Occupy this planet. And occupy your soul.
Wow, I had an incredible month with so much going on. Mushroom season is upon us and I’ve already seen several varieties of edible mushrooms. Summer gardening is pretty much over and cool season crops are thriving. Greenhouses provide space for season extension of peppers, tomatoes, basil, eggplants, and lemon grass. I have been gathering seeds of all sorts from my garden to plant and share for next year. Thoughts of next year’s gardens are inspired by what did well this year. At the beginning of October I started the second year of my Master’s program at Gaia University, and gave my end of the year presentation. Occupy Wall Street continued the global uprisings and brought more solidarity across national borders, now has morphed into Occupy together and so on. I’m sure there was more for many of you but these are the events that stand out in my mind.
If there is something I have learned from each of the events I attended it is the power of networking. Returning to Regenerative Design Institute (RDI) in Bolinas, CA for my end of the year presentation at Gaia University I saw many familiar faces and was introduced to many more. It’s always great to be in the company of those that are great, and those that aspire to be great. I had wonderful conversation with my Gaia peeps on many different levels. When I gave my presentation I was given much praise and admiration for what I had done in the past year. A new friend at RDI got me more into social media and networking and opened my horizons beyond expectations. He inspired me to reach mass amounts of people and to help others through the mycelial-like network called the Internet. I’ll be doing a major overhaul of my web ecology in the next few months.
After spending a week at Gaia U’s regional education center at RDI we continued to sleep there at night but as a group we went to Bioneers conference for three days. Many of the people in our group hosted a world café outside after the main plenary. I saw many friends and acquaintances at Bioneers. It was great to reconnect and offer and receive moral support from them. It was also great to fuel the networking fire. A new friend, Ivan, and fellow Gaia University associate, from Mexico city is involved with a global movement for peace. The goal is to create a globally synchronized moment of peace on December 21st and 22nd of 2012. I brought to the attention as many people as possible this movement which can be found at www.peace2012.net/. Every chance I ran into someone at Bioneers I told them about Peace 2012. Some I introduced to my friend and the networking fire was fueled. For example when I saw another friend, Brennan, with a booth promoting his Peace on Earth Bench Movement I knew he had to meet Ivan. The synchronicity of my weekend there was a blessing and I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I extended my networking capabilities by sharing my experience at Bioneers in real time through twitter and facebook. It was cool to get responses from friends all over the country.
One part of Bioneers that I didn’t want to miss was the seed exchange. I gathered several types of seeds from there last year and grew many of them out for more seed this summer. My seed bank grows bigger and bigger every year. I was eager to look for anything I might have missed last year, or anything new. Tesuque Pueblo from New Mexico have helped host the seed exchange since inception and was my favorite source for seed. I looked for any beans, squash and corn I didn’t have already and vowed to bring seeds to the seed exchange next year.
At the same time Bioneers was happening there was a synchronized Occupy action going on around the globe. 1000 people gathered in 1000 different cities around the globe to show that they have had enough of the corporate attack on people and the planet. Being at Bioneers I felt very much a part of the occupy movement, I was even asked to help put on a Permaculture Design Course at #occupysanfrancisco. Bioneers are working towards making a better today, and the occupiees are speaking loud and clear “Enough is enough, we want a better today”. Learn more about the Occupy movement on Occupytogether.org.
So I have returned refreshed and inspired. Refreshed by getting away from the tension I feel in the local community. Inspired to continue working on aiding sustainability in the Mother Lode through networking and collaborative creation. The Occupy movement has ignited a spark of inspiration that is shared globally and motivates us locally. Join the movement to occupy this planet in harmony with each other. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
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