Beginnings and Manifesto

The Philly Eco City blog was born out of the frustration of seeing the debates preceding the election of the new Philadelphia mayor void of any substantial discussions on the need to move the local economy to a sustainable model.

Since then, Michael Nutter, the one candidate who seems committed to articulate a vision for a Philly Eco City was elected. One more reason to keep the vision alive.

I believe that the Philadelphia area has incredible assets in place to become one of the first large Eco Cities in North America. See the post listing some of these assets right here.

My objectives for this Blog are:

1. To report on the sustainability initiatives emerging all around the region.
2. To inspire and motivate us toward making Philadelphia a model Eco City.
3. To create a forum for debates around issues around creating a local sustainable economy.
4. To organize and facilitate a series of community conversations in the different neighborhoods and communities of the Philadelphia region on building a resilient and sustainable future .

My hope is that this Forum will help gel a community of people energized to act locally to address global Warming.So please feel free to comment, respond, react to your hearts’ content.

To illustrate the home page of Philly Eco City, I chose a perspective of downtown Philadelphia taken from Market Street right between the main Post Office and the 30th Street Train Station.

My friend Zach Town-Smith took this picture during the summer of 2007, at about the time I wrote the first entry to this blog.
Zach is a native from Philadelphia, and an incredibly talented young man who now lives in Guatemala.
As you can see from the pictures in his photo gallery www.cieloliquido.com, he is a great photographer. Zach’s main focus is the non profit that he has co-created to help the Guatemalan Education Ministry jump over a few decades of neglect by helping teachers and school administrators muster Creativity as a resource to define an education experience that respect and enrich the native culture.
Last but not least, Zach also sings in a local band, and created with his wife the first Capoeira School in Guatemala.

Zach’s picture moved me to change the byline of the Blog from a statement to a question:
Are we moving to a local sustainable economy ? What do you think ?

The Local Living Economies Movement is about:

Maximizing relationships, not maximizing profits
Growth of consciousness and creativity, not brands and market-share,
Democracy and decentralized ownership, not concentrated wealth.
A living return, not the highest return.
A fair price, not the lowest price.
Sharing, not hoarding,
Simplicity, not gluttony,
Life serving, not self-serving.
Partnership, not domination.
Cooperation based, not competition based.
Win-win exchange, not win-loose exploitation.
Family farms, not factory farms.
Bio-diversity, not monocrops.
Cultural diversity, not monoculture.
Creativity, not conformity.
Slow food, not fast food.
Our bucks, not Starbucks.
Our mart, not Wal-Mart.
Valuing life over life-style.
And as the Earth Charter says,
“Being more, not having more.”

Judi Wicks
The Local Living Economies Movement Manifesto