CoG MerryMeet - Crossroads 2009
Your Subtitle text
Page 2 Workshops and Presenters
Ed Ayres

Former Editor of World Watch Magazine and author of
God's Last Offer: Negotiating for a Sustainable Future

Ayres, editorial director of the environmental group Worldwatch, sees the world's recent spate of natural and economic disasters all stemming from human degradation of the planet. Hurricanes, floods, droughts, and the collapse of Asian economies, Ayres argues, are the result of four interconnected threats: the rise of carbon gas emissions, increasing extinctions of plant and animal species, an unsustainable rate of consumption, and an ever-growing human population. Together they have not only altered our weather patterns (e.g., global warming), they have put unbearable stresses on national economies, resulting in foundering currencies and roller-coaster financial markets. Ayres delineates several of these connected environmental and economic catastrophes, such as the drying of the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from Texas to South Dakota and provides irrigation for America's breadbasket. But this isn't scaremongering. Objective and detailed, it's must reading for all concerned about the fate of Earth and its inhabitants.

Ayers is currently completing his next book due out in  Spring 2010. In this latest  examination of the world today, he examines the flawed concepts of current economics and what must be done to shift from the accepted economic paradigm to one that posits a viable and sustainable model not dependent on diminishing planetary resources.


Food Not Bombs - Keith McHenry, Co-Founder

Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry is a dynamic, inspiring and experienced public speaker with a wealth of knowledge about the global movement Food Not Bombs. He helped start Food Not Bombs when he was a 23 year old college student. Today the U.S. Sate Department lists him among one of America's 100 most dangerous people. Keith addresses about a number of things including community organizing, nonviolent civil resistance, poverty and hunger, disaster relief, alternative media, human rights, homelessness, domestic surveillance and the history of the peace and social justice movements.

Food Not Bombs is one of the fastest growing revolutionary movements and is gaining momentum throughout the world. There are hundreds of autonomous chapters sharing free vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. This energetic grassroots movement is active throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Food Not Bombs is organizing for peace and an end to the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. For nearly 30 years the movement has worked to end hunger and has supported actions to stop the globalization of the economy, restrictions to the movements of people, end exploitation and the destruction of the earth.

Food Not Bombs is often the first to provide food and supplies to the survivors of disasters. During the first three days after the 1989 Earthquake, Food Not Bombs was the only organization in San Francisco providing hot meals to the survivors. Food Not Bombs was also the first to provide hot meals to the rescue workers responding to September 11th World Trade Center attacks. Food Not Bombs volunteers were among the first to provide food and help to the survivors of the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Our volunteers organized a national collection program and delivered bus and truckloads of food and supplies to the gulf region. We were one of the only organizations sharing daily meals in New Orleans after Katrina. Food Not Bombs is now preparing for the economic crash organizing Food Not Lawns community gardens, housing the homeless with Homes Not Jails, organizing additional meals each week and starting new Food Not Bombs chapters.



Welcome to Abundant Harvest Organics!

 

Just like many of you, our family, the Petersons, has been on a journey to live and eat healthy. Which, much to our dismay, we discovered is extremely expensive to accomplish.

 

We decided that that was unacceptable especially if we had the ability to improve this struggle for enhancing health. Thus, our desire for affordable, chemically unaltered food led us to develop Abundant Harvest Organics. We have uncovered an approach to natural food distribution that will deliver organic produce at conventional prices within  hours of harvest.

 

Who We Are

Abundant Harvest Organics is an alliance of small family farmers in Central California dedicated to growing superior organic produce and getting it to you in the simplest manner possible; that is, without the use of chemicals or packaging materials. We grow locally and supply locally, cutting the need for expensive and wasteful fuel and packing resources.

 

Here is what we do best:

  • Organic produce only; we don't substitute!
  • Unparalleled taste; varieties are chosen and harvested for taste and nutritional value rather than shelf-life and aesthetics
  • Superior quality and value; fairly priced significantly below retail value of same product from grocer
  • Locally grown; investing in our community’s people, its resources, and its physical, as well as economic health
  • Fresh, fresh, fresh; from the soil to your dinner table in a day!

 

Vernon Peterson - Noteworthy Farming, Organic Style, AHO Founder


Stroll onto the Peterson Family Farm and you'll feel the song of work; the buzz of farm activity, the tractor rolling through the rows, and a melody... a bit of an old hymn, sung by owner, Vernon Peterson, as he moves about his ranch. If there is a man that is characterized by a musical note, a beaming smile, and an open heart, it's Vernon Peterson, who with his wife, Carol, son, Erik and daughter, Heather, form The Peterson Family Farm.


The Petersons have owned and farmed this land for many years. In 4 generations they’ve only moved a quarter of a mile! “I've been farming for 31 years; I started at age 5, out in the field, grading cannery peaches, across the street from where I live now. My dad farmed tree fruit, grapes and chickens. We all pitched in that's just how a family farm works. I never thought of my dad as having a different occupation from me! We all just worked the farm.”

 

When his dad died, Vernon took over the farm. “After 10 years of farming, we went broke... started over completely in 1985”. Vernon then built a packing shed that runs all summer; like so many farmers, he had to do something to supplement the farm income in order to keep the ranch. In the last 30 years he has put 100% of his effort into maintaining his family farm and all his growers, and has, for years, felt a heavy burden to not only steward his farm, but to help his neighbors be successful.

 

Vernon, “These guys are working 2 and 3 jobs to keep their family farms alive! About 3 years ago, I felt there was a wall of impossibility in front of me. I asked myself, How can I help the growers not only survive, but thrive!”

 

Vernon flashes a big grin. “About that time I sensed an opportunity with organics. I talked to the growers about transitioning between conventional farming and organic, a 3 year term in which yields will decrease by as much as 25%, while the farmer gets paid only at the conventional rate. It takes guts to make a move like that.”  

 

He and his growers have made the change and couldn't be happier about it. Abundant Harvest Organics is the creation resulting from taking the produce from the soil to the dinner table in the simplest possible way. Says Vernon, "We don't need the packer, the warehouse, the salesman, the driver, and the grocer...that leaves a way for people to get the finest, fresh organic produce at a good price, while keeping the family farm profitable. Everybody wins!"

 


Ars Terra: The ongoing transformation of a typical suburban house into a Sustainable Homestead

The mission and focus of Ars Terra is to educate the public about Whole Living; the path of living in complete harmony with our environment and all living creatures.

We are currently involved in the conversion of our ordinary suburban tract home into a Sustainable Homestead, which will serve as a suburban model and demonstration site. Our primary tool to this end is the positive, solutions-oriented holistic design science of Permaculture.

We can learn valuable lessons from the study of ecosystems: intricate communities of plants, animals and microorganisms. All life depends on the cooperation and interaction of ALL species. As beneficial insects are necessary for pollination of crops, worms and microorganisms are necessary for fertile soil.

 

One of the principles of Permaculture is that of Multiple Functions: each element in your design performs multiple functions. e.g., A tree provides summer shade, fruit for food, and habitat for birds. It also builds the soil by fixing nitrogen, and provides microclimate in the form of acting as a windbreak, thus enabling plants around it to grow.

"We are changing an ordinary suburban house into a Sustainable Homestead."

William Faith is a dedicated activist in the fight for the rights of animals, care of the earth and social justice, as well as a musician/songwriter, audio engineer and producer. Upon discovering permaculture in 2005, the nature of his artistry and activism changed for the better, both finding a confluence in permaculture. Shortly after completing his certification in permaculture design at the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm in Tennessee in 2006, William co-founded Ars Terra, a sustainable homestead project in Palmdale, CA. and has continued his study in permaculture, stewarded by friend and mentor Scott Horton. William is a permaculture practitioner, designer and apprentice instructor, and co-sponsored/co-coordinated a permaculture design course at L.A. Eco-Village in 2007.

Monica Richards is a singer/songwriter, as well as a multi-media/graphic artist, writer, organic gardener and animal caregiver. Monica's main research, writings and artwork are centered on world-wide Matriarchal mythological themes, and all the different faces and seasonal personalities they possess.


Cynthia Nunes Robinson

 

Cynthia is an avid home gardener with over 15 years experience in caring for fruit trees and vegetable gardens organically. As a wife and mother, she grew concerned with the safety of our food supply and the price of organic produce. Unemployment and a tight financial spell further enforced a need to be more self sufficient. In 2004, with the help of her wonderful husband, Cynthia designed and renovated their 2,500 sq ft backyard in Rancho Cucamonga, California, into an edible landscape complete with 22 dwarf fruit trees, grape vines, berries and over 22 varieties of vegetables. Growing them organically was a no brainer: plants are like people, they thrive and resist pests and diseases when they are healthy and well fed.

 

She began hosting "Lets talk dirt" sessions with friends and mothers in her playgroups and giving tours of her garden to help inspire and educate on how to start their own gardens.  In 2008, she launched the Inland Empire Organic Gardening Meetup Group on meetup.comInland Empire.  A 6 month stint of living in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles led to various workshops from Cal-Poly Pomona, local garden centers and joining many Internet based "Urban Homesteading" communities.  which has since grown to over 100 members across the

 

In 2009, Cynthia completed training as a Master Gardener through the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Los Angeles and is currently a Master Gardener in San Bernardino County. She is currently hard at work back in the Inland Empire as a volunteer helping the Rancho Cucamonga Community Gardens Project open the area's largest community garden to date in 2010. 

 

Cynthia lives in Ontario, California with her wonderful husband Christopher, 2 beautiful children, and a crammed organic container garden on her balcony. 

Ron Frank, D.H.M., D.I.Hom. Homeopath Transforming your Health

Ron currently has a well-established practice in Palmdale, California for the past 17 years.  Ron has been trained extensively in/and practices Homeopathy, Gemmo-therapy (plant stem cell therapy), and Nutrition.  Ron feels these natural non-medical therapies represent the safest yet most effective holistic therapies available today. 

Ron has lectured extensively in the U.S.A. and Canada on homeopathy. Ron is campaigning to rid our society of the idea that disease is a monster, which attacks and destroys our health. This erroneous view leaves us no hope but to attack the monster disease with harsh lethal toxic warfare while destroying ourselves in the process. Instead, Ron strives to teach people to understand and take responsibility for their disease. When people become responsible for their own well being they often find it unnecessary to continue their life-long course of destructive medications, repeated surgeries, or even herbal supplements they had previously thought would be necessary for mere survival, and/or comfort.


What is a Transition Town (or village/city/ forest /island)?


Here's how it all appears to be evolving...


It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?


They begin by forming an initiating group and then adopt the Transition Model with the intention of engaging a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a Transition Initiative.


A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:

  • "for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"


After going through a comprehensive and creative process of:

  • awareness raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon
  • connecting with existing groups in the community
  • building bridges to local government
  • connecting with other transition initiatives
  • forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics & livelihoods, etc)
  • kicking off projects aimed at building people's understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement
  • eventually launching a community defined, community implemented "Energy Descent Action Plan" over a 15 to 20 year timescale

This results in a coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life that strives to rebuild the resilience we've lost as a result of cheap oil and reduce the community's carbon emissions drastically.


The community also recognizes two crucial points:

  • that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the down slope
  • if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.


Final point

Just to weave the climate change and peak oil situations together...

  • Climate change makes this carbon reduction transition essential
  • Peak oil makes it inevitable
  • Transition initiatives make it feasible, viable and attractive (as far we can tell so far...)

Transition Los Angeles City Hub

Transition in the vast Los Angeles basin is happening via a network of local groups that we call "pods." Some of these local pods are organized within geographic neighborhoods; others have been founded around already-existing gathering points within the community (even if people have to drive to get there). Local activities include awareness raising, holding re-skilling classes, creating physical projects, and forming working groups.


Transition Los Angeles is a city hub to coordinate communication between the local pods, host transition trainings and education, and tackle area-wide issues.

 

Language - the Power to Transform our Planet


Every day we use language to communicate emotion, ideas, connect with people, influence and shape our lives. But do we really understand the power of language and what is possible? Whether written, spoken or signed, how and what we speak sends ripples into the universe. Language is the single most powerful tool humanity has to cause change, when used responsibly. We do have the power to change - ourselves, our communities, our countries, our environment, our world. Learn to be at cause in your life, not the victim of circumstances.


Workshop Presenter: Linda Baustian


Linda Baustian has been a coach for more than 10 years, assisting people to reach their goals in life through transforming their use of language, creating new possibilities for the future, and producing results. She invites people to rethink their assumptions of what's real, the current paradigm they live in, what's possible in breaking out of that paradigm, taking responsibility, being accountable, and how language affects everything around them.


She is committed to transforming how children are being fed, teaching them how to cook for themselves and living healthy lives, economically, responsibly, and in harmony with the planet.


She and her husband, John, are in production of a new web-TV instructional cooking show, designed to engage children's imaginations, inspiring them to eat the foods they love using natural, organic, healthy ingredients on a budget.


Their show intends to teach basic to advanced kitchen skills, how cooking can be fun and easy, how to create a food budget and feed themselves and their family.


Karen Tate

 

An independent scholar, speaker, radio show host, published author, and sacred tour organizer, Karen's body of work blends her experiences of women-centered multiculturalism evident in archaeology, anthropology and mythology with her unique academic and literary talents and travel experience throughout the world. Her first book, Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations has garnered prestigious endorsements, such as from Stephen Gerringer of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.  Her second book, Walking an Ancient Path, Rebirthing Goddess on Planet Earth, was a finalist in the National Best Books of 2008 Awards in the spirituality category. Tate's work has been highlighted in the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times and other major newspapers.  She hosts her own radio shows, Voices of the Sacred Feminine and Earth's Sacred Places. 

 

She is a new speaker with the Center for Partnership Studies, founded by Riane Eisler and Karen has just become an associate with the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Her published articles have appeared in both domestic and international publications since 1995. She is a member of the International Women's Writing Guild. Sacred tours she has led and organized have itineraries that circle the globe and through A Special Journey Travel, she continues bringing the like-minded to sacred sites to experience the joy of purposeful travel.  

 

An ordained minister, independent scholar of the Sacred Feminine, and graduate of The Women's Thealogical Institute, specializing in Goddess and Women's Spirituality, Karen's particular emphasis is on the roles of women and the study of comparative religions and ancient cultures in a modern or reconstructed context

 

An Adepta within the International Fellowship of Isis, Karen was ordained by one of the founders, Lady Olivia Robertson, at Clonegal Castle in Ireland.  More than a decade ago, the author began the Iseum of Isis Navigatum, a hearth of the Goddess within the FOI, which continues to fulfill her calling to help mid-wife the rebirth of the Divine Feminine in contemporary society.


Animal Acres

Acton, California

 

Animal Acres was founded by Lorri Houston, who is considered the "pioneer" of the farmed animal sanctuary movement. In 1986, Lorri co-founded Farm Sanctuary, which opened the country's first sanctuary for farmed animals. For 18 years, she directed the group's rescue and fundraising efforts.

 

Through her farm animal sanctuary efforts, Lorri has directly saved thousands of animals from the cruelties of factory farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses, and brought national attention to the plight of animals used for "food production." Lorri's work has been featured in hundreds of newspaper, television and radio news stories, including guest appearances on CBS This Morning, Animal Planet, and PrimeTime Live.

 

The sanctuary is a refuge for animals, and a sanctuary for the soul. Farmed animal sanctuaries are a place where cows, pigs, and chickens reach out and touch the human heart. The "animal ambassadors" gently teach people to extend compassion to ALL beings through one-on-one interaction. For many people, it is the first time they have ever looked into the eyes of pig or chicken, and it can profoundly affect the way people view and treat farmed animals.


Dancing With Gaia: a new feature length documentary by Jo Carson

 

Dancing With Gaia is about our connection to earth energies, sacred sexuality and the earth seen as Gaia.

The first thing you might like to do is to look at the trailer to see what Dancing With Gaia is about.  A synopsis is here, too. 

 

Synopsis

Many adults cannot recall the feeling of lying belly down on the earth, or harvesting plants as food. Many of us also feel disconnected from our basic right to experience joy in sexuality.


Earth energies, sacred sexuality and the living earth as Gaia are deeply connected, and  Dancing With Gaia shows how they can be personally experienced.


At the meeting place of these ideas is a profound insight on how we can shift into Gaian consciousness.  Filmmaker Jo Carson traveled throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and the US, filming the sacred sites of ancient earth-centered religions. She interviewed fifteen visionaries who explain how to release the constrictions that keep us from experiencing the earth as part of our own body, and give us tools to begin personally feeling the life of the planet.

 

http://www.gaiadancing.com/trailer.html


Web Hosting Companies