Liberation Ecology Project

Back in Austin now, and here for another two weeks.

The tour was fantastic. When I introduce myself as a presenter, I often say something like: “I do this work because I want to be in conversation with people who are hungry for change, and the tools for making it.” Since that happens to actually be the case, the week of workshops earlier this month was just about the best way I could imagine to spend my time. The participants, and the participation, were amazing. Folks from all different communities and background… urban and rural, ethinic-, age-, class-, and gender-diversity; the only common theme was wanting to be a part of changing the path we are on. I’ve never been so inspired.

Of course, the tour was also demanding, in some ways - kind of grueling, travel-wise. But while I don’t necessarily seek out a challenge like driving out of Manhattan at 6:00pm on a Friday, most of the demands of the tour were the kind of problem I want - adapting the workshop to different contexts, focusing more and more on participatory learning, getting challenged by participants to think in new ways…

Hopefully I’ll be doing some workshops in the midwest this May… more on that as things develop.

I was fortunate enough to teach at the R.U.S.T. Workshop this past weekend. Skotty and Stacy, from the amazing Rhizome Collective here in Austin, put on several of these Radical Urban Sustainability Trainings each year. They are a fantastic, weekend whirlwind introduction to a whole array of cheap, low-tech, ecological systems. My first post on this blog was a review of their first R.U.S.T held in the northeast, at the Albany Free School in Albany, NY.

In addition to helping out with some material on mushroom cultivation, biogas, natural systems, and where ever else it was useful, I gave a 1-hour Liberation Ecology workshop. Trying to squeeze participatory learning activities into a 1-hour timeslot was a crazy, but worthwhile, experiment. It was a good session, despite feeling rushed.

I’ll have a chance to continue the experiment in two weeks, when I do it again! I’ll be teaching another 1-hour workshop at the second R.U.S.T. training at the Rhizome this season. Space is still available in on the weekend of April 12,13, so get in touch with the Rhizome if you are interested.

…forsaking the Hudson River Valley for just a few months:
8) Applying to grad school while moving all possessions into storage is fun.
7) Taking bike, leaving truck.
6) 10-week internship with the amazing Glenrose Engineering.
5) Following sweetheart.
4) Friends and collaborators at the Rhizome Collective.
3) Practicar español.
2) Thawing extremities.
1) Breakfast tacos!

I’ve been back from Belen for a week and a half now, and it feels like I’m just beginning to touch down. The whirlwind of the trip to Peru segued immediately into the whirlwind of Xmas, travel, the New Year, sickness, moving, and a host of logistical dramas.Hopefully the regular readers of this blog have been nearly as busy, and so haven’t been waiting impatiently for an update…Belen was just amazing, in about five ways at once. Each of those ways in turn…

To cut straight to the full photoset, go here.

Continue reading ‘Back from Belen’

…clown for credibility.

That’s what Dr. John Glick said to me when we spoke late last week.

“You’ll be much less of a target for pickpockets, you’ll be safer, and you’ll be more credible, if people know you’re with us.”

John Glick is my main contact with the Belen project. The “us” he is referring to is, of course, the Gesundheit Institute Global Outreach Project. If you aren’t familiar with them already, a major part of their mission is doing international clown-care work - in hospitals, orphanages, refugee camps, and even war zones - all over the world. Clowning is incorporated into pretty much everything they do - including the community development initiative in Belen that I’m involved with.

“Bring a red nose, even if you just wear it around your neck.”

So when I go to Belen for the first time this coming week, I’ll be bringing the usual selection of durable, light-weight travel clothing, plus a selection of mismatched, brightly colored plaid, hawaiian, and striped shirts and shorts, a plaid blazer with the arms cut off, a baby-sized red velour hat that ties under my chin, a small, purple, frilly umbrella, and yes - a big red nose that squeaks when tweaked.

Safety first, after all.

Continue reading ‘Clown for Safety…’

The trip to Peru is approaching faster than I can believe.

I’ve been networking like mad. First, to try and connect with the people working on the Gesundheit/PAHO collaboration, scattered from Peru to Norway to Virginia. Secondly, to try and connect our whole network effort with the other clinic/water/sanitation project underway in Belen. Unbelievably, there have been two projects developing there over the last few years, without being aware of each other. So I’ve been doing what I can to intiate some coordination and collaboration between the two groups. Everyone seems pretty eager to do so - more heads to put together, and more avenues by which resources can flow to the community of Belen. What could be better than a Gesundheit/PAHO/Amazon Promise/Engineers Without Borders collaborative?

When not doing that, I’ve been digging deep into the global conversation on low-budget eco-sanitation initiatives. Engineers and permaculturists have not always made the easiest of bedfellows, and there are a lot of engineers involved in this project. And, as far as I can tell, I’m the only participant coming from a background in permaculture. (And I know I’m the only one coming from a background in liberation ecology!)

So, even though this is a preliminary reconaissance for me, I need to be prepared to persuasively, if not forcefully, frame the discussion in terms of community leadership, low-energy/biological systems, and resource-cycling. I may be overestimating the difference in perspectives, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
It’s a complex situation, environmentally, culturally, technically… in every way. I’m excited to begin the conversation in earnest, with folks on the ground there in Belen.