Education Posts
NWEI Conference Wrap-Up:
The Conversations Continue
Salutations from Port Townsend, a community that is still reverberating with the excitement of hosting NWEI’s biannual North American gathering last month (Sept. 15-18, 2011). The “Will Allen buzz” has yet to wear off, and every one of the 500-odd people who attended his public keynote address seems to still be talking about it. Everyone else in town is eagerly awaiting the video that was shot that night to be edited and released. Port Townsend’s grassroots efforts to create a more vibrant and sustainable local food economy have...
read moreDay 3: Will Power!
He came, he saw, he loved our farmers market! “Genius” farmer Will Allen of Milwaukee, Wis. (he’s only the second farmer to have been awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant), made a very special visit to Port Townsend Saturday to be the keynote speaker on on Day 3 of the Northwest Earth Institute conference. The “good food revolution” founder‘s schedule was booked: first with an interview on KPTZ and then back-to-back Q&A sessions with a group of 20 young people interested in food activism, then with 65 local...
read moreDay 2: If Not Me, Then Who?
If not me, then who? It’s the conference theme and the rhetorical question we are all grappling with at the Northwest Earth Institute’s North American gathering at Fort Worden State Park here in Port Townsend. If we don’t step up to take action, how can we expect others to? On Day 2, the first full day of the conference, we heard several inspiring stories from leaders who have stepped up to build coalitions around local food, to facilitate local investing opportunities, to create a lifestyle change action guide, and...
read moreDay 1: We Are the Ones
“We are the ones / We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” was the hopeful message raised in song at tonight’s opening event of the Northwest Earth Institute’s North American gathering in Port Townsend. Some of the voices were a little off-key, but we just looked at each other, shrugged, smiled, and kept singing. Not many conferences kick off with rounds and layer songs, but this isn’t just any conference, and the attendees are not exactly shrinking violets. They are bold and innovative environmental...
read moreCommunity Boat Project Sets Sail for School Year
The 35th annual Wooden Boat Festival drew me down to the docks last weekend, and besides cheering on my dad and his crew as the ISLAND STAR beat out the SALISH STAR in the rowing race, the highlight was getting an update on the Community Boat Project. It’s a treat for me when two great passions of my life, sustainability and sailing, come together as exemplified in the Community Boat Project. Throw in youth education, and that’s as good as it gets. Heading up this jewel of a program is Wayne Chimenti, one of the kindest, saltiest...
read moreThey’re Coming to Fort Worden
In two short days, scores of people I can’t wait to meet and learn from will be arriving at Fort Worden State Park in my hometown for the biannual North American Gathering of the Northwest Earth Institute—creator of small-group discussion courses on sustainability topics. The theme of the four-day conference, Sept. 15-18, is “Building Healthy Communities and Local Food Systems One Conversation at a Time.” Conference organizer Deb McNamara tells me the Institute’s “Menu for the Future” discussion course has...
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