GREENING GUILFORD

HOAs: Out of touch?

Perhaps you read this recent story from a colleague of mine on a High Point woman facing fines from her homeowners association because of her grassless lawn:

"Similar battles have been waged on a statewide level recently, as the drought has turned attention toward the vast amounts of water sprinkled and sprayed on suburban lawns each summer.

"In its past session, the General Assembly passed a bill limiting the ability of homeowners’ associations to fine residents who don’t water their lawns during a drought."

It's only a matter of time before grassless lawns move away from the minority to the mainstream as homeowners deal not only with perpetual drought, but rising food and energy prices. Urban gardening and edible landscapes are becoming more attractive to Americans across the country, even in Greensboro, where public schools are putting their lawns to use for educational purposes.

HOAs serve their purpose, namely to protect property values and maintain joint-owned amenities, such as pools and recreation centers. In some cases, the HOAs pay to cut grass or repair exterior surfaces of the homes. But HOAs are vulnerable during recessions when cash-strapped mortgage payers stop paying their assessments on time. And HOAs have to be carefully managed; otherwise, funds get misspent, leaving homeowners in the lurch. (I've owned a home where I paid a monthly HOA and experienced a near 50 percent increase in one year.)

At any rate, will homebuyers continue to favor neighborhoods with HOAs or will the associations come to be seen as unnecessary and expensive burdens for residents to carry? Neighborhoods that gain in value may very well be those that allow their residents to install clotheslines and solar panels and grow food instead of teh water-hungry, glorified weed called grass. (More on edible landscaping here.)

Placemaking in Greensboro

I had to get away during the Fourth of July holiday. I had just completed my peak oil series for the N&R and its publication provided another opportunity for the weight of the potential crisis to set in and disrupt my peace of mind. I was also consumed at the time with some analysis paralysis about whether to move from my current apartment or not, and if so, where and when. On Thursday, July 3, my husband and I decided, in a moment of last-minute frivolity, to go to Asheville for the weekend. We did not regret it and I even picked up some ideas from the plethora of green businesses and alternative media in the city.

I didn't leave with all of my questions answered, but I did get enough breathing room to contemplate the next stages of my sustainability journey.  Being in Asheville did underscore Greensboro's relative lack of eco-consciousness, but I also saw this city's strengths and weaknesses as fertile soil for change. My thoughts were confirmed this past Saturday while attending a Green Dialogue session at Elsewhere collective.

Justin Leonard, active in Greensboro's urban gardening efforts, spoke on the topic of "how to grow a community" and ended his presentation with the comment that a lot of his friends set their sights on Asheville or Seattle because of how far along they are in facilitating environmentally-friendly lifestyles. But Leonard said Greensboro is ripe for change.

"We need people who are willing to stay in a place that is not really nice and do the hard work," said Leonard, who helped create a garden at Greensboro Montessori.

Leonard is right, as frustrating as that hard work might be. I'm often tempted to just pack up and move to a place that better supports the lifestyle I want to have. (Having grown up in the military, I also get bored). Trouble is, if you can't make peace with your surroundings, you are likely to carry that dissatisfaction elsewhere. You will find something else to complain about and your self-righteousness will be unjustified. After all, many people are adopting green lifestyles as a fad, not because they understand or support the underlying tenets or worldview. Plus, Seattle is expensive.

"Really Really Free Market": The seed for a community currency?

If you have a couple free hours on Sunday afternoon, check out this community-building opportunity at the HIVE in Glenwood. The announcement:

"The Really Really Free Market is an event with a purpose: to show what the world looks like when we share our resources--when exchange is based on generosity, community, and caring, not on money. (To get an idea of how a Really Really Free Market works you can read about the Markets held regularly in Carrboro.)

WHAT: Really Really Free Market

WHEN: Sunday, March 2, 2:00-4:00 pm

WHERE: Parking lot of the HIVE, 1214 Grove Street (corner of Grove & McCormick Streets)

HOW IT WORKS: The Market is what its participants make of it. It's a little bit like a community yard sale, it's a little bit like a potluck picnic, it's a little bit like a festival. The idea is to bring whatever you want to share--even if it's just your enthusiasm!--and go home with things that others want to share with you. Anything is fine as long as it is FREE!

Some ideas: Clothing, books, household goods, performances, skill shares, workshops, information about other community events and organizations, garden produce, flowers, food, services such as massages, haircuts, and palm reading, toys, tools...and that's just a start."

I see this as the potential for generating interest in a community currency, something promoted by economists and monetary experts, such as Bernard Lietaer and Thomas Greco, for building a hedge against a falling/collapsing dollar and corporate globalization and making local economies more efficient and self-sufficient. Many communities in the United States have alternative currencies, including in Ithaca, NY, and in Berkshire, Mass.

A speech by Greco on Youtube:

And here are print and video interviews with Lietaer:

Time Banks is a national organization that promotes "paying" for services through time, not money, and represents a social change movement occurring in 22 countries:

"Have you ever wished you had someone around to give you a ride somewhere, help you run some errands, pick you up after you’ve dropped your car off for repairs, or just give you a hand when you need it. Someone you really trust?

Many of us have friends, neighbors and family members who help us out, but they can’t always be there in a pinch. In a Time Banking community, someone is always there when you need them.

It is like having an extended family to help out—with rides to the doctor, trips to the supermarket, help with the yard, chores around the house or childcare.

With Time Banking, sharing gifts means building trust.

Time Banking honors the unique gifts, talents and resources that each of us has to share, regardless of age, employment or ethnic background — such as tutoring, yard work, simple repairs, running errands, and storytelling. It’s labor with love."

Perhaps Greensboro residents would have more of a reason to get out and meet their neighbors and develop relationships. Those with useful but unmarketable skills could also contribute and people without a lot of money could receive the services they need. Time dollars or other community currencies can also support local businesses.

Greensboro politicians talk about drawing businesses to the city, but what about developing the "services" that already exist here? What would it take to get this going?   

Will Greensboro become a model for relocalization?

Megan Quinn Bachman, outreach director for The Community Solution in Yellow Springs, Ohio, spoke to members of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant tonight in advance of a film showing at UNCG on Thursday about Cuba's loss of access to oil in the 1990s.

She talked to a crowd of about 40 about the need for American towns and cities to radically curtail their energy use and rebuild community connections as preparation for the approaching era of dwindling fossil fuels. That means retrofitting existing homes to save energy, growing more food at home, decreasing the amount of grain-fed meat and processed foods in our diets, using public transportation and creating car-sharing plans in cities where public transportation is not feasible, she said.

"We got into this one bad decision at a time and we will get out of this one good decision at a time," Bachman said about the nation's oil dependency. "We need to recognize that if we don't choose a different path, then the choices will be made for us."

The country will need practical models of low-energy living and community building and the changes will have to come from within the community rather than top down from the government, she said.

"I really think Greensboro is on its way to becoming one of those models," she said.

Greensboro has a long way to go, but the fact that Bachman found her way to the city this week gives me some confidence that the paradigm shift that is coming may soon be at the forefront of people's minds and actions. 

Holding us "capable"

I had the pleasure of listening to the Rev. Mac Legerton, Robeson County educator and community activist, speak to doctoral students at UNCG's School of Education last night.

I found that the organization he represents -- Center for Community Action -- can serve as a model for social/economic justice and community building here in Guilford. The center is a multicultural, community-based, nonprofit organization that specializes in grassroots empowerment and multi-sector collaboration as the foundations for social change. Some of the center's projects include training unemployed and underemployed women for health and education careers, helping high school and university students map the county's assets ("green mapping"), and creating an alternative economy based on the exchange of time and talent versus money. The center has helped Robeson County, the third poorest county in the nation among those with populations between 65,000 and 250,000, rebound from the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.

Now, Guilford is not in as severe a shape as Robeson. But the county does have its fair share of challenges, including a flattened tax base and racial tensions. Some have questioned the quality of our public schools. I also wonder if the county relies more on a secondary export market than local economy. What do you think?

Anyway, Legerton said yesterday that communities must learn to hold each other "capable" instead of focusing so much on holding businesses and government agencies "accountable." That means becoming a vested stakeholder who actually participates in providing people and their representative organizations with the tools to tackle ecological, economical, political and social issues, rather than finger-pointing from the sidelines.

An essay called "Global Justice and Local Practice" Legerton co-wrote also says this:

"One response to the challenges of this narrowing view of the economy has been to further silo the social justice vision into distinct and separate issues and strategies: racial, political, legal, economic, gender, lifestyle, ecological and cultural justice forms. While each organization and groups in these categories have worked diligently on their social justice issue and constituency, the sector as a whole has continued to lose ground. Justice advocates too often end up competing with each other -- for public recognition, for private funding, and for citizen involvement....

What we need is a clear and concise, long-term vision for comprehensive, cooperative social justice, complete with short-term goals and benchmarks. Without a long-term vision with clear definitions and directions, our central convictions get lost and our strategies have limited results. With a coherent, concise, and comprehensive vision, we are not only clear about what we are pushing for, but also about the concrete goals towards which we are being pulled."

Legerton said many people want to be a part of "movements," but don't want to sacrifice their time for the more difficult task of community-building. Any group that wants to make significant change must meet once a week, he said.

"In this day and age, that's really hard," he said.

Mr. Legerton is right. And here is an example where the whole is better than its parts: Say a group called Relocalize Greensboro wants to work for policies that will help the city become more resilient against the outsourcing of jobs. But the group finds its members can't contribute adequate time because of job commitments. Well the next street over is a group lobbying state and federal congressmen and women for laws that will increase vacation and sick time for workers while giving them more desirable choices for part-time work. And another group wants to increase the amount of parent involvement in the schools. Maybe these groups are more likely to accomplish their tasks by working together, even though their specific missions differ.

That's why I get excited when I see umbrella groups such as Sustainable Ballard in Washington and WELL in California.

Greensboro and Guilford County have a lot of organizations pushing for "change." How can those groups work together so that the change that occurs is comprehensive, long-lasting and paradigm-shifting?   

Greensboro's racial issues

Something is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth about Greensboro and it's not just the water. It's the persistent undercurrent of racial tension in this city that makes me wonder how it will socially accommodate any challenging times brought on by climate change, resource depletion (water) and more expensive oil.

A lot about the city I like: it's big enough to not be parochial, but not too large a city to get lost in. A good arts and alternative medicine community exists as well. But it seems like every time I turn around, there is this real or perceived conflict between whites and blacks that makes me question my prospects of living here over the long term.

In addition reading about it as an issue in city government/police department, I hear about it constantly on the public school level as I cover it for the News & Record. I recently interviewed a black man who said he was so tired of the racism that he was willing to move back to Washington, D.C.  Now I have family in D.C. and can tell you it is not the greatest place to live if you are on the lower side of the economic continuum (think children dodging bullets behind trash cans). True gangstas reside in the District of Columbia, not in Greensboro, this man told me.

I've also heard minorities constantly complain about the amount of school construction bids going to white versus black contractors, something that the Guilford County Board of Education is trying to address. 

Now, how do we go about incubating creative and innovative ideas and following through on their implementation on a community-wide level if black people can't trust white people to fairly distribute the jobs or if white people can't trust blacks to tow the line? How do we motivate young talent to stay in Greensboro instead of fleeing to more progressive cities elsewhere? If we can ill afford to lose them in this economic environment (post outsourcing of thousands of manufacturing jobs), we certainly can't afford to lose them as the next economic shift occurs.

This is the 21st century, and honestly, I and others I know here would like to move on. Do you see this as possible? And do the residents of Greensboro face any other challenges to building community?

Glenwood unveils sculpture garden

I was visiting with the owner of Addie's Living Room, a new coffee shop in the Glenwood neighborhood near downtown Greensboro on Jan. 26, when I decided to check out the unveiling of the new sculpture garden in a community garden off Glenwood Avenue and Grove Street. UNCG students completed the art work and it was fascinating to see yet another example of community building and pride in action.

My husband and I have been following Glenwood's progress for the past year as we are considering moving there. More motivation: City Council approved a new neighborhood plan this week. Do you know of any other Greensboro neighborhoods where similar work is going on?

A wiser earth

I started reading this weekend "The Great Turning", by Michael Korten, a challenge to global citizens fed up with Empire's 5,000 year run to help usher in modern societies' conversion to earth community. Korten, who has worked for many years trying to rebuild third world communities, is co-founder of the Positive Futures Network and People-Centered Development Forum.

I didn't wait to stop reading the book before I started wondering to those Web sites and discovered WiserEarth, a Web portal that connects activists all over the world. I poked around some more and found a Google map that displays the locations of local groups such as Food Not Bombs Greensboro, Triad Sustainability Cafe and Earth Culture. Amazing.

Have any of you read "The Great Turning"? What do you think of it?