Page 20 - Off Grid East Cost Spring 2017

Regional Economic Resiliency Addressing
Climate Change through Project Drawdown
By Robert Cervelli
The Centre for Local Prosperity is a registered non-
profit that promotes local economic
production. If you are off-grid or tied into a micro-grid, you are producing energy locally rather than importing it from a far-away power plant. Local production of energy builds economic resiliency and is one way that communities can retake control of their economies.
Local food production is another huge cornerstone. When you grow food locally, you not only reduce the carbon footprint of imported foods, you create jobs and support the local economy. There are numerous other examples where goods and services currently being imported into our communities that could instead be produced locally.
Resilient economies are tied to environmental stewardship
The Centre for Local Prosperity’s research is pushing further into the interface between resilient economies and environmental stewardship. In almost every case, local production also benefits the local environment since it is usually done at an appropriate scale. The benefits and financial spin-offs of local production accrue within the community rather than a distant corporate office.
solutions for rural communities throughout Atlantic Canada. The Centre organizes major conferences and smaller community-based working sessions and conducts evidence-based studies that often lead to community projects.
We recently organized the successful Local Prosperity 2016 Miramichi Conference on November 3-6, 2016 that brought together thought leaders and change-makers from across the region. This was our second conference in this series, which explores new economic ideas enabling local communities to take back control of their economies.
Import Replacement: A Sustainable Way Forward
Our Centre is conducting a large regional study
on Import Replacement. Basically, this means
that a community using an import replacement approach would focus on producing certain goods and services locally rather than importing them. By developing local production, the community creates jobs, keeps money circulating in the region, and increases its capacity to address economic, social, and cultural issues. (For more on Import Replacement see Schumacher Centre for a New Economics)
A cornerstone of import replacement is energy
20 off the grid