[ShareTompkins] April 27 Economics of Happiness event

[Shira Golding]

Share Tompkins is an official co-sponsor and McKenzie Jones-Rounds and  
I will be on the panel - hope to see everyone there!

RSVP for the event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178240302228394

- Shira :)

Shira Golding
shiragolding at gmail.com
http://www.shirari.com



Media  
Contacts 
:                                                                                     For 
  Immediate Release:
Gay  
Nicholson 
                                                                                         April 
  19, 2011
607-216-1552
Gay at SustainableTompkins.org


Creating an “Economics of Happiness” in Tompkins County

Ithaca:  Sustainable Tompkins is hosting a community conversation  
about local efforts to build a more resilient and fair economy on  
Wednesday, April 27, 7:00-9:30 pm at Cinemapolis. The evening will  
feature a panel discussion and the Ithaca premiere of The Economics of  
Happiness – a film by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick and John  
Page, and a project of the International Society for Ecology and  
Culture (ISEC).

Growing frustration with the failures and injustices of the global  
economic system has led to popular revolts in many countries and  
heated debates in the U.S.  As globalization has funneled immense  
wealth to transnational corporations, while depleting resources and  
displacing people, a countering force based on the principles of  
sustainability, social justice, and local economies has emerged.

“Relocalization of our economy is essential if we are to buffer  
ourselves from speculative bubbles and escalating food and energy  
prices,” notes Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Tompkins. “We  
need to design a local economy that works for everyone and takes  
advantage of the power of entrepreneurship, sharing, local supply  
chains, self-provisioning, and local investment.”

The documentary film takes a close look at eight “inconvenient truths”  
about globalization and its disruptive impacts on billions of people,  
and contrasts that with the shared well-being and resiliency arising  
from local economies where people are more accountable to each other.   
Kristen Elizabeth Steele, former Ithacan and Lehman Alternative  
Community School graduate, works for the ISEC in London and will  
introduce the film and share results from the global conversation it  
is inspiring.  “The themes of the film were introduced to me while I  
was growing up in Ithaca,” said Steele, “and I’m looking forward to  
hearing about the progress my hometown is making in building long-term  
resilience into its economy.”

After the first screening, a panel of local community leaders from  
Sustainable Tompkins, Southside Community Center, Share Tompkins,  
Local First Ithaca, Tompkins County Workers Center, Cooperative  
Extension of Tompkins County, and Tompkins Workforce NY will outline  
our progress in creating a more sustainable local economy and suggest  
opportunities to pursue in the next few years.

“Ithacans have embraced the idea of sharing resources through our  
monthly events,” explains panelist Shira Golding of Share Tompkins,  
“and we are building an online infrastructure that empowers people to  
share and trade services, products, and knowledge. The result is a  
higher quality of life for all of us and a really strong sense of  
mutual-aid and community self-sufficiency.”

Audience members are encouraged to join the discussion and bring their  
ideas and news on other local economy initiatives.  Tickets for the  
first screening at 7:00 are offered on a sliding scale of $5-$10 at  
the door, or can be purchased in advance by contacting elizasalon at yahoo.com 
.  A second screening at 9:30 pm will be offered through Cinemapolis  
at standard prices.

Sustainable Tompkins is a citizen-based organization whose mission is  
to promote the long-term well-being of our communities and region by  
integrating social equity, economic vitality, ecological stewardship,  
and personal and civic responsibility.  Visit www.sustainabletompkins.org 
  to learn more.

Hosted by Sustainable Tompkins with cosponsors: Alternatives Federal  
Credit Union, Green Resource Hub, Sustainable Enterprise &  
Entrepreneur Network, Share Tompkins, Local First Ithaca, Tompkins  
County Workers Center, Social Ventures, Southside Community Center,  
Tompkins Workforce NY, Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative,  
Interfaith Action for Healing Earth, and Ithaca Hours.

-----------------------------
The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in  
two opposing directions. As governments and big business continue to  
push for “growth” in the form of increased global trade, we’re seeing  
an increase in climate chaos, senseless war, fundamentalism, financial  
volatility, income inequality, and the consolidation of corporate  
power.  At the same time, people around the world are resisting those  
policies, demanding a re-regulation of both trade and finance.  And,  
far from the old institutions of power, communities are coming  
together to re-build more human-scale, ecological economies based on a  
new paradigm – an economics of localization.    (International Society  
for Ecology and Culture)



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