Each choice we make is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in. The mission of ‘Adapt – A Permaculture Game’ is to educate individuals and groups how to design in the ethics and principles of Permaculture to each aspect of our lives. We will play through the creating of a world to thrive in by applying principles, patterns, and collective knowledge pools to cultivate caring choices for our communities and our own self-care needs.  This playshop will provide you with the inside scoop on the evolutionary teaching tool – ‘Adapt’ – while participating in a few rounds of game play. Explore with us the many ways in which this game and its pieces can be used through out a multitude of educational environments and community development.

Presented By: Bridget O’Brien

Sunday September 18th | 12:30 – 1:30 PM | Bioregional Hub

Workshop 1) How Intentional Communities Can Change the World

Intentional communities have been acting as laboratories and social experiments for cooperation, sustainability, and social justice since the 1930’s. The current movement encompasses a broad array of models and organizations that bridge historic communities with new innovations responding to global issues. This workshop will provide an overview of the different kinds of intentional communities, the organizations at play, a bit of the history, the current state of affairs, and the role of the communities movement in the larger movement towards cooperation, sustainability, and social justice.

Presented By: Sky Blue, Jingtian Yu

Sunday, September 18th | 2:00 PM | Zocalo

Workshop 2) Learning to Cooperate: The Structures and Culture that Support Effective Self-Governance

Self-governance, self-management, and self-determination are quintessential aspects of intentional communities and other kinds of cooperative organizations. This workshop will cover the basics of consent-based decision-making, group facilitation, conflict resolution, interpersonal dynamics, and organizational and cultural development, drawing upon the experiences, successes, and challenges faced by participants.

Presented By: Sky Blue, Jingtian Yu

Sunday, September 18th | 3:30 PM | Zocalo

Workshop 3) Tales from the Trenches: Realities of Intentional Communities

Join us for a panel discussion with people from different intentional communities on the successes, challenges, why we think they’re important, and what we need to learn, plus Q&A.

2016 Panelists: Sky Blue, Jingtian Yu, Cassandra Ferrera, Christian Stalberg, Abeja Hummel

Saturday, September 17th | 3:30 PM | Mediterrean Garden

Resilience and sustainability, on multiple levels from a holistic perspective, is foundational to what intentional communities are experimenting with and modeling. They are real life examples of how people can live their lives according to their values, practicing the skills and methods needed to regenerate the planet and create a sustainable human society. These workshops will be a combination of lecture/presentation, Q&A, whole group and small group discussions, and participant sharing.

Over the last 18 years, Sky Blue has been a member of Twin Oaks Community, a housing collective, a student housing cooperative, a cohousing community, and two small worker co-operative businesses. He current works as the Executive Director for the Fellowship for Intentional Community. He’s visited dozens of communities and cooperatives, in the US and in Europe. Living in community and furthering the larger cooperative movement has been a primary focus of his entire adult life.

He’s played a formal or informal role in a number of organizations, as well as forming or developing groups. At Twin Oaks he’s had many jobs, including, manager of the Twin Oaks Communities Conference. He also serves as one of the Twin Oaks delegates to the Federation of Egalitarian Communities, and serves on the Council for the Global Ecovillage Network of North America.

On a more personal level, Sky is an amateur musician and DJ and loves organizing all manner of events, from parties to conferences. Personal growth and healthy interpersonal relationships are another focus of his life. He is the father of a teenager. His life is about bringing people together to make the world a better place for everyone.

Makin’ It Happen, Cooperatively: Pathways for success in Intentional Communities, Worker Co-ops, and other collective projects and endeavors

Saturday, Oct 7| 2pm| Hops Tipi

Beyond Diversity to Liberation: Intentional Communities as platforms for social justice

Tales from the Trenches: The realities of life in intentional communities