Talent Show at the LA Ecovillage Community Hub: Sat. Dec. 11, 2021 from 2 to 4:30pm Free

C’mon out and enjoy some music, poetry, comedy, fun and schmoozing:

WHAT:   Talent Show.  A variety of acts with talented neighbors.

WHEN:   Sat., Dec. 11, 2021 from 2 to 4:30pm (show starts at 2:30)

WHERE:  LA Ecovillage Community Hub, 3554 W. 1st St. at the corner of Bimini Place

WHY:  For fun and connection, event is held outdoors, but please be vaccinated, We’ll also share some of the latest tips for saving energy and water.

FREE EVENT

brought to you by a grant from the LADWP

 

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Does Your Building Heal or Hurt? a talk about toxics and human health in our living and working spaces with BuroHappold’s Kathleen Hetrick

Can sustainable buildings be considered healthy if they only focus on the health of building end users? Based on her experience with a local Living Building Challenge, the Santa Monica City Services Building, will share how toxic materials in the building industry not only impact the health of building end users, but also the health of construction and manufacturing workers, first-responders, and frontline communities.

EVENT DETAILS
Date & Time:     Friday, January 10, 2020 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm
                             Veggie potluck at 6:30; talk starts at 7:30pm
                              Please bring your own dish, cup, utensils to make this a
                              zero waste event

Location:            Songs at Los Angeles Eco-Village
                             3554 West First St., Los Angeles 90004
                             Enter on Bimini Place.

Fee:                     $5 to $20 (sliding scale ok; no one turned away
                                                for  lack of funds)

Reservations please:  crsp@igc.org or 213-738-1254         

 

About Kathleen Hetrick
Kathleen is a senior sustainability engineer at BuroHappold Engineering. She combines her passion for sustainable design with her background in Architectural Engineering to identify opportunities for more equitable solutions in product supply chains, building operations and organizational transparency. She has gained experience through a wide range of cutting-edge technical projects as both an engineer and a sustainability consultant, including work on LEED Platinum projects, Living Building Challenge projects, historical adaptive reuse, WELL certification and university carbon neutrality plans. She is also co-facilitates BuroHappold’s Diversity and Inclusion Forum, spearheading outreach initiatives to encourage K-12 students to pursue sustainability-focused careers in STEAM.  Kathleen is a member of the four person BuroHappold Engineering team that has been providing visionary engineering work for the eco-retrofitting of the Songs property.

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L.A. Co-op Lab Annual Mixer – Saturday June 1, 2019 from 8 to 11pm at L.A. Eco-Village

Games Drinks Bites

The L.A. Co-op Lab invites you to join us for our annual mixer on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at the Los Angeles Eco-Village.

Celebrate the growing network of co-operators advancing worker ownership in L.A. We will meet each other, play games, and eat and drink nice things. Have a favorite game you’d like to play at the party? Email adriana@lacooplab.com and we’ll make it happen.

All proceeds benefit the L.A. Co-op Lab and support our mission to build capacity for worker ownership in Los Angeles.

More info and registration here

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“The Longest Straw” an award winning film by L.A. Eco-Villager Samantha Bode, Friday, June 8, 2018 at 7pm at L.A. Eco-Village (north end)

The Longest Straw draws a connection between the water that supports a city and that water’s source. Samantha Bode, director, moved to Los Angeles and immediately fell in love with the abundant sunshine, the warm air, and the exotic plants of Southern California. But, she noticed within the city of Los Angeles the plants were very much like her native North East Pennsylvania. Green grass and tall trees grew everywhere, but there was no obvious source of water and it rarely ever rained. Where did all the water come from?

Samantha embarks on a journey up the Los Angeles Aqueducts and the Mono Extension, the original source of Los Angeles’ imported water. During one of the worst droughts in California history, Samantha laces up her

boots and sets off at the Los Angeles Aqueducts Cascades in Sylmar, CA. The audience follows her north and east for 65 days as she struggles through the rugged terrain of the Mojave and Great Basin deserts and loses herself in the shadow of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. She speaks with historians, community leaders and local residents, as well as employees of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the operators of the city’s aqueduct. Through Samantha’s inquisitive nature, the audience gains a deeper understanding of the economic, ecological, and societal impacts of water importation and deportation on communities, as well as the future of Los Angeles’ water.

The Longest Straw emphasizes the need for more local water sources in Los Angeles through reuse and conservation, storm water capture, native landscaping, and grey water and black water education and treatment. The aqueduct can be viewed as a microcosm for ecological and resource struggle around the world. Too often in the world of instant gratification humans mistake temporary abundance for never-ending supply. The Longest Straw heightens awareness that the resources that civilization uses to thrive and survive are often shared by various communities; human, animal, and plant. By working together, humanity can ensure the future of reliable freshwater for all.

EVENT DETAILS
Date & Times:      Friday, June 8, 2018
7pm:        Veggie potluck (zero waste event: bring your own non-throw-away eating ware)
7:45pm:   Intros and announcements
8:00pm   Screening: “The Longest Straw”
9:30:        Q&A, discussion

Location:
3554 West First Street
Los Angeles Eco-Village – north end
Los Angeles 90004

***Please note: We have changed our location to one building north of 117 Bimini in the north end of Los Angeles Eco-Village ***

   ****Enter thru gate on Bimini Pl. just south of First St.*****

Fee:        Fee:  $5 to $15 donation* (self selected sliding scale or 2.5 Time dollars to CRSP.   Pay your cash donation at the door or make checks out to “CRSP”
NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS

GETTING HERE:
Please walk, bike or use our multi-billion dollar transit system.

Driving? Parking may be difficult.

Biking?  Please park your bike inside the yard at the event space

Directions:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/3554+W+1st+St,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90004/@34.0728044,-118.292883,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2c7668aba9a0b:0xae768a55056c278b!8m2!3d34.0728044!4d-118.2906889?hl=en

 Samantha “Sam” Bode

About Samantha Bode:
Sam  is a film and television maker and lives in the Los Angeles Eco-Village where she actively demonstrates low impact living patterns and a high quality of life. Throughout the 10 years of her career, she has had the wonderful opportunity to be creative in a range of programming, from shows about Africa and it’s descendants, to short news pieces produced by at risk youth in the Los Angeles area, to documentaries about creating your own reality through open source projects and urban farming. The Longest Straw is her first film directing endeavor and is winner of the 2017 New Urbanism Film Festival Best Healthy Cities Film. When not making films or attending Eco-Village meetings, Sam can be found exploring the vast landscapes of  the American west and south west.

 

Los Angeles Eco-Village is celebrating its 25th anniversary all year long.
Plan to attend more events featuring the work of our  creative and activist members.

 

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Earth Day Tea in the Street at L.A. Eco-Village: Sunday, April 22, 2018 from 2 to 5pm

Traffic calming tea in the intersection of Bimini and White House Place. circa 1993

As many of you know, LAEV has a long history of traffic calming activities. Tea in the intersection of Bimini and White House Place was a fairly frequent traffic calming activity back in the early to mid 1990s.  In those olden days, we did it just to meet neighbors who were always in their cars.  They would slow down and roll down their windows and ask, “What are you crazy people doing in the middle of the street?”

And we would enthusiastically reply, “Well we never get to meet you and other neighbors because you’re always in your cars, so why don’t you park and come have some tea with us.”  And often they did.

 

Now we have an equally important reason for neighbors and friends to come have tea with us in the intersection:  we want you to sign our petition to get big polluting delivery trucks to relocate their delivery service on Vermont instead of Bimini.  Often these trucks are lined up 3 and 4 at a time on Bimini with engines running, waiting to get into the Bimini-facing delivery dock for Seafood City.

So please walk, bike or bus on over on Sunday, April 22, 2018, between 2pm and 5pm to:

  • Just hang out with us, and
  • Sign the petition, and
  • Meet more neighbors, and
  • Share what your favorite planet saving activities have been this year, and
  • And what you plan for the coming year.

Please bring your own cup.  We’ll provide the tea, sun shade, and cookies.

EVENT DETAILS
Date & Time:       Sunday, April 22, 2018, come anytime between 2 to 5pm
Location:              The intersection of Bimini and White House Place in Los Angeles Eco-Village, LA 90004
Bring:                    Your own non-throwaway cup
Admission:           Free, no reservations needed, come anytime between 3 and 5pm.

Los Angeles Eco-Village is celebrating our 25th Anniversary all year long:  1993 to 2018.  Come hang out with us and share your stories about your experiences here.

 

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Explorations in Nature – Closing Public Reception Sunday, April 29 from 3 to 5pm at L.A. Eco-Village

Free admission, NO reservations needed.
Refreshments.

Come celebrate the conclusion of this 8 week workshop and the beautiful work of the participating children.

Sunday, April 29, 2018 from 3 to 5 pm at
L.A. Eco-Village
117 Bimini Pl
Courtyard
Los Angeles 90004

Explorations in Nature is a unique 9 week art program for children 3 through 8 and their parents or guardians that use the visual arts to develop deeper connections between children and their experience of the natural world.  This program is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs and CRSP in association with the Urban Soil-Tierra Urbana Housing Co-op and the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust.

Led by Artist in Residence Sylvette Frazier, creator of Connecting Children to Art in Nature, classes feature emphasis on creating art in an eco-conscious format, culminating with a public exhibition and collaborative nature weave.

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Overview: Sociocracy for Ecovillages and Other Kinds of Intentional Communities – Sunday, March 18, 2018 from 4 to 6:30pm at L.A. Eco-Village

In Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Eco-Village

 

In a lively presentation with hands-on exercises, Diana Leafe Christian will present an overview of Sociocracy, an especially effective governance and decision-making method she now recommends highly instead of consensus for ecovillages and other kinds of intentional communities, because of the wonderful benefits. When used correctly, communities have experienced better meetings, getting more done, being better organized, and a stronger sense of connection between group members. This Sociocracy overview will give you a sense of what Sociocracy is and how it works. However, people learn how to _do_ this method and apply it in their community in a 3-day Sociocracy training, which Diana will do here May 19-21.

EVENT DETAILS

DATE & TIME:
Sunday, March 18, 2018 from 4pm to 6:30pm

LOCATION:
Los Angeles Eco-Village
117 Bimini Pl. – Community Room #201
Los Angeles 90004

FEE:
$5 to $15 sliding scale

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
crsp@igc.org
or
213-738-1254

*Sociocracy (also called Dynamic Governance) is a system of governance using consent decision making and an organizational structure based on cybernetic principles (a system with closed feedback mechanisms). Sociocracy has been advocated as a management system that distributes leadership and power throughout the organization.

Watch for Diana’s three day Sociocracy workshop at L.A. Eco-Village, Sat-Sun-Mon,  May 19, 20, 21, 2018

 

 

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Ecovillage Social Enterprises/Cottage Industries — Why We Need Them! Sat., March 17, 2018: veggie potluck at 6:30; slideshow/talk at 7:30pm with Diana Leafe Christian at L.A. Eco-Village

In Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Los Angeles Eco-Village

Diana Leafe Christian through a lively presentation and slide show, will show how large, well-established communities have established healthy community economies through supporting individual members’ cottage industries  — “social enterprises” — and by encouraging their members to earn, spend, invest, and, when possible, even save money onsite, and how smaller and newer communities can do the same. Inspiring success stories as well as cautionary tales from ecovillages worldwide, including Crystal Waters in Australia, the Farm in Tennessee, Dancing Rabbit in Missouri, EcoVillage at Ithaca in New York, Findhorn in Scotland, Earthaven in North Carolina, and of course our own Los Angeles Eco-Village.


EVENT DETAILS
:

DATE & TIME:
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Veggie Potluck at 6:30pm*
Talk begins at 7:30pm
* please bring your own non throw-away eating ware to make this a zero waste event

LOCATION
Los Angeles Eco-Village
117 Bimini Place – Lobby or Community Room
Los Angeles 90004

FEE:
$5 to $15 sliding scale

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
mailto:crsp@igc.org
or 213-738-1254

 

About Diana

Author, former editor of Communities magazine, and nationwide speaker and workshop presenter on starting new ecovillages, on building communities, and on sustainability, Diana lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, She has said that living in an intentional community “is the longest, most expensive, personal growth workshop you will ever have.

She’s authored two books designed to help people who want to join or start their own ecovillages or other intentional communities,

In her book Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools for Growing Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, she uses success stories, cautionary tales, and step-by-step advice to cover typical time-frames and costs; the role of founders; getting started as a group; vision documents; power, governance, and decision-making; legal structures; finding and financing land; zoning issues; sustainable site plans; selecting new members; and good process and communication skills for dealing well with conflict.

In Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, she covers researching, visiting, evaluating, and joining communities.

More about Diana and her wide reaching influence on the intentional communities movement here

 

 

 

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Sociocracy for Intentional Communities with Diana Leafe Christian – Sat-Sun-Mon 5/19, 5/20, 5/21/2018*

EVENT DETAILS:

DATES AND TIMES: 

All three days: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, May 19, 20, 21 2018:  
9am to 5:30pm with ample breaks and lunch break.  Write Lois for a summary outline of the three days, if you are considering attending: crsp@igc.org

Lots of small group work and playfulness.  Guaranteed fun workshop.

All three days:

Breakfast:  Coffee, tea, fruit served 8:30 to 9am
Lunch on your own from 12:30 to 1:30:  A list of good inexpensive restaurants within a five minute walk will be provided or bring a brown bag and have a relaxing lunch in the gardens.

LOCATION:
117 Bimini Place – Community Room #201
Los Angeles 90004
Los Angeles Eco-Village

FEES:
$200 to $300 sliding scale

Please let us know if members from your  group plan to attend:
Lois <crsp@igc.org> or 213-738-1254

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED and space is limited:
Contact Lois at 213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

About Diana:
Diana Leafe Christian is an author, former editor of Communities magazine, and an international speaker and workshop trainer on starting successful new ecovillages, how existing communities can be healthy and thriving, and community self-governance. She now suggests communities not use pure consensus, but rather use a modification like the “N St. Consensus Method,” or use Sociocracy, a relatively new self-governance and decision-making method.  She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthhaven Ecovillage in western North Carolina, USA.

She’s the author of:
Creating a Life Together Practical Tools for Starting Ecovillages and Intentional Communities (New Society Publishers 2003)
Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community (New Society Publishers 2007)

Here’s a 1-minute video in which a Permaculture trainer highly recommends her work.
Comments of community members using Sociocracy successfully . . .* “People are happier and more satisfied and getting more things done.”
Laurie Nelson, Pioneer Valley Cohousing, MA* “People tend to have more energy after a meeting than before.”
—Hope Horton Hart’s Mill Ecovillage, NC* “We’ve made more decisions in the past two months than in the past two years!”
—Davis Hawkowl, Pioneer Valley Cohousing * “It’s very clear what I commit to do; both inspiration & accountability go up.”
Bill Baue, Pioneer Valley

* “We now organize committees in a way that we were never able to do before.”
—Marie Pulito, Rocky Corner Cohousing, CT

* “Information flows better, and we have better follow-up to our decisions; our meetings are faster and lighter and have a rhythm that feels satisfying.”
Anamaria Aristizabal, Aldeafeliz Ecovillage, Colombia

* “People feel heard and supported.” —Mike April, Pioneer Valley

* “A visitor said she’d never seen a community meeting be so effective, efficient, and fun!”
—Hope Horton, Hart’s Mill Ecovillage

* “I would never have joined the community if we didn’t use Sociocracy; It’s our saving grace.”
—Kreel Hutchison, Baja BioSana Ecovillage, Mexico

 How my Sociocracy trainings are different

Since 2012 I’ve been teaching Sociocracy for intentional communities — and visiting communities using it and I’ve learned what works well for people to learn Sociocracy effectively.

The workshop provides enough instruction to get started in using Sociocracy in forming or existing intentional communities or member-led groups, with ongoing help & training materials.

The workshop now includes:

* Simultaneous visual/verbal presentations with colorful, step-by-step drawings.

* Many small-group discussions for a shared learning process.

* Lively “Hobbit Skits” to introduce the Sociocracy meeting processes by seeing, hearing, and doing.

* Laughter and fun.

* Large wall posters of each meeting process. (I provide templates of these for each group in the workshop to make these wall posters for their group.)

* Abundant practice sessions “to learn in your bones and cells”

* A comprehensive 45-page handout booklet for workshop review and reference.

* All training materials in a Google.doc: the entire handout booklet, workshop exercises, templates for each wall poster, scripts for each Hobbit skit, and many additional handouts.

* Ongoing consultations by phone, Skype, or email about how  workshop participants can implement and use Sociocracy. (No charge; included in the workshop fee.)

     * “I got so much more than I expected — a solid understanding of how Sociocracy works and how to begin teaching and implementing it in my community. I feel so empowered! Your workshop is a 13 on a scale of 1-10.”   —Jana Amsellem, Highland Lake Cove Cohousing, North Carolina, 2017

   * “Your fabulous, fun, and effective workshop was so valuable for our group — I didn’t want to miss a word! I recommend your workshop to anyone curious about using Sociocracy in their community.” Gale Tolan, Highland Lake Cove Cohousing, NC, 2017  

Three Necessary Conditions for learning Sociocracy

As I see it, Sociocracy has seven important, mutually beneficial and mutually reinforcing parts, which we learn in the workshop. Like the design of a bicycle or a human body, each of the parts helps all the other parts function properly — all parts are needed!

After teaching Sociocracy and observing it being used well (and sadly, not so well) in various intentional communities since 2012, I now see three necessary conditions for learning and and using Sociocracy effectively:

(1) Everyone learns it. (Those learning it first help train other community members, ideally using the workshop’s training materials and with my ongoing consultation help.)

(2) Use all seven parts.

(3) Use it correctly! (Don’t combine it with consensus — this doesn’t work!)

 I’ve also learned that it takes a three-day workshop (not two days) to learn Sociocracy well enough to use it well in an in-house study group or in the whole community if everyone is trained.

If you can only attend two days of the workshop, please attend the first two. Please have at least one group member attend the third day, so your group can learn all seven parts.

 * First day: Basics of Sociocracy, including why building feedback loops into every proposal and clear aims for each circle is crucial. Circles & double links. Vision, Mission, Domains, & Aims. If you can attend only one day of the workshop, the first day is the one to attend.     

* Second day: Consent Decision-Making and how feedback loops, clear aims, and what objections are and are not makes it work. Implementing Sociocracy — in-house study groups, proposal to try Sociocracy for 18-24 months, more training for members, member survey. 

* Third day: Proposal-Forming, and Selecting People for Roles (Elections). Overview of and resources for learning more about the last two Sociocracy meeting processes: Role-Improvement Feedback and Consenting to Circle Members. Policy Meetings Operations Meetings, four roles of a circle in Policy Meetings, logbooks/websites.

* “Quite simply the finest workshop I’ve ever attended.  Practical training with a hilarious sense of humor. —Dennis Gay, 2013. Champlain Valley Cohousing, Vermont  *

“The way Diana engages workshop participants is brilliant. She’s a master at taking making complex material and making it simple. —Gaya Erlandson, Lotus Lodge, NC 2012

 

In Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of
the Los Angeles Eco-Village

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Explorations in Nature: Collaborative Nature Weave – Sat., Dec. 16, 2017 from 10am to noon at L.A. Eco-Village

You are invited

to the public closing reception, children’s exhibition and collaborative nature weave.

DATE/TIME
Saturday, December 16, 2017 from 10am to noon

LOCATION
117 Bimini Pl, Courtyard
Los Angeles 90004
Los Angeles Eco-Village

FREE AND OPEN EVENT
No reservations required.

All welcome!  Children & Adults of all ages

This culminating public event and exhibition is made possibly in part from a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, in association with CRSP, the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, the Urban Soil-Tierra Urbana Housing Co-op.

See the colorful flyer here:
Explorations in Nature 12 16 17 public reception English flyer

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