| November 2011, Newsletter |
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Upcoming Events:
This month’s Slow Money webinar will focus on using targeted certificates of deposit to finance local businesses. With this model, people in the community pool a portion of their investment money to buy certificates of deposit that will give them a competitive return while investing in the local food economy. The money generated by the certificates of deposit is used to guarantee small revolving loans to family owned farms and to food businesses that buy healthy, locally grown foods from local farmers for their restaurants, independent groceries and value-added operations. This webinar is free and open to the public at noon in room 110 at the Trainer Natural Resources building on the UW- Stevens Point campus. If you have questions, call Mary at 715-592-4051. . Why Storytelling is the "X" Factor in Harnessing Your Sustainability Efforts is the topic of the upcoming webinar presentation by Jeff Leinaweaver, who is a Natural Step Associate and Founder of Global Zen. The Natural Step program promotes government systems transitioning to sustainable policies in all of their decision making. More and more attention is being focused on the importance of storytelling as a key component for non-profit groups planning community-wide sustainability initiatives and events. Learn how the elusive and critical art of storytelling works as a systems change-agent. The presentation is free and open to the public at noon November 17 in room 100E at the Trainer Natural Resources building on the UW- Stevens Point campus. It is organized by the national Natural Step organization and co-sponsored by the Center for Land Use Education and Sustainable Stockton. Call 715-592-4051 with questions. Next film presentation: Burning the Future: Coal in America is a documentary film that examines the conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia living near the coal mines. The film explores the West Virginia landscape, conveying both the beauty and the ravaging of the Appalachians that’s taking place. The residents who are most affected by Mountain Top Removal (MTR) in West Virginia, speak eloquently about the ecological disaster it brings to their communities. Why should you join us in watching this film? The film, Burning Our Future, will be shown free and open to the public at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 17 at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) in Custer. The eco-themed documentary film series is co-sponsored by Sustainable Stockton and the MREA. Call 715-592-4051 with any questions.
If anyone would like to pull together a discussion group around a new book called Hungry for Change, published by the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, Oregon, please contact Mary at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 715-592-4051. More information is available on the web at: nwei.org. Discussion groups in Portage County, usually starting out with 8-12 participants, have been organized at churches or at work over lunch. Others have started with participants coming from our community at large and meet at coffee shops, libraries or private homes. These groups run themselves and are an entry point for many to transform their thinking and actions centered on principles of sustainable living. I’ll gladly help you get started by coming to the first meeting if you’d like and consulting on whatever questions you have. Other topics from the Northwest Earth Institute include: The discussion groups run 4-6 weeks and are organized around readings from thought-leaders and poets such as Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and others. The weekly readings take about an hour and a half to read. The resulting discussions are lively and bonding. The goal is to have fun while learning. Group organizers who order materials from NWEI before November 15 on the topic of: Hungry for Change will receive a free copy for themselves, but consider starting a discussion group on any of the other topics described at the NWEI website.
Greenhouse Project Update: New York Times Bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss met with The Greenhouse Project organizers Josh Stolzenburg (North Wind Renewable Energy), Layne Cozzolino (Central Rivers Farmshed), and Nick Hylla (Midwest Renewable Energy Association) at the former Sorenson’s Garden Center in Downtown Stevens Point. North Wind Renewable Energy, a local business, had an offer on the property contingent on a lease to own agreement with The Central Rivers Farmshed. The closing, slated for mid-October, will now be taken over by Rothfuss, who has generously offered to purchase the property. He will provide the Central Rivers Farmshed with fair lease terms that essentially hold the property in trust for the non-profit, allowing them to concentrate efforts on property renovation and program development rather than site acquisition. This occurrence allowed North Wind to make an initial $10,000 donation to the Central Rivers Farmshed. The donation will be used to hire staff to continue moving the project forward. For more info about this project see http://www.farmshed.org/.
Academics and Practices to Move Toward Sustainability Help Draw Students to UWSP Adapted from the Stevens Point Journal. Freshmen continue to choose the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for the strength of its academic programs and the campus, according to an annual survey of incoming students. But this year, more than 75 percent also said the university's commitment to renewable practices and sustainability factored into their decision. It was the first time UWSP asked about sustainability in the survey. Nearly 90 percent of freshmen said the majors and minors UWSP.
It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. Instead, we need to brace for impact, because global crisis is no longer avoidable; we have come to the end of a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we live beyond the means of our planet's resources. The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls the "one-degree war" to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.
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