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Transition Town Ashland
Comments on the Ashland City Council
2009-2011 Goals, Values and Vision


SUMMARY AND GUIDE

Transition Town Ashland (TTA) is a community group formed in 2008 to foster the transition from an oil-centric economy to one in which all community systems are more localized to ensure greater resilience in the face of uncertainty regarding peak oil, climate change, and the complex web of related issues such as global environmental degradation and economic instability. 

Over the past three months, TTA has held a number of meetings and discussions on the City Council’s Goals, Values and Vision and gathered input from about 50 people, contributing in all some 200+ hours of work towards this report.  We have identified areas of particular concern and provided our underlying values, vision of a positive future, and lists of specific policies and programs that could further the realization of that future.  Some highlights include:


PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE OF ASHLAND

VALUE: Government should embrace change and proactively address the issues of nonrenewable energy reduction, climate change and ecological and biological constraints in all activities associated with planning.

GOAL: We should engage in a future scenarios planning with members of the business community, scientists and civic organizations.  Creation of a City Sustainability Plan or Sustainability Element of the Comprehensive Plan could occur in conjunction with TTA’s work towards an Energy Descent Action Plan.


ENERGY AND TRANSPORTATION

VALUE: We value the use of renewable energy and energy conservation as essential elements in taking responsibility for understanding and living within the ecological and biological constraints of earth.

GOAL: The city should develop a baseline energy use and CO2 evaluation using the existing City procured ICLEI software and processes.  The City should adopt a set of specific building and transportation energy usage goals (e.g. building energy to follow Architecture 2030 standards), and transportation goals (e.g. adoption of the National Association of Regional Council’s approach to reducing greenhouse gases).


THE ECONOMY

VALUE: We must recognize the limits to natural resources and alter basic assumptions about continual growth that are ultimately self-destructive to our own species as well as to all other life on earth.

GOAL: Assessment of money leaving the community and import substitution opportunities should be done and programs to increase local money recirculation created based on the results.  Assessment of any economic development proposal should include calculation of the local multiplier.


ZERO WASTE - ZERO TOXIN CITY

VALUE: We value clean air, food and water, and recognize the essential role played by intact, high functioning ecological systems in creating these benefits.

VISION: We will protect our area’s ecological functions and diversity through our Zero Waste, Zero Toxin program. We will choose biological services first, such as mushrooms for remediation of toxic substances or pond plants for cleaning of water.  We have contests to see who can produce the least trash and the winners are honored highly in the community.


GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY

VALUE: We value active, informed and engaged citizen participation in government, responsibility, accountability and transparency.
GOAL: The city should enhance the training provided to commissioners and councilors to include communication skills training, diversity sensitivity and consensus-based decision-making.

FOOD

VALUE: We value preparedness for possible scenarios related to fuel price increases and food shortages, and believe locally grown food provides the back-up and resiliency necessary for food security.

GOAL: Support local agriculture by establishing a prioritized water rate for food production. Create a Soil Fertility Department to assess our soils, to grow, collect, process and distribute healthy effective compost, and to increase awareness of the importance of soil fertility and promote methods for increasing and preserving it.


Transition Town Ashland
Comments on the Ashland City Council
2009-2011 Goals, Values and Vision
September 21, 2009


Changes are coming . . . What shall we do?
 
Vast and fundamental changes are coming to our world. They've already begun. Climate Change, Peak Oil, and the instability of global institutions are changing the face of the Earth. Scientists tell us that conditions will worsen, possibly in catastrophic ways. So what are we to do?
 
We can carry on with business as usual, our backs to the rising tsunami . . . or we can bring the best of ourselves to this historic challenge: we can bring intelligence, wise hearts, a sense of caring and community, a willingness to see clearly, in fresh ways, and to work together.
 
It's the biggest job imaginable: nothing less than changing the Story of the whole human race . . . changing the Story that people hold in their hearts -- and teach their children and grandchildren -- about the nature of human life. It's a change that must occur, if we're to make the needed changes to our way of life. To be sure, responding to our challenges will require good research and wise policies and technical innovation and effective organizing, but for those things to succeed, minds and hearts must open and change.
 
So people who see the challenge must reach out to the public with information and inspiration, and help growing numbers of people to see . . . not all people, but enough people. We must join with our neighbors, to see what is and what could be, to learn and to see what's needed and to get things done, to share visions and working examples of how things can work, to bend media and government toward the common good, to bring wisdom and kindness and healing to the inner journey that must accompany the outer, to help a new world be born.
 
Is there any good news? Yes! For years, all over the world, countless people and organizations have been seeing the global situation unfold, and they've been finding heart-lifting ways to make a difference. They are transforming their lives and their families and their communities and our future.
 
It's time to join them.

Planning for the future of Ashland

The international Transition Town movement is essentially about planning for the future in light of the challenges of decreasing oil availability, climate change and economic instability, all of which require us to change our way of living to a low carbon economy and less consumptive lifestyles.  A primary goal of transition town community organizations is to produce an Energy Descent Action Plan, charting this course with a focus on local ecological, social and economic resiliency and solutions based in the unique ecology and culture of local areas.  Transition Town Ashland (TTA) holds a value that government should embrace change and proactively address the issues of nonrenewable energy reduction, climate change and ecological and biological constraints in all activities associated with planning.

TTA’s vision of the future Ashland is that we will have coalesced as a community around an Energy Descent Plan, and be carrying out the plan as a fundamental and necessary ecological, social and economic transformation. 

An important goal in this process is to educate city planners and staff in futures scenario planning.  We should engage in a future scenarios plan with members of the business community, scientists and civic organizations.  Creation of a City Sustainability Plan or Sustainability Element of the Comprehensive Plan could occur in conjunction with TTA’s work towards an Energy Descent Action Plan.  Medium and long term goals should be established as well as short term goals chosen.  

Crisis preparation is important, and the work of CERT should be amplified along with identifying city-wide emergency tactics around provision of energy, water and food.  Short term goals should include changes in our ordinances and design standards to promote state of the art solar orientation in new buildings and stormwater infiltration for irrigation and ecological benefits on new and existing sites.  More ambitious changes in our building code and ordinances should be aggressively pursued to provide the energy and water conservation measures required by the coming conditions.  We should rethink plans for urban redevelopment and enterprise zones until their full relationship to carrying capacity and future scenarios can be determined.

Transportation and Energy

We value the use of energy conservation and renewable energy as essential elements in taking responsibility for understanding and living within the ecological and biological constraints of earth.  We value the steadfast ethic of energy self sufficiency in our homes, schools, university, businesses and city government.

In TTA’s vision of the future, the City of Ashland obtains energy from renewable sources, even at a premium relative to non-renewable energy.  Energy self-sufficiency is extensive, as evidenced by solar panels blinking from rooftops, and zero net energy homes and buildings throughout the City.  Community and home edible gardens and drought tolerant plants grace yards, parks and open spaces. The community cleans and re-uses its storm water and effluent so no drop is wasted in this mountain town, allowing more water for salmon to spawn and aquatic plants and animals to flourish in Ashland’s creeks.  We live in relatively car-free nodes in which we can walk and bike no more than 1/2 mile to most shopping, jobs and services, as well as natural areas and community gardens on the periphery of each node. These nodes are connected by public transportation, bike and pedestrian paths and delivery vehicles.  Much of our imported goods will arrive by rail and other efficient means.  All vehicles will be fueled by energy generated from renewable sources.   Ashland is connected to the Rogue Valley and the entire West coast through strong transit and rail systems. Population growth is aggressively managed, making efficient and ecologically-minded use of land, ensuring that the human and non-human communities thrive in balance.

The conservative and overall reduced use of energy and the use of renewable energy is an issue that city Transportation and Electric departments should address in every aspect of their planning and implementation processes.  Energy and transportation elements of the City Sustainability Plan and/or the sustainability element of the Comprehensive plan should include both  City of Ashland and overall city energy reduction and the use of renewable energy.  Short, medium and long-term goals should be established and implemented as specific action items and in the City Council’s goal setting. 

The city should develop a baseline energy use and CO2 evaluation using the existing City procured ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) software and processes.  The City should adopt the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 relative to our current baseline.  In support of this goal, the City should adopt a set of specific building and transportation energy usage goals (e.g. building energy to follow Architecture 2030 standards), and transportation goals (e.g. adoption of the National Association of Regional Council’s approach to reducing greenhouse gases).  Additionally, city should conduct a regular analysis of total embodied energy (emergy) to ensure that all systems are operating as efficiently as intended.

The Economy

It is fundamental to our view of the world to understand that the economy exists within, not separate from, the natural world which is our planet’s interconnected living system of which humans and all that they do is a part.  We must recognize the limits to natural resources and alter basic assumptions about continual growth that are ultimately self-destructive to our own species as well as to all other life on earth.

Our vision of the future is one where the growth economy has been replaced by a development or steady-state economy that closes the loop of resources and spreads benefits more equitably among the populace.   There will be a very diverse, thriving local economy that is largely self-sufficient for most goods and services.  We will export primarily intellectual products (through tourism, education, internet connection and product sales) and import primarily necessary basic foods and manufactured items that cannot be produced locally.

Money and work will be substantially redefined to recognize values of time, family, creativity, sharing, community, wellness and beauty.   We will value locally made, artistic, hand-crafted products.  Jobs will reflect our values and gifts, contributing to the quality of the community, and not to competitive income generation or goods accumulation for their own sake.  Most people who live in Ashland will work in Ashland and vice versa.

 Extended families and neighborhoods will share resources and support each other.  Our surrounding forest will be stewarded in a sustainable way providing many secondary products of food, medicine and small diameter wood materials, while being managed for maximum water purity and collection as well as biodiversity.

The city will have spearheaded the local economy by prioritizing its purchase of goods and services through local vendors who have likewise used local banking and other professional services, as well as hiring locally and providing as many locally produced products as possible.

Traditional thinking dictates that the priority when considering most decisions is that the economy ranks 1st, society ranks 2nd and the environment ranks 3rd.  Balanced thinking recognizes the fact that the health of all living things is dependent on a healthy ecosystem 1st, leading to a healthy society 2nd, and then leading to a balanced and healthy economy 3rd.  The city should use triple-bottom-line (environment, social, economy) accounting and factor in the true cost of every activity planned and undertaken.
Current economic development goals should be to further a resilient local economy, assisting development of local businesses and existing sectors.  Assessment of money leaving the community and import substitution opportunities should be done and programs to increase local money recirculation created based on the results.  Assessment of any economic development proposal should include calculation of the local multiplier, or absence of the same, as well as triple bottom line accounting.  Businesses that increase self reliance in food, energy and general supplies should be supported.  Tourism should include experience of the natural surroundings of the City and education in our sustainability initiatives.

We should support young families and diverse incomes so that we have young residents to fill our professional jobs and keep our schools and hospital financially viable.  Economic opportunities that restore our forest and promote its sustainable stewardship should be promoted.

Our local investors can support a thriving local economy through local banking and investing in local businesses.  We can educate people in the benefits of “slow money” investing in the long term resiliency of the community rather than in short term financial returns.  Local currencies may bring attention to the issue of local purchasing and the multiplier effect.  The city could support local currencies by using them for partial payment of salaries, accepting it for utility payments, etc.

Zero Waste - Zero Toxin City

We value clean air, food and water.  We recognize and treasure the essential role played by intact, high functioning ecological systems in creating these local benefits.  We recognize and value our interdependence on one another and on all elements of our natural environment.  We hold strongly to the fundamental ethic and obligation to take full responsibility for our impact as participants in the web of life.  We believe we must exercise the precautionary principle of “first do no harm”.

In our vision of the future, we will protect our area’s ecological functions and diversity through our Zero Waste, Zero Toxin program. We will choose biological services first, such as mushrooms for remediation of toxic substances or pond plants for cleaning of water.  In the future we will have contests to see who can produce the least trash and the winners will be honored highly in the community.  We will have reduced CO2 emissions by 80%.

“Zero Waste is a philosophy and a design principle that goes beyond recycling by taking a whole system approach to managing the flow of resources through society. Mimicking natural systems where there is no such thing as waste, Zero Waste systems strive to eliminate waste by focusing on reducing consumption and ensuring that producers take-back products and packaging for reuse, repair or recycling.”  -- Zero Waste Palo Alto:  http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/pwd/recycle/default.asp

Starting immediately, we can educate our citizens about the dangers of household and yard chemical toxins and adopt an integrated pest management plan calling for rapid decrease in herbicide and pesticide use on city property.  We can regulate emissions and water use.  We can ban plastic bags and other plastic products and further promote recycling including many specialty products, such as cooking oil.  We can provide metrics for the quality of food, air and water in order to assess our progress.

We can seek out ways to re-use resources previously identified as waste and provide incentives for businesses that do this.  We can seek out ways to sequester carbon and provide incentives for businesses that do that.  We can research the possibility of having a biodigester for our waste which turns biomass into fuel and compost without release of GHGs.  “The community will need to work together, each segment playing an active role not only in searching for innovative and fiscally responsible ways to reduce waste, but also in combining these new solutions with smart established practices such as conserving resources, minimizing material consumption and reusing materials by inventively reassigning their function.” -- Zero Waste Palo Alto, http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/pwd/recycle/default.asp

Government and Community

We value active, informed and engaged citizen participation in the democratic process. We value election methods that produce the will of the majority of voters and a government that prides itself on responsibility, accountability and transparency. We value efficiencies gained by researching methods and tools that have worked elsewhere and adopting them for local use. We believe that the process and means by which we accomplish goals are equally as important as the outcomes. We value heartfelt, authentic communication among all residents and city officials as a precursor to building strong neighborhoods and community. We value diversity and treasure the wealth of varied viewpoints formed by diverse backgrounds, cultures, religions and lifestyles. We also value joy and celebration.

In our vision of the future, neighbors are in frequent personal contact with one another. Incidents of domestic and neighborhood violence are extremely rare because almost everyone has availed themselves of communication skills training and mediation services when needed, which are provided by the government through the Peace Department. We feel secure and confident in the ability of our police force to protect us. Ashland's police officers play an active role in proactively promoting peace and assisting people in need. All officers live in the city and are an integral part of the community fabric.

Citizens trust that government officials will not simply include them perfunctorily in discussions regarding public policy or major projects, but will actively engage them early on so public policies and project plans genuinely emerge from the grassroots. State-of-the-art dialogue facilitation tools such as world café and open-space technology are explored for their capacity to engage more members of the community and obtain broad input and deep wisdom. City Council actively seeks opinions from community elders and leaders of various sectors of the community, including indigenous populations. Council decisions are made more often by consensus than by majority vote.

Instant Runoff Voting is used to produce majority winners in the election of local offices.

In every interaction with citizens, city employees eagerly solicit feedback that is incorporated to improve service.

The city promotes annual neighborhood gatherings to celebrate community life and to facilitate personal contact among neighbors and with city staff. The gatherings also provide opportunities for newcomers to become acquainted and for folks to share skills and resources.

Beginning immediately, the City could establish the volunteer position or task force to explore mechanisms for enhancing citizen participation, including a phase of identifying impediments thereto. Leaders of CERT Map-Your-Neighborhood, the Ashland Food Project, and other neighborhood community-building projects should be queried for ways the city might enhance or learn from their efforts. Similar programs in other communities such as City Repair in Portland should also be reviewed and evaluated for possible adoption locally.

The city should immediately enhance the training provided to commissioners and councilors to include communication skills training, diversity sensitivity and a variety of decision-making protocols including consensus. Volunteer communication coaches could assist civil servants in their communication skill development on an ongoing basis.

Food

Food is the first and most essential element of life.  During the last world war when food resources were scarce, people planted victory gardens and very effectively produced a large percentage of their food needs.  At that time, a much larger percentage of the population had grown up on farms or had family members still involved in growing food in traditional ways.  60 years later, few of us know the rudiments of growing our own food or much about where our food comes from.

TTA attributes the highest importance to growing food locally for a multitude of reasons.  We value preparedness for possible scenarios related to fuel price increases and food shortages, and believe locally grown food provides the back-up and resiliency necessary for food security.  Locally grown food closes the loop of production and consumption, and supports locally owned and run businesses.  A sufficient local food system can be a counter balance on economic instability, climate change and energy crises.  We value designing for abundance in balance with care for the earth and care for people.  We value the peace and joy inherent in growing one’s own food and celebrating its culture and bounty. 

In TTA’s vision of the future, our City will benefit from a large, stable, joyful local food system which employs many residents at a livable wage.  We will have a secure water system able to support the production, processing and recycling of all our food elements.  Schools and neighborhoods will have life-skill learning and sharing opportunities to support our more diverse, vibrant local businesses producing much of what we eat and use.  Forests will provide a high percentage of our food as well as other products and ecological services, and will be managed by residents who live and work in the community.  We will have a slower, more natural rhythm to our lives, where our connection with nature and the source of our food will result in a more healthful and meaningful way of life.

Here are some ideas that could be implemented to support local food production.

1. Adopt a Food Security Commission to assess, design and implement a strategy that is in keeping with our Values as it relates to food and its elements. 

2.  Increase Local Food Production annually, with a goal of 80% locally grown in twenty years.  There will be increased use of public/private lands and funding to support formation of more community gardens using vacant lots, city parks, churches, city property, marginal lands, etc.

3.  Increase Water Availability by adopting rules and regulations for residential/commercial water catchment and gray water systems.  Water storage can also be increased by incorporating a Keyline System of water catchment in our watershed.  Support local agriculture by establishing a water rate for food production.  Applicants for the reduced water rate could be certified by a group of volunteers and documented with photos which would be published for promotion of the program.

4. Create a Soil Fertility Department, charged with the assessment of our soils as well as growing, collection, processing and distribution of healthy effective compost.  This department will also work with educational elements to increase awareness of the importance of soil fertility and promote methods for increasing and preserving it.

5.  Promote Small Scale Polycultural Farms by changing zoning laws to support urban agriculture within and around the city.

6. Utilize the 800 plus acres in the Cascade foothills, for food production centered on Permaculture design techniques.  We can stack functions here by utilizing this land simultaneously for solar and wind energy generation.

7. Incorporate increased local food production into the Public School Lunch Program. 

8. Educate Ashland residents and school children about life skills centered on local food production, use, economy and culture.

9.  Include a school garden at every public school as a teaching facility as well as a supplement to its lunch and life skills program.  This would be an ideal medium to teach whole systems design.

10. Adopt a neighborhood system (similar to the CERT design) where each neighborhood has a point person that knows all the food elements in the neighborhood.  Neighborhood organizers help to coordinate and act as liaisons to the city and other neighborhoods.  A neighborhood system can design itself to maximize food potential/community weaving.  The real goal here is to have interactive neighborhoods centered around food, water and essentials for life.

11.  Celebrate our food abundance!  The city will work in partnership with citizens to coordinate festivals around the culture and harvest of locally grown food.  This could include contests for biggest pumpkin, best compost pile, most food donated to the food bank, etc.

12. Support a local food delivery system that doesn’t directly rely on gasoline/oil.   Electric trucks, bikes, horse drawn wagons, etc. 

13. Adopt pesticide and herbicide free practices to keep our local food landscape safe.

14.  Change the Comprehensive Plan to include a food security element.

TTA offers these suggestions with an intention to "stir the pot" of creative local genius and initiate a vibrant on-going local collaboration between all interested participants as we humbly and eagerly explore new ways of designing a more thriving, sustainable, and resilient community within the context of our complex world.

Albert Einstein wisely counseled "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." Our current world situation--global climate change, a world designed around cheap oil, exponential population growth, environmental degradation, and worldwide economic instability--all contribute to a complex set of challenges never before faced by humans.  A focus on complex interdependent relationships has been missing from and must  be added to any discussion of values, visions, and goals over the next 30 years.

This document was written by the members of the Transition Town Ashland Initiating Group, Shaktari Belew, Lance Bisaccia, Jim McGinnis, Melanie Mindlin, Brett Schumacher and Pam Vavra, with the input of about 50 people contributing in all more than 250 hours of consideration to the specific topic of the City Council's Goals, Values and Vision.

Click here to view the raw data.