Draft
Vision 11.22.07
We envision a time when the Northeast
Kingdom will be recognized and valued internationally for
intentionally pioneering a sustainable way of living, farming,
growing and producing that is uniquely healthy, innovative
and connected. Where community and cooperation, a sense
of place and history have been artfully and intelligently
combined with rich human and natural resources to create
amazingly robust village economies that produce an abundant
stream of food, goods, and services of incomparable health,
distinctiveness, and value. When the Northeast Kingdom
with its progressive methods of creating, nurturing and
empowering healthy productive village economies that are
nourishing to individuals, communities and the global environment
is seen as a model regional center for sustainable living
that can be successfully emulated worldwide.
Values
Visionary: Looking to the future, what will be asked of,
and what is the potential of this region as global change evolves.
Sustainable: Right-sized; efficiently scaled; energy and
resource efficient; requiring minimal use of human and global resources; continuous
improvement that is measured in growing health and productivity achieved through
cultivated awareness, intentional learning, and attentive nurturing of natural
and social systems.
Health: Valuing, creating, and preserving optimum wellness
of individuals, communities, the planet, and of all living systems.
Cooperative: Valuing cooperation and sharing to create a
confluence of information and ideas and human and capital resources to achieve
increased productively with less toil and lower costs -- in a manner which
greatly enhances personal and community satisfaction and fulfillment.
Community: A means to an end and end in itself; where we
value, care and enjoy one another in work and play, success and struggle; where
friendship and support are spontaneously and generously given; where individuals
naturally feel a connection with and a responsibility to the well-being of
the whole.
Co-creative Participation:Realizing
that creative power comes from ideas and energy, that can originate
from any one or any place, we value organizing principles that
allow full participation, and support processes that simultaneously
collect and disperse information as effectively as possible,
providing “food for thought” for the entire group.
A Sense of Place: Cherishing the history and traditions,
the people and the way of life that exists in this region; realizing that our
land, our homes, our town centers, our sylvan villages are the visual icons
that shape our sense of who we are and where we live; striving to honor and
preserve these legacies while simultaneously creating positive growth that
aligns with, builds from, and ultimately strengthens these irreplaceable social
and physical foundations of our unique geographic identity.
Innovation: Finding new and progressive means to progress
using old systems and structures in new ways, and creating whole new models
for progress and growth.
Self-reliance: Arising
from and depending on the inherent strengths and human
and natural resources existing within the people and villages
of the northeast kingdom.
Entrepreneurship: Recognizing opportunity and courageously
moving forward; creating the path and collecting the means and resources required
as we progress; pioneering new structures and processes and evolving whole
new systems and models for growth.
Learning: Consciously and intentionally cultivating greater
understanding, skill and proficiency by creating many opportunities and methods
of study, reflection and practice.
Play: Valuing fun, laughter, spontaneity and joy as both
a means to an end and an end in itself; recognizing the element of pure fun
as an essential ingredient of genuine fulfillment and ultimate success.
Diversity: Established and emerging, native and newcomer,
male and female, conservative and radical, multi-ethnic and multi-faceted;
honoring, respecting, including and listening to all; realizing resiliency
and strength naturally arise from inclusiveness.
Cascading Principle: Where
the more robust and mature people, systems and structures
naturally offer support, nurturing and resource to emerging
and developing individuals, companies and institutions.
Systems
Thinking:
Realizing that
all life is connected, we value an approach to growing
and operating that preserves and emulates living systems.
In searching for effective solutions and models for development
and growth we will value the existing models of healthy
systems.
