Stories tagged with "social capital"
Wanted: Hard Data on Local Sustainability
Posted by Glenn on October 29, 2007 - 8:00pm in The Oil Drum: Local
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: data, electricity, energy, land use, liquid fuels, local, social capital, statistics, walkability [list all tags]
Now that New York has had six months since Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC sustainability plan, kicked off and they have released their interim report on their progress, I thought I might take a step back to think about how we evaluate sustainability at the local level.
Here at The Oil Drum, we love good data. We love hard objective data that can not only tell a story, but highlight the importance of a particular issue in a crisp fashion. However at the local level, data is not as easy to locate or not consistent enough to make an objective positive statement. The result, as many have probably realized, is that local discussions become inherently normative, political and frankly, messy.
So, help me find some data at the local level...
Greenmarket Activates Community Life
Posted by Glenn on July 8, 2006 - 12:03pm in The Oil Drum: Local
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: community, greenmarkets, jessica lappin, scott stringer, social capital, upper east side [list all tags]

Today was a good day for local produce and community development. The new greenmarket at St. Stephen's church brought together all the local elected officials in including Councilmember Jessica Lappin and Borough President Scott Stringer as well as the Father Angelo of St. Stephen (pictured above) and many folks from the local community board.
The Upper Green Side has a quick post about it up. It was great to see so many people talking, sharing recipes, bringing their dogs and children with them to shop.
And the crowds were bigger than expected because of the big outreach effort we did over the past two weeks.

The Importance of Social Capital
Posted by Glenn on June 19, 2006 - 7:45pm in The Oil Drum: Local
Topic: Sociology/Psychology
Tags: oil, peak oil, robert putnam, social capital [list all tags]

Relative Measure of Social Capital by US States
I am now near the end of my reading of Robert Putnam's seminal work on Social Capital, Bowling Alone. Social Capital is one of those very hard to define subjects, but my interpretation is that it measures the level of trust, connectedness and mutual reciprocity in society. This is important for a wide range of issues from child rearing to economic development to how individuals (or communities) respond to a crisis situations. Social Capital could be the defining characteristic of communities that pull together in the face of high oil prices versus those that tear themselves apart in the ultimate tragedy of the commons.
Looking at a map of the US you can start to understand why North Dakota and Vermont, despite their cold winters may be better places to live than Mississippi or Alabama. And this is only state level averages - each state will have within them communities that are stronger than others. And each community will have individuals that have more social capital than others because of their level of civic involvement. Those individuals and those communities will be one of our greatest assets as peak oil forces us out of our private cocoons - McMansions and SUVs - run on high levels of energy consumption and forces us to live in more shared living spaces, carpooling, etc.
What is the state of social capital and what are the major measures available?

k Nation (Jim Kunstler)


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