Category — SOCIETY

This conference is for all interested in making a difference.

Our annual sustainability conference provides a forum to discuss current issues that are relevant to our region, our community, and our faculty, staff, and students.

We seek to develop common ground to help build a sustainable society; one that balances economic, environmental and social needs.  We will explore programs that will actually help us address the global problems we are now facing.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of this conference please visit our web site for more details:
http://wwww.csuchico.edu/sustainablefuture/conference/

Session Times: 9:00 A.M. -5:00 P.M. – see our website for schedule details as they become available.

Advanced Registration- Online: January 1, 2012- February 17, 2012
www.csuchico.edu/sustainablefuture/conference/

Onsite Registration: Opens daily at 8:00 A.M. in the Bell Memorial Union Main Lobby

FEES: Students are free.   $50 for all three days or $20 per day for all other attendees.

From now on, this website will offer a platform to barter time and goods.   Under the title “BARTERING”, people who have goods or services that they’d like to swap will be able to create new posts that contain info on what they have to share, and what they are looking for.   A new category will soon be added to the website.

1st Barter Post and example:

Zeeko Salvage aka ZeekoBag is interested in bartering industrial sewing and repair services for locally/ecologically produced meat, a large floor-mounted drill press, or a small metal lathe.

We can sew new bags or equipment, repair tarps and awnings, or replace zippers, snaps, and velcro on heavy duty fabrics or outdoor furniture.

Contact ZeekoSalvage at 966-8186

Great meeting today, very encouraging.   Here’s a summary and a to-do list combining notes by Jon Luvaas and Gerard Ungerman.

Community-wide meetings at the Grange:
Conversation Café -type meetings should be encouraged to take place at the Grange.   The Grange is a perfect meeting place for all the many groups from Chico involved in various aspect of sustainable living.   It is also a perfect hub to connect these different groups and encourage inter-group communication.

A first conversation cafe will take place at the Grange on Dec. 6.   The topic of the discussion will be “How to reach out to our neighbors and how to find common ground concerns and solutions ?”   The evening will start with a Potluck Dinner at 6 followed by a public discussion at 7:30.

Per Jon’s notes: “our experience at the Grange could help us assess how to insert this conversation broadly into the community fabric.  I’ve found my stack of little “agreements” cards  to put on each table for the conversations.  Also found the conversation café website with all the info each of us will need to facilitate a group – principles, process, ground rules, how to promote it, etc. http://www.conversationcafe.org/hostCorePrinciples.htm

Each group needs a facilitator to monitor the process, a timekeeper to keep everyone “in line”, and a notekeeper who’ll report back to the larger group afterward. One person could probably hold a couple of roles. Let’s all take a look there to better understand how to facilitate small groups at the Dec. 6 Grange meeting. I heard phrases like resilience circles, affinity groups, common security, connecting neighborhoods for a Transition through unstable times, strategies to find common ground.”

Stephanie from GRUB will write up and send us the promotional material for the meeting for newspapers – KZFR maybe? – and an announcement to Grangers – telling everyone to “bring a neighbor”.  We’ll add ideas and she’ll send it out, as usual.  Cass needs it by the 28th or so in order to get it out to Grangers.

The intent has also been expressed to tie Transition action with Occupy Chico activism.   Julie from Occupy Chico will invite core people from their General Assembly to join our conversation on the 6th.  This will be the first opportunity by many of them to join in a broader, longer term community action discussion.

A New “Transition” class at Chico State:
CSU, Chico professor Mark Stemen presented his project for a new class on post carbon transition to begin in January 2012.   Elaborated in collaboration with fellow professor and head of the Institute for Sustainable Development at CSU, Chico, Jim Pushnik,  this project will benefit from special funding granted by the Jack Rawlins Foundation.   This class will include conferences that will be open to the public.   Speakers will be invited including Rob Hopkins, author of the “Transition Handbook” and co-author of the “Post-Carbon Reader”.  Other possible presenters are encouraged to contact Jim Pushnik by phone  -   530-898-6362   – or by e-mail at  jpushnik@csuchico.edu .  Mark Stemen can be reached at mstemen@csuchico.edu and 530-898-5428.

Per Jon’s notes again: “We might want to help tie this class and the ISD into City implementation of the Climate Action Plan (CAP), which they may adopt by late spring.  The CAP will call for a citywide Transition Plan to a post-carbon future, and a subcommittee of the STF that I’m on will start working that plan after adoption of the CAP.  I can imagine student projects, research, and input contributing to that plan, as well as considerable community input to that, organized by us.  City staff cannot be relied upon to carry the load. The transition plan will no doubt be community-based, without much city action, but we could push for city policies to support community action.  Another useful person to contact about this might be Fletcher Alexander, who did most of the work on the CAP as a grad student intern. He was recently hired as the CSUC Sustainability Coordinator. falexander@csuchico.edu 530-898-333 Institute for Sustainable Development.

The CAP should go to the City Sustainability Task Force (STF) (Pushnik is also a member) at its next regular meeting on December 4, if their bureaucracy is through kicking it around, and amended and approved by them by late winter.  It will then go to the City Council for hearings and adoption.  It must not be allowed to be just another feel good City document with no funds or commitment to act on it.  But it’s likely to be a weak draft when first presented in the next month or so, since that’s City staff’s typical cautious approach.  So a lot of community input is needed to the STF and Council to build support to make it meaningful and as aggressive as we know it must be.”

Creating video vignettes on examples of sustainable living:
Gerard is planning to film a series of short vignettes about inspiring acts of “respectful living” already happening in Chico, more often than not in total anonymity.   This project carried out in collaboration with local students will aim at both enhancing the visibility of great local projects, big and small,  and at starting a much broader, nation-wide endeavor meant to shine a spotlight on as many Americans as possible who contribute everyday at making the world a better place.

Re-learning basic forgotten skills:
The idea was also raised to promote reskilling classes at GRUB, the Grange, and elsewhere.  Older retirees in particular, with a lot of old time skills to share, would be helped and encouraged to set up classes.

Next planning meeting will be on December 14, 8:30 a.m. at David’s home.

Students from UC’s, CSUs, Community Colleges, Private Universities and high schools are encouraged to attend. We also invite community members and others to attend. Attendees will find opportunities to hear inspiring speakers, exchange ideas in workshops, and to celebrate our collective successes.

$25 for Regular (after Oct. 12) - FREE for CSU Chico students

For complete information, please visit : http://www.sustainabilitycoalition.org/fall-convergence-2e

Our keynote speaker this fall will be Derrick Jensen, social and environmental justice activist and author of the critically acclaimed Endgame series.

Friday:
5:00PM-10:00PM Check-in begins at GRUB Cooperative
1525 Dayton Rd, Chico CA 95928
7:00PM Film Screening, “GASLAND”
BMU 100, CSU Chico
10:00PM Friday Night Check-in at GRUB Cooperative Ends
(Any parties arriving after 10PM will need to check in Saturday morning at the on-site registration desk)

Saturday:
8:00AM-9:00AM Breakfast and On-Site Registration Begins
9:00AM-9:30AM Welcome begins in BMU 100
9:30AM-10:30AM Keynote Address by Morgoth Gamboa
10:30AM-11:00AM Transition Time
11:00-11:50AM Track 1 Workshops
11:50AM-1:20PM Lunch
1:30PM-2:20PM Track 2 Workshop
2:30PM-3:20PM Track 3 Workshop
3:30PM-4:20PM Track 4 Workshop
4:30PM-5:30PM Keynote Address by Derrick Jensen
5:30PM-6:00PM Q&A with Derrick Jensen
6:00PM-7:00PM Transition time to travel from CSU, Chico to GRUB
7:00PM-8:30PM Dinner at GRUB with words from Dr. Mark Stemen
8:30PM-9:30PM Speakeasy Performs
9:30PM-10:30PM Soul Union Performs
Midnight Quiet Time

Sunday:
9:00AM-10:00AM Breakfast
10:00AM-10:20AM Welcome
10:30AM-11:20AM System Wide Caucus
11:30AM-12:20PM Getting to know CSSC – Op Team, Council & Board
12:30PM-1:00PM Close-Out and Goodbyes

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Four Workshop Tracks (Saturday of convergence!)

Track 1 (11:00 am)
Growing Activist Communities from the Inside Out
Fair Trade on your campus
Sustainability Funds
Freeganism: The Art of Dumpster Diving
Achieving Group Synergy – Dynamic Meeting Facilitation
ECO Website
Keystone XL Pipeline
Greening Events
End Coal Campaign
Tour of Associated Student’s Recycling Program

Track 2 (1:30 pm)
The Power of the Student Voice
Experiential Education and Student Activism: Butte College Students Report Back from Bioneers Conference
Advocating for Change: Creating a new food system through the 2012Fair = Farm Bill
SCOOP: Auditing an Office
Everyday Recycling
Sustainable Manufacturing Engineering
Cross-Pollination for Clean Energy Campuses
Problems with Plastics and What We Can Do
Shades of Green: Strengthening Diversity in the Environmental Justice Movement
DIY Extreme: Vegan Soap, Lip Balm, Toothpaste, & Deodorant Making

Track 3 (2:30 pm)
Green Leap Forward: Debunking nuclear myths, catalyzing clean energy
Permaculture: A Tool for Radical Student Change-Makers
Youth Organizing in Oakland
Making Energy Tangible
The Recycling and Rubbish Exhibit program and Worm Composting Demo
Taking Back the Tap at UCSC and UC Berkeley
The Predicament and Managing Outcomes
Eco Mindsets
California State Dreaming – The CSU Sustainability Policy
Composting 101

Track 4 (3:30 pm)
Making the Animal-Earth-Human Liberation Connection and Veganism
Climate Action Protest
End Coal Campaign
Ecofeminism 101
Moon Cycles
E-ARC
Taking Back the Fork: What Students Can Do Now to Reclaim our Food System
Move to Amend
Queer Rights and the Sustainability Movement
Art Therapy: Expressing Yourself Through Art

For all updates, visit our  facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/sustainabilitycoalition