Community Action PlanWith Holiday Lake West Civic

Association

Community Action Plan

Index:

1.) The problems faced by community

A) Dirty Energy

B) Tainted Food

C) Lack of Systems thinking

2) Solutions provided by Community

A) Connect Neighborhood for Change

B) Locally produced food

C) Clean Energy

Holiday Lake West Civic Association

2002 EPA report for Anclote power plant

Source : http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/facility.tcl?tri_id=34691FLRDP1729B

Our dirty energy dependence endangers our children's future

Dirty coal fire plants are the #1 producer of Carbon Dioxide in America

Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas that helps warm the Earth.

NEW EVIDENCE PREDICTS ALL ARCTIC ICE COULD MELT BY 2013

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/29/arctic.global.warming.security/index.html?eref=rss_world

Severe consequences will result

When the Antarctic and Greenland melt the sea’s will rise.

Our Food supply adds to the production of Carbon Dioxide.

Modern day agriculture produces food that is genetically modified, saturated with pesticides and herbicides, and heavily reliant on fossil fuels for both cultivation and transportation.

Food is roughly 30% of our carbon footprint. We must rethink how our food gets from our fields to our tables.

Do we really want our food shipped 1500+ miles away?

http://video.google.com/

Search these documentaries:*King Corn*Future of Food*How to save the world

Peanut Butter- The loved American food that’s in 75% of American homes isn’t safe anymore.

Source: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/policy/articles/every_peanut_product_from_ga_plant_recalled.html?CMP=KNC-360I-GOOGLE-BULL&HBX_OU=50&HBX_PK=peanut_butter

Our food system is unsustainable thus so is our society

Our society is devised off of a linear system, yet we live within systems of organization.

We focus on moving things from one part of the world to another without replacing what we took or looking at where our waste goes.

This old paradigm of thinking must go and a new organization must arise.

Linear thinking Vs. Non-Linear thinking

Raw materials are taken from one part of the world, created and produced in another, distributed to America, and then consumed by the American populace. Then at the very end we throw out what we buy and put it into landfills or destroy them in incinerators.

All along the way destruction of the environment results as well as inequality of the participants in this linear way of life.

Is it right to have our jobs shipped overseas just because they work for pennies on the dollar? While 90% of all new jobs produced in America are minimum wage. There is no equality in this linear system.

www.thestoryofstuff.com - the most informative 20 minutes you will ever find online

Linear thinking causes exponential growth.

Lack of System’s organization results in inequality.

We must re-organize our society to think of the impacts each and every one of us makes. With out systems thinking the linear way of life we are accustom to will result in catastrophe for the human race globally.A new way must be born. We must remake our Society anew with forethought of our actions.

Real change will come from Community

Holiday Lakes West Civic Association will be our Pilot program

We will canvass the neighborhood in a effort to form community. When established we want to get a minimum of 1/5th the neighborhoods participation. That’s over 100 homes out of 500.

This participation is critical. Without a established community no real change will take place to change the course our society is on.

This is a Peaceful and Creative revolution of thought. One that will enable a strong community to arise out of one embattled with foreclosures, job loss, high electric bills, as well as a inadequate food supply.

Crime can be lowered when more people are un-apathetic towards the community they live in.

Building Community Gardens- Builds Communities

We will re-ignite the old flame of Victory gardens to support locally grown food. In World War 2 our country was called upon to produce its food locally, once again we

must do the same neighbor by neighbor, community by community, county by county.

Now, more then ever before, does the production of our food matter. We will grow our food using old techniques without the aid of fertilizers or pesticides. We will collect rain water and use Permaculture to the communities benefit to form food forests.

Community Energy Conservation

Utilizing the community built with the gardens, we will engage in energy conservation measures on a community scale. Buying new windows alone is expensive, buying them in bulk with 15 of your neighbors is relatively cheap compared to

the amount of energy you could save every month.

Changing one old light bulb to a CFL light bulb can save $45 over its entire lifetime. Low hanging fruits will be worked on together as a community till higher hanging fruits can be afforded or grants/donations gathered to finance.

By significantly lowering the energy bills of the neighborhood savings can arise that will enable the neighborhood to look feasibly at solar power.

We can put a lot of people to work weatherizing homes, this is a immediate benefit to the local economy.

We live in the Sunshine State : Solar InitiativeOur economy seems to be on the death throws. But new industry can reawaken the slumbering giant that is America. We must ignite our communities to demand solar technologies. By utilizing the communities we form with Code Green Community inc. the enablement of buying solar products in bulk is advantageous to all. Bulk buying allows lower initial costs. Coupled with energy conservation measures, the overall price for installation is reduced.

Solar contractors are kept busy installing thus never laying off people and always demanding more jobs for the local economy

Home owners get a reduced power bill and lower their carbon output. While knowing they are apart of a larger community building societal benefits as well.

Progress Energy lowers its peak output thus making its production of new nuclear power plants irrelevant. New Carbon Dioxide limitations being passed federally will require Progress energy to move in a more Green direction.

Why build new power plants if you don’t need them?

Progress Energy has a role to play in this endeavor.

Algae will become a incredible source of biofuel for the 21st century. By harnessing Algae we can drastically reduce the Carbon Dioxide output as well as carcinogens and dioxins. The algae use these harmful inorganic chemicals and replace them with organic compounds that can be converted to fuel. The byproduct of this is a dry powder that is a great fertilizer or can be used in livestock feed.Bringing Anclote power plant into the 21st century we can make sure that future generations have a brighter future with less pollutants in the air. New jobs and opportunities can arise if Progress Energy works with the community to build a sustainable future.

Source of 15 Algae start-up companies:

http://earth2tech.com/2008/03/27/15-algae-startups-bringing-pond-scum-to-fuel-tanks/

Closing Thought

"Poised on the brink of ecocatastrophe, let us gain the courage to look at the world anew, to reverse custom, to transcend our limitations, to break free from the conventional constraints, the conventional views of what are knowledge and truth. Let us understand that we cannot graft peace and ecological balance on a dominator system" --Riane Eisler

Let us form anew our Community with a vision of sustainability. Building Equality, jobs, and a bright future for the next generation.