The Ecology of Leadership

Here's a course that could bear repeating in every neighborhood of the nation.

Start: Oct 11 2008 - 9:30am

End: Oct 11 2008 - 5:00pm
Spring 2008: Santa Barbara, CA
Fall 2008: Bolinas, CA

INSTRUCTORS: James Stark and Christopher Kuntzsch

"Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Introduction

As we face the challenges of our changing world, many people are searching for avenues to make a difference - to play a part in transforming our families, communities, and the greater world in which we live. Each one of us has the potential to bring forth our gifts, develop the tools we need to make a difference, and live up to our own leadership potential so we can be of service.

Whether you have prior experience and training, or if have recently felt called to step onto a path of leadership for the first time, this program provides a unique opportunity to deeply explore who you are, who you wish to be, and how you will contribute to others. You will articulate your vision, get in deeper touch with your gifts and develop new tools, routines, mindsets and skills to be more effective in manifesting what you see for yourself and the world.

Curriculum

The program is rooted in the following three elements:

We are nature. We are not separate. The program engages leadership that arises from an intimate relationship with the natural world. The more our leadership sources from our connection with the earth, the more effective we will be as leaders.

Specific Leadership Technology. This element includes valuable skills, habits, and mindsets to improve your effectiveness in areas such as:

• Communication
• Making and Honoring Commitments
• Project management
• Gaining support for your vision from others
• Presentation skills
• Using your time effectively
• Coaching – helping others develop new skills
• Bringing all aspects of your life into harmony
• Our ‘Inner Ecology’ Influences How We Show Up as Leaders. In the program, we will explore how our thoughts, mental models, beliefs, and the stories we tell – both about ourselves and those around us - affect our life and our ability to make a difference in our family, community, and chosen work in the world. As we understand and evolve our inner ecology, we become more effective at manifesting our dreams.

Our ‘Inner Ecology’ Influences How We Show Up as Leaders. In the program, we will explore how our thoughts, mental models, beliefs, and the stories we tell – both about ourselves and those around us - affect our life and our ability to make a difference in our family, community, and chosen work in the world. As we understand and evolve our inner ecology, we become more effective at manifesting our dreams.

Integrating these three elements, you will begin to experience leadership as a dynamic process that translates your awareness and insights - about yourself and the world around you - into effective action towards your intended goals.

On your development journey, you will:

• Design and implement a self inspired project which will give you the opportunity to practice new leadership skills while making a difference in your community.
• Explore patterns of behavior, as well as the thoughts and beliefs you operate from, and determine which of these do and do not serve you in your life and work in the world.
• Receive structured coaching and support from your peers between workshops, as well as from program instructors and alumni.
• Adopt routines to deepen your relationship with the natural world and who you are as a leader.
• Take on practice assignments that will help you develop your personal leadership ecology and integrate the skills, mindset, and routines of the course into your daily life and chosen projects.
• Develop and grow a regional leadership circle during the course of the program. After graduation, this circle will continue to serve and support you on your leadership journey.

As the Ecology of Leadership program unfolds, you will experience leadership as a new way of thinking and being. By engaging the practices and routines offered in the program, you will deepen your relationship to the natural world and, thereby, transform your life and your leadership effectiveness as you navigate through this changing world.

Regional Leadership Circles

A leadership circle is formed at the beginning of each program and is guided by the facilitators until graduation. At this point, the circle becomes independent, remaining dedicated to supporting alumni in continuing to integrate the tools of the program as each leader manifests their vision in their community.

Imagine local and regional leadership circles forming throughout the world – connected to one another and united as one. If you would like to explore the possibility of creating a leadership circle in your community, please contact us to set up a free introductory workshop.

Bolinas Meeting Schedule
The course meets once a month for 1-2 days on select Saturdays and Sundays. We will meet from 9:30am until 5:00pm. The first and last sessions will include a Saturday evening meeting, as well. Participants are welcome to bring camping gear and stay overnight at Commonweal Garden during consecutive meeting dates.

The time commitment for your participation – outside of workshops and the project you will develop - will vary by individual. However, you can expect to spend approximately 6-10 hours per month in peer coaching and engaging in program assignments on your own time. The assignments are designed to integrate into and empower the life that you choose to lead. Please consider your capacity to participate fully before applying to the program.

Course Testimonials

“It is not everyday that one is given the opportunity for deep self-reflection in a supportive, nurturing circle of other emerging leaders as well as two phenomenal instructors. It was an honor and privilege to work with two instructors who are sincerely devoted to each individual’s growth for the overall well being of the planet and its citizens.”

- Kiea Wright, Biologist/Community Activist

“I highly recommend Ecology of Leadership. The curriculum is indispensable for folks interested in working for world healing and transformation. The course taught me a powerful technology for leading from within. It stretched me past longstanding limitations. The practices I learned in the course will stick with me for life. EOL helped me to take more responsibility, to do it effectively and make positive change in nearly every area of my life. The course facilitators are especially insightful, and supportive. In addition, I made new, close friends who now serve as trusted allies in my growth. I regained a sense of connection with Nature in the course as a source of inspiration and guidance. Best of all, my clarity of purpose and creativity for projects I hope to do in my community has expanded. I am more effective as a friend, teacher and counselor, and a lot happier in myself. I would do the course all over again! ” - Michelle Nemer, Health Counselor

“EOL provides tools which can help us uncover and transcend the subtle ways that we stop ourselves from knowing and becoming who we really want to be. These tools require some time, some commitment, some willingness to be uncomfortable or afraid; but they do work, if you use them.” -Lydia Neilsen, Permaculture Instructor

“Ecology of Leadership integrates our inner realm with how we show up in the world. I gained insight into how I operate and how I can turn intentions into action in powerful ways.”

-Colin Spake, Biologist/Community Activist

Insurmountable Opportunities

We're surrounded by insurmountable opportunities. Here's a few that we have time and will to embrace. (Please share...thanks...KJ)

The Bloomington Permaculture Guild has started a Growers Co-op to help us market our goods and services (follow the links below). The market is not limited to vegetables and fruit but can include crafts, plants, baked goods, meat and dairy products, eggs, honey, mushrooms, processed foods, flowers, services, CSA memberships, gift certificates, personal care products, books, pet treats, gift items, candles, art, and more.

In addition to providing luscious food (and training in how-to-grow-luscious-food) we aim to offer classes in a number of subjects related to Permaculture and the Relocalization of our regional economy. Watch for updates about hands-on classes in Cob and Clay-straw architecture to build a chicken coop / rabbit hutch / sauna addition to a greenhouse. There will be another class in Ferrocement Architecture for a Root Cellar / Spring House addition to a 10,000 gallon water tank.

Anticipate classes in Fermented Foods, Home Brewing, Canning, Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants, Plant Propagation, Pruning, Grafting, and much more. Have a skill you'd like to share? Get in touch and we'll create an event to teach others.

Renaissance Farm and Permaculture Center is now producing seedlings and salad greens. We'll be having a BPG fund-raising plant sale on Mother's Day weekend and at least a couple more during the growing season. Annual and perennial flowers, fruiting and flowering trees and shrubs, and vegetable starts will be offered.

Stay tuned....
Keith Johnson

(812) 335-0383

This is the welcome page for the Locallygrown.net site of the Bloomington Permaculture Growers Co-op
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/

To become a member-shopper you may register here:
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/user/new

Members who want to order produce go to this page to see what's available and to place their orders (I've got two products listed so far):
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/market

Our weblog appears on this page:
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/weblog

Q&A page here:
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/faq

This is the page for new growers to sign up. BPG members who intend to join the co-op, PLEASE sign up SOON!:
http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/growers/new

If you want to see what our local market page will look like to shopper-members you can view another market's offerings here:
http://athens.locallygrown.net/market

To see how Locally Grown is helping farmers find happy local customers (and vice versa) go to:
http://www.locallygrown.net/welcome

"PERMACULTURE - FARMING AND LIVING WITH NATURE"

"PERMACULTURE - FARMING AND LIVING WITH NATURE"

LISTEN TO ARCHIVED VERSION - download/open | stream

"Permaculture" or "permanent agriculture" was originally conceived almost 30 years ago by Australian ecologist Bill Mollison. Observing aboriginal culture and forest ecosystems, he conlcuded that we could deliberately design agriculturally productive ecosystems, echoing diversity, stability, and resillience of natural ecosystems.

Permaculture designs provide food, energy, and shelter for people and animal inhabitants while linking the needs and outputs of each element.

Permaculture is a holistic approach to land use, which works with nature's rhythm and patterns, weaving together the elements of microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animal, water and soil management, and human needs into intricately connected and productive communities.

Guests

Gregoire Lamoureux - Kootenay Permaculture Institute/Spiral Farm - The Kootenay Permaculture Institute is located just outside of Winlaw in the Slocan Valley of British Columbia. Gregoire is a permaculture designer, consultant, and teacher. He has worked with permaculture systems for over 15 years and taught courses in many parts of Canada. He taught the permaculture design course as a Summer Session at the University of Manitoba in 2005. Gregoire is on the Board of Directors of the Slocan River Streamkeepers and has served on the Board of Seeds of Diversity Canada for seven years. He is a founding member of the Kootenay Organic Growers Society. He has written for Natural Life Magazine. He has been a guest lecturer at the BC Organic Agriculture Conference, and the Guelph Organic Agriculture Conference.

Peter Bane - Publisher, The Permaculture Activist - North America's leading (and the world's oldest) permaculture periodical. Based in Bloomington, Indiana, since 1985 the publication has informed on permaculture design, edible landscaping, bioregionalism, cooperative action, aquaculture, natural building, earthworks, renewable energy and more.

"Mineral Deficiencies—and Their Fall Out"

Wondering why our nation's peoples are so obese, in poor health, popping vitamins and drugs like candy? They're f**king STARVING...on FULL STOMACHS...because the soil ain't what it used to be...AND we're still losing topsoil at a rate exceeding the Dust Bowl era!

And, when you consider that one year's production of urine from a moderately healthy person is enough to provide all the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (and more) for ONE ACRE of garden or orchard, it begins to seem not merely stupid but suicidal. Especially when that same nutrient flowing to the sea is causing huge oceanic dead zones and toxic algae blooms. DUHHH!
See Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants at the Permaculture Activist website. It's a golden opportunity, go with the flow, urine charge. Pee Here Now!

This table was recently published in Acres, USA.
Read Neal Kinsey's essay (PDF) on soil minerals here.
THIS is why I buy rock dust soil amendments for my garden. Search for local mineral sources here.

"Mineral Deficiencies—and Their Fall Out," by David Thomas, D.C
Full details at: www.mineralresourcesint.co.uk/research.html
Average Mineral Content of Food—1940-1991
Fruit	Loss
Sodium	29%
Potassium	19%
Phosphorous	(2%) (gain)
Magnesium	16%
Calcium	16%
Copper	20%
Iron	24%
Vegetables	Loss
Sodium	49%
Potassium	16%
Phosphorous	(9%) (gain)
Magnesium	24%
Calcium	46%
Copper	76%
Iron	27%
Meat	Loss
Sodium	30%
Potassium	16%
Phosphorus	28%
Magnesium	10%
Calcium	41%
Copper	24%
Iron	54%
Vegetables	Loss
Runner beans	Nearly 100% of sodium
Watercress	93% of copper
Carrots	75% of magnesium
Broccoli	75% of calcium
Spring onion	74% of calcium
Swede	71% of iron
Spinach	60% of iron
Potatoes	47% of phosphorous
Fruit	Loss
Orange	67% of iron
Avocado	62% of sodium
Strawberry	55% of calcium
Melon	45% of magnesium
Passion Fruit	43% of potassium
Raspberry	39% of calcium
Blackberry	35% of calcium
Rhubarb	32% of phosphorous

After viewing this table it should be incontestably obvious why we must remineralize our soils. We are literally starving on full stomachs from food grown on depleted soils. Obesity, degenerative and immune-deficient diseases are DIRECTLY related to mineral shortfalls in our diets.

See http://www.ohioearthfoods.com

Also http://attra.ncat.org/new_pubs/attra-pub/orgfert.php?id=Minnesota for regions pertinent to folks on this forum,
and http://attra.ncat.org/new_pubs/attra-pub/orgfert.php?id=Wisconsin

When I first learned about remineralization in the late 70's, it was from these folks in Massachusetts http://www.remineralize.org/
http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php/Mineral-Products/
http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php/A-Rock-Dust-Primer

Also see http://www.uoguelph.ca/%7Egeology/rocks_for_crops/

Pathways to Local Food Systems

Pathways to Local Food Systems

A presentation by Robert Waldrop to the 2nd US Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions,

This list it is not a cookie-cutter recipe but rather a map of pathways and routes towards creating a local food system.

FORM AND FUNCTION FOLLOW THE FOOD

What's important about this is the food - where does it come from? How is it produced? How does it get from producer to consumer? Everything depends on that. In the agribizness system, food follows form and function. Tomato varieties are selected not because they taste good, but rather because they can be harvested while still green by machines, shipped long distances, and then gassed to turn red. Taste and nutrition are secondary issues. That's why supermarket tomatoes taste like watery moosh.

LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS GROW OUT OF PERSONAL CHOICES

The place to start is with your own kitchen, your own food choices, your own diet. Personal and household choices about where and how we spend our grocery money and kitchen time are fundamental to the design of the local food system.

WE START SMALL OR WE DON'T START AT ALL.

Nobody can revolutionize their household diet and local food economy overnight. But everybody can find someplace to start. Where that starting point is is less important than the fact that a person get started.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Supermarkets gather knowledge for customers. You don't have to research what is available, you just look on the shelf. Thus, one of the most important local food structures is an information directory. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative began initially as a simple directory on the internet. That directory grew out of my own personal research into local sources for basic foods.

BE WILLING TO EMBRACE CHANGE.

A local food system is about distributing basic foods; it does not look like Wal Mart. Don't expect the "convenience" offered by manufactured foods. While the process is not always easy, the change that the "permacultured kitchen" brings to your household is uniformly positive. The food will be more nutritious, it will taste better, and you will feel better about your work in the kitchen.

EAT WITH THE SEASON.

Real life has rhythms and seasons, and so does food. We have learned by sad experience that by extravagant expenditures of energy and oppression we could have summer salads in winter, but what does this willingness to oppress third world farmers say about our personal and social moralities? As the seasons change, winter food from the local food economy will be different from summer food.

BE TEMPERATE IN YOUR SELECTION OF FOODS.

The virtue of temperance is the practice of balance - not too much, not too little, just the right amount. A local food system offers a wealth of regional tastes and food delights, but without lusting for the gluttony of the on-demand agribizness food system. Be wary of eating foods that are unsustainably harvested, such as ocean fish, and products with a high degree of environmental degradation and social injustice in their production, such as non-fair trade certified coffee and chocolate.

PREPARE YOUR MEALS FROM BASIC INGREDIENTS.

The permacultured kitchen in a local food system offers meals prepared from basic ingredients. Not everybody has these skills in the beginning, but people can develop better food preparation practices so that using basic ingredients fits into the urban lifestyle. I once complained to my grandmother that I couldn't make a decent pie crust. She said, "Bobby Max, the problem is you haven't made enough pies. When you have made 100 pie crusts, then you will be able to make a great pie crust as quick as a whistle."

DEVELOP THE ORGANIZATION AND SYSTEMS OF YOUR KITCHEN.

Look at the whole system, and see it as an organic whole rather than just a jumble of disparate elements. The question isn't "what do I have for dinner tonight", but rather, "what am I eating this season? Where does the food come from?" People with a lot of experience in permacultured kitchens might be able to get by without planning their meals, but that doesn't describe most of us, especially in the beginning. Planning menus and the acquisition and preparation of the ingredients are necessary design opportunities.

USE ENERGY AND RESOURCES FRUGALLY. WASTE NOT, WANT NOT!

Never use a garbage disposal, compost all kitchen waste. Get some worms, they will eat your garbage! Install an on-demand water heater and/or solar water heating system. Ditch the dishwasher machine, electric can opener, and garbage compactor. Buy wind power electricity if it is available from your utility. Get a manual defrost refrigerator and a separate chest freezer. Never buy paper towels, paper napkins, or disposable plates and utensils, use cloth towels and rags and natural sponges like luffas. . Make your own non-toxic kitchen cleaners or buy all-natural products made in your local area. Install grey water recycling and rainwater harvesting systems.

LEARN HOW TO PRESERVE AND PROCESS FOODS AT HOME OR IN COMMUNITY KITCHENS.

Our household likes "cheese whiz", but we don't buy it, we make it from real cheese we buy from a farmer. We like roasted peanuts, so we buy peanuts in season from farmers and then roast them all year long. We don't buy cut-up chicken, we buy whole chickens from farmers and cut them up ourselves. We grow our own fruit, and make jams, jellies, salsas, pickles, condiments.. During produce season, you can often find good buys on large quantities of produce. Buy extra and preserve it for winter eating. Tools and equipment can be owned by individual households, but community and religious organizations can also purchase such equipment and make it available in community kitchens. Many food preservation and processing tasks are easier when done by a group.

BUY LOCALLY PRODUCED FOODS.

Stay out of supermarkets as much as possible. Buying foods from local farmers is the urban permaculture equivalent of Zones 3 and 4. To facilitate this in our area, we helped organize the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, whose producer members sell Oklahoma foods. Our household gets 80% of its food either from local farmers or from the gardens on our former yards. Locally produced foods may sometimes cost more than the manufactured foods of the supermarkets, but overall we aren't spending any more for food now than we were back when we bought everything at the grocery store. Then we bought prepared & packaged foods, now we buy basic ingredients. For items simply not available from a local market, seek out organic sources, and if imported, look for fair trade certification. If this increases your costs, then use less of these imported foods (coffee, tea, bananas, chocolate, citrus fruit, etc.) .

NEVER BUY MEATS FROM CONFINED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS.

With a very few exceptions in certain regions, all meats in supermarkets originate in Confined Animal Feeding Operations, and every dollar spent for them subsidizes a terrible food production system that creates much social and environmental evil. Access to local and natural meats and poultry is a major challenge for urban residents. One solution to the higher cost of locally produced meats is to "eat less meat" - set limits to your personal consumption. Eat less expensive cuts - more ground meat than roast or steaks. With farmer-direct meats, the more you buy, the better the price. This is an incentive to build community. Four households could go together and buy a whole beef from a farmer, or a whole pig. Where would you find someone willing to sell a whole beef? Start by asking at the farmers market, look for phone listings for "custom butchers" in rural towns (they usually keep a list of farmers willing to sell meat directly to the public). Look for red meats that are 100% forage fed and free ranging. People who can't access natural meats raised in the local area should consider vegetarianism. People who buy eggs, meats and poultry from grocery stores should not kid themselves about the animal cruelty and environmental degradation made profitable by those food choices.

PRACTICE FOOD STORAGE AND DESIGN FOR ECONOMY.

Every household should design for catastrophe. There are a hundred things that could happen in a heartbeat that would disrupt the steady flow of trucks to and from warehouses and grocery stores that feed our urban areas. A well-stocked home pantry is an essential aspect of family and community food security in the event of disruptions to the food distribution system. A well-stocked home pantry is also an enormous convenience in today's busy world. It can easily take an hour to drive to the store, park, hike across a 40 acre parking lot, navigate a crowded and poorly organized store, stand in line at the checkout, hike back across the acreage to the automobile, and then drive home - just to get "a few things for dinner". Store what you eat - and eat what you store.

GROW AT LEAST SOME OF YOUR OWN FOOD.

We live in an urban central city, we have about 1/7th of an acre with a duplex, small house, sidewalks and driveway. Even so we manage to cultivate more than 100 different varieties of useful or edible plants on our former lawns, 2/3rds of which are perennials. We do not aim for self-sufficiency on our property, instead, we grow foods that (in our opinion) produce a lot of value for the space they need - 23 different organic fruits, 28 varieties of herbs, hot peppers (6 varieties), cooking greens (mustard, kale, chard, spinach, collards), and lots of alliums (garlic, onion and garlic chives, walking onions, multiplying onions, Welsh onions). This year we designed and planted tomato guilds of basil, chives, petunias, marigolds, pansies, horehound, asparagus, bee balm, hot peppers, and borage with our tomatoes. We don't raise wheat or corn because of space constraints and our easy access to these products through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. People without land can join community gardens, and it is entirely possible to raise food on concrete using containers. This year we are growing potatoes in buckets!

LOOK FOR A VARIETY OF STRUCTURES

A local food system produces a variety of foods, and thus we expect that there will be a variety of structures that produce and distribute that food. A short-list includes: on-farm or in-town vegetable stands operated by individual farmers, farmers' markets, fairs, Community Supported Agriculture/subscription programs, cooperatives, and other forms of direct sales from farmers to customers. Minimize extra costs by embracing direct relationships between farmers and urban residents.

DON'T LET THE PERFECT BECOME THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD.

Nobody goes from 100% bad food choices to 100% good, better, or best choices overnight. But procrastination is equally problematic. Wholes are made from parts, and if you can't see the total solution in the beginning, step back and pick one thing that you can understand and do that. Then look at your situation again and do something else. Everyone can find something to start with and that's where each person should begin. One thing leads to another, and before a person realizes that time is passing, permaculture has been transformed from an esoteric science to a lived reality in their kitchen.

Peak Oil Prep

Peak Oil Prep: Prepare for Peak Oil, Climate Change and Economic Collapse
By Mick Winter
How you can help your family, neighborhood and community prepare for Peak Oil, climate change, and economic collapse. A practical handbook of ideas, suggestions, and book and Internet resources.

Carolyn Baker - Speaking Truth to Power
"From my perspective, anything we can do to build lifeboats for ourselves and our loved ones as we move closer to collapse is essential. Mick Winter's Peak Oil Prep is a powerful and practical guidebook for doing just that...Winter has provided us with a superb manual containing the basics of preparation for a world which seems both inevitable and not that far in the future."

Robert Rapier - The Oil Drum
"A user's manual for sustainable living with lots of practical tips and links to additional resources. Will help you save money and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle while lowering your ecological footprint. A good book for anyone trying to live sustainably."

EnergyBulletin.net
"A summary of the many ideas floating around, with the theme of individuals preparing themselves for peak oil and similar events. Author Mick Winter takes a reasonable, moderate tone in presenting the information and references. The book would be most useful for newcomers to the field and might make a good textbook for a short course."

New Internationalist Permaculture Issue

The whole NI issue is now online free of charge at http://www.newint.org/issues/2007/07/01/

101 things you can do about peak oil & climate change

1. Recycle (everything)
2. Refuse (plastic bags, excessive packaging, poor quality food)
3. Re-use (everything many times until its worn out, get creative)
4. Rethink (what you know, learn new skills for the future)
5. Repair (as much as you can, don’t just throw things away)
6. Reconnect (with nature and where your food comes from)
7. Reduce (your consumption)
8. Reclaim & rehabilitate (damaged areas)
9. Regulate (yourself, your consumption)
10. Request (use your consumer power to make changes)
11. Review (your energy use, your attitude and your progress)
12. Re-skill (learn ‘lost’ survival skills)
13. Make a conscious effort to use less natural resources - THEY ARE FINITE and will run out
14. Understand that fossil fuels are used to produce almost everything we use – and how it will change with energy descent. *Read David Holmgren's Permaculture; Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability
15. Buy local – food, products, services – everything you use has transportation costs attached to it
16. Only eat locally grown organic food
17. Eat in-season food (it tastes so much better)
18. Eat less meat (refuse Contained Animal Feedlot Operation-raised, hormone-fattened, antibiotic-laced meat)
19. Turn electrical appliances and lights off when not needed - be aware of "phantom" electrical use from devices that are always on, like TV's
20. Water your garden late in the afternoon or early morning when the sun is off your plants and water only when needed - water less often but deeper
21. Establish composting and worm farming systems to sequester carbon and reduce the amounts of valuable materials going to landfill and producing methane gas
22. Organic matter holds 90 percent of its own weight in water – add organic matter to your soil to turn it into a water-holding ‘tank’ that needs less watering
23. Buy fair trade products
24. When making a decision, apply permaculture principles of - care for the earth, care for all species and fair share
25. ’Check in at the check out’ - ask yourself what is a real need and what is a 'want'.
26. Question where things come from and what goes into making them before you make your purchase – use your consumer power
27. Use grey water in the garden on fruit trees
28. Mulch your garden – never, ever leave soil exposed to the sun, wind, rain and evaporation
29. Use compost, worm castings and green manure crops as fertilizers for your soil – don’t buy commercially manufactured, petro-chemical based fertilizers
30. Become informed, aware and educated
31. Collect the renewable resources we currently have more effectively (water, sun, wind)
32. Plan for a future where weather events are more intense (eg heavier rain events but fewer of them), turn down the heat in your garden with food trees and more useful trees.
33. Relearn the skills of the past for the future (food preservation, manual skills - repairing things)
34. Plan for when oil and all the things in the world that are produced using oil are more expensive and harder to get
35. Switch to the green power option on your electricity bill
36. Switch to solar, hydro or wind energy
37. Install a composting toilet (don't use between 3 gallons of quality drinking water to flush away 1/2 cup of urine - use urine in the garden)
38. Install a system that uses grey water in the toilet tank
39. Re-use every resource you have multiple times
40. Use public transport, pedal power, walk or car pool
41. Buy a smaller, more fuel efficient car
42. Turn the thermostat on your heater (or air conditioner if you have one) up (or down) one degree (this will give you a 10 per cent improvement in energy consumption)
43. Take fewer air flights
44. Offset your carbon emissions
45. Install energy efficient light bulbs, taps and shower heads
46. Take shorter showers, get a showerhead with a shut-off so you can turn off the water while soaping and shampooing, put a bucket in the shower to catch water for flushing toilet.
47. Don't wash your car - just keep the windows clean so you don't crash!
48. Use water frugally and respect each and every drop
49. Buy energy efficient appliances – check their star rating
50. Buy clothes that don’t need ironing
51. Grow your own food using organic methods – build season extenders: greenhouses, cold frames, hot boxes
52. Resist any attempt to restrict the use of household water to grow food, Let the lawn die but keep the garden growing.
53. Understand that agriculture uses 70 per cent of all water
54. Growing food at home uses one fifth of the water used in commercial growing and the amount of fuel used to get food from the farm to your table is greatly reduced
55. If you can't grow your own, buy into Community Supported Agriculture programs
56. Support local industries
57. Develop local networks and buy organic food in bulk
58. Create shade in your garden to reduce watering and around your home to reduce summer cooling costs
59. Establish major earthworks (swales, ponds, terraces, etc) now while we have the fossil fuels to run the machinery
60. Sign petitions that call for real solutions and local action to work toward a better future
61. Attend rallies and show your support for immediate and urgent action
62. Meet with local politicians and ask what they are doing - put pressure on them to act – one hand written letter equals 100 votes to them
63. Join local groups - relocalization, permaculture, community gardens, organic growing, etc network, network, network – learn, learn, learn
64. Support community groups who are working toward a sustainable future - the answer to global problems will not come from the people who caused them in the first place.
65. Support your local community gardens – volunteer or become a financial member, attend meetings, contribute your knowledge, time and skills
66. Attend film nights and learn what is happening around the world
67. Take a Permaculture Design Course!
68. Support businesses that are behaving ethically
69. Invest your money ethically
70. Visit the David Suzuki Foundation websites and see what is being done
71. Get involved in tree planting - native species in the right location
72. Read Tim Flannery's book The Weather Makers
73. Read Affluenza by Clive Hamilton or watch the video
74. Audit resources coming into your home and resources (a.k.a. waste) going out
75. Donate money to worthy causes that support community based solutions to these problems
76. If you have time - volunteer your energy and skills to causes that support community based solutions to these problems
77. Use fewer disposable products and more reusable ones
78. Buy the best quality hand tools you can afford
79. Join your local environmental group and attend talks, seminars, workshops
80. Use whatever skills you have from your working life or hobbies to spread the word (writing, photography, computer skills)
81. Knock on your neighbor's door and take them some produce from your garden
82. Teach - if you have skills others need, teach them.
83. Spend less - every dollar has greenhouse gases attached to it
84. Stop using chemical cleaners - make your own at home from sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, washing soda, etc
85. Install a water tank or two to catch rainwater.
86. Save as much gasoline as you can by walking, biking or planning your trips more efficiently
87. Teach your children to appreciate the natural world - get out into it
88. Teach your children life skills for a more sustainable future
89. Support permaculture gardens and permaculture curriculum in local schools
90. Offset your fuel emissions
91. Add lots and lots of organic matter to your soil – it draws carbon from the atmosphere and returns it to the soil
92. Garden and kitchen waste sent to landfill produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas – don’t put plant waste in your rubbish bin – compost or mulch it
93. Learn more about the ‘food miles’ your food has attached to it – demand supermarkets show food miles on their fresh produce
94. Design you home so you don’t need air conditioning and use solar passively to reduce or eliminate heating
95. Buy furniture made from sustainably-grown timber or recycle old furniture
96. Buy from butchers or farmers who supply organic, grass-fed or bio-dynamic meat
97. Buy clothes made from sustainable fibers – such as hemp or bamboo
98. Take advantage of community banks that offer discounted loans for ‘green building’
99. Use garden safe laundry detergent and re-use your laundry grey water on the garden
100. Read and subscribe to magazines such as Permaculture Activist, Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening (don't buy them at the store - it takes gas to get there and they cost more)
101. Celebrate, support and propagate diversity.

I will be contacting the Cable TV folks at the library to see about sponsoring (or cosponsoring) further broadcasts of Peak Moment TV
for which I provided 4 episodes last year.

I will also be looking into getting trained to use their equipment to produce other shows of local interest for which I would like to have BPGuild and APPLE (and other local org) sponsorship.

If you would like to get involved in producing our own television show, contact me. To that end I am interested in finding out who on the BPG list has video cams or equipment since anything we produce on CAT's equipment belongs to them whereas if we use our own we can keep the copyright.

Thanks,
Keith

Keith

Blog launch , Dec 22, 08

This blog will be authored by Keith Johnson, Peter Bane, Rhonda Baird and other members of the Guild who express interest in doing so. Please contact Keith to have your email address added to the list of permitted authors.