Tag: eco-technology

WestCo | April 24-26, 2015 | Berkeley, CA

WestCo, an annual conference for members of cooperatives in the Western United States and Canada, will be held this year in Berkeley, CA from April 24th through 26th.

WestCo is a space for local cooperators to build community, attend educational workshops and social events, and celebrate their common interests and experiences. This year’s conference is organized by members of the Berkeley Student Cooperative.

More programming details will be released later in March. If you have any questions, please visit NASCO’s WestCo page or contact Zury Cendejas, Berkeley Student Cooperative VP of External Affairs, at vpea@bsc.coop.

More info:
Westco@nasco.coop
http://mail.nasco.coop/mailman/listinfo/westco_nasco.coop

Communify Un-Conference in San Diego, Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 9am to 6pm

Join us at COMMUNIFY San Diego:     Communify un-conference

A gathering of pioneers, seekers, neighbors, organizers, dreamers, trainers, leaders, and activists reclaiming a more sustainable world through intentional communities, cooperative culture, deep democracy, and participatory economics.  

Saturday, March 7, 2015 9am-6pm at San Diego Friends Center  

People in intentional and traditional communities around the world are already living more green, peaceful, and abundant ways of life.

Reclaiming the power of cooperative human connections, people everywhere have been asking questions that lead back to more satisfying lives. We’re busy reinventing what we own, how we spend time, grow food, earn a living, do business, invest money, and participate in our neighborhoods and governments.

Get the jump on Earth Day. Meet, learn, share, and break bread with old and new friends across community movements here in southern California. There’s plenty of time to network and strategize next steps forward.

Sustainable Community is Within Reach!  

Communify San Diego is an unconference.  Using “open space technology” we will convene a marketplace of ideas when everyone can propose sessions on the topics they are most interested in. Sessions can be skills-sharing, discussions, interviews, games, or presentations.  Opportunities to get to know each other will include “Speed Dating” and “Deepening Connection” sessions. Other sessions have been proposed and are invited include:

  • Dealing with Difference – Communication Games and Technologies of Participation
  • Conscious Elders & Aging in Community
  • Wisdom Circles and Restorative Justice
  • Post-Occupy Organizing of the Commons
  • Sacred Economics
  • Slow Money, Crowdfunding, & Participatory Budgeting

We’ll also share opening and closing circles, a panel of special speakers, info tables for partner groups, raffle prizes to benefit Fellowship for Intentional Community and our local host.  Morning coffee, healthy snacks and lunch are provided.

Special Guests & Presenters  

Lois Arkin, Founder of Los Angeles Eco-Village
CASA: Consejo de Asentamientos Sustentables de las Américas
Diana Leafe Christian, author of Creating a Life Together, and Finding Community
 Raines Cohen certified Senior Advisor / Cohousing Coach
Betsy Morris, PhD, Cohousing Researchers Network, and author of “Making Cohousing Affordable,” and “Urban Redevelopment and the Emerging Community Sector.”
Plus YOU, bringing the topics you want to learn about or share.

EVENT DETAILS:
Time:
Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 9am to 6pm

Location:
San Diego Friends Center:
San Diego Friends Center
3850 Westgate Pl
San Diego, CA 92105
Google map and directions

Cost:
$65 in advance;  $75 at the door.
Partner discounts, work-trade/volunteer rebates are still available or call 619-457-6198 (voice/SMS) for more information.

Contact:
Betsy and Raines · info@communify.in · 619-457-6198

Will you come?
RSVP on Facebook
AND purchase a ticket here

More info here:
Communify unconference About San Diego

Add-on Events 

Weeknight showing of Within Reach, Friday evening at colab.

Sunday 1:30-6:30pm –  Tour and Half Day Intensive at Emerald Village in Rio Vista,  specifically on the nuts and bolts of developing cohousing and ecovillages — people, place, and process.

Communify San Diego is produced by Cohousing California partners, Cohousing Coaches Betsy Morris & Raines Cohen, of Planning for Sustainable Communities, in Berkeley, CA and the San Diego Local Hosts, Patti Shields, Jonah, Mesritz, Andrea Carter, and Mariah Gayler.

Cohousing California is pleased to promote the work of our organizational partners including the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), Cohousing Association of the US, and CASA, the South American regional association of the Global Ecovillages Network, and CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages.

Tax-exempt donations are welcome through our nonprofit sponsor, the Fellowship for Intentional Community (www.ic.org).

 

 

 

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Create Your Own Water-Wise Home & Landscape, Book talk, Friday, April 3, 2015 at 7:30pm at L.A. Eco-Village

With simple plumbing alterations and smart landscape changes, every home has the potential to create a sustainable water supply with an ecologically productive landscape. From reusing greywater, to collecting rainwater, to installing waterless composting toilets, our collective efforts can transform our home water systems.

 

This accessible guide–The Water-Wise Home: How to Conserve, Capture, and Reuse Water in Your Home and Landscape–by Laura Allen, founder of Greywater Action, explains how to use water smartly and efficiently, increasing supply, saving money, reducing wear on your septic system, and fulfilling your home and garden needs. She describes proven conservation techniques, explains how to create a water-wise landscape, and provides illustrated, step-by-step instructions for setting up a waterless composting toilet as well as systems to reuse greywater, harvest rainwater, and more.  The book also includes national trends, codes and regulations, costs, health and safety considerations, and system examples

 

From the Back Cover

Even as severe droughts become more common and the water crisis heats up worldwide, you can radically reduce water use in your own home. Laura Allen is your expert guide to building systems that conserve and reuse water while saving money and meeting the needs of your home and garden. These practical, low-tech solutions are an essential part of our new water future.

About L.A. Eco-Villager Laura Allen

Laura Allen 2015 for book promotionLaura Allen is cofounder of Greywater Action (http://greywateraction.org/) and has spent many years exploring low-tech, sustainable water solutions. She leads classes and workshops, including the first training program for professional greywater installers, and participates in writing state-level greywater and composting toilet codes. She lives in the Los Angeles Eco-Village and has facilitated the installation of many greywater systems in LAEV.

 

EVENT DETAILS

Date and Time:      
Friday, April 3, 2015 at 7:30pm

Location:
Los Angeles Eco-Village
117 Bimini Pl – Lobby
Los Angeles  90004
Directions

FREE EVENT

Book will be available for sale:  Story Press, 2015, $25

 

 

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Urban Soil Carbon Water Summit, February 24-25, 2015 at the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles

Conference website:  http://urbansoil.org/  *

Living Soil +Carbon Sequestration + Native Plants = soil security = water security.

Twenty prominent presenters over two days in dialogue with Summit attendees will share strategies for:

• Restoring urban soils

• Reducing drought

• Creating a more verdant and economically viable city, and

• Sequestering carbon in the soil biome to reverse climate change.

Here in the City of Angels is the beginning of the collaboration with the billions of angels in the soil biome beneath our feet  to restore the soils of America’s urban environments.

The Summit host, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, located in Exposition Park, near downtown Los Angeles, seeks to inspire wonder, discovery and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds and empower the widest possible audience to enjoy, value and become stewards of the living Earth. The Museum believes that human beings are connected — to each other, to communities, to other species, and to the Earth.

As humans increasingly influence natural systems, it is critical that we understand these relationships. Therefore, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has donated all facilities and resources  during this Summit in order to spark the necessary dialogue around urban soil and water security.

Spend some time wandering in the beautiful gardens.    Learn more about the Museum at:  http://www.nhm.org/site/

See conference website for sponsors and registration:  http://urbansoil.org/

* not to be confused with the Urban Soil-Tierra Urbana Limited Equity Housing Cooperative in Los Angeles Eco-Village

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Permaculture Voices 2015, March 4-8, 2015 Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina: San Diego, CA

PV2 features speakers such as Diana Leafe Christian, Paul Stamets, Gunter Pauli, Maddy Harland, Dr. Elaine Ingham, Starhawk, Mark Shepard, Larry Santoyo, Toby Hemenway, Pandora Thomas and more
Overall there will be over 60 presenters and 100 hours of content talking about everything from broadacre permaculture to social permaculture to green business.
There will be extensive networking opportunities throughout the event including two parties.
 
Event Logistics:
March 4-8, 2015
San Diego, CA – Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
More Information: permaculturevoices.com/pv2
 
Want to be a part of the change, either on a personal or business level?
PV2 isn’t just another permaculture convergence that focuses on hyper-local DIY skill building and resiliency; we instead decided to look bigger.
We are blending the practical techniques and tactics found in workshops with the entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity of a business conference.
We have brought together a diverse group of creative and innovative doers in a variety of fields looking to share experiences, knowledge, connect, and create in ways that increase passion, purpose and profit.
These doers come from a variety of fields both within and outside of permaculture. Each field has its own needs and yields. It is this edge that creates the opportunity for things to happen, and it is this opportunity that offers value to the attendees – how can you fill needs and utilize yields to create more value.
 
Why we organized PV2 the way that we did.
At PV1 we realized that the attendees themselves were a wealth of knowledge and a diverse collection of needs and yields. Given that, we have focused on turning some of the conversation away from the stage and into the audience to create an experience for diverse participants to share ideas, discover opportunities, and create strategies and connections that enable meaningful and financially viable creations.
We want to see a massive impact on an environmental, social, and financial level, so PV2 will be heavily focused on right livelihood – making a living within the permaculture space.
Business fuels change and we believe in the power of utilizing business for positive change.  You may be involved in a business in some way as an employee or an owner, and given the time spent on(in) that business, it has a huge effect on your life, both financially and emotionally. If your values aren’t aligned with what you do, then it isn’t sustainable.
Therefore PV2 is planned to help inspire change on a personal level and an organizational level in a way that maximizes the triple bottom line.
We want to help people make business more sustainable and we want to help promote and grow the next generation of regenerative businesses.
If you aren’t a business owner or an employee you can still benefit by participating in this discussion because there is a lot of opportunity and needs out there. And there will be a lot of change makers at PV2 looking for help. If you want to help, then you’ll be in the right place.
NOTE:
Los Angeles Eco-Villagers Laura Allen and Lois Arkin will also be at this conference.  Come hang out with Laura at the Greywater Action table on Thursday and Friday. 3/5 & 6.  And with Lois at Diane Leafe Christians workshop Friday  3/6 from 1:30 to 2:30pm.
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National Cohousing Conference – May 29-31, 2015 in Durham NC

The conference promises amazing offerings:
from innovative approaches to developing new and affordable communities, to potent ways to enhance our vibrant communities.We’ll cover cohousing basics as well as hot topics in sustainability, community building, and the evolving definition of cohousing. Our “next generation theme,” will explore the new wave of urban, senior and agricultural communities, check in with our now-adult children of cohousing, and celebrate communities that have thrived for over 20 years.A packed agenda yes, but plenty of time for networking, special gatherings, and fun!
Read more for details, and sneak preview of offerings, and visit our
Learn more about cohousing here:  www.cohousing.org
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The Economics of Happiness Conference in Portland OR February 27 – March 1, 2015

Videos from our past conferences

The Portland area is a hotbed of localization initiatives and we will be joined by at least 50 partner organizations, offering workshops on everything from local investing to storytelling, alternative economic indicators to earth-based education. There will also be more than 20 speakers from around the US and the world, who will be covering a range of interconnected topics – local food, technology, healthcare, local business, indigenous rights, environmental justice and much, much more.

If you can’t make it yourself, invite your friends on Facebook and look out for the videos, which will be posted online after the conference.

Conference details and registration here

For more fascinating information on the Economics of Happiness, including videos and resources, go here.

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Rocket Stove & Sustainable Architecture Combined Workshop! April 19 – 26, 2015 at Cal-Earth, Hesperia CA
Come join Cal-Earth as we combine sustainable architecture with sustainable heating systems! This combination workshop is very hands-on and is geared towards anyone who wants to learn to build and create a useable space right away. In this workshop you will learn how to build your own house and how to build a super high-efficiency rocket stove (masonry heater) in only eight days! As with all Cal-Earth workshops, no prior experience necessary.

Workshop Details

The workshop will include the standard core curriculum taught at Cal-Earth during the first four days. In this unique workshop, you will not only have the opportunity to build a full dome from beginning to end, but also a fully functional rocket stove! The rocket stove mass heater will be a real, permanent installation, inside one of the houses at Cal-Earth. Learn more about rocket stoves and expert instructor Lasse Holmes.

Cost: $1800 for new students/$500 for previous workshop alumni (25% work study  and/or partial gift scholarships available)

Note: Anyone who has previously attended a Cal-Earth workshop may attend the Masonry Heater portion for $500 (April 23-26). Please contact us for more information on this. 
APPLY NOWNote that Cal-Earth has free monthly visitor’s day.  More info here:
http://calearth.org/

 

Cal-Earth 2015 Workshop Dates:
Jan. 31-Feb 1 (weekend-taught in Spanish language)
Feb 18-21 (4 day)
March 16-21 (week)
April 19-26 (Rocket Stove Combined)
May 11-16 (week)
June 15-20 (week)
July 8-11 (4 day)
Sept. 14-19 (week)
Oct. TBD Permaculture
Nov. 16-21 (week)

 

 

 

 
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for a sustainable water future

FULL: Five Day Greywater Installer Workshop: January 26-30, 2015 at L.A. Eco-Village

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.  WATCH FOR FUTURE GREYWATER WORKSHOPS

Interested in learning all about greywater, installing your own system, or becoming a greywater installer for your area? This course is designed for people with either basic plumbing, landscaping, or permaculture skills who want to learn how to design and build simple, economical residential greywater 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.

Location: Los Angeles, CA (L.A. Eco-Village 117 Bimini Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90004)

Cost: $650 limited work trade available (send requests to info@greywateraction.org)

These workshops typically fill up, and we have to turn people away. Because of this, we are first opening registration for the following people: anyone with an existing landscaping, plumbing, or construction business, anyone working in a water utility (e.g. water conservation department). Register here.

If your main purpose of the course is to install a system in your own home, or the homes of your friends and family, please sign up here and we’ll get back in touch when we open this registration.

Learn more about the content and see the week’s schedule here.

This workshop sponsored by Greywater Action in association with Urban Soil-Tierra Urbana Housing Co-op

 

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for a sustainable water future

The Low Down on Pee and Poo – Composting Toilets and Urine Reuse: October 23, 2014 at L.A. Eco-Village

Composting toilets offer a sanitary and ecological solution to the flush toilet. Learn about waterless composting toilets, reusing urine, and considerations for installing a system into your home. This presentation will cover home scale composting toilets from urban to rural applications, large scale systems, operation and maintenance needs, and common problems and solutions.

  • Location/time: 7pm-8:30pm at the Los Angeles Eco-Village. 117 Bimini Place, LA 90004 (near 1st and Vermont, and the Vermont/Beverly Metro stop on the Red Line).
  • Cost: $5 to $15 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.
  • Come join this event, no RSVP required.

Event sponsored by Greywater Action in association with CRSP and Urban Soil/Tierra Urbana

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