Environmental Reviews and Case Studies: The Town's Abuzz: Collaborative Opportunities for Environmental Professionals in the Slow City Movement

Abstract

The global Slow Movement, a response to negative effects of speed on everyday life, seeks to reconnect people and their social and ecological environments. Slow Food and Cittaslow (Slow Cities) are allied Slow Movement networks operating in over 150 countries, including the United States (US). These two networks involve the interrelationship of numerous place-based factors important to social-ecological resilience: local and regional food markets, recovery and protection of biodiversity and local ecologies, support for cultural traditions, agricultural policy reform, climate adaptation planning, economic development, social inclusion, quality of life in the built environment, and the politics of land development. This article presents the philosophical underpinnings of Slow Food and the associated membership requirements of Cittaslow by using the example of Sonoma Valley, California, the first certified Cittaslow in the US (2009). The article then describes Sonoma Valley's Cittaslow Pollinator Stewardship Collaborative to show how the nascent organization has begun its work by facilitating the participation of environmental professionals in community life. In its first year, Cittaslow Sonoma Valley has used a combination of pleasure and responsibility to increase both the visibility of environmental concerns and the opportunities for diverse residents to act locally and globally on issues integrating environmental and economic support. Because it offers a different approach to environmental responsibility, the Slow Movement may be of particular interest to environmental professionals who are concerned about societal response to the complexity and uncertainty of global environmental change.

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