Skills for the New Millennium

The Skills for the New Millennium Tour has been traveling the country since 2008, offering education and resources to any and all interested in cultivating revolutionary ways of living. In June the SAGE Project welcomed Stan, Delyla and Megan Wilson who arrived at the Greenwood Senior Center in the Permibus - a 40-foot mobile permaculture demonstration bus complete with solar power, greywater systems, a composting toilet, three dogs and a clutch of chickens! SAGE Participants enjoyed workshops on Permaculture Ethics & Basics, Composting and Canning and afterward were given a tour of the Permibus. (Click here for a complete list of workshops and trainings offered by the Skills Tour.) A group of excited kids from the Boys and Girls Club also joined us for the tour - they were thrilled to hold a live chicken, intrigued by the worm composting bin and expressed a mixture of fascination and disgust at the composting toilet on the bus.

The principles of permaculture, which are based on indigenous cultures in Australia and Papua New Guinea, are driven by ethics: care for the earth, care for the people, share the surplus and live as though we were permanent residents. The Permaculture 101 workshop encouraged us to challenge the notion that arose in the 1700s that resources are scarce and therefore have to be hoarded. The reality is that resources are abundant and therefore should be shared. Stan Wilson referred to this idea as "sustainable hedonism" - we can and should live well caring for the earth.

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Skills for the New Millennium Tour

June: Good Food!

EDUCATION

Film & Forum: The SAGE Project kicked off its summer program on Sustainable Food with a screening of the movie Good Food, a film that offers an intimate look at farmers, ranchers and businesses that are creating a more sustainable food system in the Pacific Northwest. Sue McGann, community activist and farm coordinator for the Lettuce Link Giving Garden at Marra Farm, led us in a great discussion following the film. We talked about how supporting small family farms who produce food sustainably is essential in the face of climate change, the end of cheap energy and rising health care costs. Shopping locally and organically benefits the environment, our local economy and our own personal well being.

Click here for a great resource on the issues: Why buy sustainable?

ACTION

Sustainable Community Dinner: In partnership with Awake Church, the SAGE Project hosted a second community dinner for residents of Phinney/Greenwood and our neighbors living in motels along Aurora. This time around there was a special focus on building community through the sharing of a meal founded on the principles of a sustainable food system. We were grateful for the support of PCC, Greenwood Market, the Essential Baking Company and New Roots Organics in these efforts.

A wonderful group of about 60 volunteers and guests joined us for the meal, bringing together people from the Greenwood Senior Center, motels along the Aurora corridor, the Greenwood/Phinney community, HomeStep (a transitional housing program) and Awake Church. It was beautiful to witness connections form among neighbors who might not otherwise interact. Following a lovely meal made with fresh and local organic food (including barbeque chicken, lentil loaf, green salad and summer crisp), guests joined in on some square dancing fun led by callers and musicians from the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society!

Follow up on immigration issues

On Saturday evening, June 6, members of SAGE, Sustainable Greenwood and the greater community came together to watch the critically-acclaimed film The Visitor, which offers a unique glimpse into the U.S. immigration system and the people it affects through the story of a disillusioned economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter.

The discussion that followed brought up many complex and difficult issues dealing with immigration detention, immigration policy and the need for immigration reform. Topics that came up included: ICE raids, human rights abuses, denial of due process, separation of families, border enforcement, profits earned by corporations who own detention centers, and our own heritage as immigrants in the U.S.

The following link provides a lot of great information about the U.S. detention and deportation system: http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/aboutdetention

Click here to see OneAmerica's report on human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, and here to see its report on how immigrants contribute to our state's economy.

The Reform Immigration for America campaign was launched in several cities nationwide Monday, June 2 and sponsored locally by OneAmerica. For information about the campaign and how to get involved, click on the following link: http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/index.php