I am convinced more than ever that urban renewal is the only way to see our city prosper. Continuing to rely on old paradigms and old ideas to reclaim past 'glory days' is but a shadow of a not so perfect vision. If only we could have the auto business back things would be so grand! I don't think so. I think its time that we vision a Windsor that has moved past an auto-driven economy. But that takes new leaders, new thinkers, new doers, and its obvious that 'change' and 'new' are not really popular in the land of the status quo. It's more about what it takes to get an elected positions. Consider what some other places around the world are doing:
- -Towns gave out free chickens to its residents to help reduce food waste.
- -Cities pass ordinances allowing for urban chickens and agriculture in the city.
- -Old light rail lines are being revivedand will come back to life again.
- -Investments into solar and wind power industries and research.
- -School programs that include agriculture in the curriculum and gardens on the property.
- -Food Policies are adopted among municipalities and cities.
- -Farmer's Markets are supported by local business and government.
- -Investments into vertical agriculture from all levels.
- -Cities invest in Green Roofs.
- -Large Scale industrial agriculture is banned.
- -Non-GMO legislation is introduced and passed.
- -Local food conferences are planned and organized
It is time that we, as citizens of Windsor and Essex County, take a stand for what we know is right, a sustainable world, where we are not living off the resources of our children and grandchildren. We created the mess- its up to us as the survivors of the past 50 years to turn the ship around before the old guard sinks it to the bottom of the sea!
3 comments:
What you wrote is too true. My first thought was that Windsor seems to have made remarkably few strides in this direction if you were to check off the list of bullets. There are so many beautiful cities that are so much further along the path to a sustainable way of life ...
And yet, we do have pockets of forward thinkers with creative energy and these people really know where things are at and where we need to go.
Maybe it's time for a list of the initiatives that have been started in Windsor & Essex. Not only could we surprise ourselves, but it would be a way of showing other residents where we are heading.
No, I'm not thinking of another Google doc, but something more visible, say an extremely straightforward yet visual website with hyperlinks to the initiatives. How about a one pager like the million pixel site?
The energy to create our sustainable environment is here, but we need to do a better job of bringing everyone together, and then getting it all off the ground.
Sometimes I believe Windsor is just waiting to burst out of its funk; it needs a catalyst to get everyone turned in the direction we need to be facing. But simply waiting for that catalyst isn't going to help. We need to actively figure it out and change our environment ourselves.
You are so right, we are bursting to the seem with great people and great ideas from art to agriculture to architecture...now we need to get these ideas in motion! Lets have bike devoted roads, pedestrian only areas in every neighbourhood, and make our city back into a community where we are not wizzing by people at 80 KM an hour all the time but a place where we can get our food, have a coffee, sit and talk to one another and interact, we have created row upon row of little cells for us all to live our lives in, our city needs to be more intentional
I agree 100% with the points made in this blog entry. ... But, "agreement" in itself is basically idle.... one must truly "do".
There are a few of us fighting for these principals and issues, and we are somewhat progressing. What's needed is more conglomeration and pushing these issues as a group. Our region MUST evolve from our heavy reliance on automotive manufacturing, period.
Everyone needs to know how to grow/produce their own food. The fact that this knowledge has basically skipped a generation; if not two... is crippling. We can change this. Learn everything you can by reading, experimenting, getting advice from our seniors (many of whom have grown most of their own foods throughout their lives). I've chosen this year to learn as much as I can from 2 senior people that to me seem to have a wealth of knowledge. One is 70yrs old, the other 81.
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