Launching New Blog: /Ground

I am pleased to announce the launch of a new blog, /Ground, dedicated to what I am calling localism:

[from Launching /Ground]

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.

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.

Comments

[henriette weber kristiansen]

Im really into local - and I wish you the best of luck with the new blog..

anyway this morning I read this blogpost on local (and on "the business of business being more than business") and thought you would like it =)

http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2008/05/title-film-musi.html

[gregorylent]

but we don't want to confuse a new localism with what is really a new individualism (NOT, please god, ayn randism), the increase in the importance of granularity, the granularity of the uniqueness of individual consciousness as part of the global collective consciousness, the whole AND the parts co-existing in union, each being the other. when every node is connected to every node, what is local?

separately, giving up the global for the sake of the local is what international newspapers like the ft do when they try to appeal to local audiences, and it sucks. the financial times is a far better paper when not pandering to local, in my case india, audiences. the local is already well-covered, thank you very much, and we NEED the global more than ever.

local is good for the physical, food, stuff, moving the body over the land, and totally immaterial in terms of awareness, consciousness, etc ... i am sure you know the writings of gary snyder or wendall berry in this arena

glad to see you expanding. next up, //, the end of division

enjoy, gregory lent

[Chris Brogan...]

Well I think that sounds just cool. Happy launch!