A couple of weeks ago on my show “Guerrilla Radio” on KPFZ, I interviewed the woman who has spearheaded the monthly documentary screening and social venue called Second Sunday Cinema (SSC). SSC screens thought provoking documentaries from around the world that cover topics ranging from corporate war profiteering, the monopolization and exploitation of our food and health-care industries, to the overall global injustices that take place everyday that effect our personal lives and which we seem to otherwise ignore.

The name of the woman that I interviewed is Shannon Tolson, and she spoke of how she envisions SSC to not only be an outlet to educate the community in a way that the corporate press has failed to do, but to also be a catalyst for true grassroots change in Lake County. She talked about the concept of “transition towns” and how we as a community need to re-learn basic human skills of living and come together to find ways of providing clean food and water for ourselves and our family here locally.

After this interview I was very much inspired to attend July’s SSC screening of “Collapse” by Michael Ruppert. This documentary made it very clear that the two things which western civilization relies on most to sustain itself, that being petroleum and U.S. dollars, are headed for an inevitable “collapse.”

Without going into to much depth about the concepts of peak oil, fossil fuels and fiat currency, it is suffice to say that the systems which we have come to depend on for our food, water, electricity, clothing, transportation, etc, has lead to the pollution of the planet, global military conflicts, the monopolization of the Earth's resources, and the perpetual economic debt of ourselves and our posterity, all of which have raised the outrageous profits of banks and oil companies, while being inherently self-destructive for both the Earth and humanity.

The most inspiring event of this documentary screening was not the movie itself, but the community conversation that took place afterwards. I would estimate that a crowd of around 50 people came together in a circle to reflect on the issues expressed in the movie. People with many different expertise in everything from agriculture, food co-ops, alternative technologies, law, water, medicine, to local media outlets all came together to discuss what we could do as a community to help strengthen and localize our economy in Lake County. It was very inspiring.

I am writing this letter to inform the people of this community that this meeting was just the beginning of a localization process taking place in Lake County. Another meeting has been scheduled this next Sunday so that we can begin to share, define and build the vision that we have as a community for dealing with all the serious global and local issues that we are facing.

Many of us already are doing the work necessary to build self-sustaining homes and economies in our families and communities. By coming together to share food and discussion, we will not only be able to exchange knowledge and resources, but most importantly we can build a sense of community. The mere strength and inspiration that comes from true community is enough for us to overcome anything. So please be inspired to come and attend this meeting and help spread the word.

In case you are not able to make this meeting, I will be organizing a community discussion and report on the airwaves of KPFZ to update people on what took place at the meeting, along with what goals we have for the future. We will have on the air some of the folks who are helping to organize the meeting as well as members of local radio, print, Internet and TV media in Lake County. The report will be live from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on 88.1 FM on my show Guerrilla Radio, courtesy of your local “community” radio station! Please listen, call-in and be apart of the discussion!

Call-in phone numbers:

1-707-263-3435

OR, if your outside the dialing area, call:

1-800-763-5739

Meeting details: Sunday, July 25, at 6 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) at the Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave. near Mullen in Clearlake.

Invite your inner leader to come to this gathering as we begin the process of creating our own future.

For more information, call 707-928-0159 or 707-279-2957.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Conrad is 19 years old and lives in Lucerne. He is also the producer of “Guerrilla Radio” on KPFZ. To find more information about his show, visit www.guerrillaradiokpfz.podomatic.com or www.radicaljusticeman.podomatic.com.