Saturday, September 26, 2015

10:20am to 12:00 noon

Resilient Garden Discussion Panel

Nadia Malarkey, Eric Limberg, Tim Honchel

Eric talked about his success in Milwaukee establishing a Community Supportive Agriculture program on top of roof tops in downtown Milwaukee.  His organization, Victory Garden Initiative, started with 20 volunteers and 50 gardens to over 500 volunteers.  Members build raised bed boxes and haul the growing medium up to the top of the roof of buildings.  The project building involved a derelict building in the city purchased for $100.    This building sat on a 1.5 acre land that is also being developed.  Eric feels that his project has affected over 13,787 area people.

Nadia talked about her consulting business involving design and building of sustainable landscaping.  She mentions that to have healthy ecosystems, you must have healthy plants and soil.  She tries to create ecosystems welcoming to wildlife.  She has recently started a program to “bring back the pollinators” – landscaping that would aid in bringing back pollinating insects including honey bees.  Nadia also plants extensive milkweed for the monarch butterflies.  Since we only share the landscaping with other creatures, she has led community efforts to establish pesticide-free areas for the sake of wildlife protection.  There is potential for an incredible diversity of life in residential yards if it is only realized.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

8:30 am to 10:00 am

Maikwe Ludwig – Dancing Rabbit Intentional Community

Sustainable is Possible – Living a Low Carbon High Quality Life

Maikwe presently lives in an intentional community located in the very rural Northeast part of Missouri.  She started off her presentation relating the idea that to most people, sustainability sucks.  This is not the case at the community where her family live.  Current belief by climate scientists includes the idea that citizens in the USA need to reduce their carbon footprint down to 10% of what they now live.  The Dancing Rabbit Intentional Community has been living in this goal for several years successfully.

Imagine a lifestyle that involves the reduction of living resources down to the 10% as recommended by climate scientists.  At her intentional community, citizens actually use 14 % of the average US electrical energy consumption.  Their community has installed Solar Photovoltaic Panels as a way to provide power to the community and sell the excess back to the area’s utility company. They use 19% of the average US water consumption.  This is achieved by using composting toilets, having gardens and not lawns, and they take showers only when needed.  The use of the community pond is frequently used during the summer months.

Dancing Rabbit Community disposes 13% of the wastes of a typical USA homeowner.  They practice recycling as well as their analyzing of what comes into their homes and what must go out.  There is a conscious choice on packaging when purchases are made.  Their community has reduced their consumption of Natural Gas down to 5% of the single home average.  Passive solar heats all of the homes in the community and cooking is down with community solar ovens.  Hay Boxes (boxes of heavily insulated materials will serve as a storage for food containing pots to finish cooking).  Their community has reduced the use of automobiles down to 7% and their gas consumption down to 6% of the national average.

Their food choices involves a vegetarian diet consisting of locally grown and available produce.  The elimination of red meat has dramatically reduced their overall carbon footprint due to its resource needs.  Their buildings and homes are quite beautiful to look at and not ugly at all.  The buildings reflect certain artistic touches that add to that sense of beauty.  Overall, there is a great commitment to reducing the carbon footprint by community members that the average home consists of about 230 square feet. 

Some principles that citizens observe are:

Re-use of materials and items

The striving for timeless work

Development of relationships

Service to community

Life Lon Learning

Balance with Technology

Weighing the values of each decision

In their community, they have a Dance Hall, Playing Field, Restaurant and Community Park that members and friends can use.  They rate their quality of life measure equal to that of Seattle Washington.  Where the average income of a typical US citizen is $43,000 per year, citizens of Dancing Rabbit have an average income of $10,000 – and live quite well.  Members practice the 4 C’s :  Creativity, Compassion, Courage, and Cooperation.  Members realize that the economic choices they make are NOT neutral but have a direct effect on other beings and people.  Part of their lives focus on making sure that the “right stuff” gets incentivized.  Change is easier when done together.

Friday, September 25, 2015

7:00 pm to 8:30pm

Ryan Nicodemos and Josh Millburn

Living a Meaningful Life with Less

This was the Friday evening Keynote presentation for the conference.  Both Ryan and Josh had high-powered careers earning high salaries and lifestyles.  Sensing a profound emptiness with their lifestyle, they became “minimalists” downsizing their possessions to the bare necessities.  Their presentation involved what these experiences meant to their newly created lives.  They write a regular blog at their website, The Minimalists. 

According to their research:

The average house has 300,000 pieces of stuff

Just referring to the USA, based upon consumption habits, it needs 4 earths

The USA consumes 13 times what Brazil needs

The USA Consumes what 35 India’s consume

The USA Consumes what 53 Chinese consume

The problem is not consumption but Compulsory Consumption.  People may have a “Just In Case” mentality whereby keeping something or purchasing something is done.  Better to have it and not need it than to not have it.  This leads to hoarding.

Perhaps keeping stuff may contain memories for individuals.  Memories are IN US and not in our things.  For those that give us a sentimental value, keep less rather than more.  Less stuff seems to increase the memories associated with it.  Consume Less Stuff, Produce Less Waste is the model that both Ryan and Josh refer to. 

There was a thought about how might you be a better person with less stuff in your possession.  Are people defined by how much stuff they have or is it the integrity of their character, their values expressed in their behavior.  Another individual thought worth contemplating is why do I purchase an item.  There are very real benefits to a life of minimalism… and increase in time to develop relationships, the need to earn less money, and the personal fulfillment that comes with community service.  A minimal lifestyle leads to a life that is emancipating, lighter, and happier.  Questions to consider before purchases anything involves:

Clutter

What Purpose Served

What is the meaning of the purchase

What is the importance of the purchase

Does the purchase lead one to what the purchaser wants to be

A thought worth considering is the fact that mankind, before the industrial revolution had a minimal lifestyle.  It was only when the industrial society was established that consumption became important.  Parting advice included “look for ways that purchases nourish one’s life”.  The final thought stated “Love People and Use Things and not Love Things and Use People”.

Friday, September 25, 2015

1:00pm to 5:30pm

Carolyn Baker & Maikwe Ludwig

“Encountering Climate Change”

In this pre-conference workshop, there were 10 people total; 6 males and 4 females.  The ages were from approximately 31 years old and up.  Everyone seemed to believe that Climate Change is the critical challenge that mankind faces today.  Baker takes the stand on the very good possibility of Climate Change being an extinction-level event that would affect everyone and therefore the need to prepare for it.  People attended this session for many reasons including to gain a better perspective on the subject, to learn how to cope with the challenges, and to learn how to relate the critical nature of the subject to others in meaningful ways.  Carolyn maintains her own blog – Speaking Truth to Power.

Carolyn Baker started off with an observation; that when it comes to the discussion about climate change, there is usually the accompanying jokes made, an attitude of disinterest in the subject, and perhaps a feeling of normalcy founded on their own economic comfort level.  That this will somehow impact others.  Baker expressed the opinion that Climate Change is a condition whereby no one is safe but we can “look away” and somehow pretend it is not happening.  For believers, it is a hard concept to “keep in your head” or keep conscious in the front of one’s mind.  Perhaps it is a subject where it is hard to look at by yourself…that people may need help from a group that adds to the group conscious. 

Baker talked about her example of living “as if in a hospice mentality” as a way to learning how to live with this condition.  By such personal attitudes, she feels that she can live with her own integrity intact.  Referring back to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross ’ book “On Death and Dying”, she talked about her own stages while passing through her encounter in climate change; Fear, Anger, Grief, Despair, and Joy.  These lead her to her understanding on who exactly is the person she wants to be under this condition.

Maikwe Ludwig talked about the personal feelings of despair which come from a sense of helplessness.  In despair comes surrender and acceptance.  This, Ludwig feels, will lead individuals to a point whereby individuals can mine the gold within.  For under these conditions, we can find the meaning thru every encounter of this great difficulty.  Perhaps it is by grief or despair we can be the warning to others.  Rather than suffering through depression in all of this, it is better to be accepting of the reality.

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JTK:  Some of my personal thoughts during this session involved actively doing something about the Climate Change issue.  My personal perspective involves a soul and spirit which cannot be affected by climate change – the body could very well be affected.  The service we can offer and extend to others could make the difference between personal depression/grief and proactive aid/comfort.  I believe that we are part of the natural world and not separate from it.  To me, this means that the natural world involves more than the physical body – perhaps the natural world of all of God’s creation.

Some things I thought about that could be considered as aid/comfort may involve neglecting the stuff going on resulting from Wrongheadedness, apathy, denial, and hardships, we can take something – anything and make it better.  Build Up/Restore/Enhance/Add Value.  Be the model for other peoples’ witness.

From Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, Community Solutions of Yellow Springs Ohio is hosting the  2015 Climate Crisis Solutions Conference: Tools for Transition.  Several presenters and speakers will be offering ideas and concerns regarding our present state of Global Climate Change as well as present some tools that can be used to address this challenge. For further information on this conference, go to the Community Solutions webpage.

I will be attending all sessions of this conference plus the pre-conference activity - Encountering Climate Change with Ma’ikwe Ludwig and Carolyn Baker.  I am expecting this pre-conference program to set the tone on the subject to the psychology of the individual.  Some of my friends and acquaintances have expressed an interest in this program but for personal reasons cannot attend.  For this reason, I've decided to use this blog to communicate some of the important ideas of the presenters that I heard.  I plan to take notes and then translate them into ideas/comments in this format.  Perhaps this way, readers can grasp some of the issues and information being provided during this event.  I'll try to update this information daily.  If you have any comments on my postings, please do so.  A little warning may be in order though - Blogs are informal was of communicating among people.  Therefore spelling and grammar errors may be encountered.  Please realize that Blogs are meant to communicate ideas and not meant to be literary masterpieces.