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Michael R. Dimock’s Blog
California and the Future of Food, Wine and Community
Nov. 17, 2008
I recently had the opportunity to give the keynote presentation to the 4th Annual Sustainable Ag Expo in Monterey California, November 12, 2008, entitled "California and the Future of Food, Wine and Community." The Expo is produced by the Central Coast Vineyard Technical Team. 2500 growers of wine grapes and other crops mainly from the central coast gather to study sustainable farming practices and related issues.

Please continue reading for the full text of the remarks.

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Recent Staff Changes at Roots of Change
Nov. 6, 2008
Roots of Change staff is evolving. We recently hired Tiffany Nurrenbern tiffany.jpg to be Network Coordinator. Many of you will meet her because her focus will be to serve the growing Changemakers Network as web master and more. Tiffany has an impressive background in political campaign work in Southern California, new media, and academic excellence. She attended UCLA for her Master’s work and before that UCSC, where she majored in history. She was a recent volunteer at Slow Food Nation, working both Changemakers Day and gathering endorsements for the Declaration. She is articulate, focused, and lightening smart. We know you will like her!
 
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Fall Update From Michael Dimock
Nov. 3, 2008
Fall is usually a good time for sober reflection. More so this year, given the context in which we find ourselves. Together we face a very dramatic election, framed by a dramatic financial crisis, brought about by a dramatic collapse of faith in our nation’s ability to fulfill its debt obligations. As the noted economist Herman Daly wrote for the on-line publication, The Oil Drum this month,

“Can the economy grow fast enough in real terms to redeem the massive increase in debt? In a word, no…. The population of “negative pigs” (debt) can grow without limit since it is merely a number; the population of positive pigs (real wealth) faces severe physical constraints…. The problem is not too little liquidity, but too many negative pigs growing too fast relative to the limited number of positive pigs whose growth is constrained by their digestive tracts, their gestation period, and places to put pigpens…. US growth in real wealth is constrained by increasing scarcity of natural resources both at the source end (oil depletion), and the sink end (absorptive capacity of the atmosphere CO2). Further, spatial displacement of old stuff to make room for new stuff is increasingly costly as the world becomes more full, and increasing inequality of distribution of income prevents most people from buying much of the new stuff—except on credit (more debt)..."

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Opening Remarks For First 2008 ROC Action Fellows Retreat
Center for Land Based Learning, Winters, California
October 14, 2008

On behalf of Roots of Change, its staff, funders, and Stewardship Council, I want to welcome you all, the second annual class of Roots of Change Fellows. We are excited and enthused by you and we are focused on providing you an environment and experience that will enrich your lives and your work and the future of California. We appreciate your commitment to the food system and to this Fellowship. I know you all signed a contract and to me that says a great deal about your commitment.

You are in important investment in the Roots of Change world. We see you as people with a future, people integral to the needs of the State as it pertains to food and community. We believe in you based on your demonstrated abilities, your expertise and focus. We believe in you because you are diverse in perspective, culture, age, and geography. We are investing in you because we feel that you are a key to the State’s future food security, health, and wealth. We want you on our team and we want to be on your team. Most of all, we want to form a very big team that will ensure a sustainable food system by the year 2030.
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Michael R. Dimock’s Opening Remarks San Francisco Urban-Rural Roundtable
October 22, 2008

Thank you Ed, we appreciate you and American Land Trust for taking point on this incredible gathering. I too want to welcome the Mayor, the Secretary and all of you as distinguished guests in this very unique, and we hope, fruitful convening of important and thoughtful leaders.

As some of you know, Roots of Change is a statewide stakeholder collaborative focused on ensuring a sustainable food system exists in this state by the year 2030. What we mean is that Californians will, first, steward the complex ecological and resources base underling the system so that the biological and mineral resource base is maintained at a minimum and hopefully enhanced for future generations.   
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