Tag: ecovillages

“You Are Here Intentional Community Los Angeles” Forum, Thursday October 29, 2015 at 7pm at L.A. Eco-Village

Join You Are Here: Intentional Community Los Angeles and Lois Arkin, founder of the Los Angeles Eco-Village, for a panel discussion of what works and what doesn’t, in intentional communities.

Current and former residents of communities in Southern California will share their experiences with important issues like governance, shared space, decision-making, getting along, privacy, food and sharing.

Bring your questions and curiosities, this will be your chance to get a sense of what it might be like to live in a functioning community, navigate challenges and avoid common pitfalls.

The Los Angeles Eco-Village is one of the city’s largest and longest-running intentional community.

EVENT DETAILS:
Date and Time:     Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 7 to 10pm
Location:                Los Angeles Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Place, Lobby,
Los Angeles 90004  directions
No Charge:             Donations accepted
Reservations or more info:         crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254 or just come.
Light Refreshments:                    Bring something to share if you’d like.
More info on “You Are Here Intentional Community”

MORE INFO ON PANELISTS:

Elektra Grant,  Lecturer Otis College of Art and Design and associate of the The Regenerative Co-op of Pomona, an intentional community of approximately 30 residents distributed among 4 homes.  The Community strives to incorporate sustainable and regenerative principles in an urban/suburban environment. Most members are students or recent graduates of various local colleges, including organizers, teachers, technicians, students, business people, philosophers and artists. The group has vegetarian community meals 5 nights a week, uses solar power, and maintains a gray water system, edible landscaping and organic gardens. Community decisions are consensed upon during monthly community meetings. In addition to hosting skill shares throughout the year, the Community organizes a Sustainability Seminar every Spring with workshops and speakers on topics from solar power and making bio-diesel to activism and social justice.

Watch for more details.

 

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Diana Leafe Christian gives a public talk on “The Three Aspects of a Healthy, Thriving Community,” Monday. October 5, 2015 at 7:00pm in Westchester CA

Popular lecturer and trainer on diverse aspects of ecovillages, cohousing and intentional communities,  Diana makes a rare visit to Southern California.

Author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities and Finding Community: How to join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, Diana is also the former editor of  “Communities Magazine.”

Tonight,  we ponder the topic of how to create “community glue” to generate feelings of gratitude, how to develop good communication skills, and how to set up effective project management within a community.

Diana’s expertise on community decision making and governance processes has brought international attention to  “sociocracy,”  which means governance by peers and colleagues using feedback loops to help an organization continuously improve.

More about Diana here:  www.dianaleafechristian.org

EVENT DETAILS:

Date/Time:          Monday, October 5, 2015 at 7pm
Location:              Holy Nativity Parish
6700 W. 83rd Street
Westchester (Los Angeles) CA 90045
Suggested Donation:      $15
No reservations required

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for a sustainable water future

Greywater Installer’s Course (6 day) November 9 – 14, 2015 at L.A. Eco-Village

Interested in learning all about greywater 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 Eco-Village (117 Bimini Place, Los Angeles, 90004)

Cost: $750 with limited work-trade positions available (To apply for a work-trade position click here)

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

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Restoring Water and Healing Love as Keys for a New Culture, Thursday, September 24th, 7:00 pm at Agape International Spiritual Center, Culver City, CA 90230

A rare opportunity to meet and hear some of the pioneering internationally renown people  from Tamera Ecovillage in Portugal plus the “Water Gandhi” from India.  Details below.

Thursday, September 24th, 7:00 pm
Agape International Spiritual Center
5700 Buckingham Parkway
Culver City, CA 90230
Tickets in advance:  $15 at Eventbrite. Or for $20 at the door.

Our ability to create a future worth living essentially depends on rediscovering our sacred relationship with two basic sources of life: healthy water and vivid love. What water is to nature, love is to humanity. Our modern culture has been following systems incompatible with the true nature of both water and love. Today’s world is marked by progressive desertification and thirst – in nature as well as within people’s hearts – which poses a serious threat to our common future. However, this is not the way our future has to be!

We are excited to announce that two global pioneers will be speaking in Los Angeles, who have been working for decades on revolutionary answers for these pressing crises, showcasing concrete models for the future:

Rajendra Singh, also known as “Water Gandhi.” is a well-known water conservationist from Rajasthan, India. Using a traditional method for retaining rainwater, Rajendra led a popular initiative that transformed approximately 8,600 square km of India’s Thar Desert into fertile land, providing a hundred thousand people with a decent living, and causing dried-up rivers to flow throughout the year again. As a result of this project, regional weather patterns changed causing overall precipitation to increase and extreme storms and droughts to dramatically decrease. The principles used are not limited to India, but tackle the global roots of our current water crisis and could be applied in California as well. Honoring his outstanding initiative, Rajendra just received the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, an award commonly referred to as “the Nobel Prize for water.”

To him, water is more than only a chemical substance; he sees it as an ensouled being with which we can communicate.

Sabine Lichtenfels, is peace activist, spiritual teacher and co-founder of Tamera Peace Research Center in Portugal, where she heads the “Global Love School.” She is a source of profound feminine wisdom and peace knowledge, grounded in nearly forty years of experience co-leading one of the most radical experiments in community building and healing love of our times. She is the author of many books (among them Temple of Love and Grace. Pilgrimage for a Future without War) and has led international peace pilgrimages through Israel-Palestine and Colombia. Sabine was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as one of the “1000 Women for Peace” in 2005.

The event will be introduced and accompanied by Benjamin von Mendelssohn, director of The Grace Foundation and one of the next-generation leaders of Tamera, offering a brief insight into the “Healing Biotopes Plan,” the global peace strategy of the heart of Tamera’s work. Operating in the frame of holistic sciences, the plan starts from the premise that a few highly complex model centers around the world might suffice in replacing the informational matrix of violence that steers this planet within a relatively short time with a new global matrix of trust, compassion, and peace; creating a new morphogenetic field of global peace.

More info on Tamera Ecovillage here:  http://www.tamera.org/index.html

For more events with Tamera Team in California, go here:
http://terranova.tamera.org/#events

 

 

 

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Regenerative Water Harvesting and Land Restoration Training Course October 7-11, 2015

Quail Springs Permaculture
www.quailsprings.org

Regenerative Water Harvesting and Land Restoration Training Course
October 7-11, 2015

Location/Climate: Southern California, High Desert

With Instructors:
Craig Sponholtz – Watershed Artisans, Inc.

Brenton Kelly – Quail Springs’ Land Steward, Farm Advisor & Restoration
Program Director

Neil Bertrando – R T Permaculture Designer

Quail Springs Permaculture invites you to learn about what constitutes
regenerative landscape design & restoration. Craig’s workshops offer an
understanding of the science of water on the landscape.

This 5-day Regenerative Water Harvesting & Land Restoration training
offers hands-on experience in the assessment, design and construction of
an on-going restorative and regenerative watershed project with intensive
immersion and experiential training in:

-  Healing degraded land by harvesting runoff
-  Reading the landscape and making informed decisions
-  Recognizing the symptoms and causes of degraded land
-  Identifying regenerative natural processes
-  Understanding how humans affect and are affected by the landscape and
watershed
-  Designing resilient solutions
-  Understanding management options for degraded land
-  Deciding what is doable and what should be done first
-  Planning and preparing to complete a successful project
-  Maintaining a project and ensuring its long-term success

Participants will learn skills needed to do high quality work that will
stand up to natural processes over time. These skills will serve a wide
spectrum of people and professions, from backyard restorationists to
farmers and land managers. Craig Sponholtz believes in doing it right the
first time and spends extra time with students on projects to ensure that
they understand the subtleties of the work being done. Emphasis on quality
ultimately fosters immense pride of a beautiful job well done.

"Craig Sponholtz’s Applied Watershed Restoration courses are a must. I was
very impressed with the thoroughness, hands-on learning, and Craig’s deep
knowledge – based on years of real-life experiences. The strategies taught
are simple and effective. They build on natural patterns so you work with
natural processes not against them. This way nature does the bulk of the
work once the structures are in place. I highly recommend these courses
for anyone working with the land and water."  - Brad Lancaster, author of
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond

~~~~~~~~~~~

Course Cost:
$750 (includes camping and meals)
$650 *EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT* until September 1, 2015

For more information and to register:
http://www.quailsprings.org/regenerative-water-harvesting-training/

Contact with questions:
Danielle Brehmer, danielle@quailsprings.org, 805-886-7239

* Financial aid in the form of payment plans and limited partial
scholarships by application.  Inquire early.

 

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It Takes a Village – October 9 – 11, 2015 at rural Emerald Ecovillage in San Diego County

Play . Learn . Vision . Connect . Nourish . Explore

Three days of family-focused, community-driven festival fun.

Also featuring Diana Leafe Christian

Details:  http://www.theemeraldvillage.com/itav/

We invite YOU into the “Emerald Village Observatory” for an immersive community experience that will inspire all ages to explore and celebrate what it means to be part of the global family. Bring your childlike curiosity to delve into the science of sustainable shenanigans, get down and (literally!) dirty as we dance in the gardens and then get foamy with your homies!

We are excited to also offer a series of WHYshops that create space for a deep investigation into emerging culture and topics that are relevant to evolving families and burgeoning communities. Conscious parenting, family well-being community building, permaculture, rites of passage, intimacy, spirituality, emergent technologies, and financial and global health are the focal points of “It Takes a Village.”

 

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Global Ecovillage Network 20 Year Anniversary Summit Live Stream July 6 – 10, 2015

Participate in the GEN+20 Summit from anywhere in the world!
Sign up for Live Streaming to take part in the GEN+20 Summit from the comfort of your home and without the cost of travel
OR create a GEN+20 HUB
Stage an event in your local area where you gather and watch the summit together.
Read more about Live Streaming and register here.

We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future … To move forward we must recognise that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny….

Preamble, The Earth Charter

Organised by GEN in partnership with Gaia Education, the Findhorn Foundation
and New Findhorn Association, the GEN+20 Summit is an invitation
to celebrate 20 years of walking our talk.

Established in Findhorn in 1995, the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) today connects more than 10,000 villages, urban neighbourhoods and intentional communities in more than 100 countries worldwide. Spanning all continents, GEN showcases high quality, low impact ways of living that have led to some of the lowest per capita footprints in the industrialised world, and a healthy integration of heritage and innovation in more traditional settings. GEN has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council.

With its 20 years of experience, GEN has a wealth of inspiration to offer, emphasising local solutions to global challenges and demonstrating that the creation of a different world is possible!

We can live a new story

As human beings living in community, not only is there no need for us to further destroy our beautiful planet, we are actually able to regenerate the very fabric of life around and within us. We can heal ecosystems: the waters, the soils, the atmosphere, forests, oceans, and coastlines. We can create sanctuaries for biodiversity to flourish again. We can heal social isolation and historic wounds, communicate across all sectors and divides and celebrate the wealth and diversity of our cultural heritage. We can create cyclic economies that serve environmental and societal wellbeing instead of the maximisation of profit. When we pool the best of our intelligence and wisdom to these ends, we can shift from business as usual to an entirely new paradigm. We can live a new story.

At this conference, members from all regions – GEN-Africa, GENOA (Asia and Oceania), the South and North American networks CASA and ENA, GEN-Europe and NextGEN (the youth or next generation of GEN) – will present their work. GEN provides us with a direct link of friendship and understanding between people and projects from the North and South, East and West – a heart connection that enables us to feel that we are working towards solutions for one planet.

GEN today

Going beyond the ‘green islands’ or ‘life boats’ concept of its first decade, today the GEN is shifting into becoming a transformative knowledge network that works in close alliance with like-minded organisations and other sectors in order to optimise sustainable development strategies for whole societies. In conjunction with Gaia Education, GEN has developed a set of trainings to facilitate the transition to resilience – learning journeys for change makers and design processes for communities to chart their own pathways into the future. During the conference we will be celebrating Gaia Education’s 10th anniversary and the success of the Ecovillage Design Education course, now taught in over 35 countries.

You are warmly invited to join us in honouring some of the elders of the ecovillage movement, celebrating the present holders of energy from all corners of the world and continuing to look ahead with the next generation at where our learning edge for sustainable living is now. Together, we will share realistic glimpses of possibility and hope for a thriving future.

Download a draft of the conference programme here.

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West Coast Communities Conference, Fri – Mon, Oct. 9 thru 12, 2015 Northern California

@ Groundswell Institute, an emerging ecovillage and retreat center

Join other community explorers in the splendor of nature for a weekend of skill-building, networking, and celebration that promises to inspire and educate. Whether you are brand spanking new to intentional communities or have been living in them for years, the West Coast Communities Conference will provide plentiful opportunities for all to grow their own skills and knowledge. Inspired by the Communities Conference that takes place at Twin Oaks in Virginia each year, and organized with sponsorship from the Fellowship for Intentional Communities (FIC) and Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC), this event promises to be a brilliant convergence of those who see the vital role community has to play in the  trying times we live in. Anyone with interest or experience in worker cooperatives, rural communes, artist collectives, or any other kind of communal enterprise is invited to participate.

We will be limiting attendance in order to minimize impact on our land. Please register to ensure your spot. Registration fees are $100 for tenting and $150 for cabins, which includes access to all programs and three hot meals a day. In addition, there are day passes for those who don’t wish to stay overnight. There are plentiful scholarship and work trade options available – we do not want economic status to be a barrier to attending this event. E-mail us here if you would like to arrange a scholarship or work trade.

Go here to learn more about the conference and to register:
http://groundswell.institute/our-programs/west-coast-communities-conference/
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Open House at L.A. Eco-Village, Sunday, April 26, 2015 from 3pm to 8pm

Open House from 3 to 6pm:  Music, tours, workshops, kids’ activities, fun, free raffle with fun prizes.

AND

Veggie Potluck from 6 to 8pm:  Bring any veggie item to share, enough for about 4 to 8 people.  And please bring your own eating utensils.  Let’s keep this a zero waste event.

Please RSVP for veggie potluck to:   membership@urbansoil.net

No reservations required for Open House 3 to 6pm

FREE EVENT

Los Angeles Eco-Villagers will host you for these activities:

– L.A. Eco-Village Orientation and MiniTour with Ana Paula and Zoe at 3:30pm, and with AnaPaula and Claire at 5pm

– Gardening and greywater with Irma at 4pm and at 5pm

– Consensus oriented decision making with Yuki at 4pm

– White House Place Learning Garden with Lara at 3:30 and 4:30pm.

– Children’s Art Table with Leslie, Daniel and Randy at 4pm and at 5pm

– Timebank and Craft Club and Repair Cafe with Leslie and TimeBankers Katie and Ginko & Scoops at 3:30 and 4:30pm

– Conflict Resolution with Aurisha at 4:30pm

– Food Lobby Co-op with John at 4:30pm

– Skill Sharing with Zoe at 4:30pm

– Energy Workshop with Somer at 5pm

– Closing and Raffle with Adewole and Bruce at 5:30pm

– Veggie potluck in Courtyard from 6 to 8pm.  Please bring your own eating ware and a dish of veggie food for 4 to 6 people.  Let’s make this a zero waste event.

Much as we love dogs, please do not bring them to this event.

Please walk, bike or use public transit.  Parking is often very limited in our neighborhood.   More directions here:  http://laecovillage.org/home/directions/

 

 

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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