Dear friends and colleagues in Southern California,
This Save-the-Dates notice is about three events in the San Diego area. See below.
If you or people you know are interested in starting an intentional community, I’m doing a workshop on starting successful new communities on Oct. 7-9.
(1) “Starting a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community”
Sat-Sun-Mon, October 7-8-9 in the San Diego Area.
Early Bird Discount price is $250 until Oct 1st; it’s $350, the regular price, after that.
On Oct. 14-16 I’m also doing a workshop on Sociocracy, an especially effective governance and decision-making method I now highly recommend for intentional communities.
(2) “Sociocracy for Intentional Communities and Member-Led Groups”
Sat-Sun-Mon, October 14-15-16 also at Terra Corazon in San Diego County.
Early Bird Discount price is $250 until Oct 1st; $350, the regular price, after that.
The West Coast Communities Conference, Friday, Sept 29 – Sunday, Oct. 1 Conference will be held at Terra Madre Gardens, an ecologically sustainable event center (9928 Protea Gardens Rd, Escondido, CA).
About Diana Diana Leafe Christian is an author, former editor of Communities magazine, and an international speaker and workshop presenter on starting new ecovillages, on building communities, on sustainability and Sociocracy. She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, USA. Her popular books include “Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools for Forming Ecovillages and Intentional Communities” and “Finding Community: How to Join and Ecovillage or Intentional Community.”
Conference Theme: Thriving, Not Just Surviving – Fiscal Health in Community
Featuring Keynote Speaker: Diana Leafe Christian, author of Creating a Life Together
Taking off from last year’s theme of economic justice, we are organizing this year’s topics around the subject of equitable and sustainable income and affordability. We have workshops…
Workshop topics and speakers include:
– Financially feasible ways to start Community and ongoing affordability
– Organizing for affordability in less able neighborhoods
– Intentional Business (IB): Kinds of businesses that may be suitable with Intentional Community
– A look at Worker Cooperatives (Collectives)
– Fairness of equitable effort: Everyone pulling their own weight while respecting those less able
– Balancing Intra (local) Economy and Extra (global) Economy
– Alternative Trade Systems: LETS, TimeBank, HourWorld, etc.
– Sources of Funding
The event will be held near Escondido, CA, off Highway 15 between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Community founders and other experts in cohousing and other kinds of intentional communities in California will share what works well, especially in community financial and economic health.
Diana Leafe Christian’s keynote address will be on “Recipe for a Thriving Community: Establishing an Internal Economy with Social Enterprises, Community Labor Systems, and More.”
Workshop presenters include Lois Arkin, founder of Los Angeles Eco-Village and longtime ecovillage activist; FIC Executive Director and longtime Twin Oaks Community member Sky Blue; cohousing activists Raines Cohen and Betsy Morris; and Jonah Mesritz, superstar expert on finding and financing community property and cofounder of Emerald Village Ecovillage.
Panel discussions of experts on healthy communities, and on community financing, and Diana Leafe Christian’s breakout workshop on Sociocracy for cohousing and other kinds of intentional communities.
Call for Volunteers: Help make this year’s event even better. There are several roles we can use help with. People are needed for registration, volunteer coordination, website administration, among others. Those who would like to get involved or for more information, please contact:
Re-envision your neighborhood through storytelling, objects, art-making and play. Investigate your attachment to place and shelter by thinking beyond words by building models to express your ideas about cohousing, intentional community, micro-apartments and tiny homes.
EVENT DETAILS
Date & Time: Thursday, July 27, 2017
from 7pm to 10pm
Place: 3554 West First Street at Bimini Place
enter on Bimini Place
Los Angeles Eco-Village
Los Angeles 90004
Reservations recommended*: 213-738-1254 or crsp@igc.org
Fee: $5 to $20 sliding scale: pay at the door with cash or check (or 3 time dollars)
*or go here to pay electronically
About James Rojas
James is an urban planner, community activist, and artist. He developed this method to make planning visual, tactile and meaningful. Through this method, he has engaged thousands of people by facilitating over five hundred workshops and building over fifty interactive models around the world. More about James and the Place It workshops can be found at : http://www.placeit.org/bio_james_rojas.html and http://www.placeit.org/policy_design.html
Feel free to bring light veggie snacks.
This event sponsored by CRSP in association with the LATCH Collective and the You Are Here: Los Angeles Intentional Community Meet-Up
Empowering change seekers to cultivate lifestyles that regenerate the mind, body, soul and planet through transformative journeys and earth-based education. Our nature retreats blend personal development, permaculture education and spiritual exploration to support regenerative lifestyles and leadership.
Embark on this journey to..
Gain a deep understanding of how to thrive in community.
Be inspired by real examples of soil, water and habitat restoration.
Reconnect with your intrinsic gifts to use them for good.
Uplevel your hard skills through hands on workshops.
Tend meaningful relationships for personal growth, collaboration and fulfillment.
Create life-long friendships with fellow passionate changemakers.
Find clarity to what role you play in the world.
Embody your interconnection with all living beings.
Leave with an action plan for your calling or project.
Participate in on-going support for 1-year after the tour.
“Growing a Movement for Resilient Communities: Broadening, Deepening, and Scaling Up”
Transition members and community resilience builders from across the country are invited to gather in St. Paul, Minnesota, this July to make connections, share knowledge, and generate strategies to bring the Transition vision of resilient, local, connected and fossil-fuel-free communities to life across this nation. With a team of Transition organizers from across the country, and over 50 knowledgeable, dynamic and diverse presenters, this event promises to be inspiring, informative and fun! See below for more information on programming, housing, childcare, and more.
Registration is open and
preparations are in full
swing for this year’s Twin
Oaks Communities
Conference, held as usual
on Labor Day weekend,
September 1 – 4, 2017
We’re putting on the second Los Angeles Intentional Community Summit this Sunday!
It’s for all folks who live in or are interested in community living to get together and create a larger network, to learn about how other communities operate, discuss the issues that affect community life, etc.
Let’s eat some snacks and drink some drinks and get to know one another and our city’s communities.
Where:Sugar Shack, 4402 W Pico Blvd, LA CA 90019
When:Sunday, April 23 at 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Bring: Veggie Snacks and/or drinks to share + non-throwaway plates, utensils, cup
This is a leave no trace event
Please read details to make sure you’re a fit for this event.
Please share it with anyone who might be interested!
THE 2017 NATIONAL COHOUSING CONFERENCE promises an amazing lineup of offerings, from innovative approaches to developing new and affordable communities, to potent ways to enhance our vibrant communities.WE WILL COVER cohousing basics as well as hot topics in sustainability and resiliency in both living green through energy efficiency, shared resources, and greener building, to how community sustains us for measurably healthier lifestyles.
The program will offer a tantalizing soup to nuts menu of session choices—something for everyone: those who are living it, those who are developing it, and those who are just dreaming about it. And with all of that there will still be plenty of time for conversations in the hallways, tours, and fun!
THE 2017 NATIONAL COHOUSING CONFERENCE promises an amazing lineup of offerings, from innovative approaches to developing new and affordable communities, to potent ways to enhance our vibrant communities.
WE WILL COVER cohousing basics as well as hot topics in sustainability and resiliency in both living green through energy efficiency, shared resources, and greener building, to how community sustains us for measurably healthier lifestyles.
The program will offer a tantalizing soup to nuts menu of session choices—something for everyone: those who are living it, those who are developing it, and those who are just dreaming about it. And with all of that there will still be plenty of time for conversations in the hallways, tours, and fun!
Interested in learning how to install greywater systems?
OR
Becoming a greywater installer for your area?
This course will teach you how to design and install these water-saving irrigation systems.
You will learn about the theory behind simple and high-end systems including the indoor use of greywater. We’ll cover basic plumbing and landscaping skills needed for the four types of common simple greywater systems. You will learn how to conduct a site assessment, determine which system to install and how to maintain existing systems. Additionally you’ll learn about what plants do best with greywater and the do’s and don’t of residential greywater reuse. By the end of the course you will know about proper installation of code compliant washing machine, and simple systems under the CA state code.
There will be an optional exam and installation for people wishing to be certified and listed on our website. The “installer’s page” contains contact info for graduates who wish to be listed, as well as an internal list serve for installers to share info, experiences, and get support.
Learn more about the content and see the week’s schedule here.
Location: Los Angeles Eco-Village (117 Bimini Place, Los Angeles, 90004)
What past participants have to say:
My favorite part of the course were the instructors, which I found incredibly knowledgeable and well prepared. I really liked the balance between the lecture and hands-on exercises. As someone who has designed and taught career educational classes, I think this course was designed masterfully and worthy of emulation. Instructing adult learners from a wide variety of levels is not easy. –Dorsey Moore- Principal- Sustainability for All
I really loved it all, it was a great balance of classroom hands-on stuff. The instructors were admirably prepared and incredibly generous. I really appreciate the balance of theory and practice. -Leigh Jerrard- owner of Greywater Corps and architect
Awesome experience, highly recommend it and I admire you both. My favorite parts were the exercises, the groups and the final project because it really showed we had learned. Having it set up this way is genius. Deva Luna- landscape contractor and Designer/Manager at EarthCare Landscaping
The 5 day installer course was amazing! The teachers were both very patient and knowledgeable…. I found it very reassuring that the instructors were teaching systems that they had personally installed. They knew what worked and what didn’t from experience. It was neat to meet such a variety of people in the class such as landscapers, other plumbers and people that just wanted to install their own greywater systems in their own homes… I have gone from being a residential plumber to installing greywater systems and rain harvesting systems full time. I still refer to the useful handout binder that I received during the course when installing a greywater system. I felt very confident installing even the very first system I did on my own. – Brian Munson – plumber (and now a Greywater Action instructor)
Interested in learning how to install greywater systems? 
Cost $650. Limited work-trade positions available
he 5 day installer course was amazing! The teachers were both very patient and knowledgeable…. I found it very reassuring that the instructors were teaching systems that they had personally installed. They knew what worked and what didn’t from experience. It was neat to meet such a variety of people in the class such as landscapers, other plumbers and people that just wanted to install their own greywater systems in their own homes… I have gone from being a residential plumber to installing greywater systems and rain harvesting systems full time. I still refer to the useful handout binder that I received during the course when installing a greywater system. I felt very confident installing even the very first system I did on my own. – Brian Munson – plumber (and now a Greywater Action instructor)