You’ve heard that these times are dire and urgent, right? So isn’t it time we had some fun? Back due to popular demand, this hands- hearts- and bodies-on workshop returns for the second year to explore play and sacred clowning as tools for social permaculture. Endless urgency and intellectual seriousness are symptoms of a mechanistic, burn-out activist culture. Social sustainability requires different skills than those practiced within the Western capitalist paradigm. Forget those creepy clowns from childhood nightmares – come learn how to use the craft of clowning and play to bring life and joy into our movements. Play facilitates honest cultural critique and creates space for creative alternatives. And, it’s very fun. Notes: No experience necessary. Come especially if you have no experience.

Presented By: Annie-Rose London

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

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Social permaculture looks at the people-care aspects of permaculture. Vegetables are the easy part—people are the challenge! All groups struggle with issues of power, conflicts, and the need to make decisions. Collaborative groups may be healing, nurturing, and inspirational—or they may founder on the rocks of conflict and poor communication.

In this one-day intensive, we’ll look at regenerative patterns for human interaction. How do we come together across barriers and create spaces where we are welcome in the full complexity of who we are? We’ll explore how to structure our groups for maximum group health, how to share power fairly, improve our communication skills, mediate conflicts and facilitate group processes.

The foundation for this workshop is based on tools and practices from Starhawk’s book, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups.

About Starhawk

Starhawk is a committed global justice activist, organizer, speaker, teacher, and the author or coauthor of ten books. Starhawk is founder of Earth Activist Training, and travels internationally teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism for diverse groups, communities and audiences. Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate voice in the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion. Besides her inspiring, much-read books, she is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work closely with the Reclaiming community. Her works include The Spiral Dance, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic ecotopian novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing. A personal favorite is award-winning Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. Starhawk’s latest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature. Starhawk’s books have been translated into many languages, while her essays are reprinted across the world, and have been included in numerous anthologies. Her writing is influential and has been quoted by many hundreds of other authors, from magazines to trade and academic press. Her books are often used in college curriculums.

Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism. Her work in progressive movements spans over 30 years. She has organized, trained protesters, and been on the front lines of antinuclear actions at Diablo Canyon, Livermore Weapons Lab, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the Nevada Test Site, among others. She traveled to Nicaragua with Witness for Peace in 1984 and made two trips to El Salvador to give ongoing support for sustainability programs. She continues to be a witness for peace on the front lines of the Palestine/Israel war, working with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists.

A main focus for the last several years has been the global justice movement; Starhawk has taken part in many of the major actions, including those in Seattle, Washington DC, Quebec City, Genoa, New York City, Cancun, Mexico, and Miami. She co-founded RANT: Root Activists’ Network of Trainers, and teaches non-violent direct action trainings for groups throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Palestine, and South America. She is active in the revived American peace movement, and works with Code Pink. Starhawk also works on countless environmental and land use issues, and is a founder and active member of the Cazadero Hills Land Use Council in western Sonoma County.

Starhawk consulted on and contributed to a trio of popular films, the Women’s Spirituality series (directed by Donna Read). Starhawk and Donna Read formed their own film company, Belili Productions. Their first release is “Signs Out of Time” (2004), a documentary on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar whose discoveries sparked the Goddess movement.  Watch Starhawk’s short videos on Permaculture – Tabor Tilth: Permaculture in the City, and Permaculture Principles at Work. Starhawk and Donna are at work on her next film, an Introduction to Permaculture. Starhak is currently working on a screen play and film for the film for her visionary best selling book – The Fifth Sacred Thing.   Starhawk lives part-time San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in Cazadero, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens, and writes.

what we do the earth, we do to ourselves, and vice versa. we are microcosms of the earth and if we can feel the pain and destruction in our bodies, then we can also feel the healing, resilience and regeneration through our bodies. for some of us this understanding around our bodies as the earth is one we’ve been having for a long time, and for some it may be a new concept. in this class we will discuss the ways this is true, and explore the systemic impacts on our bodies and the earth’s body and how we can dismantle these systems within ourselves first.

Presented By: Marissa Correia

While we all want to transition to a post-carbon future in a way that restores a balanced relationship with the Earth, we often forget that some groups of people have more access to the tools and resources required to get in on this next paradigm. This is plainly obvious to anyone who has been in these types of communities and spaces, and has taken a good look around at the faces in the room. When we talk about designing a more resilient future with bio-diversity in mind, we must not forget the diversity in our human societies. This includes not just race/ethnicity, but class, bodily ability and all variety of gender expression.

Following the Decolonizing Permaculture workshops at the Convergence from the past few years, please join the same presenter as we take a deeper dive into the WHY and HOW to create a more justice-based, equitable and inclusive Resiliency Movement.

POC, Queer, Trans and differently-abled folks especially invited to join in this conversation. Everyone welcomed!

Presented By: Susan Park

GREEN ACRES PERMACULTURE VILLAGE is a small, retrofit, intergenerational intentional community in a core suburban college town neighborhood that integrates self-knowledge and expression with a shared culture among humans and the living Earth to encourage abundance on every level.

Presented By: Ann Kreilkamp

Thurs, Oct 5| 10:00am – 4:30pm| Yurt

– Instructed by Max Meyers

• Pre-Registration Required: $75 – $195 suggested donation (Discounts for FULL Convergence Tickets)
• Includes delicious vegetarian lunch

Ready to Green Your Grow?

Are you interested in learning how to grow clean and green Cannabis? Would you like to improve the quality of the cannabis you grow by moving beyond organic? Want to learn how to produce it using more sustainable, even regenerative practices? Well then, join us for this one of a kind class and learn how to Green Your Grow! This introductory class will help you improve your cannabis growing methods so that they are not only better for you and your pocket book, but for the consumers and the environment as well.

Workshop Description

Many problems facing this fast growing industry relate to the wasteful amount of non-renewable resources being used everyday in the production of the cannabis plant. From the common practices of using chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides, to the destruction of forest systems and waterways, California’s booming new industry in recreational Cannabis must also become more sustainable, clean and certified Organic. The successful changes we are helping to spread will help the state to become a leader in clean green cannabis, which is not only better for the consumers, but better for the environment. In this 1-day Intro workshop Master Grower Max Meyers will teach you the basic concepts of growing Cannabis using ecological design.

Some Key Benefits to Greening your Grow!

• Learn How Nature Can Provide the Solutions to Most of the Challenges Facing Cannabis Growers on the Farm or in the Garden
• Use Up to 75% Less Water Than Other Growing Methods
• Reduce Nutrient Needs and Eliminate Need for Buying Extra Bottles
• Go Beyond the Traditional Understanding of Healthy Soil Systems
• Saves Money, Time and Resources
• Model Plant Communities After the Most Successful Examples in Nature
• Learn How to Go 100% Organic and Beyond!
• Increase Marketability of Your Crop
• Join the Largest and Fastest Growing Segment of Cannabis Production
• Learn from Sustainable Cannabis Experts
• How Using Observation and Good Permaculture Design Can be a Huge Benefit to Growers
• Self-sufficiency = Good for the Planet & Good for Your Wallet
• Localized, Site Specific Advantages that Can’t be Bought in a Store or Nursery
• Design to Maximize Production Area While Minimizing Wasted Space
• Your Chance to Apply what you Learn From this Unique Sustainable Cannabis Growing Class!

Whether you have been growing for years or just getting started, this class will help you grow more sustainable cannabis, using less money, resources and can even help you produce more with less time and labor!

Learn from a well-known expert in Cannabis and Ecological Design the successful tips and tricks you need to reduce electrical usage if growing indoors and how to dramatically reduce your ecological footprint!

This class is perfect for garden managers, growers, owners and operators.

Max Meyers

 Max Meyers is an experienced Ecological Designer, Permaculture Teacher, Consultant, Registered Aquaculturist, Aquaponic System Designer/Installer, Rainwater and Greywater System specialist, Farmer, and the Executive Director of the Mendocino Ecological Learning Center a nonprofit educational organization and ecological reserve offering green job training and sustainable living skills to the public. Through his work as an instructor of Permaculture and Ecological Design he has successfully trained over a thousand students from more than 40 countries world wide. In addition to the work at MELC, Mr. Meyers provides Ecological design services to the public, organizations, and schools through Osiris Designs and Nor Cal Aquaponics. He is passionate about all things related to a more just and sustainable world. Most recently Mr. Meyers helped write the guidelines for the newly formed  California Fish and Wildlife Aquaponics subcommittee. He has been studying, practicing and teaching Permaculture and Ecological Design for 18 years.

Thurs, Oct 5| 10:00am – 4:30pm| Yurt

• Pre-Registration Required: $75 – $195 suggested donation (Discounts for FULL Convergence Tickets)
• Includes delicious vegetarian lunch

Thurs, Oct 5| 10:00am – 4:30pm| Hops Tipi

– Facilitated by Starhawk & Malik Coburn

• Pre-Registration Required: $45 – $95 suggested donation (Discounts for FULL Convergence Tickets)
• Includes delicious vegetarian lunch

Workshop Description

Social permaculture looks at the people-care aspects of permaculture. Vegetables are the easy part—people are the challenge! All groups struggle with issues of power, conflicts, and the need to make decisions. Collaborative groups may be healing, nurturing, and inspirational—or they may founder on the rocks of conflict and poor communication.

In this one-day intensive, we’ll look at regenerative patterns for human interaction. How do we come together across barriers and create spaces where we are welcome in the full complexity of who we are? We’ll explore how to structure our groups for maximum group health, how to share power fairly, improve our communication skills, mediate conflicts and facilitate group processes.

The foundation for this workshop is based on tools and practices from Starhawk’s book, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups.

Starhawk is a committed global justice activist, organizer, speaker, teacher, and the author or coauthor of ten books. Starhawk is founder of Earth Activist Training, and travels internationally teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism for diverse groups, communities and audiences. Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate voice in the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion. Besides her inspiring, much-read books, she is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work closely with the Reclaiming community. Her works include The Spiral Dance, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic ecotopian novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing. A personal favorite is award-winning Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. Starhawk’s latest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature. Starhawk’s books have been translated into many languages, while her essays are reprinted across the world, and have been included in numerous anthologies. Her writing is influential and has been quoted by many hundreds of other authors, from magazines to trade and academic press. Her books are often used in college curriculums.

Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism. Her work in progressive movements spans over 30 years. She has organized, trained protesters, and been on the front lines of antinuclear actions at Diablo Canyon, Livermore Weapons Lab, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the Nevada Test Site, among others. She traveled to Nicaragua with Witness for Peace in 1984 and made two trips to El Salvador to give ongoing support for sustainability programs. She continues to be a witness for peace on the front lines of the Palestine/Israel war, working with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists.

A main focus for the last several years has been the global justice movement; Starhawk has taken part in many of the major actions, including those in Seattle, Washington DC, Quebec City, Genoa, New York City, Cancun, Mexico, and Miami. She co-founded RANT: Root Activists’ Network of Trainers, and teaches non-violent direct action trainings for groups throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Palestine, and South America. She is active in the revived American peace movement, and works with Code Pink. Starhawk also works on countless environmental and land use issues, and is a founder and active member of the Cazadero Hills Land Use Council in western Sonoma County.

Starhawk consulted on and contributed to a trio of popular films, the Women’s Spirituality series (directed by Donna Read). Starhawk and Donna Read formed their own film company, Belili Productions. Their first release is “Signs Out of Time” (2004), a documentary on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar whose discoveries sparked the Goddess movement.  Watch Starhawk’s short videos on Permaculture –  Tabor Tilth: Permaculture in the City, and Permaculture Principles at Work. Starhawk and Donna are at work on her next film, an Introduction to Permaculture. Starhak is currently working on a screen play and film for the film for her visionary best selling book – The Fifth Sacred Thing. http://fifthsacredthing.com/

Starhawk lives part-time San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in Cazadero, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens, and writes.

Thurs, Oct 5| 10:00am – 4:30pm| Hops Tipi

• Pre-Registration Required: $45 – $95 suggested donation (Discounts for FULL Convergence Tickets)
• Includes delicious vegetarian lunch

This work helps cultivate healing and resilience in our hearts and psyches as we continue to show up for the heartbreak and desecration of our world. Showing up in our time is inherently taxing on our empathy, our faith in humanity, and our energy to show up for our communities. When we acknowledge this, we can rest into this shared experience and that our pain is born out of our still giving a damn, which is a holy feeling in our time. The combination of Joanna’s work and music offer a beautiful set of tools for growing our inner resources to stay engaged in our world, and somatically experience our belonging in community and in the living body of Earth.

Saturday Oct 7| 11am| Willow Grove

Presented By: Lydia Violet Harutoonian

2017 Workshop:

Music As Medicine In Our Time

As a caring steward of life Bridget O’Brien strives to explore resilience through many pathways. Her studies and work focus on self-care, social, and land-use design. While utilizing her diverse skills, experiences, and trainings to provide a wholistic approach to culture repair. Bridget shares her passion for playful impactful loving service through her work as a Permaculture educator and designer. She is the Program Director for New Rising Sun (an educational retreat center, farm, and community developing in Ganges, Michigan), and is the creative inspiration of ‘Adapt’ – A Permaculture Game, in collaboration with PermaculturePrinciples.com.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Adapt – A Permaculture Game “Create a world you want to live in.”

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

If we believe that permaculture can save the world, then it is social permaculture that can implement this on a grander scale. It is social permaculture that can go beyond the linear process of paradigm transitioning, to truly address the core issues we face, not just addressing them at surface/current manifestations. In culture design we anchor in the highest vision first, then bridge with the descending paradigm process. Everything we need to create this highest vision is available, it is just still dispersed and embedded in the descending paradigm, thus unable to be fully realized. To put new culture elements together in more comprehensive ways, in more enlightened context creates the quantum leap we are looking for, to the scale and power needed to face our greatest challenges. The development of these tactics, strategies, organizational structures and venues are our collaborative design templates.

Learn More About Alexa Bernard

Alexa has studied consciousness research in college, with a focus on the evolution of consciousness. gained political awareness and activation on the streets of Eugene, and embraced her true calling in the discovery of permaculture. Weaving her experiences and passions together to help develop social permaculture as a shared tool box, conceptual framework for culture design and as a synergy filled social movement.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Catalyzing the Evolution of Collective Consciousness & Culture Through Design

How can we build stronger relationships within our local communities and groups? Explore fun and practical applications of the permaculture principles in organizing working groups, community events and actions that foster authentic and lasting relationships.

Join Jasmine Fuego for an interactive and engaging workshop on Social Permaculture & Community Organizing. This workshop is about community organizing from a grassroots, local level that will introduce the concept of designing for social cohesion and inclusion within groups. It will also introduce the model used to create the national Permaculture Action Tour. Resiliency begins from a local level. Participants of this workshop will leave this session with the basic tools and ethics for organizing small and large projects, actions and events within their communities with little to no money.

Jasmine is a dancer and will open the discussion with a “mingle” dance which will get people moving around, comfortable and sharing with each other. Participants will experience a gallery crawl where large pieces of paper are posted around the space; people will visit each area and write their responses to the potent questions… from there the vital discussion emerges… which of course is collaborative. Jasmine believes people are natural organizers and have the knowledge to do so already. Sometimes we only need to be pointed or prompted to realize how our specific skill sets can be utilized within our communities.

Learn more about Jasmine Fuego