What Are You Working On?

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Permalink Reply by Jose Fernando on April 5, 2008 at 1:42pm

Hi Kim

I am new to Bioneers and look forward to networking and getting to know everyone. I am currently working on a portable hybrid power generator. (with Solar panels and wind turbines).

I will post more as I progress ....

Until soon ..
JF

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Permalink Reply by Zeratha Monique Young on April 6, 2008 at 12:45am

My name is Zeratha Young and I am a graduate student through Goddard College’s ‘Socially Responsible Business and Sustainable Communities’ program. My area of focus is whole systems design and participatory sustainable development. Currently I am working on a thesis project which will result in a participatory public ecological art restoration installation’. The installation itself will serve as a visual, interactive, educational, restoration focused whole systems map of the Portland area bioregion including components of social, natural and economic systems and capital. It is titled: Art as a Transformative Environmental Education Process: A Participatory Community and Systems Based Approach to Place Based Ecological Art Installations and Restorations.”
Please see the attached project proposal for further explanation and details.

Currently in this process I am seeking collaborators from the community at large, non-profit organizations, businesses, artists, students, educators, restoration ecologists, permaculturalists and others who may be interested in being involved. The project will hopefully be put into motion this coming Spring of 2008, most likely during the month of May so that plantings done as part of the project will thrive and so that there will (hopefully) be good weather. I am seeking involvement from all sectors of the community as every step of the project will be inclusive and participatory.

I am writing to you because I feel that you and/or your organization might be interested in becoming involved in this project. I believe that this could be a rewarding and beneficial experience for both you and/or your organization, the community at large and myself as the project coordinator. Some of the specific things I am seeking in the community:
*Feedback, ideas, input
*Volunteers
*Donations (native plants, cob materials, other hardware, applicable materials
*Support
*Research and Design Collaboration
*Speakers, musicians, artists, videographers for the day of the event

Benefits for you and/or your organization might include:
*Publicity for Your Organization and/or Yourself
*An Educational, Inspiring and Creative Experience which benefits the
community and ecosystem of installation placement
*The chance to create and build new strategic networks and relationships
*An opportunity to directly or indirectly participate in a project that serves multiple functions:
-community building
-artistic/creative opportunity
-restoration, planting, permaculture
-education
-networking, relationship building

I would love to meet with you and start a conversation…
Feel free to call (503) 975-4181 or email (mooglicious@gmail.com)
Sincerely,
Zeratha Young

Attachments:

• Final Product Proposal.doc, 53 KB

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Permalink Reply by Cameron Preston on April 23, 2008 at 5:39pm

I always like to think of my ideas of making a difference in more than a small way, more like a gianormous impact in the world.

Currently that project for me is making composting mainstream in the urban environment. Teaching why to do it, how to do it, and what to do with all of your lovely new dirt filled with essential minerals for plants that would have been wasted in land fills!

The concept is Balcony Composting. Doing composting in a limited area such as a porch or balcony, and then what type of garden can you sustainably make with your new found golden compost. Kitchen scraps to gold, why wouldn't it catch on? :)

It's still in early phases, so any feedback would be much appreciated. I've started a mailing list on the website for all interested in truly participating. The best way to help though is to start composting on your balcony and give me testimonials on how easy it is to do ;)

http://www.balconycompost.com

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kawell on April 25, 2008 at 8:16am

Hi Cameron,
Sounds like a knoble venture.
Have you looked at using microorganisms to speed up the proccess?
Check out this website, you will be amazed with what other people in the world are doing. WWW.emamerica.com

Be Well
Steve Kawell

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Permalink Reply by Instituto Conexiones - Connections Institute on April 23, 2008 at 8:07pm

We are engaged in studying and advancing best practices and real-life (applied) models related to three main areas: Intercultural Relations/Globalization, Sustainability (full-spectrum), & Alternative Education. This includes, but is not limited to: ♦ Researching, sharing & applying best practices in these broad areas of inquiry. ♦ Facilitating educational opportunities in its areas of applied study. ♦ Providing cultural brokerage between diverse stakeholders in private, public and non-profit initiatives. ♦ Helping assure equality-based stakeholder participation in projects of all sectors. ♦ Related public advocacy & policy reformulation. ♦ Assisting with Research & Development, Implementation or Evaluation of Sustainable Projects and Ventures. ♦ Information & resource sharing with kindred projects. We have a blog for our consortia (you are all invited to join by commenting on any postings on our blog) and a website (needs to be updated) Pilot offices located in the U.S: 415.359.4759, Costa Rica: 506.371.5869 & Mexico: 52.612.125.3662

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Scott on April 25, 2008 at 8:21am

Hello
I am part of a team of award winning filmmakers, environmental educators
and activists who are developing a powerful organizing tool to green America.

REEL GREEN offers activists and community leaders the tools needed to create
local events that advance awareness about environmental issues, while delivering
real strategies that work for achieving change and promote sustainability models.

Our mission is to distribute significant environmental films as a means of bringing
communities together with key grassroots organizers for take action events.

Our goal is to facilitate and guide the events and the successful implementation of
sustainability models: Peoples Power Coops, Green Investment Circles, Restoration Projects,
and Legislative Action Campaigns.

We are interested in your recommendations for sustainability
models that we will promote through our campaigns.

Please see our draft website for more details about what we are up to and who is involved.
http://www.thereelgreen.org

I look forward to telling you more about this exciting project.

Warm cheers,
Carolyn


Carolyn M. Scott
Executive Director
Turtle Island Films
1557 Los Alamos Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
T: 707.228.6860
F: 707.538.8461
E: caromia@sonic.net
http://www.turtleislandfilms.com
http://www.texasgoldmovie.com
http://www.thereelgreen.org

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Permalink Reply by Vladimir on May 15, 2008 at 7:57am

Hallo Carolyn It is exciting to hear what you are doing. However, there is a BBC film documentary showing that global warming is a lie. Scientists have lost their jobs or resigned when they exposed the truth. The truth is that carbon dioxide forms only a tiny percentage of the air, that the greenhouse effect is untrue, giving that the upper atmosphere should be heating up and it is not, Danish scientific data show the close relationship between activity of the sun and temperature on earth ajnd so on, to the extent of my memory. Still, our whole way of life is not in harmony with nature. Personally I love the philosophy of Anastasia, the Siberian. It is the only way, to me.

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Permalink Reply by Joyce Baker on May 7, 2008 at 1:47pm

I am working on a manual to train rural community groups to use community organizing to plan and implement health change projects, and to empower residents and improve their sense of community and their sense of sociopolitical control.

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Permalink Reply by Vladimir on May 15, 2008 at 7:42am

Someone lent me a bit of their woodland this year to experiment with as an edible garden. Day by day I have been planting strawberries, rasberries, blackcurrant, blueberries, two apple trees, a hazelnut tree, a gingko biloba tree, cukettas, pumpkin, cucumber, paprikas, hot chilli peppers, potatoes, beans, cannabis, marjoram, timian, bazalka, tomatoes and other things, not many, just to see what grows. Everything I put into the woodland, flourishes immediately. There must be something special there. There are many birds-cuckoos, pheasants, crane, hawk and others. Also someone has promised me a blueberry honeysuckle. This berry like other berries has many health properties. It is known in Russia, Japan and China I think but unknown here as an edible berry. People say it will not grow in the woods but we will try.

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Permalink Reply by erinely on May 16, 2008 at 11:16am

Hi everyone,
I know many of you helped with this this a few months ago so I am back asking for your support again.

I have entered a contest to win $10,000 to start a year-round Farmers market here in Eugene, Or.

I entered the contest before and came up about 20 votes short of winning....

so, I'm back and my idea is featured on the home page for the contest.

I really need your help:

Title: A Year-Round Home for the Lane County Farmers' Market


Idea Description:
Design and draft a business plan for a permanent indoor/outdoor structure for the Lane County Farmers' Market. The market can trace it's beginnings back to 1915, and today is comprised of nearly 160 growers and producers.

A permanent location would allow the Market to operate year-round to stabilize and increase its customer base. The ideal site will include a community kitchen, an open market hall for year round indoor sales, outdoor vendor area, restaurant space, offices for the Farmer's Market and other local food and agriculture organizations, and leaseable office space.

If you win $10K, what will be your next steps?

There is already a lot of support for this project in my community. People have been discussing it for years. Now is the time to move the project forward starting with facilitated meetings with all stakeholders, a feasibility study and business plan to make the plan a reality. Then fundraising to create the facility.

My idea is based on the project that is happening right now in Santa Fe, NM: http://www.santafefarmersmarket.com/institute/future/

I know there is enough support to bring this idea forward in our community, we just need to get it started.

This is where you all come in:
This is what you need to know about voting in the competition:

Here is the link straight to my idea submission:
http://ideablob.com/ideas/2281-Year-Round-Home-for-the-Lane-Co


1. You will need to register on the www.ideablob.com site by creating a username and password and email address. This takes about 3-4 minutes. (You do NOT have to give your physical address and they will not spam you with advertising.) If you already registered and voted before, you will not need to reregister but you do need your username and password to get in to vote again.

2. Once you have registered, Ideablob will send an email with a link that you must click on to confirm your registration.

3. Now you get to vote, which takes all of 30 seconds.

4. BUT, you have to vote twice, first during this time period from May 15 to May 21, and again at the end of the month from May 22 to May 28.

If my idea gets swamped with votes the first week (May 15 to May 21), I will get bumped into the finals round, which requires that we all vote a second time (May 22 to May 28). Think of it like voting in the primaries and again in the general election.

I will need over 2,000 votes to win, so I need everyone to register and vote if we (my community) wants to make this a reality.

I have spent several weeks networking my own community but I will need more help than that if I am going to win this contest due to the extensive amount of internet networking that can happen on these things.

Warm regards,
Erin Ely

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Permalink Reply by baz gray on May 17, 2008 at 3:17am

Good Question:
Sometimes I attend a small church bible reading group just to hear how people in todays complex modern society are interpreting or re-interpreting whatever bible version they are using. I found the group closed to diversity of opinion, boring and anti-intellectual. But I learned to shut up listen and 'agree' with their conclusive statements.
Then one evening when they were trying to decide what next to read or spend the Spring time before Summer comes, I made a suggestion. Could we meet at a nearby park, pray, eat, and share how we spend our days or how we see todays world and its affects on us? Surprizingly there was concurrence. I am still awaiting the date.

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Permalink Reply by memecaster on May 17, 2008 at 5:39pm

cfars are not sustainable, nor the infrastructure, nor the insurance....

I am intending to give us an alternative that is more widely accepted than the bike you are now seeing in your mind. I plan a bike that has all the convenience of a car, except the horrible velocity. drop the weight, the speed...keep the enclosure, the lights, the heater, the radio. Plug it in to work with frinds at the beach , or "loan" the electricity to the grid when feeling really frisky at the pedals. Room for 2 and baby makes three, or perhaps golf bags, perhaps a baby grand on the trailer home from the flea mart...a simple device that replaces for most needs.

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