In April 2007, Films For Action screened The End of Suburbia to an audience of 180 people, and launched a campaign to have the Lawrence City Commission create a Peak Oil Task force, which would study the local impacts of peak oil and propose recommendations for the city to take action on.

At this time, Films For Action mailed to every commissioner and many of the planning commissioners a copy of The End of Suburbia along with many research documents and a proposed resolution for Lawrence. We also met with two of the commissioners to discuss the idea of a task force. After this, the campaign went into hibernation for a year, when it was picked up again by the Sustainability Action Network, a local sustainability advocacy group (of which I am a member). After giving a presentation on the issue to the City Commission, we were successful in seeing the commission pass the resolution, and now, finally, after a lot of hard work from the Task Force, they've finally finished their report!

November 13, 2011, Shannon Gorres gives a tour of the Cosmic Beauty School in Lawrence, KS . The CBS, now in its third year, is working to provide an urban demonstration site for radical sustainability, social justice, and holistic health.

This movie and website is making the rounds lately, so I thought I'd take a closer look. As a bioregionalist, I found myself asking a series of questions about what I found. So in the spirit of the website's admonition "not to take on, unquestioningly, a new set of beliefs," I share this review with the reader. 

This from the City of Lawrence:

Common Ground is an urban agriculture and community gardening program of the City of Lawrence and Douglas County

Applications due:  Friday, December 16, 2011

The City of Lawrence and Douglas County are seeking applications for an Urban Agriculture/Community Garden land use program (Common Ground).  This Request for Applications (RFA) is intended to assist initiatives for the development of urban agriculture and community gardens in the City of Lawrence and Douglas County, increasing local food production, and providing community benefits.  The City and County seek applications from qualified individuals, businesses, and/or nonprofit organizations to apply for a license to use currently vacant or underutilized municipally-owned properties with the goal of producing fresh healthy food for personal consumption and/or sale.

The Common Ground Program’s goal is to license these properties for the cultivation and sale of plants, herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables, either as for-profit or not-for-profit enterprises.  Local community members are strongly encouraged to submit applications and/or develop partnerships with local community organizations.

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