[R-G] A SEED is planted in IOWA
Soyawax at aol.com
Soyawax at aol.com
Mon Oct 22 12:16:32 MDT 2007
We invite you to New Bohemia in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on October 26, 27, 28 to
help us build;
1. Re-localized, restorative agriculture to replace environmentally
devastating mono-crop
petrochemical systems now ravaging our land and water. Learn to love
this land.
2. Intelligent communities that live as a diverse human ecology based on
conscious Ecotecture.
3. Real renewable energy; not the extractive, environmentally destructive
special interest-subsidized sham now being rushed into action without whole
systems science and an ecological impact perspective.
4. Governance based on responsiveness to citizens rather than our present
special interest kleptocracy.
Revitalize an active citizen base that respects our Constitution and
provides for future generations.
Trillions of dollars of debt, climate chaos, devastated land and toxic
water is not a legacy that your
children deserve. We have been on the wrong path for many years. SEED
is blazing a new trail.
5. Ecological and sustainable economic structures that restore and nurture,
rather than extract and damage
6. An ethical/spiritual foundation for resource stewardship, social justice
and planetcare; 24/7 real world spirituality.
If you have children, then you actually have a responsibility to show up at
S.E.E.D., 2007. This is a multi-generational learning experience, so bring
the kids and grandparents along too. If SEED does not resonate with you, then
take your own action. Start your own movement in your own backyard... for
your children's sake, do something! There is nothing special about S.E.E.D.
.We are one humble, human effort that is taking action. SEED is an infant
organization. Like all infants, we learn by doing and trying. Life has a
feedback loop called learning. We take a step. We fall. We get up. We move again.
If we encounter a barrier, we find a way around it. If we encounter a
problem, we find a solution. This is how human beings have evolved from stone
tools to mechanical marvels and scientific wonders. We're technological by
nature.
We are now at a barrier, where some of our technology is threatening our
survival. Our very progress, now threatens our survival. Climate chaos is the
direct result of human technology. We now must have the intelligence to
differentiate which technology will destroy us and which technology can heal and
help us.
Here is a test; if technology connects us to life, it is productive. If
technology divides us from life and each other, it is destructive. The
internet, telecommunications connect us... so that is a tool to preserve and expand.
(I am connecting with you this very moment with this miracle of technology.
Petrochemical/factory farming disconnects us from the reality of natural
cycles, life, land, air and water. Our present agricultural technology is thus
destructive and at a dead end. Diplomacy and non-violent conflict
resolution is a technology that connects us. War is a technology that disconnects us.
Revitalization of an urban core connects us. Suburban sprawl disconnects us.
This intelligent differentiation of connection/disconnection is a tool, a
directional device... it points us in the direction of positive movement and
human activity.
The root word of religion is "religio", which simply means reconnect.
S.E.E.D. is dedicated to building an intelligent, techno-agrarian culture that
connects us to each other, to our land and to our cosmos with an integrated
sacred science. In a sustainable society, the sacred and the profane merge into
an integrated culture of ecological life support systems. Our work with
S.E.E.D. is to build a culture where all life is held in deep respect. This
connection with life will lead to a community ethic where violence against each
other and our planet is unconcievable. With this consciousness, we can finally
build human civilization. As long as violence is a norm for nations, we
cannot claim to be anything but savage and ignorant.
This first annual S.E.E.D. conference is a first step to come together as a
community to discover and develop those technologies that connect us and to
dismantle those technologies that now divide and destroy us. SEED is
inclusive. We welcome all individuals and organizations as allies.
We'll see you there. P.S., you'll also experience a lot of fun and joy by
joining in our celebration of life. A sustainable community is a happy and
healthy community. We are ready for an historic paradigm shift. Be there as
we plant the seeds of change
To register for the conference or to set up an exhibit table, call 319 363
1774 or send an e mail to; postpetrol @ aol. com or, register day of
conference at P-3 Union Hall. 1st Street and 14th Ave. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
We are making a one generation commitment to make the paradigm shift into
a sustainable community in Iowa. This is the first annual conference in a 20
year series. With global warming, resource depletion and a serious
leadership vacuum, the human community is at an historic crossroads. We need a local
information and guidance system in Iowa to make the major transition into a
healthy sustainable society. During this conference, we will invite all
panel members and conference participants to meet on the first Sunday of each and
every month at 2 pm. at the Matyk Building in New Bohemia/Cedar Rapids for
follow up and an ongoing process of community education. (No one is expected
to come to every session, but this open Sunday session will take place every
month of the year.) This conference is a call to action. Without follow up
systemic change and long term commitment, none of this really works. We are
defining our place in an historic stage of human history. Participate!
You are welcome to sent this e mail on out to all interested organizations
and individuals.
We invite you to participate in a very exciting event;
SUSTAINABLE LIVING, RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND THE FUTURE Of IOWA
OCTOBER 26,27,28. New Bohemia Art and Cultural District, Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
If you need further information send e mail to: _postpetrol at aol.com_
(mailto:postpetrol at aol.com) or phone toll free 888 511 5177
A map of the Conference Campus in New Bohemia is available at our website;
WEB SITE: _http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/seed-iowa/_
(http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/seed-iowa/)
CONFERENCE PRESENTERS :
Track I: Sustainable Food, Health and Wellness
1. Denise Obrien, 2006 CANDIDATE, IOWA SECT. OF AGRICULTURE
Founder; Women and Agriculture Network
2. Fred Meyer/ Environmental Advocates/Backyard Abundance
3. Susan Jutz/President, Practical Farmers of Iowa and CSA producer
4. Laura Krouse, Iowa Policy Project/Local Food Study
5. Janet Coester , International Advocate for Peace and a Sustainable
Society
6. Ken Meter; President/Crossroads Resource (local food/local economics
expert)
7. Steve Smith; President/Iowa Network for Community Agriculture
8. Wendy Wasserman, Publisher, Iowa Edible River Valley
Track II: Integrating Shelter and the Environment: Community Ecotecture
1. Lonnie Gamble, Coalition for Sustainable Living, Abundance EcoVillage
2. Don Otto, Green Construction Expert ; Center for Sustainable
Communities
3. Martha Norbeck, Iowa City Architect, Principles of Green Design
4. Greg Johnson , Small House Movement/Resources for Life
5. Karen Brook ; Trees Forever; Green Infrastructure in Sustainable
Community
6. Wayne Petersen , NCRS, water-quality, a key issue for sustainability
Track III; Renewable Energy, Conservation, Efficient Transportation
1. Martin Smith, Iowa Renewable Energy Association
2. Taavi McMahon; Wisconsin Attorney/founding member of PrairieFire
Biofuel Co-oP
PrairieFire is a coop in the Madison, Wisconsin.
3. Charlie Kress, Retired Electrical Engineer and Treasurer/Spokesman,
wastenotIOWA, Inc. WastenotIOWA is non-profit 501(C)(3) corporation
promoting plasma gasification/vitrification and subsequent energy generation in
treatment of solid waste.
Kress's topic is "Converting Waste to Energy using plasma
gasification/vitrification."
4. Rick Sanborn and Mark Garvey and The Iowa City Bike Library
50% of all gasoline is burned within 3 miles of our homes. Bike and walk for
effective energy conservation within bicycle/pedestrian friendly Iowa
towns.
5. Art Bike Rally leader, Scott Anderson
6. Steve Fugate; Founder, Green World Biofuels/The
Ester Machine
7. Ed Williams, Biomass energy systems
Track IV: Community Building, Education and Civic Action/Political Process
(building a multi-generational community learning process)
1. Lynette Richards, Metro High School (Teacher and Counselor)
2. Ed Fallon- Iowa State Legislator/Lynn Heuss ; Founders I'm for Iowa
3. Steve Cooperman-Brightfire, lifelong learning/intentional community
4. Alisa Meggitt, Educator, Community Organizer
Track V: Ecological Economic Development/Jobs for Seven Generations
1. Michael Richards, Founder of Soyawax International, a Cedar Rapids
company that supplies bulk soybean wax to manufacturers in all 50 states and 20
nations. Author; SUSTAINABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS/THE POST PETROL PARADIGM
2. Frank Cicela, founder; SUSTAINABLE INDIANA,
The Indiana Energy Conference, Project Manager; Earthwatch/Costa Rica
and, welcome to Iowa... newly appointed engineer with
Clipper Wind Energy Systems
3. Shari Martinez; Cedar Rapids Women for Peace
4. Molly Cantrell-Kraig, President, MCK Products, Candidate for Alderman at
Large for the City of Muscatine, Family Resources Advisory Board, Muscatine
County Habitat for Humanity and the Domestic Abuse Shelter Committee,
Muscatine Historic Preservation Group
5. Kimberly Dickey
Environmental Sustainability Manager Frontier Natural Products Co-op
6. Ivan Yoder; Amish tradition, sustainable technology; Techno-Agrarian
response
Track VI: Earth Centered Spirituality; A Moral, Religious, Ethical and
Philosophical Foundation for Land and Resource Stewardship in a Sustainable
Society
1. Dr. Maynard Kauffman University of Chicago, Western Michigan University,
Author;
Adapting to the End of Oil; Toward an Earth Centered Spirituality
2. Travis Cox, B.A in Philosophy from Central College and his M.A. in
Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness from the California Institute of
Integral Studies. PhD at Iowa State Sustainable Agriculture, his dissertation is
on the intersection of spirituality and agriculture.
3. Angela Clark; Founder/CEO enrgPATH - Iowa's only
resource directory for holistic and sustainable businesses. Also a Reiki
Master/Teacher and healing arts practitioner.
4. Blair Frank, United Methodist Pastor and Organic
Gardener;
Land Stewardship in the Christian Tradition
We are keeping this event accessible with a $25 participant donation ($10
students) $100 for exhibitors.
We presently have a long list of exhibitors that includes; Physicians for
Social Responsibility, Iowa Renewable Energy, Prairiewoods, Trees Forever, Iowa
State University, Mir Valley, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa Network for
Community Agriculture, New Bohemia Group, Green World Biofuels, Heartland
Heat/Biobased Energy and Soyawax International. All exhibits are in the African
American Museum.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Friday Evening , October 26, 2007
Opening Session/community building at P-3 Union Hall (1st St./14th AVE. SE
6:30 p.m. Welcome and Conference Opening Invocation
6:35 p.m. Keynote presentation by Ken Meter; President/Crossroads
Resource Center (local food/local economics expert) Ken has also served on the
staff of the Kennedy Policy Center at Harvard and at U of M.
8:00 p.m. Community Celebration: All Ages Harvest Moon Dance Party;
We'll have a house band, but the main event will be a community jam session.
Bring your instruments and be ready to sing and dance. Everyone from 8 to 88
can Rock and Roll!
Saturday, October 27, 2007 Core Educational Conference P-3 Hall and
African American Museum
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Core Session I (choose one track for a two hour
seminar and open discussion)
Each seminar track will be led by a panel of expert moderators
Track I: Sustainable Food, Health and Wellness
Track II: Integrating Shelter and the Environment: Community Ecotecture
Track III; Renewable Energy, Conservation, Efficient Transportation
Track IV: Community Building, Education and Civic Action/Political Process
Track V Ecological Economic Development/Jobs for Seven Generations
Track VI: Earth Centered Spirituality; A Moral, Religious, Ethical and
Philosophical Foundation for Land and Resource Stewardship in a Sustainable
Society.
10 am to 12 noon Core Session II (choose one track for a two hour
seminar and open discussion)
Each seminar track will be led by a panel of expert moderators
Track I, Track II, Track III, Track IV,Track V, Track VI all repeat as noted
above.
Noon; A community potluck , bring a dish made with local food and your own
table service. *All food should be dropped off in the P-3 Union Hall 14th
Ave./1st Street/New Bohemia. If you have ever felt compelled to be a keynote
speaker, go for it; Open Mic after lunch.
1:30 to 3:30 pm. Core Session III (choose one track for a two hour seminar
and open discussion)
Each seminar track will be led by a panel of expert moderators
Track I, Track II, Track III, Track IV,Track V, Track VI all repeat as
noted above.
3:30 to 5;00 Art Bike Rally, Kid's Bike Rodeo led by Scott Anderson
3:30 to 5:00 Alternate Event: If you've been dozing off in your conference
chair, get on up to CSPS for Dance Lessons and an afternoon SALSA DANCE PARTY!
5:30 to 7 pm. Total Community Gathering/Vision Quest: facilitated group
process
Our ancestors built deep intergenerational community connections around a
central campfire as stories and visions were shared. At this event any
citizen of any age can come up to the microphone on the stage to share a story, a
vision, a dream or share their insights from this groundbreaking Conference.
This conference will be both informational and transformational.
7:00 to 8; Dinner on your own with family, old friends, new friends or an
interest group for discussion. There are about 35 restaurants within one mile
of the conference location. Some are easy walking distance. Listed on
Bulletin Board in the Matyk Building at 1029 Third Street S.E. in the New Bohemia
walking campus.
8:30 The Prairie Fire Authors Circle; Dan Armstrong founder of Mud City
Press in Eugene Oregon, William Kottke, Author of Garden Planet and Michael
Richards founder of Innovation Press will convene a town hall meeting with
several noted authors from around the USA that are experts on the Environment,
Eco Villages and Sustainable Living. Eco-Architect Phil Hawes will pull his
chair up to the roundtable.
8:00 Alternate Event; If you're already on information overload from the
afternoon and want diversion rather than discussion, then it's time climb the
stairs to the Performance Space at "CSPS for "OUT OF BOUNDS"
This is a diverse and uncensored art event. Some presentations may be
offensive or raise challenging questions without easy answers. (A nominal theatre
ticket of $5 is requested at the door)
.
10 to ? Downtown Party Night; Walking to Party is putting "sustainable
living." into practice!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 Community Convocation at CSPS; Local leaders of Muslim,
Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian faiths will share the common
spiritual threads that provide the moral and ethical foundation for Sustainable
Earth, Air, Water and Land Stewardship.
Lunch on your own/open community networking sessions until 3 pm at the Matyk
Building/New Bohemia
To register for the conference or to set up an exhibit table, call 319 363
1774 or send an e mail to; postpetrol @ aol. com or, register day of
conference at 1029 Third Street S.E., Cedar Rapids 52401
Conference to provide forum
for sustainability thinking
By David DeWitte
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — Organizers of a statewide sustainability conference in Cedar
Rapids’ New Bohemia District this month want the event to become a catalyst
for a long-term change in thinking about resources. Planning for the
conference, “Sustainable Living, Renewable Resources and the Future,” began more
than a year ago. The conference will be held Oct. 26 through Oct. 28 in
locations throughout the New Bohemia District. “It’s really a grass-roots citizens’
effort to identify what a sustainable society is,” said organizer Michael
Richards of Cedar Rapids.
While the conference hopes to address many of the same global concerns as
other conferences — concerns such as climate change and petroleum depletion —
it hopes to do so from a holistic, community-based perspective.
Almost all of the speakers will be from Iowa. Topics will include
community-building, earth-centered spirituality, renewable energy, sustainable food,
and integrating shelter and the environment.“The need we’re filling is to
look across the inter-related systems of agriculture, energy, the built
environment and the community and political structures that are the underlying
structures for allowing sustainability to work,” Richards said.
The conference has no corporate sponsors, Richards said, allowing for a free
cross-pollination of ideas from many per spectives. Virtually all of the
resources, including meeting and exhibition spaces, have been provided as
in-kind contributions.
Among the few speakers from outside of Iowa will be Taavi McMahon, an
attorney and co-founder of the PrairieFire BioFuel co-op in Madison, Wis., and Ken
Meter, a local foods expert who is president of the Crossroads Resource
Center in Minnesota.
Well-known Iowans expected to speak include State Rep. Ed Fallon, D-Des
Moines, and Greg Johnson of Iowa City, a leader in the small house movement.
Among the overarching themes of the conference, Richards says, will be “
relocalization.” The concept refers to building community-based sources for food,
energy and goods.
Richardson said New Bohemia is a good site for the conference because it
demonstrates the importance of reclaiming urban centers. All the event locations
will be within walking distance, Richards said.
The African-American Historical Museum & Cultural Center will host the
exhibition area for the conference, which is expected to include exhibits from the
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Trees
Forever, the Practical Farmers of Iowa and others.
Richards operates a business in New Bohemia and is founder of Sustainable
Ecological Economic Development (S.E.E.D.) which is organizing the event.
S.E.E.D. is an Iowa not-forprofit educational organization.
____________________________________
A review of Michael Richards book: SUSTAINABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS can be
read at: _http://www.mudcitypress.com/sos.html_
(http://www.mudcitypress.com/sos.html)
Michael Richards
Founder of S.E.E.D.
PRESS RELEASE;
For Immediate Release; STATEWIDE CONFERENCE; IOWA
Contact Person; Michael Richards/Conference Convener; Phone 319-363-1774
e mail; _soyawax at aol.com_ (mailto:soyawax at aol.com)
The next event in New Bohemia; A timely Conference that's getting national
attention;
SUSTAINABLE LIVING, RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND THE FUTURE OF IOWA
OCTOBER 26,27,28. New Bohemia Art and Cultural District, Cedar Rapids, IOWA
We invite you to join in with hundreds of your fellow Iowans to explore the
integrated elements of building a sustainable community; local food sources,
green building, renewable energy, community education and economic-political
organizing. Re-localization is an important aspect of a sustainable
society, so our focus is Iowa... however the word is out on this exciting event, so
we have visitors coming in from all over the USA.
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Dear Friends;
Welcome to the first annual SEED Conference. One Generation will now meet
for the next 20 Harvests. This conference will continue as an annual event
during the last weekend of October.
We're gathering together as a vital community to do what Iowans have done
for generations. We are here to plant seeds, nurture those seeds and grow a
sustainable society for future generations.
Some of us are new immigrants. Many have elders that arrived here
generations ago. Our forebears came here as stewards of the land. We are gathering
during the Harvest of 2007 to decide how we can best carry that sacred
responsibility forward.
Thus far, in a strict biological sense, human beings are the most successful
species on earth. We've populated every far corner of this beautiful green
planet. We know that we have a major impact on all of the living systems of
the earth. It is for all us at this Conference to decide if that impact is
creative or destructive. We are at a major crossroads. It is time to choose
a clear path into our future.
Our ancestors that settled between the two great Missouri and Mississippi
rivers came here to honor this land and to provide a legacy of healthy land,
water and life support for their descendants. We have a responsibility to keep
this chain of life healthy.
Human work and creativity is the most important renewable energy that we
have. We can choose to use that energy to chop down decaying old trees or to
find a clearing and plant new seeds. Sometimes we have to do some of each as
good stewards of the land. The purpose of this conference is to look across
this land between two rivers and find the clearing, if necessary to make the
clearing to plant the new seeds of a sustainable society.
Some of the old trees that have grown here are in the process of decay and
breakdown. With problems like global resource wars, petroleum depletion,
environmental degradation, polar ice melt and mortgage melt downs, we know that
many of the structures put in place by human effort are no longer working. At
the root causal level, all of these crises are hard wired into the
industrial/mass consumer society. Solutions are thus only activated through a
systemic paradigm shift. As Albert Einstein noted; "We cannot solve problems with
the way of thinking that created the problems." This conference is all about
a new way of thinking.
We are convening this Conference to imagine the new seeds that we must plant
so that our grandchildren will look back and thank us, rather than look back
and curse us for how we have managed this land, water and climate that is
shared by all generations. This is an inter-generational community learning
event. Bring your entire family, your associate, staff and neighbors. This
conference is all inclusive; its about community.
In our present cultural paradigm, elected officials have a short term
perspective, as they answer to special interest groups and act on their own
self-interest for re-election in the next 2 to 4 year electoral cycle. A
sustainable society, our next generations are not even on the political agenda.
Corporate entities plan for the next quarter of profit with extremely short term
tunnel vision, within an illusory economic structure that does not measure
ecological and social costs. Those huge hidden costs are very real and are now
coming due. Large academic institutions receive major funding from
pharmaceutical, petrochemical and agribusiness sectors, so challenging the present
paradigm is not encouraged, it is even actively curtailed. This leaves a huge
leadership vacuum; very few leaders look at long term sustainability issues
and very few step forward with the courage to ask the hardest questions.
S.E.E.D., the educational group that is presenting this Iowa event, is a
"cultural outpost". SEED is a leading edge human capital resource for advance
cultural intelligence. S.E.E.D. provides a whole systems/sustainability
perspective for our community. You are that resource, so be it, know it, use it, and
grow the SEED.
Many of our present leadership are asleep at the wheel, and in fact, are not
even on the right road. You may notice that there is not governmental,
academic or corporate sponsorship of this important Conference. That's on
purpose; historic new paradigms emerge outside of current structures. While
National Candidates simply spout shallow sound-bites, you can engage with real
leaders at this conference on a substantive level. This conference is providing a
space for critical thinking and visionary action, activated from the
grassroots. All growth in living systems takes place at "the edge" at the roots,
sprouts and the leaves.
We will let this gathering open a new clearing on this land that is free of
the past assumptions and vested interests. We are working together as
conscious stewards of the land to plant the seeds of a sustainable future. You
are invited to assemble with us to dream, to imagine our shared future, and
then to take decisive action. We are standing at the edge of an historic
cultural shift. Take a stand forward.
Michael Richards, S.E.E.D. Founder
Conference Convener/2007
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Sustainable Ecological Economic Development (S.E.E.D.) is an Iowa not for
profit educational organization.
A VISIONARY CALL TO ACTION
"Without Vision, a People will Perish".... Book of Proverbs
Visionary Allies, Stewards of the Land;
Do you feel it? It's moving, its growing. A visionary seed has been
planted. It has germinated. Deep prairie roots are sinking into the Iowa earth,
leaves are reaching into all other lands and branches are stretching up to the
sun.
You can take this SEED and freely throw it out into the Winds of Change;
simply copy this timely message and send it on out by e mail to friends, family
associates and emerging agents of life's vital new message.
Send it out freely with joy and a prayer for the unborn, the coming
generations that will live in a healthy and free Earth. We are their elders, and we
now lay the foundation for their future. We plant for their harvest.
A positive Tornado is taking on rotation on the Prairie, a living revolution
is turning and rising.
It only takes one spark to light a Prairie Fire. From Austin to Akron.
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