Welcome to the new eco-local Living magazine blog, Eco Local Living is our new name - reflecting the new lifestyle that we must live.

With the old economy is crashing all around us, it clearly obvious that the corporatist, globalist path that we have been led down is a dead end. If there is a glimmer of hope to be found in the troubling implications of overpopulation, industrial pollution, peak oil, ecological devastation and financial meltdown, it may be the growing awareness that the global culture and economy are failing to meet our needs. In order to turn things around, we need to create healthy local communities and economies that share the characteristics of healthy ecosystems: their sustainability depends not only on their efficiency, but also on their diversity and interconnections. We need to design monetary and social systems that support sustainability and community. People everywhere who believe in the power of local solutions to global problems are embracing this perspective. It’s being called localization or transition, and it’s happening because people are recognizing that the unsustainable global economic system is failing to protect human, the environment, and the natural systems on which all life depends.

In the Harvest issue of ecolocal Living, you will meet some of the local people who are leading this transition. The Phinney Design Group of Saratoga Springs is our cover story, and they are building homes and work places that are truly living environments. More than ‘green buildings,” the Phinney Design Group’s projects have become coveted community assets that bring people together. Bruce Brownell of Adirondack Alternative Energy knows a few things about buildings as living environments. Mr. Brownell has been quietly designing passive solar homes for more than thirty years. His designs are the benchmark for energy efficiency and living comfort.

Back in the old days, every town had a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. These entrepreneurs were the backbone of the local economy, and now are the backbone of the new economy as well. Perreca’s Bakery in Schenectady straddles the old and the new, by doing what it has always done – baking bread. In fact, they’ve baked bread in the same oven for over eighty years. Their steadfast commitment to excellence and consistency is now the centerpiece of the revitalizing Little Italy neighborhood in Schenectady. There’s a surge of renewal occurring in here in the upper Hudson Valley region. Abandoned for the suburbanization of the last fifty years, the towns of Ballston Spa, Troy and Glens Falls are being reclaimed by a new breed of entrepreneurs, opening shops and creative enterprises that are breathing new life into the old streetscapes. These walkable downtowns are the new hot spots for festivals, farmers markets and fun. These towns are each embracing localism with a passion, as the pages within showcase.

Speaking of festivals, we are having a Local Living Harvest Festival in Saratoga Springs on September 26. See page 3 for details. It’s an opportunity for all of us in the transition movement to get together and celebrate localism. We need to support each other, and collaborate with each other to lead this transition to where we want it to go. Remember – we are the economy, we are the local. We are eco-LOCAL!