AN OPEN LETTER TO SONOMA COUNTY SUSTAINABILITY GROUPS AND PERMACULTURE OPERATIONS REGARDING OCCUPY SANTA ROSA
[This letter will be posted at Collapsenet
later today for our members in 68 countries, hopefully to inspire
simultaneous constructive action by other Occupy venues around the
world.]
Sonoma
County is home to some of the most-respected and recognized leaders in
Transition, permaculture and sustainability in the world. Transition US is headquartered here. Daily Acts is here. The Post Carbon Institute is here. Occidental Arts and Ecology Center is here. Collapsenet
is here. Sonoma County is alive with all of the skills that will be
needed by the seven billion souls who now share our troubled planet.
All of
us seeking to transform to a post-petroleum, zero growth, sustainable
way of life and global transformation have inherent and obvious shared
interest with the Occupy Movement. A great, and I believe unique,
opportunity to lead the way in this journey towards a new paradigm
presents itself to us right here in Santa Rosa.
To date,
although Occupy Santa Rosa has been faced with challenges in its
relations with city government, the process has been marked by
professional, non-violent and diligent efforts and good faith on both
sides. Santa Rosa is not Oakland. It is not any of the places where the
Occupy movement has been faced with grave challenges, property
destruction or violence. As of today, negotiations to prolong and extend
the life of Occupy Santa Rosa are continuing in good faith, with the
occupiers having agreed to comply unilaterally with the city’s camping
permit process. We occupiers have redoubled efforts to address
legitimate health and safety issues.
I have
been deeply involved in OSR over the past weeks. I have attended City
Council meetings, marched, and slept at the site. One of the large
concerns expressed by the Santa Rosa city council has been the cost of
restoring damage to City Hall’s ornamental landscaping as a result of
the occupation. Damage has been relatively minor and OSR has also
redoubled efforts to protect property. These efforts have resulted in
praise today from fire and safety officials. But foot paths are being
worn through ivy and the city council is concerned about damage to the
lawn as a result of long-term tent placement.
To me,
as it should be for all of us, restoring City Hall to its former
condition is obviously something we would view as a waste of energy and
resources. Sensible options would include a post-occupation conversion
of landscaping to indigenous, low-maintenance plants. They could include
zeroing the landscape to eliminate the need for water (reducing the
city’s budget needs). They could include the planting of sustainable and
harmonious food crops that will help to feed the increasing numbers of
people who will soon be facing food shortages in the face of collapse.
As I
look at the work and philosophy our community has developed over the
last decade I see that we have all focused on several common points
which we recognize as indispensable to our goals of saving lives and
caring for our fellows and our planet. They include:
- The need to relocalize food production to organic, non-chemically enhanced means
- The need to reduce resource consumption, especially water
- The need to build strong community ties.
Of these, we all understand that building a strong, harmonious community is of paramount importance.
I
personally know that almost all of us are in sympathy with the Occupy
Movement. All City Council members have been clear in open session that
they understand that the City of Santa Rosa is a part of the 99%. The
current sensitive-stage of negotiations present us all with an enormous
opportunity. Occupy Santa Rosa needs local support from community
pillars because – as I testified at an open city council meeting two
days ago – “It’s not even about the 99% versus the 1% here, because 100%
of us live here, and soon enough we will be all the human resources
that we have to face life-and-death challenges that are only going to
get bigger. We are all we are going to have to face this with.”
Much of
the world is looking to the beacon that Sonoma County has become to show
a peaceful and sane way into a new future. I am, therefore, asking all
of my colleagues to step up and make contact with the Occupy Santa Rosa
movement through one of its organizers, Arrow Flora,
or to reach out directly to city hall to become participants in making
Santa Rosa and Sonoma County a better place for all of us to live. We
have to walk our own walk in the eyes of the world if we are to maintain
our increasing usefulness in the change of consciousness which we
recognize as essential to our own missions. And all of us should want to
feed and nurture the actual working community and family which is
forming at OSR. Until you have seen it you cannot fully appreciate how
much the Occupy movement has to teach us about how we’re going to live
and function as a community.
In many
ways OSR is much further ahead than most of us when it comes to
community building. In all of the occupy venues around the world, almost
all in less-hospitable climates, what we have been teaching all these
years is being implemented at breakneck speed and a good deal of
innovation from which we can all learn. Social patterns are emerging
which confirm that OSR and other occupy venues are living and fertile
laboratories (greenhouses) which our leadership and experience could
assist in untold ways.
I am
asking all of you to go and visit OSR, walk through the camp and see the
myriad opportunities that exist to further our shared cause, and to put
your names and your organizations in solidarity with a movement that is
mankind’s last best hope to achieve voluntary change before all of us
face the involuntary hardships that are arriving right now.
All of
us have a vested interest in seeing OSR succeed. The world-recognized
talent and leadership here in Sonoma County must be a part of this
critical process. Let Sonoma County be a light for the whole world.
Michael C. Ruppert
Author,
C.E.O. – Collapsenet, Inc.
