Launching /Ground

by Stowe Boyd

I believe that we are entering a period of human history where much of the conventional wisdom about the world and out place in it will be dethroned. In this post-industrial, post-modern, post-coldwar, post-twentieth century time, we have to rescope and redesign the frameworks of our ways of living. The post-everything world will harness a return to timeless values -- like stewardship of the earth and the enduring, central role of human relationships -- as well as a necessary reinvention of the apparatus of living.

I have named this /Ground, because we all stand on the same ground, and it is on this ground that we will find our way, or not.

One of the most salient trends -- one that I think trumps others -- will be the rise of localism. As nation states increasingly falter, and lose relevance we will see people shifting their sense of belonging away from mass organizations and political constructs, like nationalism and global religions.

We can already see the seeds of a new localized social order in activities like local food, local economies, distribution and energy, and the artisanal production of local goods. In a time when the web and other communication tools allow us to move to the edge of the media network, and shift our allegiance to demassed media, the parallels in other economic spheres are striking. Just as media has been transformed by the freedoms underwritten by the web, web-based social tools will lead to equally radical and parallel changes in other parts of the economy, as people opt out of globalized systems driven by unsustainable principles of unchecked growth.

Much of my thinking -- as reflected in technology writings at /Message -- has explored the coevolution of social technologies and their impact on media, business, and society. This blog will be dedicated to investigating the ramifications of the social systems that the web supports, and the intersection with the expanding practices of localism, ranging from media, to argiculture, to energy, to distribution, to politics. These solutions will likely share common characteristics: bottom-up emergent order, social scale, and a reliance on sustainable practices and technologies.

I have named this /Ground, because we all stand on the same ground, and it is on this ground that we will find our way, or not.

This is also a personal search for a closer connection to the deepest strata of the world that we reside upon, but which has been pulled away into an industrialized simulacrum of natural life. I feel disconnected to the world -- although very connected to networks of people -- and I have to find a way to a grounded existence.

I hope to bring on some other contributors in the next weeks and months, and to meet a wide variety of people exploring the landscape of localism in thousands of different ways. We will eat and drink a lot, garden, talk to people building windmills, investigate the community supported agriculture phenomenon, and learn to butcher a hog and turn it into prosciutto. We will examine the gap in hyperlocal media -- everyone's talking about it, but what is it supposed to be? -- and dig into alternative politics and the search for meaning in our lives.

Send me your thoughts and ideas, if you are inclined: it's a work in progress.

Comments

[Chris]

Alright, I'll be the first :)

[Suki Fuller]

"I feel disconnected to the world -- although very connected to networks of people -- and I have to find a way to a grounded existence."

Beautiful.

Reading my mind?

[Meryl Steinberg]

Good blogging. I'll add to my RSS. If I see anything positive about the meltdown of the economy and the ability of this Federal administration to respond to emergencies, it is the potential for resurgence of engaged citizens on the local level. And can you believe my local grocery in SF sells garlic from Argentina when we are a stone's throw from Gilroy--the garlic capital of CA? (I went without).

[David Beaudouin]

Hey, Stowe:

Sorry to arrive late to the party, but your blog's focus is incredibly timely--at least to me. In fact, I was speaking to a pro bono client here today about tying in more directly to the "go local" movement in Baltimore: http://www.buylocalbaltimore.com/index.html

I agree that the appeal of localism has a lot to do with setting our compass straight again in terms of social relationships--but it's also a way to enter into a refreshingly ethical sphere of commerce by scaling down to the local economy, the same way that we enjoy our weekly banter with the farmers' market's veggie stand seller as much as the green beans.

It's what city planners have been telling us for decades--the local has form, value, meaning. I really look forward to reading where you take this conversation next.

[Scott Smith]

I grew up in the suburbs, but have moved to Hickory Corners, Michigan - near Kalamazoo. We have almost 10 acres. So far we have raised Spring Pigs (you get a few in May and slaughter them in October/November), Runner ducks, hens for eggs, and chickens for meat. I have slaughtered my own chickens, but we hired someone to come kill and slaughter the pigs - not something you just decide to do.

My day job: SysAdmin and web farmer (yes, my boss gave me the title of web farmer) for a company in Northbrook, Illinois.

I have to say your scope is quite interesting and surprising. I look forward to your take on the local movement.

[Cobb]

Stowe, I follow you lightly and I think it's interesting that we have come to similar conclusions. I think what we are recognizing is the failure of mass markets and mass communications to be considerable markers of social progress. Here in the states where we've had those things for the longest time have really come to recognize that certain good things don't necessarily scale.

I think that the essence of this among us edgelings is that we are trying to build human scale culture around cutting edge technology. It's not about Yahoo, it's about My Yahoo. It's not about broadcast, it's about mesh. Human scale living but smarter. We want to be in the boarding party with the Enterprise still in orbit. Grizzly Adams with a GPS. Basically, we're saying that we don't need to be in the city any longer - there's no reason to go there, except for the restaurants and coffee shops...

For myself, I'm very interested in garage-scale science, garden-scale genomics, big science applied small. Gear I can walk around with.

[Davezilla]

Great post! I must confess I need new glasses. I misread one sentence as "…learn to butcher a hog and turn it into prostitution."

[Rob]

Congrats on the new blog. Already on your Twitter... will RSS this feed too.
Cheers Stowe!

[Felicitas Hackmann]

Thing is, once we travel somewhere else, we find other local products that we love so much, we don't wanna live without them. Enough people having the same thought will soon mean: some big international company will soon go ahead, buy the little – let's say – Italian dessert factory and after a big opening in NYC and L.A., you'll soon find it on every corner.

Example? My host family (I'm German) in VA LOVED German chocolate. Next time I visited the States, I went to Wal Mart and guess, what I find? Milka Chocolate! WHY?!

Same thing over here: i love Hershey chocolate. All the sudden, I see it in a supermarket in my hometown. – But: I didn't buy it! I'll only buy when I'm over in the US. It doesn't belong here.

In the end it's not only to say "YES" to local things, but also to (let's have a little drama here) "Stop globalization".

(Though I enjoyed my Beck's in NYC;)!)

[Jay Rosen]

Stowe: Good luck with this new site. I really think you should have a look when you can at a book by Benedict Anderson called Imagined Communities, which is a reflection on how people came to think of themselves as inhabitants of a trans-local community. The subtitle is "Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism." His explanation for how this happened involves mass media-- namely what he calls "print capitalism."

You are essentially describing the breakdown of what he calls nationalism. Here are some notes on the book that may suggest why I suggest you have a look at it, given this recent turn in your work. Cheers.

http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/964.html

[Bill Seitz]

You're a great guy for this role. Combo of philosopher with dirty-hands creator.

Looking forward to it.

http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/LocalWorld

[Stowe Boyd]

Jay - Thanks. I ordered a copy.

Bill, David, Davezilla, Felicitas, Cobb, Suki, Merrill - Thanks.

Scott - Do you want to turn your hand to writing about what you are doing?

[Teri Tith]

I was researching rainwater capture, after having recently learned that it is illegal in two states, when your blog popped up on my radar. I am wondering out loud if we can enjoy the benefits of a global economy if it is tampered with local awareness? It really bothers me that our farmers market does not really have anything truly local and we live in a historically agricultural area. People used to live off the land here, now they just like the view. Most of the farmer's market items are trucked in from the San Joaquin Valley. The fresh egg vendor brings them in from the poultry program at UC Davis.

My husband and I are pioneering a rainwater capture in our rural neck of the SF East Bay. Everyone out here drills wells. They keep getting deeper and deeper. The water table is now 600 feet. We've opted to go with rainwater capture, as drilling one more well will only lower it further. We own a large parcel with half of it fallow and uncultivated since the house was built here. Why? Because we are hooked up to city water. The first thing we did when we took ownership was "kill the front" lawn and adopt four laying hens. I call that progress and a strong step toward making this place more sustainable. You should see our water bill in the summer.

I would like to share my experience with getting this system installed. Any thoughts?