Bay Localize Resources:

• Resource: Community Resilience Toolkit
  Download as a PDF
  Bay Localize announces our newest, most comprehensive resource for local organizers, community builders, and the public sector: the Community Resilience Toolkit! The Toolkit is designed for groups to prepare their communities to weather tough times. It places a special emphasis on economic and climate instability. The Toolkit provides resources to evaluate a community's relative strengths and vulnerabilities, and take action to build resilience. It covers the topics of Food, Water, Energy, Transportation and Housing, Jobs and Economy, and Civic Preparedness and Social Services.




• Primer: Our Post-Peak Oil Future
  Download as a PDF: Primer
  Peak global extraction of oil means ever diminishing global supplies – with no alternative source or combination of sources capable of replacing oil at anywhere near the same net-energy balance, flow rate, or volume. In collaboration with CultureChange.org, Bay Localize has produced a primer outlining two contrasting theories about our post-petroleum future: (1.) author John Michael Greer's "Catabolic Collapse" theory, which predicts that energy descent will follow a stair-step pattern of overall decline, punctuated by brief periods of economic recovery; and (2.) oil analyst Jan Lundberg's "petrocollapse" theory, which postulates a steep, cliff-like drop-off in oil production, with dramatic consequences for our economy.




• Resource: Use Your Roof Guidebook
  Download as a PDF: Full Report
  Bay Localize's Use Your Roof Guidebook is a straight forward compendium of resources and considerations to help you assess your building for the most appropriate green roof, rainwater catchment, or solar energy system. The Use Your Roof Guidebook is divided into four chapters that cover the key steps for getting started on your own rooftop project. It includes a basic discussion of rooftop gardens, rainwater catchment and solar power, factors for consideration, how to assess your building for a given system, best practices, and a comprehensive list of resources and information to inform your project. We hope that the resources and information contained in the Guidebook help you begin evaluating and deploying rooftop systems that provide you and your community with fresh, locally grown produce, seasonal supplemental water, and clean, renewable energy!




• Report: 21st Century Greenprint for the East Bay
  Download as a PDF
  The Local Clean Energy Alliance of the East Bay envisions a future Bay Area that consumes significantly less energy yet still maintains a comfortable lifestyle and a vibrant economy. We envision a future for the Bay Area that is largely powered by renewable energy, with the majority coming from local, distributed generation that provides affordable, reliable, and clean power. All communities share a vibrant and equitable regional economy thanks to tens of thousands of green collar jobs created by energy efficiency, local energy generation, and local green businesses. Communities source their own power and cooperatively build their renewable power infrastructure. This report describes a policy platform that provides the most effective ways to ramp renewable energy and energy efficiency in the Bay Area, thereby laying the groundwork for a sustainable energy future.




• Report: Tapping the Potential of Urban Rooftops
  Download as a PDF: Full Report
  What would a diverse, urban neighborhood look like if every building's roof were used to generate resources? Believing that every roof is a resource, our new Neighborhood Assessment of Oakland's Eastlake District projected each building's capacity to produce fresh produce from rooftop gardens, water from rainwater catchment systems, and renewable energy from solar photovoltaic systems. Bay Localize worked with engineering firm Holmes Culley, urban planning firm Design, Community and Environment, and multiple experts and volunteers to assess the untapped bounty of this quarter mile study area. The results of this study demonstrate the potential for greater economic localization of critical resources in our region. Detailed analysis of each system type is included, along with considerations for installing your own rooftop systems!




• Tool: Localization Asset Map
  To help you live more locally and better, Bay Localize has rounded up some of the most exciting projects, community groups and innovative businesses in the 9-county Bay Area. The Localization Asset Map displays these resources geographically, includes organizational and project descriptions, and provides contact info, so that you can get involved with localization in the ways and places that best fit your life. This tool is perfect for connecting organizers and advocates with one another, directing new volunteers to local initiatives and projects, and demonstrating what it means to localize our economies.




• Policy Report: Building a Resilient and Equitable Bay Area
  Download as a PDF: Executive Summary | Full Report
  In 2006, Bay Localize teamed up with Redefining Progress, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, International Forum on Globalization and the Center for Sustainable Economy on a campaign to localize the Bay Area economy. In this strategy paper, we call for federal, state, and local government agencies to work with business leaders to end excessive reliance on the global economy for food, energy, manufactured goods, and financial capital and to build local capacity to meet these needs. This work stems from a May 2006 localization strategy summit at the Oakland Mayor's Office attended by over 60 nonprofit and green business leaders, food security analysts, renewable energy specialists, and several elected officials and public agency representatives.

Connect With Local Groups The Bay Area is a hotbed of exciting community-based efforts and nonprofit organizations working to improve our region's quality of life. Visit our Vital Links page to find out more information today!

Presentations and Interviews Hear members of Bay Localize and allied thinkers offering unique perspectives on peak oil, localization, social justice, and sustainability. Visit our Presentations and Interviews page to learn more!

Models for Inspiration Various cities and towns around the world have already embarked on inspiring projects, programs, and initiatives to localize their economies. Learn about other models that we can draw lessons from in our own efforts to go local.