welcome to The 2021 ReGenerative Communities Summit
Together we will create...
A space to reimagine,reclaim,
cocreate & connect
Friday, September 24 - Sunday, October 10
As the climate emergency, social crises, natural and everyday disasters continue to rock our communities, Transition and the broader movement for regenerative, just and resilient communities offer inspiration and hope through practical local action. Transition US invites all doers and dreamers, activists and community leaders, farmers and entrepreneurs, educators and artists, and everyday people eager to reimagine and rebuild our world.
Register for the Summit to enjoy real-time participation- as well as access to the recordings-of all our virtual programming!
In the wake of the pandemic that has kept us mostly apart for the past 18 months, it is now more important than ever for those of us who care about and are working towards a regenerative future to connect with each other, reenergize ourselves, and coordinate our efforts.
Together with dozens of partner organizations who are leading the transition to a more just and sustainable society, we will be offering an abundance of inspiring plenary sessions, skill-building workshops, dynamic discussion spaces, and engaging activities, tracing an arc from “What Is” to “What If” to “What’s Next.” Now is the time to call in the full strength of our networks and to call upon the spirit of “hope with its sleeves rolled up”, ready to do the work of building a resilient, just, and regenerative future-now. Communities across the globe are recognizing and responding to the call, reimagining and rebuilding our world, forging new paths, and embodying the courage to see the world with new eyes.
Will you join us?
Plenaries:
summit themes:
Just Transition
food systems
Economy
for transition initiatives
inner resilience
emergency preparedness & disaster
LUNCH AND LEARNs
- Sept. 27th @11AM PST: Join Ana Huertas & Cristiano Bottone from the international Municipalities in Transition to explore their framework for supporting community-municipal collaboration.
- Sept. 30th @11AM PST: Join the TUS Politics & Policy Working Group for a fishbowl-style conversation space to talk about some of the political, economic, cultural, & strategic perspectives among Transitioners on big questions, such as: How do you see Transition’s relationship with capitalism & its alternatives? What position(s) do Transition folk take vis-à-vis capitalism & its alternatives? & many more!
- Oct. 5th @11am PST: Join NorCal Resilience Network founder Susan Silber as she shares her experiences & insights in developing a network of resilience hubs, spaces, & blocks in Northern California, from finding funding to support projects to catalyzing an 8-month leadership training in collaboration with local governmental agencies.
We invite you to engage with different themes such as:
SCHEDULE:
**Displayed in Pacific Standard time**
FILMS:
PLENARY SPEAKERS:
Lyla June Johnston
is an Indigenous musician, scholar & community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) & European lineages. She blends studies in Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, & the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions.
Richard Heinberg
is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Post Carbon Institute & is regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. He is the author of fourteen books, including works on society’s current energy & environmental sustainability crisis. He narrated & wrote"300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 seconds."
Rupa Marya
is a physician, activist, artist & writer who is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco & the founder and executive director of the Deep Medicine Circle, a worker-directed nonprofit committed to healing the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, story, learning & restoration.
Tom Llewellyn
is a community organizer, consultant, and storyteller promoting people-powered solutions for the common good. He’s the strategic partnerships director for Shareable.net, executive producer and host of the award-winning documentary and podcast series “The Response.”
Elaine Miller-Karas
is the Co-Founder and Director of Innovation of the Trauma Resource Institute and author of the book, Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models
Ana Rosa Rizo-Centino
served as Maywood’s Mayor in 2007 and worked on many social justice issues. Her work focuses on government transparency, support for working families& environmental justice issues. She is now executive director of One Step A La Vez.
Daniel Christian Wahl
is the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures. He works as an educator, consultant, and activist on bioregional regeneration as a strategy for localization and the redesign of the human impact on Earth.
Emily Kawano
is a founder of the US Solidarity Economy Network. She is currently Co-Director of the Wellspring Cooperative Corporation, which seeks to create an engine for community-based job creation in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Taisa Mattos
works as an international trainer and consultant in the fields of sustainability, social innovations, and community life. She has coordinated and taught Ecovillage Design Education Programmes since 2009. Currently serving as Education and Research Coordinator at the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN).
Olivia Benson (she/her)
is the Chief Operating Officer of The Forbes Funds & Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership. She has a proven track record of promoting advocacy causes, securing financial support for organizations, and spearheading community engagement initiatives for government, private, and non-profit sectors.
Michelle Vassel
serves as the Tribal Administrator (CEO) of the Wiyot Tribe, who has stewarded the land in and around Humboldt Bay (Wigi) in Northern California since time immemorial. She is responsible for planning, managing, and directing all the day-to-day operations of the Tribal government. She was active in the historic return of Tuluwat Island, the fight to protect Tsakiyuwit, and serves on the Board of Directors of Cooperation Humboldt.
David Cobb
is the Co-Coordinator of the US Solidarity Economy Network, the Executive Director of Cooperation Humboldt, and serves on the Transition US Collaborative Design Council. He was the Green Party nominee for President in 2004, and initiated the recall effort that launched the election integrity movement, which led to the discrediting of so-called “Black Box Voting.”
tRANSITION ALLY AWARD:
We want to honor Joanna Macy Ph.D for all her immense work. Joanna is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with learnings from six decades of activism. Her wide-ranging work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance between Buddhist thought and postmodern science. The many dimensions of this work are explored in her thirteen books, which include three volumes of poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke with translation and commentary. As the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects, Joanna has created a ground-breaking framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application. Joanna will receive the Transition Ally Award and offer her remarks as part of our Catalyzing Ceremony on Friday, October 8th.”
our partners and sponsors:
Hello!
I have just registered for this event and am very excited and grateful that this is occurring. As the founder and executive director of the Community Ecology Institute, a non-profit with a mission to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together, I am interested in learning more about whether there is the opportunity to share a presentation during the summit. Could someone please let me know what opportunities may be available to engage in the summit in a way where we can share about our work?
Thank you,
Chiara D’Amore
Hi Chiara,
Thanks for your interest in the Summit and for all you do! At this point, our schedule of “main stage” events is full, but you are more than welcome to host a session during our Open Space on Regenerative Action on Saturday, October 9th (https://transitionus.org/event/open-space-on-regenerative-action) and/or self-organize an event to post on our Teamup calendar. More information about how to do this will be added to our “Host Your Own Guide” (https://bit.ly/3BttxrQ) soon.
Hi,
I heard about the summit from Galen Meyers here at Earthaven Ecovillage, and would love to find out if my class, “Build Your Own Natural Dream Home,” might be offered to some of the attendees. How would that work?
I’m a co-founder of Earthaven and if you see a picture of a large, rounded earthen structure with a red roof on our website, that’s the house I was able to co-construct after learning quite a bit about natural building in our early years.
Thanks so much!
Hi Arjuna,
Please see my reply to Chiara above and let me know if you have any other questions. Or better yet, ask Galen. He’s the one setting up our Guide and Teamup calendar 🙂
Hi
I would like to be a presenter.
Here is a link to my podcasts and you tube presentations
https://www.suburbanpermaculture.org/media.html
Here is a link to a 30 minute tour of my 20 yo suburban permaculture project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsO4K1gG2Ao
Here is a link to a highlight real from the past 2 years of interviews and radio production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHvCtwoRfE&t=974s
Repurposing the [sub]urban social and built landscape is my focus.
Thanks. Jan Spencer
suburbanpermaculture.org
Hi Jan,
Thank you for all your good work! Please refer to my reply to Chiara above and let me know if you have any further questions.
I’m wondering if this event will include a speaker or event focused on natural carbon capture efforts such as calls for an end to commercial logging on public lands? I work with several groups here in Massachusetts that are involved in such efforts as promoting proforestation, opposing woody biomass being sold as “clean renewable energy” and more.
Hi Don,
While we don’t have a session specifically focused on opposing commercial logging or biomass, I expect these topics (natural carbon capture, pointing out false solutions) will come up in various sessions throughout the Summit. We are also currently working on finalizing a session on ecosystem restoration, which might be of particular interest to you.
I am overwhelmed and excited by what Transition is up to!
In my 71 years I have never organized anything but feel the need deeply in my bones and soul.
Hints/suggestions for “where to begin” guides, websites, podcasts etc.
I am in Rochester NY. A city in transition itself with GREAT need.
As I write this some people and organizations are coming to mind but I’d love to hear your suggestions.
Deep, deep gratitude for your work.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Good to hear from you! This Summit will be a great place to learn about many different organizations and resources. I’d suggest starting by clicking on some of the logos of our partners and sponsors above to link to their websites. If you’re specifically looking to learn more about the Transition Movement, I’d recommend reading The Essential Guide to Doing Transition (https://transitionnetwork.org/resources-essential-guide-transition) first.
What’s the best way to become a partner at this point?
Hi Raines, you can fill out this google form https://forms.gle/Zk4KzW5rWrpvpfWPA !
After we register and attend, will the recordings be sent to us?
Hi Peg,
Event recordings will be posted to our Mighty Networks community in the “Main Stage Events” space as they become available for anyone who is unable to attend live.
Wow, this Summit looks fantastic. In Vermont. we’re organizing a Regeneration Revolution, you can read about it at http://www.neweconomyvt.org. My husband and I perform as a duo called The New Economistas, and we’ve written a theme song for the revolution that matches the conference ideas and sessions. You can watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H9jveqRBl2g. It’s not exactly it’s own online session, people could just watch it when they want to. Here are the lyrics:
Regeneration Revolution
Grow your food, plant more trees
Bike to work, keep some bees
Start a time bank, join a land trust
Turn your compost, ride the bus
Chorus
Be the change, be a solution
Regeneration Revolution
Raise a child, get a vision
Live simple lives, learn ancient wisdom
Reparations for colonization
Stop racial discrimination
Be the change, be a solution
Regeneration Revolution
People power, Open Space
Community is our saving grace
Local action, state demands
Healthy soil, access to lands
Be the change, be a solution
Regeneration Revolution
Gamechangers, Firekeepers
Monkeywrenchers, Faith leapers
Come together, unify
We must change or we will die.
Be the change, be a solution
Regeneration Revolution
Hi– I’m looking forward to the Summit. On your website (or elsewhere) do you plan to show the events sorted either by theme or by format? I’m sharing this info with my Twin Cities community and looking for ways to make the schedule easier to grasp. For me, the links to the Mighty Networks Quick Start Guide and the Summit Guide don’t seem to work. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Hey Mindy,
Thanks for sharing! Try here: https://www.transitionus.org/regenerative-communities-summits-themes.
Hi Gwendolyn,
You can add that link to the song in the Regenerative Communities Portal after you’ve registered and joined it. You can put it in your introduction! I’m glad to see Vermonters attending this summit. We’ll have to share ideas when it’s done.
Thanks, Don, for the “Themes” link. I see six main themes, four of which also have a list of specific events. But I don’t see lists for Inner Resilience and Food Sovereignty. Will those lists be added soon, like today (Wed) or tomorrow? If so, I’ll wait until they are, to do my last promo blast.
— Mindy K. in St. Paul
Hi Mindy, the themes are updated on the website. Thanks for the help!
When Transition, publishes its own Values statement, let me know. I wrote this. Okay to use or modify it it. No restrictions.
Values vacuum chat
“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness” ~ Dalai Lama
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root” ~ Thoreau
Present readership excepted, of course, I perceive many intentional communities and their leaders have a blindspot on values.
What I see missing is an understanding of how values are the foundational organizing force of group process.
What do ICs and their leaders do instead? They act as if manifest issues like wealth inequality, organic food, post-oil energy, et al, are the foundational organizing force of group process.
This is demonstrably untrue. This bias is simply how activism was habituated in the 1890s, 1930s and 1960s. Issue-driven politics—and ICs–are a leftover–not yet forward looking.
Perceiving our own history supports us conceiving this more clearly.
Prior to WWII, people were organized by blood, by blood tribes, by nationalism. There was no stronger organizing principle behind group process and how people lived together. The word “ethnicity” gets at this blood-tribe aspect of group process. Peoples were organized ethnically; then, secondarily by religion.
After WWII, people were organized less by blood and less by religion. Where people lived and who they lived with, were more organized first economically, then racially and ethnically. People lived in communities based first on how much they earned; and then, by the color of their skin (sometimes the other way around).
This large scale group process was deliberately created after WWII, by consultancy with Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead with the US government. It was promoted by re-affirming the isolated nuclear family, with cheap single family homes, free road systems and consumerism.
Coming out the 1960s, the Cultural Creatives of the 1970s bought into the error of political activists. Cultural Creatives tried to copy the great success of the 1960s, organizing people by special interests: civil rights, anti-war and anti-nuclear. Issue-driven politics has its place–yet not as a way to organize how people live together sustainably. Issue-driven politics is not a sustainable way to organize people for the next seven generations.
Starting in 1970, in the “back to the land” movement, thousands of Cultural Creatives initiated ICs based on special interest ISSUES of good food, organic farming, alternative energy, whole-child schools, and more egalitarian politics. Not all, but the majority of these issue-driven ICs failed, were not sustainable.
About 1985, a fraction of people, all Cultural Creatives, wanted to organize and live together based on like-mindedness. But they tripped over and got stuck perceiving organizing by special interest issues was the foundation of healthy group process. It is not. I believe this is why so many intentional community efforts remain stuck or moribund today. Comments invited.
Going forward, let’s acknowledge and learn the lessons of our own history. Let’s discourage forming ICs along the lines of specialized interests. Let’s remind them to start with their values. Next, clear Vision, Mission, Product statements.
If you do organize around a specialized interest, the best you can end up with is an “enthusiast community.” The Rudolf Steiner Anthroposophy folks are one good example of this kind of community. The science fiction community is another. The Trumpites are a third example. I have yet to see any healthy world-class leaders emerge from an enthusiast community. Why? Such groups are focused on developing an outer topic, instead of nurturing-developing children and young adults with talent and energy (a value).
I invite you to learn the lesson of values as the foundational organizing force of group process. Values is what primarily bring people together. The top two values?
– Deepening of individual heartfelt experience of life; and,
– Heartfelt encounters with other like-minded people.
Comments invited.
In 2021, we are living in a values vacuum. Truly human values of any kind are almost the opposite of the dream of being a billionaire and consuming the next new-new thing.
Like-mindedness is based on values first. Returning to food, Food is only second to values as a force bringing people together. Why? People want to eat with people with whom they are like-minded. Make sense?
Think about it. Why would you want to eat with people with whom you share few values? Or do anything else with them? Common interests, specialized interests, are then naturally tertiary, third-most.
Q: What about all the pressing issues a compassionate worldview brings to our attention?
A: A compassionate worldview naturally nests within a healthy set of truly human values. Values first, issues second.
The topic of Values, truly human values, can go many directions. This is a reason values are so little-discussed. Prioritizing your values is not right-brain. Prioritizing your values is not left-brain. Prioritizing your values is WHOLE-brain, also gut-brain and head brain together.
To Learn More
1) Mark Robert Waldman” famous TEDx Conejo talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhCLXEeSDQ
2) “How To Clarify Your Values (2): Prioritise Your Values Hierarchy” (2020) – https://nlppod.com/prioritise-values-hierarchy/
3) How the Left split between 1960s activists and Cultural Creatives and Spiritual Creatives. Unpublished paper. Avialable on request from author of this article.
In order to create the space we need to truly reimagine, reclaim, cocreate and connect we must be able and willing to discuss the controlled one way narrative that would have us believe that we need to isolate, social distance, and be fearful of our fellow beings. I would love to see such an event included in this summit.