Center for Community Alternatives

The Center for Community Alternatives is a ten year old non-profit organization now headquartered in Mebane, North Carolina. Formerly called Eco Access, the Center’s work is the creation and dissemination of sustainable alternatives to failed and failing systems of food supply, water use, energy production, housing, education, and governance. Our work targets both urban and rural environments, affecting the communities in which we live and transforming others as our models are replicated.

The Center seeks to expand in Alamance County and is currently looking for inexpensive or donated office space and land. Please contact us for more details.

The principals behind the Center for Community Alternatives include:

Christian Stalberg

Originally from California, Christian has lived in North Carolina for sixteen years. Before that he spent most of his life in California but has have also lived in Idaho, Washington, Arizona, and New York City.

Background

Christian grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains of North California in a house his father, a broadcast radio engineer, designed and built with his own two bare hands on 10 acres of wilderness. The house was off the grid, starting out with a World War II hand crank started diesel electric generator we would run so his mother could wash the clothes. In due course his father designed and installed a big battery bank using automotive batteries to which he connected a separate 12 volt DC power system which ran a few lights, a stereo and a 10 inch black and white television. Water was pumped from a nearby creek up a hill to a water tank which gravity fed water to the house below. The property was so remote they had no telephone service so they installed a radio telephone. Eventually Pac Bell ran a telephone line through the neighborhood and they had a party line telephone for a year or two, eventually graduating to a private line phone. Christian grew up on a hobby farm, participated in 4-H and learned all the trades that a farmer must know, including welding, plumbing, electrical, and carpentry among others.

Farming/Food Production

In the late 1970's Christian was a member of the newly formed California Certified Organic Farmers. He learned the French Intensive Biodynamic method of intensive food production from John Jeavons in Palo Alto (who learned it from Alan Chadwick).

Stalberg lived close to the Santa Clara valley which has some of the richest soil in the world for agriculture. He worked a couple of years for a second generation Italian farmer in Morgan Hill who raised prunes, walnuts and cherries. Stalberg also worked on lettuce and corn farms in Arizona close to the Mexican border.

Sustainability/Appropriate Technology

Christian lived and worked at the Farallones Institute in Occidental, California. While there he worked on Econet, the worlds first international computer network devoted to the environmental and international development community. He also lived at the Institute's urban center where he was the caretaker and gave tours to people from all over the world. The sustainability and self-sufficiency work that took place at the urban center became a popular best selling book entitled The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City.

Cooperatives

Stalberg was deeply involved in the cooperatives movement for years, serving on the Boards of three food cooperatives, two in California and one in North Carolina. He has had cooperatives Board training from NASCO and attended two CCA conferences, which is the International Co-operative Alliance in the United States.

Renewable Energy/Energy Conservation

Christian was trained in renewable energy and energy conservation and currently works as an energy professional at Southern Energy Management.

Telecomputing

Having grown up close to Silicon Valley in California, Christian has an extensive background in computing and networks, having started to work with computers in 1980. He developed a keen interest in networking which led him to meet and/or work with some of the early pioneers of the computer revolution, including Lee Felsenstein, Steve Jobs, Douglas Englebart, Stewart Brand and Jacques Vallee.

Hazard Mitigation/Precautionary Action/Disaster Recovery

In 1989 while living in California, Christian had a good friend who worked in the California Governors Office of Emergency Services. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, he was asked by his friend to come to work as they needed help responding to the disaster. This began a career for Christian which ultimately led him to work for FEMA and also as an independent consultant to state and local governments.

International Development

In the mid-eighties Christian became involved with the San Francisco Partners of the Americas. San Francisco was 'partnered' with Mexico City, D.F. Stalberg was on the Board of Directors for several years and also served as Executive Director.

Business Development/Entrepreneurialism

Christian has started and/or served on the management teams of several small businesses over the years. In the mid-eighties he sold time sharing on the Tymnet international packet switching network, developing custom networks for several clients including CARE, the Pan American Health Organization, and the U.S. Distance Learning Association. In the 1990's he built and sold two web-based businesses. Triangle Roommates, which matched roommates with rental properties, and Develop.Net, an internet consulting and server hosting business.

Non-Profit Organizations

Stalberg has been active in non-profit organizations for over thirty years. His experience includes having incorporated and obtaining IRS tax exempt status, grantsmanship, serving as a Board member, events organizing, newsletter editor and publisher, and acting as executive director. Examples of non-profit organizations he has worked with include Partners of the Americas, Baylor Research Foundation, International Informatics Access, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, and the Sierra Club.