Journey of Action traveled to Bellingham, Washington to highlight the non-profit Sustainable Connections and the local living economy they have helped create.
Great video! It's important to show an actual community doing this and making it work. We plan on sharing with our networks, families and friends. Might just have to visit Bellingham, WA.
Excellent video. Thank you so much. This made me fall in love with Bellingham even more. I'm at a crossroads right now and can move anywhere - Bellingham is on the top of my list. :)
3 things. 1) I'm a bit nauseous from the camera movement. 2) I love bellingham. 3) I want to live there now. I never realized how awesome it is up there, having visited before.
I realize that this is several years old now. But, this could have been made last week. The people, the businesses, the community... all are still doing well as Bellingham continues to thrive. Great job on this video. I just stumbled on your content. I am hoping to find recent uploads as I look into your channel more. Cheers!
Stopped by this city for a few hours and got a chance to walk around downtown. I had this nostalgic attraction to the place even though I had never been there before. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go back and explore it more.
ALL of my Bellingham/Whatcom County friends are posting this on their Facebook pages - just wanted to let you know what incredible warm fuzzies it brings me (and obviously others, too) to see my home highlighted as the wonderful, positive, healthy, happy, embracing place that it is. Thanks for the video, you guys!
I miss Bellingham. I have been in the Navy and lived elsewhere for years now. I still visit often and am aware that Bellingham has it's problems. But having lived all over for most of my adult life now, I want to go home. It has it's own thriving culture and economy. This is one of the biggest reasons I love Bellingham. It's a REAL community full of pride and love. You don't find that many places anymore. That's why people chose to stay, because cheap cost of living doesn't = happiness.
d3athrow3 yea you are right on that! However from another sailor HM3 I can tell you that it is a culturally insensitive place and wish that the locals would be more accepting. I’m sure you have experienced this in the navy as I did. The only place where all cultures colors and backgrounds are adopted and seen as their own
If you are a small business in Bellingham, it is still tough. I see alot of empty retail spaces, and more closures than do new openings of businesses. In Fairhaven, it seems like less of a "hippie" vibe than what I remembered in the 80s/90s. Time will tell here in Bellingham. It's definitely a great easy going town, but are there enough opportunities to be self sustaining? I would say that both the schools (WWU/WCC/BTC) and the Canadians are the lifeblood of Bellingham. Without those 2 factors, I am not sure that Bellingham could even sustain its level of business. Bellingham is also very lucky to be located between 2 big world class cities (Seattle and Vancouver). Bellingham could easy turn out to be a bedroom community for both of them, especially Vancouver. Canadians are paying 3-4x's in rent/mortgage today.
I'm a lifer, people please stop the hate! 😕I would never disrespect someone's town, or way of life because of a video. There are a larger percentage of truly awesome people who really work hard, and don't have the slightest bit of hate in them than there are racists. 💯 People come here for that feeling, let's show a better example. 1 💜!
It is true a local brewer will buy some things from a large corporation. But his labor is all local not only for selling his product but also making it. There are very few landlords in Bellingham that are large corporations. Washington grows more hops than any other state in the country. His advertising and marketing are created and placed locally. He is a sole proprietor so the profits are mostly spent locally not diverted to Bentonville Arkansas or to wall street
dont move there this video is a fucking lie ive lived in washinton mt whole life and bellingham isnt how they oaint it out to be there so many junkies and crack heads petty theft is rampant you can walk into a store and i gurantee you that there will be some druggy stealing some champaigne or some other alchol living is so expensive and unless you fucking rich you probably end up homeless my own brother ended up homelss twice because of how expenaive living costs there its really not a great place
ugh... im watching this video three years later, moving from New York...... i wish i wouldve read these comments way back when. the only enjoyable thing about this place is the 8-10 recreational marijuana stores scattered round town. other than that? the curse is real. i feel like im STUCK here now, this whole experience has been a pothole thats left me with "flat" tire... for life.
I don't understand the premise of local money. Say you buy beer from a local brewer. Chances are, he buys his hops from the most cost effective supplier, (i.e. some global conglomerate). He pays his rent, likely to be to a large corporation. He buys his equipment (huge vats, etc.) from the only companies who can produce such things (i.e. large, national). So I don't get how it helps. I want to know, but I just don't see how it makes a difference (patronizing mom & pop vs. Walmart).
@donovangreene The fact that Mallard's get fresh herbs is awesome for me. I love their Ice Cream. It no doubt improves my quality of life. But that does not me that the economy is thriving. I still have to have a job where I can afford to buy Mallard's Ice Cream. Many people around the country do not and the problems actually structural. They have more to do with national economic policies than whether people shop at WalMart or the Coop.
monarch1957 which explains why Bellingham Costco is so crowded all week. I thought California Costcos were busy, but Bellingham definitely takes the cake.
@etjrowe "It's a REAL community full of pride and love." While their is no statistical evidence (though we could get it with a survey), I think this is something that most people can agree with. I just think it is important to remember that this was true before people were encourage to shop local.
@etjrowe that's the problem - there is no evidence to support the claim that we have a thriving local economy. There is evidence that Sustainable Connections is very good at marketing.
@donovangreene Cheers! You are very welcome. thanks for the good questions. Green tax shift at its simplest: tax pollution (like green house gas emissions) and eliminate payroll taxes. I have not seen it better explained than in alan durning's book. It won't let me post the link. Google "sightline tax shift" The result: more jobs and less pollution. at the beginning of the 20th century there were more resources than people. Now the opposite is true. So taxes should be on what is scarce.
@jharadie Thanks for having the guts to say that. They lost me in the intro when they said that Bellingham is a sustainable community. There are some efforts to that effect but there is nothing particularly sustainable about Bellingham that has been documented in any way. Bellingham may be different in that Sustainable Connections has convinced people that the community is more sustainable because a portion of the populate tries to buy local.
@jharadie The video is concentrating on one thing that Bellingham does well. It in no way tries to be a statement that Bellingham is a Utopian society. Just that it has a thriving local economy that is worth being proud of. I have family that works in the finance department at city hall. I have seen the faces of people struggling just to pay their water bill. But being proud of one thing is not the same thing as ignoring those other issues. If anything, pride motivates people for further change.
Bellingham population-0.98% Black or African American, 1.48% Native American, 4.25% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 2.16% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 4.63% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. Good luck Bellingham. The social cohesion and sucess of a community is important and caused by many factors, I hope yours continues.
just like Gilmore Girls...lol, but seriously exactly where i see my self in 5 years.... only thing is its not that culturally diverse something i would miss im sure
@donovangreene A good example in Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle. Microsoft has spurred incredible wealth and numerous other businesses. Companies like RealPlayer and now there is a google office in Kirkland and hundreds of others. If you look in the wanted pages there are hundreds of programming jobs in the area, even through the great recession. In general though, thriving local economies have disappeared since the 80's. The answer is not shopping local, its a green tax shift and higher income taxes.
@donovangreene That's a very good question. First of all, I don't think it is fair to ask me to set the standard since I am not the one making the claim. But I will put my standard out there. Now it will likely be rejected by LLE theorists because I come at this from a different (still liberal) perspective. They will say that to be local, the owner of the business must live in the area. I thinking an economy is thriving when high paying jobs are plentiful relative to the population.
Blame the socio-economic class divisions that are nearly impossible to break through; blame the long history of racism combined with the flawed notion that investing money in the upper classes would create jobs, instead of investing money to the working classes and the working poor. Oh, and BTW, there are poor towns that mirror those demographics by mrhulot but still fit the description of "sewer". My apologies that this reply is 3 months late...
@@sonicgenes9719 go to a regular small town now and everybody's shopping at the big boxes. its not that this kind of economy has never existed, its just that most of America is moving away from this
Bellingham FUCKING wins. I am in the SF bay area...by way of Seattle. I need to get home. The bay area is so screwed. Not even YELP can save all the bay area fails.
Yeap that isn’t talked about at all. In fact the locals act like it doesn’t exist. It’s a weird racist culture founded on kkk principles. The locals would probably hate having to go through a cultural sensitivity training
Great video! It's important to show an actual community doing this and making it work. We plan on sharing with our networks, families and friends. Might just have to visit Bellingham, WA.
Excellent video. Thank you so much. This made me fall in love with Bellingham even more. I'm at a crossroads right now and can move anywhere - Bellingham is on the top of my list. :)
3 things.
1) I'm a bit nauseous from the camera movement.
2) I love bellingham.
3) I want to live there now.
I never realized how awesome it is up there, having visited before.
Ivan Aguiar I can’t believe I watched this video 4 years ago and I live here now
Don't forget the in-focus-out-of-focus-in-focus-out-of-focus camerawork. On top of the lens shifting from side to side.
I realize that this is several years old now. But, this could have been made last week. The people, the businesses, the community... all are still doing well as Bellingham continues to thrive. Great job on this video. I just stumbled on your content. I am hoping to find recent uploads as I look into your channel more. Cheers!
Stopped by this city for a few hours and got a chance to walk around downtown. I had this nostalgic attraction to the place even though I had never been there before. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go back and explore it more.
Such a great and beautiful place!
ALL of my Bellingham/Whatcom County friends are posting this on their Facebook pages - just wanted to let you know what incredible warm fuzzies it brings me (and obviously others, too) to see my home highlighted as the wonderful, positive, healthy, happy, embracing place that it is. Thanks for the video, you guys!
mindfulbreath white of course
I miss Bellingham and I cannot wait to move back. Its not just Bellingham, it's Bellinghome.
agh Bellingham is beautiful ^-^ I love it here
I miss Bellingham. I have been in the Navy and lived elsewhere for years now. I still visit often and am aware that Bellingham has it's problems. But having lived all over for most of my adult life now, I want to go home. It has it's own thriving culture and economy. This is one of the biggest reasons I love Bellingham. It's a REAL community full of pride and love. You don't find that many places anymore. That's why people chose to stay, because cheap cost of living doesn't = happiness.
d3athrow3 yea you are right on that! However from another sailor HM3 I can tell you that it is a culturally insensitive place and wish that the locals would be more accepting. I’m sure you have experienced this in the navy as I did. The only place where all cultures colors and backgrounds are adopted and seen as their own
I'm in Victoria, B.C. and I can see the lights of Bellingham from here. I would like to go there for the day and explore the great city of Bellingham.
I've lived in BC my whole life, always visited every summer. Love the place
If you are a small business in Bellingham, it is still tough. I see alot of empty retail spaces, and more closures than do new openings of businesses. In Fairhaven, it seems like less of a "hippie" vibe than what I remembered in the 80s/90s. Time will tell here in Bellingham. It's definitely a great easy going town, but are there enough opportunities to be self sustaining? I would say that both the schools (WWU/WCC/BTC) and the Canadians are the lifeblood of Bellingham. Without those 2 factors, I am not sure that Bellingham could even sustain its level of business. Bellingham is also very lucky to be located between 2 big world class cities (Seattle and Vancouver). Bellingham could easy turn out to be a bedroom community for both of them, especially Vancouver. Canadians are paying 3-4x's in rent/mortgage today.
I live in Bellingham! Thank you so much for posting this! I'm posting this on Facebook!
RIP mac.... you were so awesome to sam and i....
White
Bellingham is awesome!!
You Sir..are absolutely god damn correct and approved for this perspective. Carry on my lord!.
great video! I miss living there!
Haha nice to know that other people from Bellingham go on the internet as well.
Cool pic... is that your crown chakra exploding with demons?
I am going to visit Bellingham in December ! it seems awesome
I have no clue as to why you two aren't better known in the land of youtube. I'm spreading the word, that's for sure.
I'm a lifer, people please stop the hate! 😕I would never disrespect someone's town, or way of life because of a video. There are a larger percentage of truly awesome people who really work hard, and don't have the slightest bit of hate in them than there are racists. 💯 People come here for that feeling, let's show a better example. 1 💜!
Bellingham is not an hour from Canada. More like 15 minutes.
I think they were on a bike...
Just moved here from Southern Calif. to retire. I LOVE IT! so MUCH BETTER than California. One of the best decisions my husband and I have ever made.
It is true a local brewer will buy some things from a large corporation. But his labor is all local not only for selling his product but also making it. There are very few landlords in Bellingham that are large corporations. Washington grows more hops than any other state in the country. His advertising and marketing are created and placed locally. He is a sole proprietor so the profits are mostly spent locally not diverted to Bentonville Arkansas or to wall street
seriously considering moving here from Boulder, CO. Great video.
Awesome video! Great town! I want to move there!
dont move there this video is a fucking lie ive lived in washinton mt whole life and bellingham isnt how they oaint it out to be there so many junkies and crack heads petty theft is rampant you can walk into a store and i gurantee you that there will be some druggy stealing some champaigne or some other alchol living is so expensive and unless you fucking rich you probably end up homeless my own brother ended up homelss twice because of how expenaive living costs there its really not a great place
too cool, too cool.
11.34% of POC.
With a WCC, BTC, NWIC, and WWU.
This large town survives by the educational institutions.
ugh... im watching this video three years later, moving from New York...... i wish i wouldve read these comments way back when. the only enjoyable thing about this place is the 8-10 recreational marijuana stores scattered round town. other than that? the curse is real. i feel like im STUCK here now, this whole experience has been a pothole thats left me with "flat" tire... for life.
Great vid! Love Bellingham!!
so good to see caring people in action...and on bikes!
@SeafireVideo is the music in this American football?
Love this video. Well done, well made, and going on my FaceBook right away. Cheers.
I don't understand the premise of local money. Say you buy beer from a local brewer. Chances are, he buys his hops from the most cost effective supplier, (i.e. some global conglomerate). He pays his rent, likely to be to a large corporation. He buys his equipment (huge vats, etc.) from the only companies who can produce such things (i.e. large, national). So I don't get how it helps. I want to know, but I just don't see how it makes a difference (patronizing mom & pop vs. Walmart).
awe, me too :)
Currently raising my son here and soon a few more to come
Hey this is where I live.I even know the mallards manager liana. They have great Ice cream there.
Joshua Easternhouse yes mallard is great! There is a lot of cultural indifference however
One of the many reasons why I LOVE living in Bellingham. The sense of community is just so close that it almost feels like family.
Chad Hoerntlein sad
An hour from Canada? Who's driving? 20 minutes - top!
Awesome you made it to the circus!
The lynden fair by the way is the best
i love living here!
@donovangreene The fact that Mallard's get fresh herbs is awesome for me. I love their Ice Cream. It no doubt improves my quality of life. But that does not me that the economy is thriving. I still have to have a job where I can afford to buy Mallard's Ice Cream. Many people around the country do not and the problems actually structural. They have more to do with national economic policies than whether people shop at WalMart or the Coop.
I was there yesterday and your food and gas prices are about half what we pay for in B.C.
monarch1957 which explains why Bellingham Costco is so crowded all week. I thought California Costcos were busy, but Bellingham definitely takes the cake.
I like the song :)...anyone know what its called?
Phoenixdeath35 "Stolen Moments" by The Six Parts Seven usually songs in youtube videos will be shown right under the video in the description
@etjrowe "It's a REAL community full of pride and love." While their is no statistical evidence (though we could get it with a survey), I think this is something that most people can agree with.
I just think it is important to remember that this was true before people were encourage to shop local.
Yay freedom and capitalism!!
I'm headed to Bellingham very soon to show my partner where I went to uni with a few of his friends. Can anyone recommend a good B+B/hotel?
@etjrowe that's the problem - there is no evidence to support the claim that we have a thriving local economy. There is evidence that Sustainable Connections is very good at marketing.
who does the music?
@donovangreene Cheers! You are very welcome. thanks for the good questions.
Green tax shift at its simplest: tax pollution (like green house gas emissions) and eliminate payroll taxes. I have not seen it better explained than in alan durning's book. It won't let me post the link. Google "sightline tax shift"
The result: more jobs and less pollution. at the beginning of the 20th century there were more resources than people. Now the opposite is true. So taxes should be on what is scarce.
The content in the video is great but the video is really shaky
It could be Margaret River!! Love local!!!
@jharadie Thanks for having the guts to say that. They lost me in the intro when they said that Bellingham is a sustainable community. There are some efforts to that effect but there is nothing particularly sustainable about Bellingham that has been documented in any way. Bellingham may be different in that Sustainable Connections has convinced people that the community is more sustainable because a portion of the populate tries to buy local.
thumbs up if you live in bellingham WA
@jharadie The video is concentrating on one thing that Bellingham does well. It in no way tries to be a statement that Bellingham is a Utopian society. Just that it has a thriving local economy that is worth being proud of. I have family that works in the finance department at city hall. I have seen the faces of people struggling just to pay their water bill. But being proud of one thing is not the same thing as ignoring those other issues. If anything, pride motivates people for further change.
Thats awesome think of the low carbon foot print. You food is not shipped 3000 miles away
Born and raised baby, I want to raise my family here too!
I think I'm in love
Thumbs up if you lived in Bham and wanna go back! lol
Bellingham population-0.98% Black or African American, 1.48% Native American, 4.25% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 2.16% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 4.63% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Good luck Bellingham. The social cohesion and sucess of a community is important and caused by many factors, I hope yours continues.
just like Gilmore Girls...lol, but seriously exactly where i see my self in 5 years.... only thing is its not that culturally diverse something i would miss im sure
I'm considering moving out of gang infested California after I graduate. Seems like an nice town.
@donovangreene A good example in Bellevue/Redmond/Seattle. Microsoft has spurred incredible wealth and numerous other businesses. Companies like RealPlayer and now there is a google office in Kirkland and hundreds of others. If you look in the wanted pages there are hundreds of programming jobs in the area, even through the great recession.
In general though, thriving local economies have disappeared since the 80's. The answer is not shopping local, its a green tax shift and higher income taxes.
Great video but the video is really shaky
@donovangreene That's a very good question. First of all, I don't think it is fair to ask me to set the standard since I am not the one making the claim. But I will put my standard out there. Now it will likely be rejected by LLE theorists because I come at this from a different (still liberal) perspective. They will say that to be local, the owner of the business must live in the area. I thinking an economy is thriving when high paying jobs are plentiful relative to the population.
Great job Nick Hartrich and Liana Lipman ! :)
Myna IT Consulting great job?? Wow how sad
This is my hometown! Rick on bham!
12 yrs later...........everything has changed
Er... uh... no no no we're not racist!!! We love African-Americans!!! All our best friends are black!
Bellinghamster try but they have a long way to go to be truly sustainable. Maybe next year.
SWPL!
Blame the socio-economic class divisions that are nearly impossible to break through; blame the long history of racism combined with the flawed notion that investing money in the upper classes would create jobs, instead of investing money to the working classes and the working poor. Oh, and BTW, there are poor towns that mirror those demographics by mrhulot but still fit the description of "sewer". My apologies that this reply is 3 months late...
Ugh, so sick of hipsters acting like they discovered farming. It's been around for thousands of years folks.
Ecactly. Uh, "Local living economy", I heard that used to be called "life in a small town" or something like that.
@@sonicgenes9719 go to a regular small town now and everybody's shopping at the big boxes. its not that this kind of economy has never existed, its just that most of America is moving away from this
Bellingham FUCKING wins. I am in the SF bay area...by way of Seattle.
I need to get home. The bay area is so screwed. Not even YELP can save all the bay area fails.
let's talk about the racism that exists in bellingham.
Ooh... I was going to move there. Do tell.
Yeap that isn’t talked about at all. In fact the locals act like it doesn’t exist. It’s a weird racist culture founded on kkk principles. The locals would probably hate having to go through a cultural sensitivity training
Drinking is good.
Hope Bellingham out last the Canadian invasion. :(
A bit pretentious for my tastes....but hey....whatever floats your liberal little boat.
Why no mention of the 4,000 plus inhabitants of the Lumni Nation just north of Bellingham? Is there an Anti-Indian feeling here? I think so...
Nice place, good people, great ideas. However, the video shooting and editing is unbearable. Terrible hand-held, all-over-the-place quality.
you just mad because you live in everett.
Um... Rock I mean. Typo... Hehe
this looks sad.
A real hamster wouldn't. Thumbs down.
camera work made me vomit