The autumnal equinox offers us the opportunity to consider balance. As the duration of night matches the duration of day, we can pause and think about where we are; what is the ground under our feet, who are the beings we love, how close are we to home in the deepest sense of the word? For many the answers to these questions are conflicted. At the Equinox Board meeting here at the Neahtawanta Center members spoke of gratitude for what is rich and good in their lives, but also of a mounting sense of dis-ease at the overwhelming unbalance in the world at large. How do we remain awake, sentient and centered in the face of the glaring inequities and double-speak rife in global corporate culture? How do we close the gap between the truths in our hearts and minds and the frantic spin of workaday lives? How do we come home to loving community, peace, justice and joy?

Perhaps we can remind ourselves to think like mountains and to live, stubbornly if need be, from our own inner sense of truth. We can reclaim time and reconnect with the circadian rhythms that tie us to the wisdom of the biotic world. We can continue challenging, through speech and action, the virulent myths of progress and growth as the relentless accumulation of more. We can, as Wendell Berry admonishes, practice resurrection.

Balance and sustainability have governed human interaction with the biotic landscape in the past and may again. Steps we take to restore that balance, however small, are critical to a process that will exceed our lifetimes. This issue of Synapse is about sustainable economics…what it is and how we might get there. Lots of astute analysis, hope, resources and practical suggestions rest in these pages.

I argue that movement towards sustainable economic thought first requires decoding media perpetuated myths about the cult of limitlessness and endless growth. As Bob Russell remarked, imagine if individual humans grew in physical size without stopping throughout their lifetimes?

Joe VanderMeulen makes the case for sustainable communities and land use practices, challenging us to think beyond the tiny boxes of our county and township governmental structures toward a collective solution to the incremental ills of urban sprawl and greenfield development.

David Haenke argues that we need to turn away from petro dollars and embrace alternative currencies based on the power of elements "in the range of solar/biological energy sources." He proposes perpetual forest reserves put in the public trust and ecologically managed, creating forest dollars, or "FD's".

Wade and Jim Crowfoot, father and son, write about their month long journey in search of sustainable local economies in the Pacific Northwest. Their article offers heartening descriptions and perceptive analysis of local economies in Humboldt County, California; Thurston County, Washington; and the watershed of Willapa Bay, Pacific County within the southwestern corner of Washington.

Jim Crowfoot offers Part Five in his series on "Resources for Sustainable Local Communities" focused on local economies and currencies. He writes, "the information resources described in this article focus on what needs to be done to strengthen local economies in ways which contribute directly to community sustainability." Books and websites are described in detail.

Beverley McDonald writes about what needs to happen if we are going to make welfare-to-work a viable process here in the state of Michigan. A tour of the local resale shops was undertaken by Sally Van Vleck, who reported on her findings and extolls the benefits of buying "used stuff" . Timothy Young reminds us that where we spend our dollars can make an enormous difference in the effort to strengthen sustainable and local economies. We include an update on peace issues, and information on two workshops sponsored by the Neahtawanta Center.

The Neahtawanta Center depends on contributions from our supporters to cover operating funds, as well as the cost of printing Synapse, so members will be receiving our annual request for donations in a few weeks. For those readers who have picked up a copy of Synapse at one of our public locations, please consider sending us a subscription or membership donation using the form on this page.

While current economic unbalance may seem overwhelming much of the time, it's important that we don't give in to millennial apocalyptic fever. Incremental steps on all levels brought us here; incremental steps will take us back toward sustainability. So, read, share your ideas with others, pull yourself as far out of the economic growth machine as you can, and observe Buy Nothing Day, November 27, l998. We need to listen to the voices of our collective hopes, envision our shared dreams of coming home to a balanced place, and believe it is all possible.

-- Bronwyn Jones

Return to the Index of Synapse 45, Fall 1998