives and rhubarb “borrowed” from local gardens. All the farms and farmers were known by name, all the meals a delight.

The final day, Sunday May 29th, was devoted to action plans by seminar participants. How would they apply the tools described during the seminar back in their own communities? Responses were complex. Some would integrate several tools; some found ways to build on existing projects. Partnerships were formed involving several participants in new project formation. The four seminar members from Hana on the island of Maui engaged our attention the most. They brought the greatest intentionality to the seminar, coming the greatest distance to consciously work together to address the problems facing their community. The image of Hana—its physical characteristics, its rich ancient culture, its struggles in the face of change, and ultimately its capacity to joyfully reach solutions—stood visibly before us in the fine faces of its four representatives at the seminar. Dawn asked permission of Kema to close with a prayer spoken in Hawaiian.

Many fond farewells followed, with promises to continue working and sharing together. Schumacher staff returned to the Library to clean up and organize seminar follow-up material. As we worked, the weather changed. A dark gray cloud appeared, and with it rain. Soon the sky cleared, and the sun shone bright against the gray. It was Merrian who intuited a rainbow and went to the window. “A rainbow.” she called. We ran outside, and there above the Library was the brilliant arch of color. As we watched a second arch appeared above the first. And then the lower one deepened and grew in layers.

“Four rainbows!” declared Chris. We were all giddy. A seminar rainbow—honoring the initiative, gracing the gathering, thanking Merrian for a job well done.

Dane captured our enthusiasm and the fleeting beauty of the moment in a photo.

Dawn emailed to say: “Kema and I spent a good deal of our 20-hour trip home discussing the tools we learned about and how we might apply them in our community. We are very excited about the possibilities for Hana, Maui, and ultimately the nation as we all seek to make changes within our own communities and lives. . . . That is a most stunning photo of the double rainbow. ‘Mahalo’ to Dane for the picture! On our journey back, as soon as we arrived on the ‘road to Hana,’ Kema and I started seeing rainbows, and we saw them all along the way home. They seemed to be following us, reflecting the magic of this experience that we are carrying back to our families and our community. . . .Mahalo nui loa, me ka ha’aha’a (with bountiful thanks and great humility).”

Mahalo nui loa, me ka ha’aha’a.

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