Claudia Reed

Localization groups from five states and Canada swapped info at the April Regional Localization Network Conference in Willits, California.

To hear urban visionary Richard Register tell it, the city of the future will look more like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon than like the crime-ridden, blighted expanse often referred to as the inner-city.

It’s been more than a year since the Willits Economic LocaLization (WELL) group began a major push in the direction of meeting local needs with local resources in a post-oil future.

“We can’t keep going the way we’ve been going,” said Congressman Mike Thompson. “That’s a no brainer.” Speaking during Mondays meeting with local officials and members of the Willits Economic LocaLization (WELL) group, Thompson was referring to an economy based on insatiable consumption of fossil fuels.

Second of a series on emergency preparedness in the Willits area.

The predicted decline of the oil-based economy is an opportunity to replace TINA (there is no alternative) economies, that enrich global corporations, with LOIS (locally owned import substitution) economies, that create prosperous communities.