After walking across the United States entirely on foot (Cambridge to San Diego, June 9- December 24, 1978), he studied urban ecology and City Management (B.A. Summit University, 1982). Los Angeles: A History of the Future was published in Raise the Stakes (#6) late 1982, then expanded in 1983 as a booklet which introduced Citizen Planners of Los Angeles. The organization soon hosted a public speech by Ernest Callenbach, author of Ecotopia, and affiliated with Urban Ecology of Berkeley. They quickly attracted about 140 members who formed committees to explore and promote rail and bus transit, bicycle routes, solar, wind, compost toilets, xeriscaping, urban orchards, and other ecological options for the metropolis. Julia Russell's Eco-Home Network grew from this gathering.
Returning to Ithaca, New York, Glover joined a successful effort in 1986 to stop highway expansion in that city. He wrote extensively about urban design, and in 1988 published Ithaca Power, a comprehensive survey of Tompkins County's fuel supply.
- "Paul Glover came to L.A. in '80 believing it uninhabitable ("The most inconvenient city ever built in the name of convenience"), an ultimate test of whether appropriate technology could make city living more pleasurable and in balance with social justice and nature. His ensuing investigation resulted in publication of Los Angeles: A History of the Future, (Eco-Home Press), which describes in nuts-and-bolts detail how a paved-over and built-up four-block area could be gradually transformed into paradise. It depicted earthquake-proof, fuel-efficient homes surrounded by parks and orchards, bikeways and trolleys, and explained how to alter food, fuel and water systems so L.A. wouldn't be like "an army camped far from all sources of supply." A utopian vision? "But not beyond our means, and perhaps necessary for survival." He won easy converts to this gospel and formed Citizen Planners, which embraced other like-minded groups such as the Cooperative Resources and Services Project and Eco-Home. Paul returned to New York in '85 to tackle the same issues, but he's back to help organize a "road show of appropriate technology and ecological living"; the Global Walk for a Livable World leaves Santa Monica Pier Feb 1. "L.A.'s a stinking dump of crime and noise-- people's backs are up against the wall. Whch is why it's a good place to start transforming civilization so that it's a benefit to the planet, not a curse. All we need are the details." Paul addresses the Greens Jan. 26. --Gloria Ohland
Returning to Los Angeles briefly, he made a speech in Santa Monica which was announced by the Los Angeles Weekly (1/26/90) as follows:
In 1991 Glover founded Ithaca HOURS, the first modern local paper money.
In 1997 he founded the Ithaca Health Fund, a nonprofit, member-owned health financing system.
Since 2000, he has been publisher of Ithaca Community News, a twice-monthly email magazine.
Citizen Planners continues in various forms today, most effectively promoted by Harrison Bright Rue.
Glover is currently writing a novel based on this scenario, and welcomes enquiries.