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.