Willits Economic LocaLization P.O. Box 42, Willits, CA 95490 713 S. Main St., Ste. A (707) 459-7076 Fax (707) 459-7077 [email protected] www.willitseconomiclocalization.org

WELL Staff Report – May 9, 2008 Prepared by Liam UiCearbhaill – Operational Facilitator

1. Tim requested at the last CC meeting that I include the To Do list at the beginning of the Staff Report. This time around no such list was prepared; therefore I have not included it. The next few items are drawn from the previous staff report and are reports on the status of various items. 2. I looked up each of the DVD’s we have multiples of to determine the going price: a. Colin Campbell: Petroleum Geologist: ...... $14.50 b. : Powerdown: Synopsis & Interview(DVD)...... $19.56 c. Matt Simmons: Energy Banker: Saudi Oil Presentation & Four Interviews(DVD)...... $18.34 d. - Imposed by Nature DVD ...... $19.95 e. : and the Collapse of the American D Ream (2004) ..... $22.95 f. : Beyond the American Dream...... $25.00 I rounded the prices to develop a proposed price structure for WELL to sell them: a. (DVD) Escape from Suburbia...... $25.00 b. (DVD) End of Suburbia – Paper Case ...... $18.00 c. (DVD) End of Suburbia – Hard Case...... $23.00 d. (DVD) Matt Simmons: Energy Banker ...... $18.00 e. (DVD) Richard Heinberg: Powerdown ...... $19.00 f. (DVD) Colin Campbell: Petroleum Geologist ...... $14.00 g. (DVD) Peak Oil: imposed by Nature...... $20.00 h. (Audio CD) Reality Report: Climate Code Red 1 ...... $5.00 i. (Audio CD) Reality Report: Climate Code Red 2 ...... $5.00 If these prices are agreeable to the CC we will offer them in the future at these rates. 3. Computer Cave had an internal goof and did not order the MS Office software until Thursday, May 8. Hopefully there will be no further delays in getting it here. Monique has been working with the simplistic software she has, but it is not optimum. 4. Monique has been busy and helpful. This is a paraphrase and expansion of her report to me on the last two weeks. a. Organized and notated all of the membership applications. b. RLNC – Compiled list of service organizations throughout Mendocino, Lake, and Southern Humboldt Counties and mailed flyers about RLNC to them. c. Met with Liam and Erica Bruce about arrangements for lunch and setup at the Grange. Met with Liam and Kimball Dodge (who has volunteered to head up the volunteer staff for RLNC. Started calling the membership list looking for volunteers for setup on Friday afternoon, May 16. Called around looking for water dispensing options at RLNC to use instead of plastic water bottles. d. Assisted in folding and mailing newsletter. e. Several phone calls seeking volunteer need information from Ananda Johnson (hospital garden) and David Partch (Liaison & WISC Garden). f. Assisted with filing. g. Organized shelves. h. Inventory of DVD’s: Date DVD Title # of Copies 5/9/2008 1 Spirit of the Southwest 1 Regional Localization Network Conference 2006 1 The Reality Report w/Philip Sutton 2/18 5 The Reality Report w/Philip Sutton 3/3 5 Code Red 1 Percy Schmeiser Lecture in Vancoover 4/04 1 Evening with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Who Owns Nature" 1 5 Matt Simmons - Energy Banker 14 Richard Heinberg - Power Down 19 Richard Heinberg - 2004 Keynote Speech 1 End of Suburbia - Paper cover 25 End of Suburbia - Hard cover 38 Escape from Suburbia 3 Peak Oil Imposed by Nature 60 Colin Campbell - Petroleum Geologist 21 David Korten - The Great Turning 2 i. Drafted questionnaire to be e-mailed to members (once Post Carbon turns on the new e-mail address). 5. I spent a lot of time in these last weeks working with Keith Rosen and Jason Bradford on a proposal to FEMA. I have attached the draft proposal we developed. Keith is an employee of FEMA and wanted to run this through their internal channels. A rough draft proposal has been sent to one person in the San Francisco FEMA office, who is passing it to several others for consideration. Once we have some feedback we may need to put it into a more formal format. In addition, Keith and I have each spoken to John Pinches, Tom Allman, and Alan Falleri who are willing to put their support behind the idea. I have forwarded the draft to John Pinches, Tom Allman, and Holly Madrigal as well. 6. The Healthy Communities application was sent in. Today several of us met with Nicole Hara from Center for Civic Partnerships, the primary for the program. She wants to get us the money by the end of this month and wants the work to start in June (before the end of this fiscal year). She asked for a few refinements of the application and Kathy Hopper is working on those. This first year (of the three year program) we will be hiring a consultant to do whatever is needed to move the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan from the dusty shelf to being a codified part of the Willits General Plan. 7. I made the templates for painting footsteps and 1000 step markers for the WHAT walking path. A team of volunteers, with the aid of Dave Madrigal, have been painting the steps and markers along the walking route. They have a few more days to go as they want to have them in place for the WHAT walk on Sunday, May 18.

2 8. I compiled information for Michael Hackleman, which we can use in future grant applications as well, such as bios on the officers and board members of WELL. 9. I received an invitation Wendy Copperfield for WELL to have a booth at the Willits Kids Fitness and Nutrition Fair Saturday, June 21st 2008, 11am -3pm. I have assigned Monique with requesting volunteers to operate a WELL booth there. If we can get volunteers, we will apply, otherwise not. 10. On Wednesday, May 7, I received an e-mail inquiry from Claire McCall, a student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in Australia. She had some very detailed questions for a study she is doing “for the Municipal Association of Victoria. The Municipal Association of Victoria is the official voice of local government in Victoria, representing 79 councils. One of the MAV project's aims is to identify examples of rural/regional 'relocalisation' (ie. self-sustaining initiatives / community development programs) that respond to climate change & peak oil.” I spent most of the morning responding to her in detail.

3 Willits Economic LocaLization P.O. Box 42, Willits, CA 95490 713 S. Main St., Ste. A (707) 459-7076 Fax (707) 459-7077 [email protected] www.willitseconomiclocalization.org

Homeland Security Gardens [Rough Draft Proposal ]

To DHS/FEMA,

In response to the directives from DHS/FEMA that local communities have a responsibility to look for and solve security issues, the citizens of Mendocino County have spent considerable time seeking sound policies to mitigate identified vulnerabilities. Mendocino County in California is a large, sparsely populated (apx. 90,000 in the 2000 census) area susceptible to isolation due to limited access routes. Our biggest vulnerability is the potential scarcity of food were we to be cut off from the rest of California by circumstances beyond our control such as: earthquake, pandemic, flood, freezing, fuel shortages, major economic disruption, or terrorist activity. Inventories indicate that our stores have an average of 3 or 4 days worth of food on the shelves at any given time, and that the average consumer restocks every 4 days. Were any circumstance to delay assistance beyond 1 week, critical food shortages would occur. We are concerned that this urgent vulnerability be addressed. In a crisis we do not want to be part of the problem. We want to be able to take care of ourselves and are committed to being more self reliant. To accomplish this we need help. We propose a three part project, funded by FEMA. • Subsidized startup costs for Homeland Security Gardens , including irrigation systems, fencing, initial bed preparation, seeds and starts. We anticipate employing small teams of local youth (currently underemployed) to install this infrastructure. The success of the Victory Garden Program during World War Two is our inspiration for this endeavor. • Training in small farm and home scale food production, processing, storage and preparation of a diversity of food, including grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, poultry, dairy and livestock. Though a number of small, volunteer groups have begun this process, we do not have the resources to do so on the scale required. Supporting institutions; including the community college, local government, and schools; with appropriate funding, would offer classes in these skills. • Procure Emergency Food supplies for Mendocino County and establish plans for Feeding Centers / Soup Kitchens that can be brought on line as needed providing approximately 60 days worth of food and other emergency supplies for each of the various population centers in Mendocino County. Our Sherriff’s office has started a program for this by placing 15 travel containers at various places throughout the county, but lacks the funding to provide the supplies. Our goal is to be able to deal with any emergencies. Our strategy is to revitalize the home scale and small farm food production that once predominated in this county. If this program is

as effective as we anticipate it could be a model for other rural areas of the country that may share the same vulnerabilities. We are petitioning the Federal Government to support our efforts to be better supplied and ready for any potential disaster. The sponsors of this project would like to meet with the appropriate DHS/FEMA representatives. We have broad support for this proposal from County Government, City Governments, and local service organizations as evidenced by the letters of support we have attached.

Sincerely,

Keith Rosen – (707) 972-0072 - [email protected]

Jason Bradford – (707) 456-0760 - [email protected]

Liam UiCearbhaill – (707) 459-7076 - [email protected]

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