Restoring People and Planet
Seminars and Trainings

The Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus is now glad to offer a series of seminars and trainings in building Resilient Community. Along with the initiatives and programs we have developed nationally and internationally, there have been many requests to generate more hands-on participation.

We see ourselves standing at a crossroad where we have the choice and opportunity to re-imagine and re-direct how we are living with our Earth, each other and our communities. Exploring and building resilience gives us a pathway to adapt to unprecedented change and to renew a deep understanding of the natural world and the creative power that resides within us

We would love to have you join us. Men are also welcome. We are thrilled with the results of our first trainings in 2011 and look forward to seeing you this year.

Rights of Nature
April 13 - 14, 2012

Education and Advocacy from the frontlines locally and globally
April 13, 2012 7:00 – 9:30 pm
April 14, 2012 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Location: Corte Madera Town Center Community Room in Corte Madera in the three story office building at the southern end of the Town Center shopping mall.
770 Tamalpais Drive, Suite 201 Corte Madera, CA 94925

Seminar fee: $55.00
Bring lunch on Saturday or there are many nearby restaurants for the mid-day break.
For more information or Partial Scholarship or Work Study request, contact Wyolah Garden 415-722-2083 or wgarden@ix.netcom.com

In this dynamic seminar we will learn about the history of Rights of Nature including the groundbreaking 2008 event when Ecuador became the first country to include Rights of Nature in its national constitution and cover movements in Bolivia and here in the U.S. as Rights of Nature takes hold as an idea whose time has come. We will also discuss advocacy work for Rights of Nature at COP17 and at the upcoming UN Earth Summit -- Rio + 20 in Brazil. Rights of Nature laws create a right to legal standing, such that people, communities, Indigenous peoples, non-profit environmental organizations, and others would have standing to protect the environment. Climate activists have long been seeking a tool, which would enable communities affected by climate change to gain recognition for the harms done not just to human interests around the globe, but also to environmental ones. We come together with a common interest to actively advance the creation of human communities that respect the Rights of Nature. We will also explore how Rights of Nature invigorates momentum for a new cultural narrative that honors our living Earth. Join us and step into this historical moment!

This course will include:

What are Rights of Nature?

What is happening in the local/ global movement for Rights of Nature?

What can Rights of Nature do for your community?

How can we change our personal and cultural narrative to create an Earth-honoring society?

How to understand Rights of Nature personally in our everyday lives

Enter into history in the making!

Rights of Nature can express our deep respect and care for our Earth in a human structure of law. It can, in part, help to restore the ancient and life-sustaining concepts that have been damaged in our current times. Rights of Nature defines the relationship of humankind and nature as interdependent, and as such, the need for humankind to live in harmony with Nature is essential.

Suggested reading:
The Rights of Nature, The Case for a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth
(essays by many authors)
Wild Law: A Manifesto For Earth Justice, Cormac Cullinan
Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature, Osprey Orielle Lake

Instructors:

Shannon Biggs is the Director of the Community Rights program at Global Exchange. She recently co-authored a book, Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots  (PoliPoint Press). Her current work focuses on assisting communities confronted by corporate harms to enact binding laws that place the rights of communities and nature above the claimed legal "rights" of corporations.

Osprey Orielle Lake is a lifelong advocate of environmental justice and societal transformation. She is the Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus (WECC) and an International Advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press) is a 2011 Nautilus Book Award winner.

From the Hearth Fire to Solar Power --
Examining our Relationship to Consumption,
Sun, Energy and Local Solar Power
July 20 - 22, 2012

July 20, 2012: 7:00 pm - 9:30
July 21, 2012: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm    Bring lunch or buy lunch at onsite cafe.
July 22, 2012: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Location: Strawberry Creek Design Center, 1250 Addison Street in Berkeley. The Center overlooks a park and sits alongside Strawberry Creek, which was unearthed from culverts and restored to its natural state.

Seminar/training fee: $145.00
For more information or Partial Scholarship or Work Study request, contact Wyolah Garden 415-722-2083 or wgarden@ix.netcom.com

This course invites you to explore:

Shifting our relationship with consumption habits. What is truly valuable? What is wealth?

What is our carbon footprint and how can we reduce it?

Mapping out how we can bring solar power to our homes and communities

Our relationship to the sun

This seminar is designed to catalyze and connect a growing momentum to create measurable carbon reductions, lifestyle changes and market impacts in our daily lives. Drawing from the essential connection we have to our children, families, each other, and the earth, we intend to inspire actions that have a real and measurable effect on carbon levels, while also shifting away from the underlying patterns of consumption, conflicting values, and environmental degradation that have led to many of the crises we now face.

Everyone possesses creative potential; it is our birthright. And all are welcome to share in this soul-fueled exploration of solar energy. Wrote the poet Rimbaud, “The Sun… pours burning love on the delighted earth.” The sun is the magnificent fire that warms our atmosphere and fuels life on this planet. But today, our addiction to ancient sunlight in the form of fossil fuels drives our consumer society and threatens our future. We can change our detrimental relationship to consumption and energy.

This course includes touring and learning about the important work of local solar power companies *Sungevity, *Solar Mosaic, * Marin Solar. This will be an in depth opportunity to learn about local solar power and how you can start planning to install panels on your home or office space and support solar power in your community. (* In the process of confirming)

Suggested reading:
Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies & Sustainable Living, John Schaeffer (Editor)
Embrace Your Inner Wild: 52 Reflections for an Eco-Centric World, Mary Reynolds Thompson
Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature, Osprey Orielle Lake

Instructors:

Mary Reynolds Thompson is an award-winning writer and certified poetry and journal therapy facilitator. Founder of Reclaiming the Wild Soul, Mary conducts writing workshops throughout the United States. She also serves on the core faculty of the Therapeutic Writing Institute where her focus is the connection between the natural world and our wild souls. To her ecological understanding, Mary adds years of experience in marketing and branding. She provides first-hand insights into how corporations and the media manipulate our innate desires and turn us from citizens into consumers. She is author of Embrace Your Inner Wild: 52 Reflections for an Eco-Centric World. (White Cloud Press)

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder/Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus where she is working nationally and internationally with grassroots leaders, policy-makers, business people, and scientists to reduce carbon emissions and foster a post-carbon energy future, while also addressing societal transformation. She is an International Advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and an advisor to International Eco-Cities Framework and Standards Initiative. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press) is a 2011 Nautilus Book Award winner.

Women and Water –
From Watersheds to Grey-Water Systems
November 2-4 , 2012

November 2, 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location: Corte Madera Town Center Community Room in Corte Madera in the three story office building at the southern end of the Town Center shopping mall.
770 Tamalpais Drive, Suite 201 Corte Madera, CA 94925
November 3, 10 am - 5:30 pm
Location: Meet at 10:00am Corte Madera Town Center Community Room, then journey to the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed.
Day ends at 5:30pm. Pack a lunch, snacks and water.
November 4, 9 am - 4:30 pm
Location: Meet at 9:00 am Corte Madera Town Center Community Room to carpool to Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas for water training.
Day ends at 4:30pm. Pack a lunch.

Seminar/training fee: $145.00
For more information or Partial Scholarship or Work Study request, contact Wyolah Garden 415-722-2083 or wgarden@ix.netcom.com

Explore the beauty and lessons of watersheds as metaphor and model in this seminar and training in the water basin of Marin County. From walking along the edge, mapping and learning the story of the Mt. Tamalpais watershed to learning how to be good water stewards with practical skills in learning how to build gray-water systems and harvest rainwater, we will delve into watersheds as a focal point for community building and community resilience. The urgent problem of global water shortage will be examined; including how respecting the very nature of water itself can be a part of the integrated solution. Participants not local to the Marin County area are welcome and can gain valuable watershed knowledge and skills to provide protection for their own water resources by applying the seminar/training to their own local bioregion.

In addition to practical skills, participants will learn about the longtime connections between women and water worldwide from cultural to ecological perspectives. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) points out: ‘There is a very clear gender division of roles and resources in all areas of water resources management’. In rural developing areas in many countries, women are traditionally the main managers of domestic water resources at the local level. Women alone decide where and how to collect domestic water, what amount and how to use it. Their knowledge about the reliability, location and seasonal variation of local water sources is a precious resource gained through personal experience and through interpersonal and intergenerational contacts with other women.

This course will include:

Journey to Mt. Tamalpais watershed for a time of deep connection with the local watershed of Marin County. What does it mean to connect with our bioregion?

On site visit to the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas

How to build a grey water system in your home for landscaping and garden use

Demonstration of an inexpensive and easy rainwater harvesting system

Learn about women around the world and their long-standing cultural, traditional and practical relationship with water

What is happening with the world’s water locally and globally and action plans

Suggested reading:
Create an Oasis With Greywater, Art Ludwig
Blue Gold, Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke
Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature, Osprey Orielle Lake
  
Instructors:
Penny Livingston-Stark is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer and speaker. She has been teaching internationally and working professionally in the land management, regenerative design and permaculture development field for 25 years and has extensive experience in all phases of ecologically sound design and construction as well as the use of natural non-toxic building materials. She specializes in site planning and the design of resource-rich landscapes integrating, rainwater collection, edible and medicinal planting, spring development, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses and diverse yield perennial farms.

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder/Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus where she is working nationally and internationally with grassroots leaders, policy-makers, business people, and scientists to reduce carbon emissions and foster a post-carbon energy future, while also addressing societal transformation. She is an International Advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and an advisor to International Eco-Cities Framework and Standards Initiative. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press) is a 2011 Nautilus Book Award winner.

More courses to come!… food justice, local foods, supporting local farmers.