Resettling America : energy, ecology, & community / edited by Gary J. Coates ; foreword by Amory Lovins.

"Resettling America provides practical people-oriented solutions to the complex community problems of food, energy and shelter. Rooted in the theories of Mumford, Fromm, Schumacher, Bateson and others, the twenty-two articles in this book contain the best ideas about ways of living more harmoniously with nature and with each other. Coates is concerned not with the current emphasis on self-sufficiency but on the interdependencies that can enhance a community or... if neglected... destroy it. Resettling America convinces us of the possibilities for positive social change and describes the successful strategies for local self-reliance used by such diverse communities as rural Cerro Gordo, Oregon and Franklin County, Massachusetts, urban neighborhoods in New York City and Berkeley, California, as well as contemplative communities like San Francisco's Zen Center and the Sufi community of New Lebanon, New York. The theoretical pieces on the politics of scarcity, urban decentralization, neighborhood revitalization and other problems of planning for the provision of basic necessities will be of considerable interest to architects, planners, social psychologists, environmentalists and to all concerned people who realize that we cannot model our future on the mistakes of the recent past. Resettling America is written in the belief that human environments must grow out of the collective efforts of their inhabitants and be integrated gracefully and intelligently with the natural systems upon which all life is based. Its joyful, holistic approval the optimistic view of the tutors and its excellent illustrations make Resettling America a major contribution to the broad implementation of that belief." -- Provided by publisher.