Ecological Stewardship & Regenerative Design – The Convergence

Indigenous Voices Panel

Magdelion Moondrop — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 23:44:28 +0000

Sweetwater will open the panel with a 30 minute talk on Decolonizing our Activism
To heal from historical trauma, you must first understand how colonization has impacted indigenous people. By acknowledging our collective past and focusing on the present healing often leads participants to become aware of historical barriers that can be effectively removed in a safe and comfortable environment.

In this panel we will hear from our Indigenous relatives, Sweetwater Nannauck, Cheryl Angel, Kanyon Sayers-Roods. We are honored to have them here. This will be one of our most powerful and well attended panels, so please put it on your schedule.

Emotional Literacy & Reading Human Landscapes

Magdelion Moondrop — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 05:50:30 +0000

Are you emotionally intelligent? Do you know what is going on inside yourself and others? Can you ‘read’ human landscapes like you read land systems? The dominant culture has not supported us in being connected with our emotions – indeed, we are often shut down, especially males. Permaculture meant to help us move forward into more sustainable paths, and has People Care as core ethic, and does talk about ‘invisible landscapes,’ but the place from which permaculture was taught and practiced has not always supported the development of emotional awareness of ourselves or others, or the skill of reading human landscapes.

A central aspect of permaculture is designing so that needs can be met in healthy, regenerative ways. Human needs and wants, and our ways of trying to get them met, are extremely complex and powerful ecologies, and affect almost all of our permaculture design work. Developing awareness and skill in emotional literacy, and being able to read human needs and patterns in the ‘Zone 00’ of others and ourselves, supports us in being more response-able permaculturalists. This interactive workshop will give powerful insight into human ecologies and help us lift up emotional intelligence, which is much-needed as we transition into the next age of consciousness and we grow a more wholistic understanding of permaculture landscapes & practices.

Presented By: Jillian Hovey

tending the forrest

Convergence Program — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 22:30:19 +0000

for fire prevention and watershed regeneration

We will be covering the basic approach to forrest stewardship. we will review the foundation for approach, redefining hazards as valuable resources for a wholistic Permaculture system. After catagorizing forrest hazards we will review methodologies for maximum benefit to the watershed and on site permacultural systems including an introduction to timber harvest and processing. The remaining time will be used to fractal out into the overlays of possibility in this field of action.

Presented By: blair Phillips

Pollinating the Permaculture Paradigm: Blooming Biodiversity’s Global Permaculture Journey

Convergence Program — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 22:26:55 +0000

Bloom and Anahata have travelled globally with their organization, the Blooming Biodiversity Permaculture network, living at and visiting a rich diversity of Eco-villages, intentional communities, indigenous farms, and Permaculture projects. Through their slideshow presentation, you will have the opportunity to dive into their journey and experience vibrant photos and videos of the Permaculture gems they have been to. They will share best practices, innovative inventions, inspiring models, and paradigm shifting lessons they have learned from the multitudes of positive impact centers, followed by an open solutionary discussion counsel and action plans.

Presented By: Robin Liepman & Anna Simone Combi

How is Blockchain Driving Regenerative Solutions?

Convergence Program — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 01:52:04 +0000

Join a vibrant discussion about how blockchain technologies are empowering whole systems economy, governance and more.

What is blockchain? Is it a key driver for rapid, scaled change? Why? What can we learn from luminaries in the space about how to better structure and engage regenerative community, culture, economy and governance? Where is it going?

Presented By: Samantha Sweetwater

After the Fires: The power of community in disaster response, recovery and rebuilding

Convergence Program — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 01:40:58 +0000

In an era of climate disruption and devastating weather events, the 2017 Northern California wildfires were the costliest and most deadly in state history. Northern California is also home to a strong, vibrant grassroots movement and network that immediately jumped into action to protect people and place and begin organizing for the long recovery ahead. A range of grassroots leaders will share success stories and challenges including:

· A local indigenous perspective on these fires

· Creating a coalition to galvanize community voice and place equity at the center of recovery

· Launching a decentralized and community-powered emergency response system

· Creating a grassroots justice and resilience fund to raise and distribute funds

· Mobilizing across government, business and community for watershed protection

· Addressing the mental health challenges that come with crisis

· Re-landscaping the rebuild with a permaculture lens and community-powered approach

Speakers include:

· Ana Lugo, co-founder of Soco Rises and Director of Communications for Community Action Partnership

· Alegria De La Cruz – Chief Deputy Counsel for Sonoma County

· Edward Willie – Pomo tribe, permaculturist and fire ecologist

· Chris Grabill – Board of Directors at Sonoma County Conservation Action and Santa Rosa Board of Public Utilities

· Kerry Fugett – Manager of Leadership Institute and Resilient Hubs Program at Daily Acts and member of the Sonoma county Climate Action Advisory Committee

· Trathen Heckman – Executive Director at Daily Acts and Board member of Transition U.S. and California Water Efficiency Partnership

Regenerative Technologies Interactive Showcase

Convergence Program — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 22:53:17 +0000

Join us for an interactive discussion and demonstration of multiple regenerative technologies including alcohol distilled from waste or low cost local sources; harvesting, storing and efficiently transforming thermal energy into electricity; and showing how we are taking Eco-resorts 100% off-grid.

Join us for an interactive discussion and demonstration of multiple regenerative technologies. We will see how alcohol distilled from waste or low cost local sources, can burn clean and provide locally produced and consumed affordable clean fuels. We will learn about how to harvest, store and efficiently transform thermal energy into electricity and locomotive power through new high efficiency turbines, motors and generators. The team will share their experience taking Eco-resorts 100% off-grid as well as what can be done to improve your community, country or corporation’s energy, water, waste food and shelter systems.

Presented By: Rolland Gregg

Access to Water, Access to Life

Convergence Program — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 21:44:08 +0000

A social, ecological and human rights perspective exploring themes such as environmental racism, social and environmental justice, landscape resiliency, and overall repair of the water cycle in today’s climate as it relates to water.

This panel assumes that water rights equate to the most basic human right to life. We will be looking at concepts that have lead to a global water crisis, where 1 in 4 people lack access to safe drinking water to be able to live.

“Right to Life” is defined not just for humans but for all life, including plants, animals, ecosystems, and microorganisms. Viewing policy reform not as a political entity but as an essential component to creating change.

A social, ecological and human rights perspective exploring themes such as environmental racism, social and environmental justice, landscape resiliency, and environmental, ecological, social, political, and structural repair of the water cycle in the modern day.

This panel intends to explore the frontlines of environmental consciousness: cultivating mindfulness in our relationship to water and discuss action steps that could lead toward a revolution where all beings have an absolute right to clean water.

Presented By: Water Now

2018 Convergence Panelists: Cheryl Angel, Cleve Steward, & Karuna Warren

Regenerative Technologies Revealed

Convergence Program — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 21:24:11 +0000

This panel will explore several innovative technologies from thermal energy production, quantum power cells, bio-refineries, off grid eco-resorts power systems, zero waste systems and waste to energy production, closed loop technology-run aquaponics systems, and much more!

New energy technologies which are pushing the boundaries of physics, chemistry, biology, electrical and mechanical engineering will transform the way that we live so much that the next 20 years will make the industrial revolution pale in comparison. This panel will explore several innovative technologies from thermal energy production, quantum power cells, bio-refineries, off grid eco-resorts power systems, zero waste systems and waste to energy production, closed loop technology-run aquaponics systems, and much more!

This robust panel is facilitated by SymbioNet and Delphi Village’s Chief Technology Officer, Rolland Gregg, who is also the founder of Imagin.com, a clean technology incubator in Seattle, WA.

Presented By: Chris Patton, David Blume, Kevin Fretz, & Rolland Gregg

Certified Permaculture Caretakers Program

Convergence Program — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 20:29:47 +0000

This is a permaculture training and land access program that is nested into a larger back to the land and emergent culture movement.

Certified permaculture caretakers is a program that offers training in permaculture and access to land with a focus on single mothers and women of color. It is designed to be nested into a larger comprehensive back to the land movement and create a network of continued skill building and opportunities with in the emergent culture.

Presented By: Alexa Bernard

Designing for Resilience

Convergence Program — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 19:39:40 +0000

Lets talk about how to use Permaculture Design that supports people and the planet, from the bottom up!

Brandi Mack, AKA, Mama B, will share her 5 steps to Resilient design that support people and the planet, with and infuses on highlighting melanated women and children.

FRIDAY Keynote Presented By: Brandi Mack

Introduction to Permaculture

Convergence Program — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 19:52:04 +0000

Laying an important foundation to the 2018 Permaculture Convergence, this intro class will give a brief overview of the origins of permaculture from the 1970s in Austrialia until the present in the US, with some focus on the SF Bay Area for the past 30 years, including ethics, principles, strategies and techniques for applied ecology.

Intro to permaculture course taught by Bay Area urban gardener and urban ecologist, seedsman and seed librarian, community gardener and community organizer Christopher Shein. He brings 17 years of teaching a PDC at Merritt College, many more years of teaching in community gardens and public schools, and knows he doesn’t know everything about permaculture or teaching or …
Christopher brings the most diverse students together (race, class, gender, etc…) to build the most plant and species diverse public gardens in the commons in urban SF East Bay. www.wildheartgardens.com, www.merrittlandhort.com

Presented By: Christopher Shein

Permaculture Contractor: The Ins and Outs

Convergence Program — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 22:22:33 +0000

How to become or work with a design-build contractor,

“How I became a contractor to save the world, the lessons I learned from all my mistakes, and how we are still growing and not giving up.”

Marco Barrantes of La Loma Development Company will share stories from the trenches, instructions on ways to start a design-build company as a successful Permaculture contractor, and photos of La Loma’s diverse projects in Los Angeles. Topics will also include his experiences with urbanite, natural pools, public works, and school campus greening.

Learn how to become a contractor (or work with a contractor) to implement Permaculture design, and influence the trillion dollar landscape construction industry.

Presented By: Marco Barrantes

HugelSwales – Turn Fire Hazards into Water Saving Food Forest

Convergence Program — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 22:42:35 +0000

Create Eco-jobs with Hugel-Swales – Dig swales, fill them with fire-hazard brush, save water, grow abundant food & medicine, and improve local ecosystems.

Transform flammable fire-hazard brush into fire-resistant, water saving food forests with this easy technology – “Hugel-Swales”. Samyol will teach from his personal experience of creating jobs and improving local ecosystems with Hugel-Swales in Northern California. This workshop will teach you how to make Hugel-Swales for your own land projects or create jobs for your community by offering this essential service to other land stewards. Tips will be shared for boosting valuable vegetable, fruit, cannabis, mushroom, water catching yields, as well as discussions about benefiting surrounding ecosystems and economies with strategic planting, placement and marketing.

Presented By: Samyol Soulfyre

Intentional Communities: The Unfolding Story

Convergence Program — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 22:36:33 +0000

A panel discussion on the intentional communities movement – past, present, and future.

Join us for a panel discussion on the future of the intentional communities movement. Where have we been, what is happening now, and how do we imagine the role of intentional communities into the future? Learn from community founders and network leaders. Bring your questions to this exploratory conversation.

Presented By: Cynthia Tina

Anchor The Dream

Convergence Program — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 02:54:01 +0000

A visionary playshop in which participants learn to leverage the Law of Attraction collectively to birth new earth realities as blueprints that enter and positively impact our collective consciousness with great integrity and love.

Anchoring The New Dream of Earth
Since 2005

ANCHORING THE NEW DREAM OF EARTH is a large group visionary stewardship process that activates us into our bliss and sense of connection with one another and all of life so that we can create new “blueprints” for earth Life.

From this place of harmony and mutual cooperation. People from all walks of life and religious traditions are invited to participate, with the understanding that we are celebrating our Unity in our Diversity, and connecting with the Universal Power and Presence of Love in non-religious yet intrinsically “spiritual” ways that are non-exclusive.

THE PROCESS FOLLOWS PARTICIPANTS’ PASSIONS ABOUT PARTICULAR EARTH-LIFE TOPICS, FOR EXAMPLE:

• How could our children’s education be the most loving, empowering, confidence building, joy inducing experience possible for them?
• Could politicians be World Servers?
• What do you want the environment to be like?
• How do people get well?
• Can all corporations become Earth Stewards, creating with sustainable technologies?
• Can all our technologies to be sustainable?
• What does it look like? What does it feel like?
• How could government be in its highest aspect based on harmony and love?
• How could international relations be at their highest level of harmony and mutual sustainability?
• And more.

The group discovers their passion for topics of earth life that are most alive for them at that present moment of the workshop.

WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR THE BEST OF THE BEST POSSIBLE FOR LIFE ON EARTH?

Participates learn to retrieve Source Sanctioned Visions for Life on Earth and/or their Organization or Community in this Visionary Stewardship Playshop. Accolades for the experience have come in since its inception in 2005. Pods co-create a visionary theater piece to express this new vision for earth life, with the most fun ever! Dynamic, synergistic Reality Creation at its best.

Presented By: Chireya Dharma

Micro to Macro: Soil Science Made Easy with Matt Powers

Convergence Program — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 17:55:13 +0000

Learn Soil Science from the Micro to the Macro with Matt Powers for everyone in all contexts.

Trained 1:1 by world renowned soil expert Dr. Elaine Ingham to convey complex ideas to a K-12 audience, Matt Powers is an educator that can make soil understandable. Dive deep with Matt and learn about the world beneath your feet in and out of the garden sourcing Dr. Elaine’s work, Radical Mycologist Peter McCoy’s work, and dozens of experts from around the world as well as his own experience growing in 140F soils in Central Valley California. Join Matt for a fun, inspiring, and informative workshop on how to build soils, how to remediate soils, how to feed soil life, and how it all works micro to macro, and then learn how to apply the information to your own site!

Presented By: Matt Powers

Cultivating Resilience Through Defending the Sacred

Convergence Program — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 02:46:58 +0000

Speaking to lessons learned from her time at Standing Rock, indigenous grandmother Winona LaDuke reminds us, “I do not enjoy my time fighting bad guys, or as [John] Trudell would say ‘keeping the beast out of the garden”’, but someone has to keep the beast out of the garden, so someone can garden, and more of us need to keep the beast out of the garden, so that more people can garden.”

With this wisdom in mind, this panel of Indigenous activists, community leaders along with a white ally will dialog around what it means to defend the sacred in a time of socio-ecological crisis. To continue the above metaphor, how can those gardening come to the aid of those keeping the beast out of the garden? How can those tending the wild better support the water protectors and land defenders on the frontlines? What is the role of permaculture in defending the sacred? And, most importantly, how can we all stand more humbly in solidarity with Indigenous peoples of these lands who have been tending her sacredness for generations?

Speakers:

Shelly Covert is the Spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. She sits on the Tribal Council and is community outreach liaison. She is also the Executive Director of the non-profit, C.H.I.R.P. (the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project), whose mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate Nisenan Culture. Shelly is a singer/song writer and tradition keeper within her Tribal group.

The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal homelands lay within the Bear and Yuba River watersheds and are the indigenous people who were here before the Gold Rush, survived, and remain in their ancestral homelands today. But, as a “terminated” Tribe, the Nisenan lost their last piece of land when their reservation was sold at auction in 1965. It has been a long-time-coming, but settling communities are finally seeing the value in ancient, Native landpractices and a new era of collaboration with Tribes has begun. The conversation is wrought with uncertainty but is a huge milestone for reclaiming the sacred and protecting the environment.

Cheryl Angel is a Sicangu Lakota spiritual activist dedicated to non-violent direct action and environmental justice. Years of activism led Cheryl to Standing Rock in 2016, where she became a community member of Sacred Stone Camp. She led prayer and ceremonies during the almost year-long occupation to stop the Dakota Access pipeline from infringing on Native rights, and destroying both fragile cultural treasures and clean water. Now she travels the world to share the message of decolonizing Unci Mahka, or Grandmother Earth and protecting her watersheds.

Desirae Harp is an advocate for water rights and indigenous land stuardship. She is a community organizer, singer/songerwriter, and educator. She is a member of the Mishewal Wappo (Ona*tsatis) nation from the central coast of California. She is the founder of the Mishewal Ona*tsaTis language revitalization program. She is the coordinator of the run4salmon campaign to restore the California water ways, salmon runs, and indigenous ways of life. She works for Indian People Organizing for Change to oppose the development of sacred sites and to advocate for California indigenous peoples to be at the forefront of discussions on climate change within the bay area.

Michael Wellman is a doctoral student in the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Revolving at the intersection of resistance, reskilling, and rewilding, his research encompasses the cultures of radical land defense, tending the wild, and traditional healing, where he is interested in what it means to embody the ecowarrior spirit in these times of the Great Turning. He currently resides on traditional mountain Maidu lands in the South Yuba watershed.

Moderated by:

Susan Juniper Park is grateful to be living on beautiful Chochenyo Ohlone ancestral lands (aka Oakland, CA). Originally from the Gyeongsang-Do providence of South Korea (where folks are known to be extra spicy) and long rooted in the East Bay, she is a radical activist who works at the intersection of social and ecological justice, practices anti-colonial solidarity, and facilitates group dialog. She is also a garden-based ecological educator for Elementary School students and devoted to rekindling ancestral Earth skills. Perhaps most dear to her heart, following a 20-year trajectory in healing and spiritual work, she is currently cultivating a justice-based, psycho-spiritual healing practice that honors the connection between individual struggles with systemic oppression, intergenerational trauma and displacement from ancestral lands.She is also a community organizer with the NorCal Resilience Network, an organization that is strengthening the connections between grassroots groups focused on community-based ecological solutions. NorCal Resilience Network is a partner organization to the 2018 Permaculture Convergence.

FairShare: The People’s Permaculture

Convergence Program — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 17:54:53 +0000

Interactive discussion that strategizes The People’s use of the permaculture power tool!

Come join Town and City Permaculture as they facilitate another interactive and invigorating workshop. That will implore participants to really delve into the question “What is Permaculture?” and how can the community use it a diverse and dynamic tool for building ecological economies of environmental equality.

Presented By: Sasha Shankar & Troy Horton

~ Whale Womb Water Illumination ~

Convergence Program — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 18:06:36 +0000

Womb water ritual with the whales for collective cleansing, healing and activation.

Blessed water temples ~ together we shall gather in circle and create a sacred container for us to take a dive into the deep waters of our wombs. Through guided meditation and connecting to these waters we will come to know our own self and soul more intimately. In these depths we will receive a healing and activating transmission from the Humpback Whale Tribes who share their ancient wisdom with gigantic love and support. In collective ritual we will activate our bodies as illuminated water temples and speak to what it means to walk this earth as a protector of the waters and all of her life-giving magic. We will close our circle with a water blessing and personal commitment to walk in good relation with the waters. <3

Presented By: Abigail Hinds