Today the North County Times includes the obituary article for Robert Hall with a photo from the Hall family."Robert Hall, one of the big names in the region's flower-growing industry and the former owner of a 43-acre property that's slated to become an Encinitas city park, died of cancer Dec. 20 in Leucadia."
"Known for his ability to capitalize on innovations in the nursery business and put them into large-scale production, Hall at one time had more than 80 acres growing under plastic in Encinitas."Warm wishes to the man's family and friends in their loss. Though this isn't actually a post about Robert Hall or the mess our mayor Stocks or the city has made of the park plans following purchase of Hall's property in 2001 for $17.2 million. No, this is about our imaginations, our visions regarding Encinitas precious agricultural acres - a swath that runs through the heart of the five communities - and our sustainable future, our homes, our foods, our land use and economy. For the late Hall and so many of his fellow nursery owners hit hard by globalized business flooding the US economy with cheap imports, many have chosen upzoning of Agricultural land as the only land use option.
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Alternatives that retain, but rethink the Agricultural land use are available all over the world. In response to climate change, peak oil, unemployment, food security and food safety; localized food production is increasingly pursued as a serious community investment. The following video from Civil Eats shows one Wisconsin town's approach to historic unused local greenhouses.
"It all seems like such a waste of resources and energy and a sad reminder of the pace our economy has slowed to. In the face of this hardship, ideas such as The Greenhouse Project in Central Wisconsin offer respite. A group of passionate people, working on a volunteer basis towards providing “opportunities for participation, education, cooperation, and action to support a local food economy in Central Wisconsin” have banded together and successfully started renovations on a dilapidated 38,000 square foot property in downtown Stevens Point. The vision is to create a self-sustaining, multi-faceted production and education center, where rural farming techniques can coalesce with a thriving urban community ready to learn about them."
Will Allen and Growing Power mentioned in the video clip - visit blog for this dynamic man and his impact in Wisconsin.
Greenhouses, Greenhorns and Green Houses (oh my)
And the concept in the video of teaching people how to farm, how to grow food directs me to this fantastic group of organized young farmers called The Greenhorns. What they wouldn't give to have access to Encinitas greenhouses and possible eco-communities for farmers-in-training on agricultural land! Tiny homes densely clustered next to agricultural training facilities is even a tourist enticement. This is a density that is growing in popularity and would make some sense for other infill areas around this community. Do we ever hear ideas like this from our city council chambers? From our local press? From critics of the ongoing GPU land use element draft? If not developer-led housing and big box commercial land use, what?
Lastly, a short trailer about Transition 2.0. movie soon to be released. Transition is an international movement wherein communities are rethinking the way they view their communities and the future.
Isn't this what a General Plan Update asks of us, to envision our future? All over Encinitas people are up in arms over the draft GPU. What we are not hearing are alternative plans, other ideas. The strength of local businesses, co-ops over the vulnerability of relying on multi-national chains like Walmart? Let's get those facts out into the open. If we throw into the mix the whole range of unsustainable current systems failing all around us, these alternative examples in imagining our future are food for thought. They are presented for that purpose and to encourage us to look beyond the short term to the future for the next several generations. And, they are encouraging despite the unmistakeable challenges.
