What's New/Willits Conference

Great Turning initiatives and Earth Community Dialogues are happening at an increased rate all over the country. In April 2006 Willits Economic Relocalization (Willits, CA) convened the first Regional Localization Networking Conference (RLNC) attended by 120 people representing 30 communities. Strongest representation came from California (LA to Humboldt County) followed by Oregon (Ashland), Washington (Bainbridge and Vashon Islands), and Colorado (Boulder).

The purpose of the conference was to “improve regional economic localization efforts through sharing best practices; developing consistent messages for the general public, business community, and political leaders; and enhancing regional communication between groups.” The two-day conference was a tremendous success providing participants with information, resources, support and inspiration. The caliber of the attention, wisdom, experience, and future visioning of the participants bodes well for relocalization in the Northern California region. WELL is already planning another conference to be held in October 2006.

Presenters included: David Schaller from the US Environmental Protection Agency, Sustainable Development Coordinator, Denver Regional Office and Julian Darley from the Post Carbon Institute.

In order to deal with the complexity of deep community restructuring, WELL organizers have been working on strategic models to make the complex more manageable. Models include: Diffusion of Innovation/Tipping Points; Transformational Social Change; Ecological Economics; Strategic Tension; Strategic Visioning; Meeting Structure; and Group Process.

These models, power point presentations, along with lists from brainstorming and breakout groups, links to buy a DVD of the event will be posted to the WELL website soon.