In front of me are over 30 pages of notes I took religiously at the 5th annual BALLE Conference held last month at UC Berkeley. Rather than painstakingly put you through all the various incantations of what Business Alliance for Local Living Economies is all about, I wish to present an overall feel for this new movement. I call it a movement because anytime a group seeks to bridge a glowing and growing gap; they attract the pioneers who are at the forefront of uniting some seemingly opposite poles. For BALLE, the gap that the members (over 50 chapters throughout the US at this time and growing) are addressing is between the business community and environmentalists and between the social justice activists and the sustainability folks. A large task you’d say? Certainly, but when you hear more and more people with that integration coming from their hearts and daily actions, a movement has sprung.

We’re seeing businesses that embed their social change mission statement. We’re hearing Michelle Long from Sustainable Connections praise LOCAL business people (over 500 members in Bellingham, WA) who may not be “green” but are fiercely independent and providing services that people need. Her words reverberate in my mind. Rather than have environmentalists coming into a business and condemn them for all the carbon emissions they are putting out and demanding that they change, she praises them for being so independent (in a world of globalized outsourcing), praises them for the little changes they are doing, like a local burger establishment that might not be using grass-fed beef but is purchasing organic lettuce from a local farmer. Wow, to think that we are not all perfect and to work against judging all the time the imperfections of businesses! Her basic positive relationship approach to her members has kept her in high esteem within the BALLE world. A poll was conducted that established 69% of the folks know about “Sustainable Connections” in Bellingham and 58% have actually altered their buying habits because of SC. 58%!! That’s a coup! That’s a revolution of consciousness.

And remember, this new movement grew out of the anti-globalization movement that held protests against the WTO and the IMF meetings around the globe! The new thinking is that rather than bash our heads against the wall of resistance and the old paradigm, let’s focus on building a new culture, new businesses, while encouraging and supporting the local... because when the shit hits the fan will we all be running around freaked out? Or, will we have a more solid ground beneath us that we have cultivated, with business people, who have made connections with farmers, ranchers, local CSAs, and with social justice people who have connected with the sustainability folks and with the city officials and the real home-grown local people who provide for our real needs of the community. We are in transition. We can either sit back and whine or blame or begin the serious movement of empowering ourselves to start developing those relationships.

As you can possibly see, some of the Chambers of Commerce don’t necessarily like the culture of BALLE since most Chambers are in the pockets of the transnational chains and don’t support the genuine local (or if they give lip service to being “green” we need to watch for “green washing” tactics). Either we change the Chambers or create other forms of promoting the varied Think Local First and Buy Local campaigns in our areas.

I was blown away so often by government officials like the Mayor of Berkeley who has worked so hard to achieve sustainability changes, like working seven years to get a Silver LEEDs building to honor David Brower while simultaneously building a 97-unit affordable complex next door, or by business people who are becoming conscious of where their products are coming from and how to become the change we want.

I was enthralled by the diligence and hard work of business people and non-profits working to promote LOCAL campaigns. I was flabbergasted that there is now in process the B Corporation, a labeling process so consumers know that the product or service they are using, in any sector, is from a corporation that is an example or model of sustainability. I heard investors talk, not just about Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), but also about gaining a new understanding of the term “investments.” Most of us have grown up in an era of blindly expecting much from our “investments” with no relationship to the producer. One panelist spoke about how we need to turn that around. What would it be like if we looked down the street one day and saw a new building go up, saw the workers involved, and asked ourselves: Do I want more than 5% return from those people who are my friends and neighbors? Do I want to exploit them so I can sit more easily in the comfort of my isolation?

I listened to Judy Wicks talk about her relationships with the cattlemen in her area and how the education in having grass fed beef at her restaurant started to ripple out to other farmers and ranchers. We got to hear the genius of Michael Shuman, whose work on local economies is uncanny and brilliant. His foundational economic work is the base for much of BALLE. Also the work of David Korten, author of the recent The Great Turning, brought the more fearful aspects of the conference to the screen with his power point presentation that included the inevitable horrors of climate change, peak oil and the deficit. We need to remind ourselves why we are in the midst of this urgent transformation; not just fear-based but because we want to survive and thrive... but not thrive at the expense of others. Our global situation has put us northerners in quite a comfortable position at the expense of the global south. We need to feel that viscerally and not turn the “green economy” into another exploitation model. As Van Jones reminded us so fervently, we don’t need “eco-apartheid,” we need to lift ALL boats on the route to sustainability. I could go on and on but I must stop.

There are some of us (23 so far) who are on an email list, a BALLE-SLO list, to keep informed about BALLE in general. We will be having our first meeting in July for seriously interested people. Four people from SLO attended the Conference. The pioneers and visionaries are all around us. We simply have to step into this new world if we wish to make a better future for all of us on the planet. I sense with my whole being that BALLE is onto something big, psychically, emotionally and politically. Please check out the websites for more nuts and bolts:

BALLE: www.localeconomies.org/
David Korten: www.davidkorten.org/
Michelle Long: www.sconnect.org/
Judy Wicks: www.whitedog.com/judybio.html
Michael Shuman: www.smallmart.org/
HopeDance’s LOCAL issue: www.hopedance.org
Yes Magazine (on LOCAL): www.yesmagazine.org/default.asp?ID=194

Bob Banner is the publisher of HopeDance and can be reached at
info@HopeDance.org.