One of the key concepts I got out of reading Starhawk’s book The Earth Path relates to the mechanistic approach verses the animate approach to how life is viewed in western contemporary culture. “The mechanistic model assumes that the world is knowable and controllable. Unintended consequences of an action are seen as anomalies, not “real” consequences, and therefore often go unseen, unacknowledged, and unaccounted for.”(16) This model of thinking shows up most readily in agriculture and the way western contemporary society relates to nature. Starhawk exemplifies this by showing how a corporation can clear-cut a field, spray pesticide to kill off weeds and say the salmon that die from the herbicide run off are “externalities” unintended consequences. After reading this it made me clearly see how one action is connected to a web of relations. “West Africans believed in an animated universe, in the process I call ‘continuous creation.’ Continuous creation means that the generation and recycling of energy is always in effect.”(21) “While indigenous cultures are all different, one thing they share in common is a perception of the world as alive and themselves as embedded in a matrix of complex relationships.”(22)
This book has greatly affected the way I look at the history of my culture in North America and re-examine the way I choose to be in the world. I started this book before attending the earth activist training. Using these tools and way of thinking on a daily basis during the training really enriched the text and made me more ready to dive into Starhawk’s approach to observing the natural world. The Earth Path is full of examples and exercises of ways to connect with the earth and see all beings as sacred. I want to use this book and its exercises as a physical tool in connecting to my home and the land I live on. I have chosen to keep it as a resource throughout this quarter, to take some of her observation with me when I go to my secret spot, when I have social interactions in groups and when I am moving around in my day to day life grounded and aware.
“To be a witch is to be someone who has concisely accepted the challenge of serving the powers of life and balance.” (134)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Week 4 winter quarter
I began this week happy to be back in the swing of academic life. I successfully found my (secret spot), a spot in a wooded area near my home to quietly observe nature and wild life. I began the exercise in Body and Earth that include doing this nature observation and movement exercises to lessen the distinction between my natural environment and me. I have also been putting to practice the things I learned at the E.A.T. around observing the place where I live and listening to bird language.
While I was in the bay area I took advantage of going to an installation art exhibit at the SF Moma. This provided the perfect space to sketch out some of my ideas for my final art installation. The work of Olafur Eliasson was inspiring as a way of creating interactive and engaging space. He liked to separate naturally occurring phenomenon and put it up in a gallery. For instance he used one room to create an installation of water vapor. He put a light on the vapor as if a piece of sunlight was pouring through the trees onto a waterfalls mist, which created a rainbow of mystery. It was very beautiful land yet very artificial. I prefer to observe the beauty and then create my own interpretation in outside space.
I appreciated his time-lapse photos the most. They documented a spot in Iceland where a valley met with a dark hill. He shot the same photo every hour from before sunrise to the black of evening. It was lovely to watch the subtle variations in light play and experience a day in the life of this valley. I also thought of the environmental implications of documenting a place like Iceland, which will be dramatically effected by climate change.
I plan to use some of this inspiration and metaphor in my work. I also did research on several natural materials art installationists and will be reading their books and watching their movies over the next few weeks. Including the works of Alma Ruiz, Wolfgang Lieb, Andy Goldsworthy and Janine Antoni.
On Wednesday I volunteered for Climate Change day and sat in on multiple workshops relating to making Evergreen carbon neutral and a panel discussion on next steps in making an active climate change movement. While I liked seeing the steps Evergreen is making to reduce carbon I felt like the workshop lacked in looking at the abundant resources for alternative energy the school already has. It made me want to look into doing more green design on campus. The workshop also lacked a strong facilitator so not all voices were heard and a few loud characters dominated the conversation. The panel discussion was inspiring in all the creative ways this diverse group of folks have figured out to reduce there carbon intake and build cleaner energy systems. I was especially inspired by one of the speakers talking about her small business "Terra Gardens" which makes food forests on people's lawns and her environmental despair workshops that got people feeling there feelings of hopelessness about the environment so they could ultimately heal and do better work.
Heron and I had a very successful seminar where we began by doing grounding exercises then did one of the examples in The Earth Path where we discussed our sacred intention. A question came to mind during the seminar, how am I living now to create the change I want to see in the future? This is something I want to continue asking myself as I do my work this quarter.
While I was in the bay area I took advantage of going to an installation art exhibit at the SF Moma. This provided the perfect space to sketch out some of my ideas for my final art installation. The work of Olafur Eliasson was inspiring as a way of creating interactive and engaging space. He liked to separate naturally occurring phenomenon and put it up in a gallery. For instance he used one room to create an installation of water vapor. He put a light on the vapor as if a piece of sunlight was pouring through the trees onto a waterfalls mist, which created a rainbow of mystery. It was very beautiful land yet very artificial. I prefer to observe the beauty and then create my own interpretation in outside space.
I appreciated his time-lapse photos the most. They documented a spot in Iceland where a valley met with a dark hill. He shot the same photo every hour from before sunrise to the black of evening. It was lovely to watch the subtle variations in light play and experience a day in the life of this valley. I also thought of the environmental implications of documenting a place like Iceland, which will be dramatically effected by climate change.
I plan to use some of this inspiration and metaphor in my work. I also did research on several natural materials art installationists and will be reading their books and watching their movies over the next few weeks. Including the works of Alma Ruiz, Wolfgang Lieb, Andy Goldsworthy and Janine Antoni.
On Wednesday I volunteered for Climate Change day and sat in on multiple workshops relating to making Evergreen carbon neutral and a panel discussion on next steps in making an active climate change movement. While I liked seeing the steps Evergreen is making to reduce carbon I felt like the workshop lacked in looking at the abundant resources for alternative energy the school already has. It made me want to look into doing more green design on campus. The workshop also lacked a strong facilitator so not all voices were heard and a few loud characters dominated the conversation. The panel discussion was inspiring in all the creative ways this diverse group of folks have figured out to reduce there carbon intake and build cleaner energy systems. I was especially inspired by one of the speakers talking about her small business "Terra Gardens" which makes food forests on people's lawns and her environmental despair workshops that got people feeling there feelings of hopelessness about the environment so they could ultimately heal and do better work.
Heron and I had a very successful seminar where we began by doing grounding exercises then did one of the examples in The Earth Path where we discussed our sacred intention. A question came to mind during the seminar, how am I living now to create the change I want to see in the future? This is something I want to continue asking myself as I do my work this quarter.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Syllabus for Building Sustainable Communities
Weeks 1, 2, and 3 Jan.7th-25th
Week 4 Jan. 20th Feb. 1st
Week 10 March 10th-14th
Week 11 March 17th-21st
Booklist:
Nature Awareness and Permaculture
- Jan 5th-19th: Attend the Earth Activist Training in Cazadero, CA. Basic permaculture design, agroforestry, vermiculture, earth based ritual, natural building, sustainable energy, political activism, community dynamics and power structures, water catchments/conservation and grey water systems, bioremediation, animal husbandry, and more. Completion of group permaculture design project and presentation. Earn permaculture certification.
- Document experience at training through photography, journaling and audio recordings.
- Jan 23rd: Visit Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Occidental, CA, to research intentional living situations and volunteer in their organic garden.
- Write complete syllabus
- Read The Earth Path by Starhawk aloud with learning partner
- Begin academic blog with entries from readings and reports on training.
- Complete sketches and initial brainstorm for Art installation
Week 4 Jan. 20th Feb. 1st
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 1-3 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about EAT and The Earth Path
- Publicity for EAT report back
- Sketch and write notes for art installation, watch Rivers and Tides by Andy Goldsworthy for inspiration
- Volunteer for Climate Change day
- Seminar on The Earth Path
- Reading: EAT reader and begin Reading: Creating a Life Together
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 4-6 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about EAT reader
- Publicity for EAT report back
- EAT report back curriculum planning
- Continue research on natural materials art installations and finalize sketches for installation
- Seminar on Creating a life together and EAT reader
- Reading: EAT reader and Creating a Life Together
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 7-9 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about Creating a Life Together
- Publicity for EAT report back
- EAT report back curriculum planning
- Begin construction of art installation!
- Seminar on Creating a Life together
- Reading: finish Creating a Life Together begin reading excerpts of The Intentional Communities Directory
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 10-12 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about The Intentional Communities Directory
- Present evening report back on EAT for general community at the Free School
- Continue construction of art installation and gaining inspiration
- Seminar on The Intentional Communities Directory
- Reading: The Earth's Blanket: Traditional Teachings For Sustainable Living
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 13-15 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about report back
- Continue construction of art installation and gaining inspiration
- Seminar on Widening the Circle: Inspiration and Guidance for Community
- Reading: Continue The Earth's Blanket: Traditional Teachings For Sustainable Living
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 16-18 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about Widening the Circle: Inspiration and Guidance for Community
- Continue construction of art installation and gaining inspiration
- Seminar: community creation map plan
- Reading: finish The Earth's Blanket: Traditional Teachings For Sustainable Living
- Start work on self evaluation
Week 10 March 10th-14th
- Do exercises in Body and Earth chapters 19-21 and The Earth Path
- Keep field journal of nature awareness exercise
- Write on Blog about community creation map plan
- Present Art Installation and photographically document experience
- Continue writing self evaluation
Week 11 March 17th-21st
- Self evaluation and faculty evaluation
Booklist:
Nature Awareness and Permaculture
- Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide by Andrea Olsen 2002. Middlebury College Press Lebanon, New Hampshire.
- The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature by Starhawk. 2005. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA.
- EAT reader, selected articles
- The Intentional Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living, 2000 edition (selected essays). Fellowship for Intentional Community, Rutledge, MO
- Creating a Life Together by Diana Leafe Christian. 2003. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC.
- The Earth's Blanket: Traditional Teachings For Sustainable Living
Friday, January 25, 2008
Lessons from the Earth Activist Training Jan.5-19th
The Earth Activist Training is a learning space that was set up to engage Heron and I in the arts of radical sustainability and regenerative activism through learning the basics of permaculture design and other tools like alternative energy and consensus process. In coming to this training I did not truly expect them to cover all the topics listed in their online syllabus. I was happily surprised that they did and more. This was an intensive that left me with ideas to immediately start creating the environment I want to live in at home. I have the building blocks to learn more intensively the things that most inspired me which included a range of topics like installing simple gray water and rainwater catchments in my home, insulating my windows, making an accessible clothes line, learning bird language and basic tracking, leading full moon rituals, using urban permaculture to help re-mediate toxic lots, start doing stream restoration and creating wild habitat for animals and sanctuary for song birds.
For my final E.A.T. project with a small team I helped create a permaculture design project on Starhawk's, one of the teachers, land. I was able to get a sense of what it would really be like to help people design their land to work with the earth instead of on top of it. I also got a chance to interview the people living on the land and create a design that would cater to their needs. We not only designed better building structures and terraced gardens but also used our skills of social permaculture to create a more solid sharing and community feel for the caretakers and interns living on the land.
Below is a break down of the things we covered in the day to day of the training. They were long days 9am-10:30pm most often with few breaks in between. We had one day off which we chose to use by exploring the redwoods close by and spending some time connecting with the ocean.
Schedule during EAT
(Sun.) Day1. Principals and Patterns in Design. We learned about all the different patterns you can use for design, such as honeycomb, spiral, etc. We also looked at pictures and brainstormed what these designs might be best used for like a spiral in an herb garden.
(Mon.) Day2. AIR: Concepts Design and Process. We did sight sector analyses and learned about using the different zones of any piece of land sourcing the principals of integrate, reflect, absorb. We learned the basics of using a general core pattern, working from pattern to detail and then mind mapping our observations.
(Tues.) Day3. WATER: and Networking. We learned the basics of swale building, rainwater catchment, source, sink, catchment, key line, ponds, grey water and black water. In the afternoon we networked and shared resources that was called social permaculture. In the evening I helped co-create a new moon ritual where we made bio-brew, a nourishing drink for plants similar to compost tea, and worked with the magic of the land and the energy of the darkened moon.
(Wed.) Day4. SOIL: and Affinity Groups. We focused on all aspects of topsoil building and the importance of using the skin of the land. We also studied mushrooms and micro-remediation. Using compost and worm bins, sheet mulching, cover crops, erosion, bacteria for our starting point we made a worm bin and also made some mycelium bags to help integrate mushrooms into un-healthy soil and leach toxins. In the evening we had a political affinity group training where we pretended to get into a political debate. After this we did a human scale showing how many people wanted to work within the system or not.
(Thurs.) Day5. Plant Guilds, Food Forests and Grey Water! Grafting and pleaching, were some of the techniques covered in how to work with trees. we also learned how plants work together to create topsoil, a healthy soil would have a nitrogen fixer, insectory, and dynamic accumulator. We created a gray water and rain catchment system, making a hand washing station, plumbing and laying it out so the grey water goes into a swale in the garden. In the evening we did an anti-oppression training working in small groups on different oppressions and sharing our experiences with the larger group.
(Fri.) Day6. Field Day. Willow planting to control river erosion and swale building to catch rain water in a field. Design projects met that night I decided to be a part of designing Starhawk's land.
(Sun.) Day8. Animals and Climate Change. Animal husbandry and animal guilds, microclimates! And briefly we touched on tropical permaculture. Evening lecture on systems theory, climate change, solutions for sustainability!
(Mon.) Day9. Natural Building. We started the work of building a cob and waddle tool shed by making cob and waddle from mud, sand and straw. There was an inspiring lecture on the living building, passive solar design and a slide show of what others have created.
Evening lecture on urban permaculture! How to get involved example (city repair in Portland) and our teacher Eric’s inspiring story of food not lawns, how he inspired whole neighborhoods in Sebastopol to work together and create gardens on their front lawns.
(Tues.) Day10. FIRE: Energy and Bird Language Morning! Conservation, alternative electricity, solar thermal, wind, methane, micro hydro are some of the ways we studied to make alternative energy. Afternoon tracking and naturalism, awareness and bird language in depth! Holistic land management strategies, Allen Savory’s book, cattle grazing for disturbance and regeneration of native plants, preventing erosion. Evening lecture on consensus and starting a campaign, making press release, etc.
(Wed.) Day11. Invisible Structures. Consensus continued, power is earned over time with commitment to the whole. Learning strategies of group development, getting feed back and giving it. Global economics, local economy, land trusts! local currency, alternative financing!
Afternoon and evening work was done on design project, Star’s land, interview members, take pictures, design, water catchments, community structure, bunkhouse, zone 1 garden and planting plan. Healing from trauma ritual that ended in a laughing circle.
(Thurs.) Day12. Design Projects Continued!
(Fri,) Day 13. Design Presentations. We created an innovative and fun presentation using photo slide show, theater and information Sharing as well as drawings!
Good-bye ritual, making seed balls and singing for one of the teachers who is about to have a baby.
For my final E.A.T. project with a small team I helped create a permaculture design project on Starhawk's, one of the teachers, land. I was able to get a sense of what it would really be like to help people design their land to work with the earth instead of on top of it. I also got a chance to interview the people living on the land and create a design that would cater to their needs. We not only designed better building structures and terraced gardens but also used our skills of social permaculture to create a more solid sharing and community feel for the caretakers and interns living on the land.
Below is a break down of the things we covered in the day to day of the training. They were long days 9am-10:30pm most often with few breaks in between. We had one day off which we chose to use by exploring the redwoods close by and spending some time connecting with the ocean.
Schedule during EAT
(Sun.) Day1. Principals and Patterns in Design. We learned about all the different patterns you can use for design, such as honeycomb, spiral, etc. We also looked at pictures and brainstormed what these designs might be best used for like a spiral in an herb garden.
(Mon.) Day2. AIR: Concepts Design and Process. We did sight sector analyses and learned about using the different zones of any piece of land sourcing the principals of integrate, reflect, absorb. We learned the basics of using a general core pattern, working from pattern to detail and then mind mapping our observations.
(Tues.) Day3. WATER: and Networking. We learned the basics of swale building, rainwater catchment, source, sink, catchment, key line, ponds, grey water and black water. In the afternoon we networked and shared resources that was called social permaculture. In the evening I helped co-create a new moon ritual where we made bio-brew, a nourishing drink for plants similar to compost tea, and worked with the magic of the land and the energy of the darkened moon.
(Wed.) Day4. SOIL: and Affinity Groups. We focused on all aspects of topsoil building and the importance of using the skin of the land. We also studied mushrooms and micro-remediation. Using compost and worm bins, sheet mulching, cover crops, erosion, bacteria for our starting point we made a worm bin and also made some mycelium bags to help integrate mushrooms into un-healthy soil and leach toxins. In the evening we had a political affinity group training where we pretended to get into a political debate. After this we did a human scale showing how many people wanted to work within the system or not.
(Thurs.) Day5. Plant Guilds, Food Forests and Grey Water! Grafting and pleaching, were some of the techniques covered in how to work with trees. we also learned how plants work together to create topsoil, a healthy soil would have a nitrogen fixer, insectory, and dynamic accumulator. We created a gray water and rain catchment system, making a hand washing station, plumbing and laying it out so the grey water goes into a swale in the garden. In the evening we did an anti-oppression training working in small groups on different oppressions and sharing our experiences with the larger group.
(Fri.) Day6. Field Day. Willow planting to control river erosion and swale building to catch rain water in a field. Design projects met that night I decided to be a part of designing Starhawk's land.
(Sun.) Day8. Animals and Climate Change. Animal husbandry and animal guilds, microclimates! And briefly we touched on tropical permaculture. Evening lecture on systems theory, climate change, solutions for sustainability!
(Mon.) Day9. Natural Building. We started the work of building a cob and waddle tool shed by making cob and waddle from mud, sand and straw. There was an inspiring lecture on the living building, passive solar design and a slide show of what others have created.
Evening lecture on urban permaculture! How to get involved example (city repair in Portland) and our teacher Eric’s inspiring story of food not lawns, how he inspired whole neighborhoods in Sebastopol to work together and create gardens on their front lawns.
(Tues.) Day10. FIRE: Energy and Bird Language Morning! Conservation, alternative electricity, solar thermal, wind, methane, micro hydro are some of the ways we studied to make alternative energy. Afternoon tracking and naturalism, awareness and bird language in depth! Holistic land management strategies, Allen Savory’s book, cattle grazing for disturbance and regeneration of native plants, preventing erosion. Evening lecture on consensus and starting a campaign, making press release, etc.
(Wed.) Day11. Invisible Structures. Consensus continued, power is earned over time with commitment to the whole. Learning strategies of group development, getting feed back and giving it. Global economics, local economy, land trusts! local currency, alternative financing!
Afternoon and evening work was done on design project, Star’s land, interview members, take pictures, design, water catchments, community structure, bunkhouse, zone 1 garden and planting plan. Healing from trauma ritual that ended in a laughing circle.
(Thurs.) Day12. Design Projects Continued!
(Fri,) Day 13. Design Presentations. We created an innovative and fun presentation using photo slide show, theater and information Sharing as well as drawings!
Good-bye ritual, making seed balls and singing for one of the teachers who is about to have a baby.
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