Community-based education is at the crux of relocalization and learning about local adaptations for developing self-reliance and overall community resilience. There are many examples of “The Great Re-Skilling” that is taking place around the world, as more and more are people taking an interest in knowing how to produce the things they need themselves and as a community through activities ranging from food preservation to small-scale energy production. Projects have developed as responses to local and global food security issues, general health and environmental quality, and as a celebration of community spirit, local culture and sense of place.
Here in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a couple blocks from where we live, there’s a little organic produce shop run out of the back of one of the houses called Home Grown Organic Foods and with a demonstration organic garden on-site along with a community composter, their ultimate mission is to help people to grow their own food.
Bike Again is another community-driven volunteer-run program here in Halifax that offers instruction and resources for anyone interested in taking up cycling. Participants recycle and refurbish used bicycles with the goal of reducing land-fill waste and making cycling accessible to all members of the community. Things generally quiet down once the rain and snow start to cover the city, but volunteers work through the winter fixing up the mountain of bikes for the spring.
Bike Again, Bloomfield Centre, Halifax, NS
Filed under: community, cycling, education, food systems
