Resilience & Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age

2015 | Natural World

Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age is a collection of columns that had their origin in the local Brattleboro newspapers, The Commons and the Reformer. Together with a couple of original pieces, they serve as the contents of this book. They have been arranged, not in the order they were written, but in a way that hopefully suggests the evolution of Post Oil Solutions over its 10 years. From its start (and continuation) as a community organizing project that operates in the belief that a successful transition to a world beyond fossil fuels involves building sustainable communities whose people are adaptable and resilient, collaborative and sufficient. Then to our good fortune at striking a responsive chord with many folks in the larger Windham County, and nearby Massachusetts and New Hampshire region around local food and the many ways it serves to build community. And then most recently has been our focus with climate change, as well as other political issues, like GMOs and food sovereignty, and social justice, in general.

All of these are largely dealt with in the three parts of the body, with a Prologue and Epilogue bracketing them, setting the stage and wrapping things up. Founded by a small group of Windham County residents in June, 2005, Post Oil is a community organizing project whose stated mission is to empower the people of the Central Connecticut River Valley bioregion to develop sustainable, collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self-sufficient post petroleum society. About Post Oil Solutions: Founded in June, 2005 as a community organizing project, Post Oil Solutions is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to empower the people of the Central Connecticut River Valley bioregion to develop sustainable, collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self-sufficient post petroleum society.

During our nearly 10 years, we have particularly emphasized food security and the building of a resilient and redundant local food system through a variety projects that included bringing the localvore movement to our region; initiating three farmers markets in our area and a CSA; hosting monthly workshops and an annual No Gardener Left Behind Expo about gardening, preserving and cooking local food; running a farm to school program in the area schools; bringing gleaning to southeastern Vermont; starting local food buying clubs; and offering a local food list serve to the public. In Recognition of Your Outstanding Team Effort to Build Sustainable, Collaborative and Socially Just Communities, the Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council gave its annual award in 2010 to Post Oil Solutions..We currently have been very involved with climate crisis and amongst other things, host a monthly Climate Change Cafe on the 4th Tuesday of the Month at Brooks Memorial Libraray, Brattleboro, Vermont.

Tim Stevenson (Author)