a lot like Portland.
With the Occupy Wall Street movement continuing to spur discussions across America about a fundamental shift in how we approach our lives and our economy, now seems like a good time to propose a different path.
For many people in Portland, what could be considered a different path to the majority of America has been the reality here for years now.
Today I was forwarded a video about the “Plenitude Economy.” The idea is being promoted by the Center for the New American Dream. If you have 5 minutes, it’s worth watching. After a quick summary of how we got into our current mess, a cool animation explains how we might move forward differently.
I was struck by the video and how closely it mimics not only my own thinking, but how it looks like it was modeled after some of the people and neighborhoods I know of in Portland — the same people that inspired me to start taking pictures and writing about them when I moved here from California in 2005.
When I listened to the narration and watched the illustrations in the video it was impossible to not think of neighborhoods like inner Southeast, Alberta, Woodlawn, and others.
This “Plenitude” concept adds further validation to the idea that bigger isn’t always better and that, as Elly Blue wrote back in February, bicycling — and the myriad external benefits it brings to communities — really could be the key to saving our economy (and our planet).