Bioregional "Biocurriculum"!

Hello bioregional activist, organizer, artist, elder and/or enthusiast,

At the last Continental Bioregional Congress at Earthaven Ecovillege in 2005, the CBC Coordinating Council was charged by the congress to begin working on a bioregional curriculum, which could be piloted (at least in part) at the next congress. Participants at the last congress felt it
was essential to develop bioregional tools that could transit what we've learned and what we have to offer for a vividly-changing world. The need has only grown in the last four years.

VISION: Our vision was to develop something akin to the permaculture certification -- perhaps an 80-100 hour curriculum comprehensively embracing bioregional theory and practice, and set up in such a way that local communities could infuse the curriculum with local wisdom and traditions.

PROCESS: Our process was to first develop this in collaboration with the Coordinating Council, and representations from the next congress' site committee, and then widen the circle to get input from people like you!

After May 15, 2009, we will share this blog page with the larger bioregional listservs, websites and social networking sites to help raise energy for the next congress and for the curriculum.

WE SEEK YOUR INPUT: We ask you to visit http://Biocurriculum.blogspot.com, where you can see the goals for the curriculum, the curriculum structure, a draft for piloting a 16-hour introduction to the curriculum at the next congress (Oct. 3-10, 2009 at The Farm -- www.Bioregional-congress.org), and questions for expanding this curriculum to an 80-100 hour program in the future. Note that the structure for both the short and longer curricula will be the same--just more details and place-specific information will be added to the longer version. We know that many of you have vast experience in bioregional, social ecological, environmental and related education, and we humbly ask for your suggestions, clarifying questions, feedback, etc.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: Once the 16 hour curriculum is piloted at the next congress, and while it's being piloted, all interested people (including any and many of you, we hope!) can meet to help us further develop the full curriculum, and then the infrastructure to carry it out into the world and seed it widely, including ways it can be widely offered through many organizations, individuals, institutions and communities.

We seek to create a curriculum that would dovetail with and/or build on some of the work many of you are already doing in bioregional education as well something many of you can integrate into your educational offerings on bioregionalism.

At the website -- www.Biocurriculum.blogspot.com -- you can leave comments, or you may email any comments to us at this email (Caryn will pass all comments onto the curriculum committee). And if you would rather share your comments by phone, just drop Caryn a line, and she'll call you. Letters are also welcome: 1357 N. 1000 Rd., Lawrence, KS. 66046.

With great love for the beautiful earth,
Ken Lassman, Caryn Mirriam-Goldbeg & Jennifer English for the CBC coordinating council and CBC X site committee

Rocket Stoves Rock!

Permaculturist Paul Wheaton just sent me a link to this new video featuring the extremely fuel-efficient build-it-yourself rocket stove / mass heater. It offers, in Paul's words, "A compilation of 12 rocket heaters, 8 video clips of rocket mass heaters, 2 video clips of pocket rockets, 1 picture from the cover of the book on rocket mass heaters and one drawing from me making a feeble attempt to explain what these look like. And look! A peek at the author Ianto Evans!"



You can watch several other rocket stove videos on YouTube here.

Congresses of the past: in photos

A Farm for the Future

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family's wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land.

But last year's high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is. Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

The following from Tree Hugger:

Film Maker Explores Post-Oil Farming
Last week I wrote about a BBC documentary which I hadn't seen, but the green scene in the UK was all a flutter over. A Farm for the Future explores nature film maker Rebecca Hosking's return to her small family farm and her search for a post-fossil fuel agriculture. I've since seen the film, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in food and farming - come to think of it, I'd recommend it to anyone who eats. But for those without the time or means to watch it, Rebecca has also written an excellent article in the Daily Mail newspaper about her quest for truly sustainable agriculture.

Rebecca's work (who incidentally is also responsible for a plastic bag ban in her home town!) is not just remarkable for the content she is covering - but the venues in which it is being aired too. To have a half-hour documentary devoted to peak oil, agriculture and alternatives like forest gardening and permaculture appear on prime time BBC is a telling sign of the times. But to also have an article in the Daily Mail - hardly the bastion of environmental radicalism - is dynamite.

There is no doubt in my mind that Rebecca is opening a lot of eyes to the unsustainability of our present food system. Take this excerpt from Rebecca's conversation with permaculture guru Patrick Whitefield [Disclaimer: Patrick is a former teacher and friend of mine]:

But it will work only if we have a lot more growers. Some reports estimate it's going to take as many as 12 million, although currently we have 11million gardeners. A food-growing system based on natural ecology appeals to my naturalist side. But the farmer's daughter in me needed a bit more convincing. Could permaculture feed Britain? I asked Patrick Whitefield, Britain's leading expert in permaculture.

'Good question,' he said. 'A better question would be, "Can present methods go on feeding Britain?" In the long term, it is certain that present methods can't because they are so entirely dependent on fossil-fuel energy. So we haven't got any choice other than to find something different.'

The more permaculture people I met, the more hopeful I became that we can find a way out of this mess if we start preparing for peak oil now.

Along the way, Rebecca also meets Ben and Charlotte Hollins - the brother and sister team who now run the innovative Fordhall Farm in Shropshire - and talks about their nature-based no-till pasture system; she talks with peak oil experts Richard Heinberg and Colin Campbell; visits Martin Crawford of the Agroforestry Research Trust and explores the small holding of Chris and Lynn Dixon - who have pioneered their low input, biodiverse permaculture-based land management techniques in the hills of Wales for years.

For folks like me who have long followed permaculture and other sustainable, but often marginalized, food movements, it's really incredible to see voices like this getting a wide and receptive audience. Now we just have to see how many folks are willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and start planting.

April 18-19 Transition Training in Bloomington, IN

Transition Town training answers the question: How can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?

Four Key Assumptions of the Transition Initiative Process:

• That life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable, and that it’s better to plan for it than be taken by surprise.
• That our communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany peak oil.
• That we have to act collectively, and we have to act now.
• That by unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our energy future, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching and that recognize the biological limits of our planet.

Learn from experienced trainers Michael Brownlee and Lynette Marie Hanthorn, certified Transition Trainers and co-founders of the first official Transition Initiative in North America.

Saturday & Sunday, April 18 & 19, 2009
City Hall Council Chambers, Bloomington City Hall, Bloomington

This workshop fulfills the training requirement for initiating local Transition groups.

Learn now, apply your skills here, take it with you. Be ready to foster Transition wherever you go.

Cost $225. Deadline April 6. If extra space is available, late registrations will be $250. Some partial scholarships.

For registration or information: transitiontraining@permacultureactivist.net 812-339-0383

Join us for a free viewing of these films at Monroe Co Public Library Auditorium:

Tuesday March 24, 7 pm: "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash"
Thursday April 9, 7 pm: "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"

Find the Ecovillage where you are...

Good news from friend and colleague (once long-term editor of Communities Magazine and author of Creating A Life Together and Finding Community) Diana Christian (and previously fellow ecovillager at Earthaven) who writes (at her excellent new website, Ecovillage News):

I’m publishing Ecovillages as a free, bimonthly newsletter in order to encourage and inspire ecovillage projects with news about what ecovillages are doing worldwide. People seem to love photos and stories about how others are succeeding in good work. Ecovillages will bring you stories about successful projects in every issue, and practical, how-to information, too.

From six to eight articles will appear in each issue, in a variety of topics. Here are the kinds of articles and ongoing columns you'll find:

1. The ecovillage movement
   • Ecovillage conferences & gatherings
   • Ecovillages in the News
   • Profiles of ecovillage activists
2. News about individual ecovillages worldwide
3. Practical ecovillage tools:
   • Communication skills, decision-making, governance
   • Permaculture, natural building, appropriate technology
   • Legal, financial, & zoning practices
4. “Ecovillagers Write” (letters to the editor)
5. “Book & Video Reviews”

I’m especially keen on stimulating more interest in ecovillages in North America, ideally with news of what people are doing elsewhere. You’ll find stories about ecovillage projects in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, South America, Australia and New Zealand, southern Asia, China, and Japan. (We’re everywhere!)

Financial Permaculture WIKI Downloadable Docs

Financial Permaculture WIKI

Collected Documents from the Financial Permaculture Course in Hohenwald TN

Team Documents and Presentations

• Business Incubation Team Documents (3 files) and Incubator Presentation
• Farm and Food Team Documents (9 files) and Farm and Food Presentation
  • LocallyGrown.net Presentation
  • Documents from Bob Waldrop (6 files) about the Oklahoma Food Coop and how to permaculture a kitchen.
• Ethanol Team Documents (24 files) and Ethanol Presentation
  • PESCO-BEAM Conference Documents (40 files)
• Natural Building Team Documents (6 files) and Natural Building Presentation

General Financial Permaculture Documents

• Business Templates and Guides (12 files)
• Financial Permaculture Documents (11 files)
• General Presentations (6 files)
• Simulation in Hohenwald (2 files) and Simulation Presentation
• Financial Permaculture Summary Presentation

Other Financial Permaculture Resource Sites

• The Financial Permaculture Blog has posts from the event and beyond (still actively posting).
• The Solari Toolkit for financial permaculture
• The financial permaculture social network at Living Mandala.
• Green Eyes is a wiki site dedicated to gathering active permaculture resources.

Financial Permaculture: What Is It?

Financial Permaculture from Greg Landua on Vimeo.

When Money Has No Value...Make Your Own

Creating Currency For A Resilient Local Economy
from Financial Permaculture

By Crystal Arnold

Imagine a world of sufficiency where needs are met through a web of local relationships, where meaningful exchanges circulate goods and services independent of the availability of national dollars.

One of society’s most common misunderstandings about money is that it is an object, when it is actually an agreement of trust. According to Lewis Lapham, author of Money and Class in America, “Money ranks as one of the primary materials with which mankind builds the architecture of civilization.” Economic textbooks describe money according to its functions—a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a standard of valuation. Money itself is actually a symbol of exchange that carries value through agreement only. What would the numbers in our bank account be worth if no one would agree to accept them in exchange for goods or services?

In my view money is a social interface of provision, a tool for engaging with others to satisfy needs. As many people uncover their own behaviors and attitudes about money, they realize the way they relate with money is often the way they relate with most everything in life. Lyn Twist, in her book Soul of Money, writes, “Money is a current, a carrier, a conduit for our intentions.”

In dozens of communities across the United States, complementary currencies (CCs) have become powerful tools that generate resilience in local economies. CCs are created in a variety of forms including time hours, mutual credit systems, precious metals, and even seed or energy-backed coupons. Like national currency these new CCs are not mere coinage, they are a whole system of value transaction, exchange of credit, and agreement of mutual trust.

Complementary currencies exist parallel to the national currency, and, by design, fulfill a different role. CCs enable relationships and behavior to develop to match unmet needs with under-utilized resources, providing a way for people to engage in the local economy that is not limited by their access to dollars. Because diversity is a key element in resilient systems, which are able to adapt to change and reorganize wisely, these new exchange mechanisms reflect an evolving economic strategy of regions to encourage trade of local goods and services. New avenues of transaction open as latent human energy is accessed. Southern Oregon has a large elderly population and high unemployment rates, a CC would provide these populations with a means to plug into the local economy. Jeff Golden, local author and radio host, said recently, “Complementary currencies are at the heart of a localization movement.”

Read the rest of the article...

10th Continental Bioregional Congress

JOIN US!

Oct 4-11, 2009 for the 10th Continental Congress at The Farm

Bioregionalism embraces the struggle to preserve, restore and enhance the life of the places that constitute the planet. Since 1984 bioregionalists have been gathering in congresses to envision and develop a realistic, restorative way of life in the bioregions of the Americas. We set our own agendas, operate by consensus and build a common commitment. Grand times and good friendships are only the first fruits. At bioregional congresses, we live in community, concern ourselves with the things that matter, and return home informed and inspired. We earnestly invite the participation of all, especially those actively employing ecological precepts in the many movements and endeavors necessary for the human species to reinhabit the bioregions of the Americas and of the whole Earth.

Click here for more info

Summary

The
Congress Site

Proposed Program

Workday

Pre- and Post- Congress Offerings

Children

Planning for the Congress

Registration, Costs, and Contact Info

Donations

More Information?