A Freecycle as well as a for sale facility

Sun 17 Jul 2005, 11:41

What Colin is proposing is sophisticated, indeed. I don't think this is a bad thing. The days of the 'net are still very, very young (it won't be long before your doorbell needs a gigabit network connection!!) and it will become ubiquitous (or all those not part of the elite will be Brazilianized into poverty if the global corporates have their way, in which case the connected future won't be for us).

But back to the point - I think Colin's development is welcome as it will provide the basis for something in the long term that has the potential to be a real benefit to this, and other local communities. The environmental resource benefits are clear, as are the personal benefits of acquisition and disposal of material goods that are not wanted or needed any more. Most of my kids's toys have come from "Green Balloon Day" in a couple of neighbouring streets in Summertown (where every year we had a social event on saturday, and most people in the street put out unwanted but still useful stuff on the pavement in front of their houses). These were highly successful and has had a really substantial impact upon the local kids' approach to "used" goods compared to "new" ones. They see not wasting as a real positive virtue, and getting "new" things is limited to birthday (the main present giving time for our household) and Xmas (which we downplay) and not too much of that. They also get second hand stuff for these events, which they don't mind, as clearly the person who found it had either searched for it, or had the wit to realise it was something that they would like when the saw it and had made the effort to check out the charity shops etc, often months in advance.

I was brought up in Canada 'til my late teens, and my father had lived through the depression which was /really/ tough there, in rural communities substantially isolated. My core values were therefore shaped by something of a disgust at the growth of the psychotic consumerism that was inculcated in the American (and by spillover) the Canadian people during the 50s and 60s. Don't forget N.America was a land where thrift was a real cultural virtue, as well as in the smaller towns and country, real and substantial community assistance in many projects. I have memories of proper barn-raising parties in the autumn, for example, and the collective effort to clear the way for electricity to be laid into the area from the nearest main transmission line, etc.

Peak Oil - the point at which the increasing demand for oil cannot be matched by the ability to increase the supply of oil (not "running out" just yet, just that the taps can't be turned on any more open) is upon us either this year or in the next year or two. This will send market prices soaring long before it "runs out" in a generation or two.

So the party is over for our kids - we scoffed all the goodies into our own fat gobs.

Charlbury isn't in a bad place to cope with the "consolidation" back into local places that this will bring about - big enough to sustain a lot of local business, with transport links for when personal transport gets priced out of everyday use in the way we are used to. Though most of us will be living in a degree of relative material "poverty" compared to what we have been used to. We're going to have to find other values and activities to "enrich" us, and create our own local short-circuits of economic activity and exchanges of value (the idea of local monies gains traction here!).

So I suggest that we start now, and Colin is one little brick in the wall, eh?

Best wishes

Malcolm