San Francisco is no stranger to the solar power industry, ranking as one of the cities at the forefront of America’s solar energy revolution. At SolarCity, we know that being one of the most populated cities in California has its advantages, such as the ability to generate a significant amount of solar power. Since 2006, we have become a leader among Bay Area solar companies because we stand behind energy consultants and reputation. We offer 24/7 solar system monitoring solutions as well as warranty product coverage.

The Certificate in Holistic Landscape Design at Bastyr University is a 12 month evening and weekend program grounded in the philosophy of working with nature to create resilient landscapes. The program offers an extended study of permaculture design throughout the seasons, far exceeding standard 72 hour Permaculture Design Certificate programs. Additionally, Bastyr has a unique focus on the therapeutic value of a medicinal and edible landscapes. Our unique curriculum includes courses such as Soil Ecology, Biodynamic Agriculture, Horticultural Business practices, and Medicinal and Edible Plants in the Landscape, utilizing hands on activities in the University’s wooded 51-acre campus –including the Bastyr Medicinal Herb Garden. The program is open to anyone with a creative eye and a passion for ecology and sustainability.

Domes are nature’s perfect structure and provide a unique environment for every use, including 360° projection domes, dome homes, glamping, eco-living resort domes, and party tent rentals. Pacific Domes has perfected the function and beauty of our portable Geodesic Domes since 1980 in Ashland, Oregon. We combine the sacred geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller with our progressively designed canopy covers to bring you this futuristic, Zen structure.

USPW is at the forefront of the green revolution, greening festivals and events, by educating consumers and providing self-serve water stations and reusable containers as an alternative to single-use bottles.

Our mission is to eliminate the damaging environmental impact of plastic waste worldwide, by providing municipalities, companies, events & festivals, as well as residences, with a ‘point-of-use’ water treatment option as an alternative to fuel intensive bottled water delivery, and/or the consumption of single use plastic bottles destined for landfill or to sully oceans, forests and cities.

Troy Horton of Town and City Permaculture. Is a grass-roots permaculture practitioner based in Oakland, CA. He has a strong focus on introducing “inner-city youth” and their communites to permaculture.
He has organized and held a previous permaculture diversity talk/event, along with being a constant student of permaculture and completed several PDC’s.

TBA

The Third Ethic: Practicing Fair Share Permaculture

Sasha Shankar is the president of Town and City Permaculture.

TBA

The Third Ethic: Practicing Fair Share Permaculture

Town and City Permaculture will put on an interactive workshop. About how diversity helps permaculture truly realize it’s expressed ethics. We will delve into, how can we design. For inclusivity within the permaculture movement.

Our workshop will be interactive. It is relevant to Building Resilient Communities and permaculture. In the way that we will be focusing. On how to bring POC, food workers, migrant workers, and other under represented folks. To the permaculture table for a much needed pow wow.

Presented By: Troy Horton and Sasha Shankar

Ryan Rising of the Permaculture Action Network gives a how-to on getting involved with the organization’s movement of mobilizing concert-goers and festival-audiences to Permaculture Action Days – one day events where people build the viable alternatives of the just & regenerative paradigm in their own communities. In 2014, the group carried out the first “Permaculture Action Tour,” mobilizing hundreds of concert-goers at a time in 32 cities throughout the United States to come take action the next day – building urban farms, planting community food forests, installing rainwater catchment systems, natural buildings, and more. Hear a short report back on this past year of developing a network to continue partnering with artists and events like The Polish Ambassador, Rising Appalachia, and most recently, Burning Man, to drive attention towards permaculture and mobilize people to get in the ground. Get the download on how the organization is developing a network of bioregional crews who can connect local organizers and projects with high-visibility artists and cultural events throughout North America, and how you can get involved and start a bioregional crew in your community.

This workshop will include a short report back on what we have done so far starting with the Permaculture Action Tour in 2014 and developing the Permaculture Action Network over the last 2 years, during which time we’ve mobilized thousands of people to more than 50 Permaculture Action Days throughout the country. People can borrow from this inspiration to do their own thing and continue movement building in similar capacities. We’ll also be letting people know the organization structure we’ve developed and how people can join the Permaculture Action Network. As we’re creating a network of BioRegional Crews throughout North America who can utilize the organizing base of the Permaculture Action Network to parter with artists, bands, musicians, and festivals, this is especially relevant for the North American Permaculture Convergence. We’ll let people know how to directly join the network to continue driving concert-audiences and festival-goers to Permaculture Action Days, and to getting involved with the movement for the long haul. This workshop will be equal parts inspiration towards capacity building for the movement in general as it is directly a download on how we as an organization can grow and move forward together.

Presented By: Ryan Rising

Ruthie King grew up in Southern California before heading east to attend Columbia University, where she studied planning and design with a focus on ways to integrate sustainability into the built environment. After graduating with a degree in Architecture and Sustainable Development, she moved to Washington State to live and work on farms practicing alternative construction and natural building techniques. This included cob and earth structures, converted shipping containers, living roof structures and more. After working on sustainable building and barn restoration at several farms in the area, she landed at a beautiful historic dairy barn with a family hoping to bring dairy cows back to their land. She worked with the family to develop the framework for maintaining and milking a small herd of cows while selling the raw milk and cheese on site. Concurrently working for a veterinarian in town and substitute teaching at the public school gave her confidence working with animals and children. In 2013, she moved to the James Ranch in Colorado, a produce, eggs, pork, and grass-fed beef and dairy farm. There she studied integrated and diverse farming structures, and engaged in the daily milking routine and CSA operations. Finally, she joined the Grange School in early 2014 to help launch the program. Her diverse skillset has prepared her for the enormous, rewarding task of leading the operations for The Grange School of Adaptive Agriculture.

2016 Convergence Workshop: What is Adaptive Agriculture?

With so many categories, ideologies, philosophies, styles of growing food sustainably, it is challenging for beginning farmers to enter the local food system with their own identity. Adaptive Agriculture is the concept that the science, art, and business of growing food is going to be entirely unique to the individual or group managing the system, and it MUST be flexible enough to change. Defining your context requires: identification of your values and intentions, placing yourself consciously in your surrounding ecology, and understanding the markets and communities of which you are a participant. Our contexts are constantly in flux, and adaptive agriculture necessitates an awareness and openness to change.

This is relevant to a community that loves labels and recipes, and it helps encourage questioning, skepticism, and constant observation. The idea that our world is constantly changing, that boundaries are constantly blurring, is central to the theme of adaptive agriculture and also central to the idea of building bridges! We encourage adaptive agriculturalists to look at all the ideologies and strategies and pick and choose to create their own unique form of agriculture based on their context and perspective.

Presented By: Ruthie King