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Community Building - Solutions Forum
Confront the Problem With the Solution
November 14th, 2003
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The Green Bloc announces a free Community-Building Solutions Forum,
Wednesday, November 19 from 10am - 5pm in downtown Miami. The inspiring
workshops being offered are described below. Space is limited so please
respond with the workshops that you wish to attend listed in order of
preference. The sooner you email, the more likely there will be space
for you in this visionary event.
---------------Morning--------------
10am - 1pm
Permaculture: Ecological Design as Direct Action
Facilitated by Starhawk
Another world is possible, but what would it look like and how would we feed ourselves? The principles of Permaculture lend themselves to designing sustainable systems, whether they are gardens or mobilizations. Starhawk shows slides illustrating Permaculture in actionófrom the ecovillage installation done by the Green Bloc in Cancun to the urban transformations of City Repair in Portland.
Starhawk is the author or co-author of nine books including ìWebs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. She has taught Permaculture and political action around the world and co-teaches Earth Activist Training in Sonoma County, CA.
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10am-11:30am
Urban Agriculture and Collective Farming
Facilitated by S'ra DeSantis
This workshop will be interactive and focus on two themes: urban agriculture and collective farming. We will discuss methods of urban farming and the benefits of collectivizing. S'ra will present the model of the Intervale Foundation, which is an organic farming community in Burlington, Vermont with 10 farms, 140 community gardens, and a large-scale, city-wide composting project.
S'ra DeSantis is an organic vegetable farmer in Burlington, Vermont with the Diggers' Mirth Collective Farm. She serves as the farmer representative on the Board of Directors at the Intervale Foundation. In the off-season S'ra works with Institute for Social Ecology's Biotechnology Project as the campaigner for a GE-Free Vermont.
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10am-11:30am
Effective Consensus Process
Facilitated by Daniel Solnit
Consensus is not just a decision-making process; it is a value system based on shared power, radically different from our dominant culture and unfamiliar to most of us. Consensus works as well - or as badly - as we understand and live those values in our work together. Come learn how to make your consensus meetings empowering, effective, and possibly even fun! Workshop includes overview, prerequisites, step-by-step process, common problems and issues, exercises and discussion. (Handbook on consensus
& facilitation will be available for $3-5 requested donation.)
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11:30am-1pm
Equalizing Power: Healthy Group Dynamics
Facilitated by Daniel Solnit
We can recognize and override the social conditioning and dysfunctional
patterns that often derail our meetings and undermine our organizing if
we understand where they come from and how to deal with them
effectively. Learn tools and techniques for: self-facilitation and awareness; equalizing power and participation; dealing with difficult behaviors; and developing shared leadership, trust, and effectiveness.
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10am-1pm
Fair Trade
Facilitated by Eric Rubin
This workshop will focus on understanding the social and ecological impact of trade. It will look at how we can create trade that can truly be of benefit to people and the earth.
Eric Rubin is the Coordinator of the Florida Fair Trade Coalition.
----------Afternoon------------
2pm-3:30pm
Eco Bloc Beyond Miami: A Strategy & Networking Session
Facilitated by Doyle Canning
Eco-bloc is a tactic for sythisising an ecology movement embedded in the global justice movement. We will talk about the need for an eco bloc, the herstory of the eco bloc, and the vision for eco bloc in 2004 and beyond. Plug into the eco bloc for the longer haul. Letís build a movement to save our planet!
Doyle Canning is the organizing director at the biotechnology project at the Institute for Social Ecology.
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2pm-5pm
Biofuels and Sustainability
Facilitated by Logan
Let's stop a minute and think critically about biofuels. What are the advantages of different biofuel systems, from burning straight waste vegetable oil to mass-produced Biodiesel? How can we build an alternative economy around grease and Biodiesel that doesn't support the capitalist system, big business and government?
Logan teaches folks of all ages about Biodiesel and the advantages of biofuels, and drives her car on straight vegetable oil.
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2pm-5pm
Alternative Education
Facilitated by Tim Desmond
This workshop will explore the ways that adults interact with young people and how those relationships are reflected in politics and economics. Using the reflection between education and government, we will explore ways of learning that foster peace and egalitarianism.
Tim Desmond has worked as a teacher at Hilltop Childrens Center in Seattle, WA and as a researcher at Shikshantar: The Peoples Institute for Rethinking Education and Development in Udaipur, India.
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3:30pm-5pm
Building Sustainable Local Economies
Facilitated by Daniel Solnit
Transition Strategies to a Post-Corporate Society. Most activism focuses on either challenging globalization or on making personal choices to live more sustainably. Neither will succeed if we keep supporting the corporate economy with every dollar we (and our organizations) earn, spend, or invest. By shifting key economic sectors of our local communities out of the corporate system and into green alternatives, we
can effectively build a new, socially just and ecologically based
economy and help ease the transition as the empire collapses.
Presentation and discussion on how renewable public power, community
currencies, co-ops and CSAs, buy-local campaigns, SRI regulations for
local governments and pension funds, and other strategies can move your
community toward a new economy and provide a model for others.
This event will plant the seeds of knowledge needed to build the better world we envision! |
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