RMI Newsletter, Fall/Winter 96 - Rocky Mountain Institute

FALL/WINTER 1996 ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER VOLUME XII NUMBER 3ECONOMIC RENEWAL—BY THE BOOKA Massachusetts Town Tu rns Itself Aro u n dWhat does a public fountainh a ve to do with sustainabled e ve l o p m e n t ?On the face of it, not much. Yet in asmall but profound way, the fountain ind ow n t own Orange, Ma s s a c h u s e t t sstands as a symbol of sustainabilityand hope.A small town with a light-manufacturingpast, Orange was, in1993, economically downcast. Si x-ty percent of the commercial spacein the dow n t own core was va c a n t .Em p l oyment opportunities we ref ew. Domestic abuse and juve n i l edelinquency we re high.In late 1993, the town got agrant for a dow n t own re v i t a l i z a-tion effort and hired communityo r g a n i zer Deborah Becker as itsd i re c t o r. Becker started talking toother towns around the countrythat had implemented successful economicdevelopment projects. Two that shetalked to recommended RMI’s Ec o n o m i cRe n ewal process, so she ord e red a copy ofThe Economic Renewal Gu i d e and start e df o l l owing instru c t i o n s .She and a team of volunteers spentnine months leading the citizens ofOrange through a series of town meetingsthat encouraged them to envision their“p re f e r red future,” fig u re out what thet own needed and what it had to workwith, and choose projects that we i g h e dthe tow n’s social and environmental va l u e salongside its economic needs.Separate project committees have sincehelped establish seven new dow n t ow nOrange’s Economic Renewal effort even boasts a downtownstorefront office.businesses; raised $300,000 for openspacepurchases and the development of ab i k ew a y / g reenway along the main river int own; started a farmers’ market; andestablished a system for publicly re c o g n i z-ing outstanding achievers. Others are noww o rking with Orange teens to create at e e n - run coffeehouse; turning two oldmill buildings into space for a new l yformed art i s t s’ co-op; and working withthe local bank to buy an old gas stationand turn it into a park .A New Economic Renewal Gu i d eR M I ’s The Economic Renewal Gu i d eis out in its third edition—completely updated, revised, and expanded.Filled with worksheets, media materials, success stories, andre s o u rces, the guide is a do-it-yourself toolkit for anyone whowants to get sustainable economic development moving intheir community. Hopeful, cre a t i ve, civil, and fun, the pro c e s sit sets out is designed to defuse factionalism, encourage citize ni n vo l vement and collaborative decision-making, and lead to practicalprojects that benefit eve ryone. The Economic Renewal Guide costs $17.95plus $3.50 shipping and handling. To ord e r, call RMI’s Publications De p a rtment.PAGE 4Citing the success of youth pro g r a m sin keeping kids out of trouble, re s i d e n t sconvinced local officials to fix the tow nfountain, which had been abandonedafter repeated vandalism. Even as theyfixed it, workers jokingly took betson how long it would be beforethe vandals would strike again.They have n’t ye t .W h a t’s unusual about Orange isthat, unlike most other towns thath a ve undergone Economic Re –n ewal, it achieved all this withoutthe benefit of special seminars andtraining. All Orange had was thebook. “We bought The Ec o n o m i cRenewal Gu i d e, did what it said,and it worked,” Becker says. “Itg a ve us a stru c t u re to work withon a problem that once seemedove rw h e l m i n g . ”But what does all this have todo with sustainable deve l o p m e n t ?Communities, like utilities, too oftenconcentrate on supply-side solutions—c o u rting outside businesses, approv i n gn ew subdivisions and malls—instead oft rying to do better with what they’vea l ready got. RMI’s Economic Re n ew a lp rocess empowers communities likeOrange to develop without necessarilyg rowing. It fosters self-suffic i e n c y, whichis a necessary condition for sustainability,and increases local pro s p e r i t y, withoutwhich sustainability may seem a luxuriousabstraction. And it emphasizes that thereis hope, which is the only basis for positi ve change.By themselves, Or a n g e’s fountain andother projects might not seem like gre a tleaps tow a rd a sustainable economy. Bu twhat is? There’s no shortcut to sustainability:achieving it is an incre m e n t a lp rocess of replacing unsustainable activitieswith sustainable ones. The samecould be said of pro s p e r i t y. On bothcounts, Orange is heading in the rightd i re c t i o n .Deborah Becker