PlacerSustain: Voices of Placer County's Sustainability Community

A network focused on sustainability may be viewed as a "community of practice."  This network may have a wide range of formal and informal "parts," but the essence is informal.  Some parts, e.g. a local governmental agency, may be very formal, operating within a legal structure, rules, and procedures.  Other elements may be wholly informal, e.g. small working groups of individuals that are self organizing, flexibly configured with participants coming and going,  forming new groups at will, and so on. There is an important function for both formal and informal elements, however, in terms of broad involvement of people, the growth of a community of sustainability practice at all levels is probably essentially informal.

The fostering of such a grass roots community of practice is not about money, authority, grants, project funding, i.e. traditional "program" focuses.  The grass roots effort is personal, about relationships, about pursuing shared personal interests and values.  The support for such an effort involves learning (information), communication, supportive relationships, and practice (application).

There is no one fixed set of interests, values, priorities, methods,  that would appeal to everyone, i.e. there is no "one solution."  Those of us who come from a background of formal programs and institutions may  find that frustrating, to say the least.  A broadly based grass roots community of practice, if it emerges, will probably involve the proliferation of small groups that organize themselves and collaborate on matters they determine are of mutual interest.  A version of this process is what we are doing when bringing together the more formal elements of the community; governments, non-profits, and established community organizations.   Groups of individuals, whatever their organizational affiliations, who voluntarily associate to pursue their mutual interests are the heart of any community based effort to take on a sustainable future.

There are no doubt many models of this type of grass roots effort, but one of the best examples is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which has been widely studied as a model of transformative association.  AA is a self organizing community of practice, people helping each other to pursue a common interest, in that case, a sober life.  AA is not "organized" in the conventional sense.  It is an affiliation of autonomous groups that govern their own affairs, except in matters of mutual concern, which is limited.  Even so, there is no central authority.   The heart of AA is a dedication to Service in support of mutual well-being, but this service is centered on the individual.  One of the organizing principles is that the unity and harmony of the whole is essential to a capacity to Serve.

The first AA group was two people, then three, and so on.  Today  there are over 100,000 AA groups worldwide with a membership of over 2 Million people.  Membership continues to grow.  AA is financially supported solely by contributions from its members.  There are no grants, no governmental funding, and no general community fund raising. The interests of people with alcohol problems to find freedom from addiction is no more compelling than our interest in a sustainable future.

There are many existing groups in Placer County devoted, in one way or another, to leading a sustainable life and working together on sustainability related interests.  We may encourage and foster the proliferation of such groups. This may be done inside and outside of the existing more formal organizations.  Wherever such groups are "nested" (or not nested), principles of autonomy, self determination, voluntary cooperation, i.e. the integrity of the group, must be honored.  What would Placer County look like if there were 100, 200, 500 such small groups actively engaged in a community of practice grounded in shared basic principles/practices, coming together as they deem necessary to promote their common interests?  If we identify the groups that are already functioning, or have the potential to take on an intentional sustainability practice, we would probably find that we are well on our way.  However, it is important to know who we are, and encourage open communication, sharing, and cooperation.