So, in my last post, I posted some images. They appeared to be super-secret in nature, since I refused to explain them. But now I am dispelling the aura of secrecy and revealing all!
They were all taken the same day, the day that a group of us "walked the tracks" - we drove around and walked along old railroad tracks to determine if the existing infrastructure (the old rails) were wide enough to accommodate a lightrail. Yes, we are thinking about the future, dreaming and doing in order to create a comprehensive public transit system connecting the communities that we envision and work towards building. And the tracks were wide enough. We brought no appropriate tools - no measuring tape or rulers, no eyeball estimate abilities - only feet and eyes and hands and hearts and selves, and so I became a unit of measurement that sunny Saturday. Five feet and half an inch long exactly. Five Callistas from the wall to the chainlink fence equals enough space for a lightrail. Paces and my body measured the spaces we investigated. We strolled through abandoned lots, sneaking past electronic eyes and laughing in their electronic faces in order to explore unused decrepit spaces, rusting and rich with potential for re-appropriation. We balanced on fine steel stripes, putting one foot before the other on the parallels curving and stretching out ahead of us. And finally we came to a more magical place, a green place with a monument to peace, where we climbed on chairs made for giants and stretched our muscles, laughing, with honeysuckle blossoms between our teeth. It was enough.
Every Monday and Wednesday night since being here I have been attending an ExCo class that Timothy Denherder-Thomas, one of the key Macalester student organizers here at Summer of Solutions, teaches about climate change, energy, crises, and opportunities. I think I may have mentioned the class before, and possibly referred to ExCo, but I don't think I've really explained very much about it. Ready for more explanation? I feel like that's all I ever do in these posts; explain everything that is going on here, because otherwise you will have no context for what I am doing. But I guess that's one way the entirety of communication can be summarized: explanation - of self, of past, of present, of thought, of anything and everything. So, I will explain on!
ExCo is actually short for Experimental College, which I don't actually know very much about but am trying to learn more. I recommend Google-ing (or Blackle-ing, for all you energy-saving enthusiasts...c'mon, you know you wanna) "Experimental College" - it will provide you with lots of hits of university and college campuses around the country that have an ExCo. As I understand ExCo, it is basically an alternative, exploratory form of education that grew out of ideas of liberating higher education and recasting/reclaiming the traditional student-teacher relationship as a collaborative process in which everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, anyone? Better yet, proof that the '60s were real.) If you want a quick rundown of the Macalester/Twin Cities ExCo history, check out the Wikipedia page for more details. Essentially, anyone can teach a class about anything they want, and anyone can take a class, and everything is absolutely free. Not too far from heavenly, eh?
The ExCo class I took with Timothy was made up of a medley of Summer of Solutions students, other students and young people in the area, and a group of middle-aged and older folks (some of whom knew one another from community organizing efforts in the past & some of whom were Quaker meeting attendees of the meetinghouse where the ExCo class was being taught.) So it was this absolutely extraordinary, special group of people coming together twice a week to learn about challenges far beyond the scope of any one of our minds to grasp, and then learn about all of the tremendously exciting stuff that is happening everywhere, all the time, to meet those challenges head on and rise to overcome them. It was this very very special space; the very fact of its unlikely composition making it all the more precious. In fact, the unlikely composition and existence of the class and the simultaneous tangible reality of its existence endowed the climate solutions offered by Timothy with a certain expansive, shining depth of possibility that persisted despite their implausibility in the face of the immense challenges they are intended to address. The class itself was living, lively proof that, although the impossible may not be possible, the implausible is more than possible and frequently occurs within our very lives.
So I don't need to go into the content of the class here, or now. I can save that for another post, or just...leave you hanging...
?
More important than the content - which was, necessarily, transformative, eye-opening, fresh, energizing, terrifying, and inspiring, and has thrown into question my life path and chosen field of study - was the process, which is so often the case. As some friends of mine have said, "Process is the point" - this was truly one such instance where process was the point: the two nights a week I spent in ExCo meeting with this unlikely bunch of individuals, all of whom taught me so much, to learn about and discuss one of the most terrifying challenges our species has ever faced, was a really special thing. The process of growing with this intergenerational group of students as we explored the stark realities of our world and times and the expansive opportunities that lie before us at this critical juncture, was so precious. And I don't think I realized this until our very last class, which was last night.
In conclusion, I think I would like to start an ExCo in Worcester. Who's with me?
So, it's been quite a while since I last posted. Which is certainly not representative of my level of activity here since my last post; on the contrary, I have been quite occupied with many meetings, emails, and research assignments here. I have not posted because we have been having lots of Messaging meetings - these are meetings that are intended to address how we communicate (how we "message") to our friends/family/reporters/the readers of the internet/TV stations/viewers of our video documentary/the world about what we are doing here. And what we are doing here is so intense, so multi-faceted, and so fresh and original that it is overwhelming to attempt to explain much of it to anyone at all. It is a really daunting task - I never know where to begin these posts. The Messaging meetings as of late have actually not helped to clarify how I should be messaging - in fact, they have made it more confusing and scary for me to try to explain anything at all about Summer of Solutions or the climate movement to anyone at all. I have been somewhat immobilized by fear of "getting something wrong" - of not messaging completely, or correctly or of not explaining myself well or holistically enough. But I have a messaging meeting in just under half an hour, and our homework assignment (which I neglected to do all weekend, instead filling my time with things like strawberry picking, 3-and-a-half-hour long naps, delicious grilled feasts, and all-day bike rides) was to write something - anything at all - that explains/messages what we are doing here. So, I figure that a good place to do that is right here, and a good time is right now. Here we go.
Possibly the best way I can communicate what is happening here in Minnesota, and in communities all over the country, is the way I explained it to my friend Amanda last week when we finally got a chance to talk for the first time all summer. What I said was this: We are giving people a sense of their own power - normal people here are doing absolutely amazing stuff - and we are creating real, positive changes in people's lives, while simultaneously changing the balance of power within the work we're doing...which then travels beyond the work we're doing to the larger world & how society functions. The hardest part of this to communicate is the self-reinforcing aspect of Summer of Solutions, and of the climate movement in general and the fact that the means by which we organize are also the ends we are trying to create; as our movement grows, it creates more of itself. At the same time, as we make real changes in the world, those changes re-organize the structures in which they were originally created, and are ultimately more transformative than they are alternatives to the current state of affairs. This movement is viral - do you get it?
Cooperative Energy Futures is a perfect example of this - both of the self-reinforcing aspect (even in the purely monetary sense) and of the transformative power: Cooperative Energy Futures will absolutely revolutionize the energy system in this country - as energy production becomes decentralized to local generation within communities, people start identifying as producers and not just consumers, and a new model of power (power being both electricity, and the power structures in our civilization) as People Power will grow from the ground up. Do you see? We are giving people a sense of their own power, and we are creating real, positive changes in people's lives - and those changes are not just tangible solutions to climate change that foster justice, but also vehicles for changing the very balance of power. We are not disempowered people working within huge systems, trying to fight those systems or revise them, we are claiming our own power and re-working the entire system from the inside out - through methods that succeed within the current paradigm even as their success engenders a transformation of that paradigm. This is embodied even in the way our movement functions: not as a top-down, hierarchical structure, but as a wildly viral, decentralized, network that is far beyond the capacity of any individual to fully grasp or understand - and serves to amplify the capacity of any individual to be effective.
Okay. Do you see why I procrastinated on explaining this to anyone? And do you see why I am so overexcited about being here, being a part of this?
Peace.
Yesterday was a really good day. Today was another really good day.
Yesterday started out with a meeting to plan our paper for ARISE - essentially, we are proposing a really awesome mixed-use development project, and need to be extremely professional about it. So we outlined a very long paper, to which we will each contribute our respective research. (For instance, I will be contributing information about ways to reduce on-site greenhouse gas emissions...speaking of which, it's really challenging to find information about Life-cycle Assessments for carbon emissions of products. But that is neither here nor there.) We've certainly got our work cut out for us, that much is clear. Later that day, we had a Cooperative Energy Futures work session.
I think that it's time I explained what Cooperative Energy Futures is. There are many parts to it, and it is challenging to communicate the entire vision, but I will attempt to communicate at least a few essentials. Currently, home energy efficiency is an untapped market. Homeowners waste so much energy (and therefore, money) simply because their homes are not insulated, or have airleaks and other inefficiencies that have not been addressed. It costs a lot to do home insulation, weatherstripping, or even to purchase new, more efficient home appliances. It's a big investment, but it pays itself off - especially today, with energy prices rising fast.
The idea behind Cooperative Energy Futures is that communities of homeowners - neighborhoods, really, specifically homes within a 7-block radius or so - would choose to undergo these home energy efficiency renovations together. This means that contractors could order materials in bulk, and haul a trailer full of insulation into a neighborhood, and insulate 20 homes, one right after another. Or weatherstrip an entire neighborhood, house by house. This saves contractors the time & gasoline of hauling materials all over town to do one house at a time, and allows them to purchase materials for less. This would save the community of homeowners participating 10-20% of the cost that they would pay if they chose to do this individually. Moreover, once a community of homeowners in close proximity chooses to undergo this group effort, the savings that they collectively gather doesn't have to stop with home energy improvements. That savings can be pooled and used to further other community-based clean energy measures - such as purchasing photovoltaic solar cells that could generate more savings for the community (since homeowners in that neighborhood would be purchasing less power, since they would be generating their own), which could be re-invested in futher sustainability measures, generating more savings for the community...and so on and so forth.
One other key piece to this puzzle is the Big Investors. Because home energy efficiency improvements are mighty pricey but garner high savings over time with very little risk, they are an excellent investment...but not for individual homeowners who lack sufficient capital to pay the upfront costs of insulation, weatherstripping, etc. That's where Big Investors come in. Big Investors will front that money for a community to do the energy efficiency improvements; enough savings from those improvements will be gathered that those Investors will make back their principal investment, plus a profit, with enough savings left over for that community of homeowners to also save, and for Cooperative Energy Futures itself to cash in as well.
So, Cooperative Energy Futures is one part energy-efficiency promotion, one part community organizing, one part a subtle and powerful challenge (and positive alternative) to the current electrical energy production infrastructure, and generally entirely founded upon an abiding faith in people power. Essentially, this is social entrepreneurship in action. But, as of yet, Cooperative Energy Futures is a vision and a small group of dedicated people realizing that vision. Right now, what I am a part of here in the Twin Cities, is executing the pilot project for Cooperative Energy Futures. Sooo...I am contacting homeowners, trying to get commitments from them, organizing community meetings, and lots of other stuff. It's a busy time.
Okay. No more explaining about Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) anymore. If you've got questions, ask 'em. But now is the part of this post that refers to the title.
Last night, I went to an open mic at an Ethiopian restaurant and lounge called Blue Nile with Jason, one of the other kids doing Summer of Solutions. We met up with a bunch of other Macalester students there, none of whom I had met before, all of whom were really nice. The open mic itself was just absolutely amazing! It's hard to express right now what the energy was like then, but it was just such an incredibly positive atmosphere. There was an extremely wide variety of performers - some hard rocking bands, a woman who performed a song-and-dance in honor of Mother Africa, a few poems, a girl who played electric guitar, and one of Jason's friends, who played this really sweet song on acoustic guitar. The open mic was hosted by a local female rap artist, who was just amazing; there was this phenomenally rocking band who backed up any of the performers who wanted back up - they just so completely knew how to groove. The energy was amazing. I left the Blue Nile absolutely flying, and stepped out into the night that smelled sooo good. The moon was waning gibbous, and Jason and I missed our bus so we walked most of the way home, over the Mississippi river on this long, infinitely slowly curving bridge with railings built for giants and giantesses. So that was a really good night.
So...it's been a while since I've updated here; not because I had nothing to say, certainly, but more because I have too much to say. I've been staying super busy, both with the projects I'm involved in here, which are really starting to take off, and with fun stuff, new ideas, and lots of good food.
On Saturday I took a break from lots of on-the-computer time and bravely elected to not check my email all day long. (Crazy, I know.) Instead, Ashley and Heidi (another SOSer, who goes to Macalester) and I biked around Minneapolis all day! (Pictures to come in a later post, I do believe.) It was a beautiful day, and a great ride. Unfortunately/fortunately, my bicycle suddenly stopped working in the middle of our all-day bike ride, only feet from the only bicycle shop we encountered all day. Sooo....we had to get the rear wheel replaced. Other than that, it was a fairly seamless day, replete with an avocado smoothie followed by a tasty dinner of quinoa, tomato-spinach-potato casserole, delicious salad and rhubarb sorbet.
Sunday Ashley and I went food shopping at the food co-op nearby, a friendly little place called Mississippi Market. Then we took our bikes to a different bike co-op and fixed up the second bicycle (the one without the brand-new wheel.) I learned how to true a wheel! And took out the back wheel & put it back in. It was preeetty awesome. That evening we had our Sunday potluck dinner at Ruby's house. This time the guest was Eric Utne, one of the founders of Utne magazine. We all sat in a big circle in the grass and got eaten up by mosquitoes even as we feasted upon the fruits of our collective culinary labors. Eric Utne told us about Utne salons - a mechanism which allows Utne readers to meet other Utne readers in their areas, get together as a group for dinner, and talk about interesting things. Out of Utne salons have come marriages, non-profit organizations, new small businesses, and so much more.
The Utne salons that Eric told us about, and their societal and social results, are an example of some of the key tenets that are emerging as central aspects of my Summer of Solutions experience thusfar. Namely, the belief in people power and the related emergent collective visioning of "the movement" as viral, as the most networked of networks, and (perhaps most importantly) as holding power in the interconnectivity and the connections themselves. Essentially - and this idea has been spoken about a lot in the time I've been here, as well as being disucssed in Blessed Unrest, our first book group book, which I am almost finished reading - the movement encompasses not just "climate activism," per se, but rather a wide range of individuals and organizations working for the betterment of the planet and the humans and other beings that populate this planet. It includes human rights activists, labor unions, community watch groups, groups like Adbusters, people who blockade streets, folks growing their own food, and so much more. Most people in this movement don't realize the scope and scale of the movement, because they are only connected to and know of a few other organizations, but collectively, the movement comprises a vast interconnected network, the subtle strength of which lies in the connections. The interconnectivity, and therefore the power of the movement, has been amplified by the explosion of the internet as a means of communication and decentralized, networked, democratized information sharing. (This is, actually, the first time I have ever become excited about the potential of the internet. I readily admit that I have displayed some anti-technology tendencies for much of my life.) The strength of the movement lies in a diversity of groups and tactics working together, and realizing that their own power is exponentially increased at the points of overlap. Kind of a tricky, overwhelming thing to wrap one's mind around, but I think it's key to understanding the world in which I am functioning.
In other news, I'm doing research for ARISE Ford site stuff. Specifically, I have been looking into Life-cycle Analysis as a component of Greenhouse Gas Reduction - so that if we are manufacturing wind turbines, for example, the materials will be sourced and transported and manufactured with the smallest carbon footprint possible. Embedded carbon - in the production & shipping of products, and in the materials themselves, is a sneaky sneaky thing. And hard to find and figure out. But I am trying.
There's more to write about - CEF is going slowly but surely, but that will take too long to explain right now. Next time!
love,
Callista
Things I did today (a nice break from all the meetings this week):
- let Ruby use our kitchen to bake herself a birthday cheesecake
- went out to a lunch meeting for Cooperative Energy Futures at a delicious falafel restaurant
- biked to Lake Nokomis and went swimming
- bought PB, sugar, vanilla, vegan chocolate chips and baking soda (and a metal waterbottle!) with ashley and then baked vegan flour-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, to bring to Ruby's birthday party
- ate dinner with our next-door neighbors
- biked to Ruby's birthday party, and got compliments on our cookies! and ate them!
Yay! Tomorrow we have lots of work for CEF to do.
:)
...are both excellent sources of energy, but I was actually referring to today's weather, which was absolutely beautiful. (If you really boil it down to the basics, all forms of energy on our planet are just sunshine in different arrangements. This is where the line between energy and matter becomes fuzzy and we begin to question all of reality. Intriguing.)
Speaking of questioning reality, this morning Timothy lead a Messaging training which I attended. Really interesting stuff. As opposed to a traditional messaging training, which usually teaches the trainees how to use language to frame ideas in such a way so that people agree with them and will do what they want them to do, this training gets to more of the heart of messaging. Timothy calls it "identity-based messaging" - the idea that its not what you say or even how you say it that matters, it is how the listener thinks that matters. Essentially, framing can determine how people think - and if we want to succeed in this amorphous climate-energy-justice-spirituality movement, we need to change how people think and interact with their world.
Some key points I took away from the training about messaging:
- First, I need to listen. No one will be convinced to do anything if I do not first listen to them and meet them where they are at.
- In order to make our frame work, we need to internalize it and believe it - because if we don't, why should anyone else? Live your message.
- Truth is not what we say, it is the internal understanding that is communicated.
- We need to be proactive, not reactive about frames: Choose what frame you want to live in, and live there.
Other things that happened today: a lengthy CEF work session, another lovely potluck (Ashley and I made peanut/soy sauce rice with tempeh, onions, and broccoli - everything was so delicious), and a post-potluck hang out time - Joey taught me how to play Diamonds and Rust on the guitar.
Excellent.
Bedtime.
So much has gone on these past few days! I said to Ashley today as we biked home that we have been in so many different situations today, and covered so much emotional and mental ground, and then she pointed out that every day since we've been here has been like that. It's true.
So, to catch all of you up to date....Yesterday, we started our research for ARISE! Ashley and I are both researching On-site Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions, in addition to our other research (everyone is in at least 2 research groups for ARISE), so we headed over to the library with some other Solutioners to get a little work done...
To wrap up yesterday, we had a potluck dinner with Fresh Energy's Michael Noble, who talked about his experience working on clean energy and climate change for the past few decades. Pictures of us in rapt attention, with Michael:
Today was busy too...full of another CEF meeting, where we actually figured out who would be working on what and created a timeline for our pilot project...building relationships with homeowners, getting audits done of the homes, getting bids from contractors, starting an open-bidding process with the community & contractors, etc. Some pictures of us meeting:
After our CEF meeting, the rest of the day was filled with a Public Speaking class taught by Kate and hosted by Ashley and myself in our spacious (and empty) living room, followed by our Experimental College (ExCo) class taught by Timothy (today's class was about the geopolitics of oil in the context of climate change - very intruiging. I want to learn more) and topped off by an emotionally charged video of Van Jones (a leader in the movement for Green Jobs, who has been compared to MLK) addressing the Pachamama Alliance - a room full of white New Agers - about the challenge of actually doing social justice work in addition to working for sustainability, and actually inviting, welcoming, and including everyone in this movement. It was extremely intense, and was followed by an appropriately contemplative and highly personal group discussion about social justice work, solidarity, race, prejudice, our history, white guilt, and how this all relates to the work we are doing here and now. Lots of good stuff. A very packed couple of days.
For your reading pleasure:
Twin Cities Ford Plant: The End of an Era - an article that is mostly about the Ford plant here in St. Paul that is shutting down, the site of which is where ARISE is intending to create a sustainable mixed-use super green development
It's Getting Hot In Here - a great blog about & from the climate movement; I just submitted my first post! ...so you should see it there sometime soon.
Thats all for now. sleepytime.
It's been a couple of very busy days, here in St. Paul! I think I'm getting progressively more comfortable with the other people doing Summer of Solutions; they're all really cool and awesome, but it's taking a little bit of time to get to know them and really be myself around them.
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Callista my love! These are wonderful photographs whose story will eventually delight and astound.Love,Mama read more
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