Community Events Calendar

The Summer Institute in Sustainability is a week long intensive program designed for professionals involved in establishing and managing sustainability policies and programs within their institutions and organizations. Academic experts and working professionals will help you understand how to develop sustainability policies and procedures that are mindful of public policy, stakeholder interest, and the bottom line. The program provides participants with a combination of interactive lectures by sustainability experts and practitioners, on-site excursions and case studies featuring some of UBC signature sustainability initiatives, and open space learning sessions which focus on sustainability planning, where participants can focus on issues specific to their field or organization and engage the ideas and expertise of other Institute participants. This Institute is a joint initiative of UBC Continuing Studies, the UBC Sustainability Office, and the University of Washington Extension.

Buildung up of a non-violent worldmodel and changing oneself. Study of a theory of healing, or why we can trust that a few centres are already stronger than the old system of violence Ending the war between the genders The following experts and visionaries, amongst others, will participate and contribute their knowledge : Juergen Kleinwaechter (Sunvention Loerrach/Germany): Future visions and experiences of a decentralized solar technology Dieter Duhm (Tamera/Portugal): A global peace – plan, or why the earth can be healed Sabine Lichtenfels (Tamera/Portugal): GRACE and Global Campus: Gathering knowledge for peace Sami Awad (Bethlehem/Palestine): Non-violent resistance and building a violent-free model of life in the Middle East Don José Carmen (Mexico): Cosmic agriculture, or communicating with plants Benjamin von Mendelssohn: International networking for the building of concrete future models.

Our theme for this summer’s gathering of communitarians and community seekers will follow along the lines of Diana Leafe Christian’s workshop called “Heart of Healthy Community: Communication, Process and Dealing with Conflict.” See www.creating-a-life-together.org for more information on Diana’s work. An adept facilitator, Diana has offered to hold a workshop and join our other planned community festivities that will include sharing stories, singing, meals, dancing, ritual and celebration. Pre-registration required for food planning and sleeping accommodations 30 tent spaces available/camping facilities (no showers) bring your own marked plates, utensils, cups for meals and lawn chairs/blankets for program gathering Cost for the weekend (includes simple meals): $25 minimum per adult & youth/children under 12 free Childcare available during program time at cost

Jeff and Anna Mae invite you to explore the many possibilities, opportunities and challenges involved in creating intentional communities. Join us in a thought provoking informal get-together in our spacious home just North of King City (see www.kingsummit.ca). Meet in a pleasant informal atmosphere and connect with other like-minded people who are interested in sustainable living, intentional community and spiritual awareness. Jeff Gold is one of the founding members of the Whole Village sustainable community in Caledon, Ontario (see www.wholevillage.org). This is a unique opportunity to be in conversation with someone who has overcome many obstacles, learned many lessons hands-on and eventually succeeded in co-creating a highly successful project from scratch. Please bring an organic snack and/or drink to share. Beer or wine is fine. Include your swimsuit and a towel and have a refreshing splash in the solar heated indoor swimming pool. Call 905-833-3440 or email

This event at Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary is a fund-raiser for our ongoing Thunder Dome projects. Folks must be a current sponsor to attend and re/new sponsorships are available on-site. Our regular camping fee is the only fee for this event and additional donations are accepted and will be put toward the Thunder Dome. Our Lammas Gathering includes primitive camping, showers, community fire pits, kids' activities, seasonal rites and ceremonies, drumming and dancing, etc. There is very limited space for small RVs. Parking is along Rinsa Road (our north road inside Lothlorien). *Gate hours for Friday and Saturday are: 8:00 AM-10:00 PM and Sunday: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.

Network for a New Culture Summer Camp West: Near Medford, OR. Our intention is to build sustainable, nonviolent culture through intimacy, personal growth, emotional transparency, radical honesty, equality, compassion, sexual freedom, and community. Workshops listed at http://www.nfnc.org/08

An ecological camp for students and senior svhool children will be held in Moscow region, Russia, in August. The aim is environmental education and recreation in a quiet place. Becides the participants will take part in works on the nearby archeological site. Details on the website.

Rendezvous at 40 Oaks Cohousing Community for a delightful day of creative lifestyles and visions made real. Resident Claudia Cleaver, architect/designer of green and natural buildings, will tour us through the layers of sustainable design. These houses are cutting edge, using straw bales, Rastra, natural plasters, concrete floors, recycled and reclaimed materials and more! Satiated with beauty, style and functionality, we’ll head to FrogSong Cohousing of Cotati where residents will host us through a few homes and the lovely Permaculture food gardens. This down town community creatively combines lovely home sites and storefront rental properties for commu nal income. Get exposed to consensus decision-making process, ask questions, discuss the practical steps to beginning a cohousing community and learn from those already doing it. We’ll linger at FrogSong for a tasty potluck lunch. Last, but certainly not least, we’ll caravan to Yulupa Cohousing in Santa Rosa.

Imagine yourself striking a perfect balance between giving and receiving, loving and being loved, being taught and teaching. The Human Relations Laboratory is a week long, experiential journey, where you, as an individual, partner, or family, can experiment with new ways to learn. You can expect opportunities to experience yourself practicing new behaviors with encouragement from others; a rich intergenerational experience, including a program for children and youth; social creativity, and a rejuvenating, healing experience of living amid the 70 acres of natural wonders. Held at Sahale Retreat, a 70-acre site of farm, forest and wilderness, registrants have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the natural world. There are programs for all ages.

Have you ever wondered how to create a home that is energy efficient, environmentally friendly and designed for both human comfort and integration into the natural surroundings? This three-week intensive offers a broad overview of the elements of home building and design with a focus on Permaculture principles. Participants will have direct involvement in hands-on practice sessions and ongoing building projects in various stages of construction. Find out more about appropriate technologies you could be using in your home today.

Are you in a leadership role or belong to a community that is committed to a vision of mindfulness, caring, mutual support and wisdom, yet find your community is not reaching its potential because of power dynamics, hierarchy and “in groups”? In this experiential workshop, we’ll look at how to work with these community dynamics as a mindfulness/awareness practice. Learn skills for creating a warm, welcoming environment that invites and empowers members to contribute their energy and talents to the community, working skillfully with chaos and conflict while recognizing our common ground of tenderness and compassion. We’ll also develop a practice field in which shared leadership and collective wisdom dynamically emerge. For Mukara's and Susan's bios, please visit the program link. Shambhala Mountain Center is located on 600 acres in a mountain valley of pine forests and meadows two hours NW of Denver Intl Airport. Our rural setting provides an ideal environment for meditation, yoga,

The Communities Conference is a networking and learning opportunity for anyone interested or involved in co-operative or communal lifestyles. Join us for a weekend of sharing and celebration! Friday August 15 through Sunday August 17, 2008 $85 (sliding scale) includes meals and camping With workshops and events focused on ~ Intentional relationships ~ Group process ~ Collective child raising ~ Creating culture ~ Forming communities ~ Sustainability ~ Appropriate technology ~ Community economics Enjoy... ~ Music ~ Dancing ~ Slide shows ~ Campfires ~ Swimming ~ Magic ~ More! Respond to: Twin Oaks Communities Conference 138 Twin Oaks Road, Louisa, Virginia 23093 540-894-5126 conference@twinoaks.org

If you want to know more about life in community or have ever considered becoming a resident of EcoVillage at Ithaca, then this workshop is for you! Enjoy a balance of nature connection, personal renewal and hands-on learning, while being immersed in an environment with green building and renewable energy systems, consensus decision-making and deep ecology. Enjoy and create delicious meals from local foods, swim in our pond, hike the land. Come experience a more richly connected way of life in our internationally acclaimed ecovillage in Ithaca, New York.

Bring your friends and family to the Ohio Green Living Fayre on Labor Day for a day of fun and learning – with an eye on green living – just like your grandparents used to do. Learn good old-fashioned tried and true sustainable skills such as canning, maple syruping, weaving, making your own cheese… and so much more. Or experience the future of renewable energy… from solar to wind power to bio-diesel. We will also demonstrate sustainable building techniques, building our very own timber-framed straw-bale composting toilet... and you can join in the earth plastering, learning this amazing technique and getting a chance to play in the mud - and you thought this type of fun was only for kids. And what old-fashioned green living Fayre would be complete without buggy rides, games, fishing, hiking, vendors, workshops, nature walks, food and music? All this and more at the Ohio Green Living Fayre!

If you long to steer your own course and be the CEO of your own eco-friendly business, our Green Business Development Degree program—offering Masters Degrees and Postgraduate Diplomas—can provide you with the resources, practical tools and inspiration to help you accomplish this dream. The program begins this fall with an intensive 5-day workshop September 4-8 led by investment expert Catherine Austin Fitts and permaculture designer and biofuels expert David Blume.

Attend our 3-day Green Business Development Course and receive all the guidance, resources, and tools you’ll need to launch your own green business. Guided by two of the leading green entrepreneurs of our day— investment expert Catherine Austin Fitts and permaculture designer and biofuels guru David Blume, you’ll get the big-picture overview of current market trends, strategies for designing your business according to ecological principles, and tips on managing a land-based business. Cost: The 3-day course is $300 or $375 with lodging and meals. Early registration discount if you register by August 7.

Permaculture Design Course at The Blue Raven Permaculture Homestead, Salt Spring Island, BC Sept 8-28, 2008 Three week intensive Permaculture Design Certification Course Create a sustainable human environment for yourself and the planet Instructors: Brandon & Patti Bauer ~ The Blue Raven Permaculture Farm, Doug, Sam & Yuriko Bullock ~ Bullock’s Permaculture Homestead, Michael Ableman ~ Foxglove Farm, Dan Jason ~ Salt Spring Seeds, Michael Nickels ~Seven Ravens Permaculture Farm, Jan Steinman ~ EcoReality Co-op, Adam Gold ~ SS Exotic Mushrooms The Permaculture design course will include 145 hours of lecture/discussion and hands-on experiential learning in permaculture. We will explore and demonstrate different styles and methods of organic agriculture, eco-forestry, sustainable energy systems, and self-sustaining systems in land stewardship and urban living. The course will delve deeply into; Permaculture principles & techniques Soils, Water Climate Pattern observation Herbology

During this 18 day course, we will experience the whole process of transforming inhabited wild landscape into an anthropocentric ecology in the midst of conserved Oregon Coastal Rainforest. Topics include water supply and storage, drainage, trails and access, food forest design, soil building, multi-story horticulture, ponds, swales and aquaculture, solar and hydro power, ethnobotany, natural building, forest complexity restoration and commercial ecoforestry. Join us with Tom Ward as we continue to design and implement the rest of our 11 year old, 3.5 acre homestead. Tom has guided the evolution of the design since 1999. The 400 acre site is home to both Mountain Homestead Intentional Community and Cob Cottage Co., who began their Natural Building School here in 2001. Costs: $500-800, sliding scale (plus your exertion!) Organic vegetarian/vegan meals and camping w/showers provided. Graduates are welcome to stay after the course on a work trade basis to continue projects.

If you’d like to focus a year or two gaining knowledge, skills, and valuable experience in the area of relocalization, engage in our Relocalization Pathway—and gain an MS Degree or Postgraduate Diploma in the process. When you enroll you will be provided with the support and learning framework to effectively launch a relocalization project in the community where you live or work—thus strengthening the health and self-sufficiency of your community into the post-carbon future. Early enrollment discount if enrolled by July 10, 2008.

We invite female world-changers from across the globe to enroll in Gaia South East’s Women’s Actionist Training Degree program—and acquire a Masters Degree or Postgraduate Diploma. Our Degree program begins this fall with a 7-day Gaia University Orientation September 10-16 followed by 5-day Women’s Actionist Training Workshop September 18-22 featuring visionary author and activist Starhawk, and the “mother of midwifery” Ina Mae Gaskin. Following the workshop, students will have a day to meet with their specialist Advisor and begin planning their year of study.

This event at Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary is one of our two major annual fund-raisers (the other is ELF-Fest in May). Proceeds benefit Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary and Elvin HOME, Inc. This event includes primitive camping, community fire pits w/firewood provided, fellowship, showers, musical and theatrical performances, kids' activities, seasonal rites and ceremonies, workshops and discussion circles, drumming and dancing, etc. There will be vendors selling their wares and food available from our Cauldron Cafe. All are welcome. Camping/vending sites are on a first come, first served basis. There is very limited space for small RVs. Parking is along Rinsa Road (our north road inside Lothlorien). *Gate hours: 8:00 AM-11:00 PM. (We'll be closed for admission on Sunday.) Please visit us on-line for complete details, updates and for maps to get here.

Led by Laird Schaub and Ma'ikwe Schaub-Ludwig, the program consists of eight three-day weekends spread out over two years. Each weekend session will be held in the context of live facilitation held by host communities in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeastern region (MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, Eastern TN/KY). Integrative Facilitation is an approach to group dynamics built on a solid understanding of human development, sensitivity to undercurrents in the room, playfulness and appreciation. The program begins the weekend of September 18-21, 2008 and ends the weekend of June 3-6, 2010. Program is open to individual participants and host communities or cooperative organizations.

Desire guides us all our life—from erotic attraction, to the work we love, even our spiritual yearning. So powerful and personal is this force of desire that mystical poets, myths from around the world, and Jungian psychology have depicted it in human form: as the archetypal Beloved, guide to the soul. One of the most powerful and passionate ways we awaken the inner Beloved is by falling in love. For this special retreat, we invite couples who have a strong and loving relationship to explore the soul’s Beloved in your partner and in your own heart.

Come into your own as a powerful female force for change by attending our Women’s Actionist Training for Earth Regeneration (WATER). Over the coures of the event Starhawk, one of the most respected voices in modern earth-based spirituality, will share her various visionary and pragmatic tools to help participants increase personal power, presence, and effectiveness as world-changers in service to Gaia. The event includes an earth healing ceremony in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox. We’ll gather at the Gray Bear Lodge, nestled within 150 acres of rolling hills with abundant forests, natural springs, and a gorgeous waterfall. Cost: Sliding Scale $450-$575 includes comfortable lodging, full use of facilities and gourmet vegetarian meals. Some work trade available. For further details check out graybear.org or contact info@holisticecology.org

Immerse yourself in ecovillage living while learning about sustainable agriculture, natural building, agro-forestry, creek restoration, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation, appropriate technology, non-violent communication, ecovillage design and implementation, earth-based crafts, and much more! Instructors: Rick Valley, Jude Hobbs, Marc Tobin, and many exciting guests. Students may be able to arrange to receive college credit at their home institutions. See our website for details.

Fun-filled weekend of exceptional hands-on learning, unparalleled three day instruction in straw, cob, wood, wattle and daub, fidobe, earthbags, earthships, traditional Mexican styles, bamboo, slipclay, domes and arches, earthen floors, earth plasters and alis, passive solar, foundations and drainage, living roofs and thatch. Participants will learn energy and resource conservation and the economics of home construction. Instructors: Architect and builders Howard Switzer, Katey Culver, Cliff Davis, Albert Bates, Greg Landau, Wade Austin, and guests.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours are available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid is available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

Grow your own fuels, become food self-sufficient, heat and light your home with solar, and convert your car or truck to run on alcohol or biodiesel. This three day course will get you started towards personal oil independence. $225, or $400 for couples, meals and lodging included.

If you want to know more about life in community or have ever considered becoming a resident of EcoVillage at Ithaca, then this workshop is for you! Enjoy a balance of nature connection, personal renewal and hands-on learning, while being immersed in an environment with green building and renewable energy systems, consensus decision-making and deep ecology. Enjoy and create delicious meals from local foods, swim in our pond, hike the land. Come experience a more richly connected way of life in our internationally acclaimed ecovillage in Ithaca, New York.

This event is a fund-raiser for Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary and Elvin HOME, Inc. This community Samhain event includes primitive camping, showers, community fire pits w/firewood provided, seasonal rites and ceremonies, fellowship, kids' activities, drumming and dancing, etc. *Gate hours: 8:00 AM-9:00 PM. (Sunday gate hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.) Parking is along Rinsa Road (our north road inside Lothlorien). Visit us on-line for complete details, updates and maps to get here.

The practice of shamanic journeying is an ancient method of accessing spiritual wisdom by developing a means of communication with helping spirits and animal allies. These tools can be used for personal growth as well as healing of the self and others. We will explore How to integrate shamanism in everyday life and empower ourselves to live a life of Spirit. If you are curious about shamanism and would like to have an opportunity to learn this ancient meditative practice, join us for a wonderful weekend of journeying and exploration!

Date: Sunday, October 26th, 2008 Time: Event runs from 4pm-6pm. Location: The Freeschool Community Building, 610 Columbia Street, Olympia, WA 98501 This event is completely free of charge. If you are interested in building and living in ecovillages, housing co-ops, landtrusts, affordable student housing, tent cities, educational housing, hostels or any type of shared housing group, please join us at this event! We will have a free table area for people to place their flyers. If you are in an ecovillage or community group (formed, forming or reforming) and would like to make a 10 minute presentation please contact us. Contact us through the email list on our website and sign up on the email list to find out more information about events which are happening before then. It is a Finger-food (snack food) Potluck style meeting. Open to all. As we are an ecovillage group, please bring your own cups, silverware and plates to cut down on disposable plates/utensils.

How to grow shiitake mushrooms for food and profit. Half-day course begins with brunch: 10 am to 3 pm with Frank Michael, Cliff Davis, Albert Bates and Will Bates. $50.

Learn how to install your own solar panels and achieve energy independence for your community with this course from Ed Eaton of Our Sun Solar. Past participants have gone on to install solar panels on their homes and start their own solar installation business. Topics covered include Solar Energy Perspective and PV, Applications, Designing for Efficiency, Solar Site Analysis, Basics of Electricity, Series and Parallel Connections, Mounting Techniques and Hardware, The PV Effect, Types of Modules, Module Specifications, Temperature, Insolation, Dissimilar Modules, Batteries, Controllers, Inverters, Measuring Voltage and Amperage, The National Electrical Code, Wire and Wiring and Wire Sizing, PV System Sizing, PV Water Pumping, plus there will also be hands-on sessions, several review quizzes, and a question/answer period.

We have all seen those pesky 2-liter plastic bottles littering the countryside. If you are like us, you have imagined that there must be something useful we could do with that bit of rubbish. Well, there is... Come spend the day with us learning how to build your own greenhouse using discarded pop bottles. This simple, attractive little structure actually works quite well... Allowing you to get a head start on your spring planting or keeping your plants green year-round. The Workshop Agenda includes: * Orientation/ quick tour of Blue Rock Station. * Framing the greenhouse. * Cutting the bottles. * Placing and fitting the pop-bottle walls. * Putting it all together. * Foundation options for your greenhouse. This pop bottle greenhouse concept was tested and developed at the Sustainable Communities Initiative in Scotland.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific

Led by Laird Schaub and Ma'ikwe Schaub-Ludwig, the program consists of eight three-day weekends spread out over two years. Each weekend session will be held in the context of live facilitation held by host communities in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeastern region (MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, Eastern TN/KY). Integrative Facilitation is an approach to group dynamics built on a solid understanding of human development, sensitivity to undercurrents in the room, playfulness and appreciation. The program begins the weekend of September 18-21, 2008 and ends the weekend of June 3-6, 2010. Program is open to individual participants and host communities or cooperative organizations.

Got Problem Kids? Here's your Problem Student Problem-Solver Conference. You name the problems and this workshop delivers hundreds of immediate, problem-stopping answers. You will leave with innovative, more effective strategies for school failure, truancy, dropping out, work refusal, violence, delinquency, bad attitudes, depression and more. College credit and clock hours available. Free sample interventions, and free monthly Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine available at our web site, youthchg.com, or via email (dwells@youthchg.com), or call toll-free to 1-800-545-5736. Work-study financial aid available for all classes. Call for details. Coming to many cities around the US. Also available on videotape and DVD. Call 1-800-545-5736 for information and a workshop flyer. College credit and clock hours for many disciplines offered for both live and recorded classes. On-site workshops can also be scheduled for your school, agency or conference. This class also makes a terrific