To help you live more locally and better, we've rounded up some of the most exciting projects, community groups and innovative businesses in the nine-county Bay Area. Because most of our consumption can be broken down into the areas of food (green teardrops ), energy (yellow teardrops ), and raw materials (brown teardrops ), the Localization Asset Map highlights locally-focused projects, programs, and services offered in these key areas.

Roll your mouse pointer over any of the assets on the map, and click on the teardrops for a full description and contact info. Got suggestions? Contact Aaron at aaron [at] baylocalize.org.

Featured Localization Categories:

Energy: (yellow teardrops ) Energy drives our economy. Energy lights, warms and moves us. However, energy from fossil fuels also drives climate change, ecological destruction and environmental injustice both locally and globally. Rethinking how and where we produce energy is key in the process of building a vibrant local economy and healthy human society. In the Bay Area, the push for alternative energy takes many forms -- from photovoltaic education to biodiesel cooperatives to organizations pushing for better land use policy, many of which are highlighted here.

Food: (green teardrops ) Our most basic necessity is also the most vulnerable. On average, food travels 1,500 miles from the farm where it was produced to the table where it is consumed. That path is marked by massive inputs of fossil fuel for fertilization, transport, and storage. Typically it takes the form of woefully inequitable trade relationships, and the concentration of economic resources toward multinational distributors and away from producers. Local food systems use less fossil fuel, increase crop diversification, reduce our vulnerability to global disturbances, and grow healthier economies and healthier food. From school gardens to policy watchdogs, the Bay Area is home to a wealth of organizations and initiatives working to make a robust food system a reality for our region.

Materials Reuse: (brown teardrops ) Producing more of what we need locally means rethinking and revitalizing the local industrial sector. Local, closed-loop manufacturing that draws from existing resources and produces zero waste is within our reach. Around the Bay Area, people, governments, and businesses are re-using what would otherwise end up as landfill, crafting waste into high-quality goods and fighting for the space and policy to make local industry not only possible but profitable. Check out these local programs and efforts that are closing the loop on materials reuse!

Community Education: Building a thriving regional economy takes grassroots action. Luckily community groups dedicated to making their cities, towns, counties and homes more sustainable and resilient are springing up like wildflowers around the Bay Area. If you want company and support in organizing for localization, learning more about the issues or simply talking about things -- find a group near you or start one of your own!