Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy Workshop 
December 19, 2009 at FUTURE STUDIO in Highland Park
5558 N. Figueroa Avenue
Just look for the Chicken Boy statue on the roof!
Saturday, December 19, 2009 9am - 6pm
 
In 1992, David W. Orr (author of six books, member of the board of directors for the Center for Ecoliteracy, and professor of environmental studies at Oberlin College) introduced the term “ecological literacy” when his first book was published. The phrase was later shortened to “ecoliteracy” and is defined by Fritjof Capra (physicist, systems theorist, and international bestselling author of four books) as “our ability to understand the basic principles of ecology and live accordingly.”

As the workshop’s co-instructors define it, ecoliteracy is about learning to understand the language of place through nature's rhythms, cycles, and patterns. Urban/suburban ecoliteracy is fundamental to greening your home and community while saving money, water, energy and time. It is the foundation of all beautiful organic gardens that grow with little or no fertilizer or chemical pesticides and with less maintenance and water than conventional gardens. Learning to become ecoliterate is easier than you might think!

If you are creating your garden or landscape from scratch, revamping your garden, and/or are tentative about how or where to start, this workshop is perfect for you. If you are looking for ways to integrate sustainability into your life and landscape, this introductory workshop will help you reset your conceptual framework so that the content from classes and workshops in organic gardening, greener living, garden design with drought tolerant & CA native plants, and Permaculture are easier to integrate into your life.

Two professional ecological designers will be teaching the very same practical skills that they use regularly in their businesses. Wendy Talaro of Fruits to Nuts and Steve Hernandez of NativeScape Development Corp. will lead workshop participants in a systematic way through the process of site analysis/landscape reading and landscape project management within the urban/suburban context.

~ Bilingual instruction in English and Español with real time translation
~ There is mandatory homework that must be completed prior to the workshop.
~ Registration by December 5, 2010 is strongly recommended because of the homework - you're accountable to your fellow classmates so give yourself enough time to complete it.
~ Potluck lunch on-site to facilitate networking and community building, so please bring your business cards and a dish or snack to share
~ Enrollment is strictly limited on a first come, first served basis to 16 individuals - walk-in registrants will only be guaranteed space for the next available local workshop.
~ To register, send deposit or full payment of $40 to Wendy Talaro, P.O. Box 7478; Torrance, CA 90504 or via PayPal to basil_gardens@hotmail.com. Homework (2.1 MB PDF file) will be sent to you via e-mail or snail mailed upon receipt of payment.
~ 25% student discount available w/proof of current 1/2 to full time registration – must be sent w/payment
~ Cancellation Policy: 7-day minimum advance registration is required with deposit to secure space. Balance due may be paid on arrival. No refunds unless the instructors initiate class cancellation.

Being firmly rooted in a sense of place is the only saving grace to the disconnection, ecological alienation, and anomie that haunts the psyches of people today. You can't be grounded (literally) if you're not willing to become vested; if you're not vested, you're a tourist pretending to be a citizen. To become vested, you have to be willing to cultivate relationships with your surroundings and neighborhood, which includes the human and nonhuman elements in toto.

Becoming ecoliterate is getting at the root of changing yourself and society with the intent and objective of leaving this Earth in better stead environmentally than the way we all found it. If you care about the future of your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, you owe it to them to pass on a better environmental legacy as opposed to deeper ecological debt. Authentic sustainability entails attunement with earth’s systems and cycles – the sources of our collective survival, well-being, and wealth as a species. Humans appropriate all of the material means of their sustenance and economic activity from the planet. Ecology trumps economy – it always has and always will.

If you have further questions, please call Wendy @ 310.329.5719 or e-mail info@fruits2nuts.com. Para preguntas en Español, llame Esteban, marque 818.302.9699 o coreo electronico steve@gogreennsd.com. We look forward to your active engagement in the workshop.
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Kind regards and thanks for posting this announcement,

Wendy Talaro, M.A.
Truffle in Paradise
http://www.truffleinparadise.com/
Divine delights with a social and environmental conscience

and
Sustainability Integration Specialist and Consultant
Fruits to Nuts
http://www.fruits2nuts.com/
Real solutions for real people for a sustainable post-carbon economy