"Ocean Oasis is a fascinating journey into the bountiful seas and
pristine deserts of two remarkably different, but inextricably linked
worlds ---- Mexico's Sea of Cortez and the Baja California desert.
A few very special places in the world are havens for life.
Resources and shelter draw living creatures from far and near.
These places are rare. We call them oases"
The evening will be held at the CEC South Coast Watershed
Resource Center at Arroyo Burro Beach County Park (2981 Cliff
Drive). We hope to have more events and meetings
as time goes by that are family friendly, so come to meet before the film
at 6 pm for an informal gathering, bring your family, kids, dog and a
picnic! Weather permitting the movie may be shown outside.
March was an exciting month. Our members asked for more skill
building, hands on activities, and we had plenty! We helped with a
site preparation project for a school orchard planting at
Monte Vista School with sheet mulching, a sort of
lasagna like layering of cardboard, compost and mulch. Lots
of moms and kids showed up for this one. When asked to go home, the
kids yelled "no, mom, no, we don't want to go home".
Shows work doesn't have to be work, but can be fun if done in the right
playful spirit. After that came a trip to L.A.
EcoVillage to meet Mark Lakeman and members of L.A. EcoVillage for a City
Repair Project street painting. Mark Lakeman of
City Repair Project from Portland Oregon (cityrepair.org) had been with
us earlier this year for talks in our region, this project was the chance
to see how intersection repair actually happens. At the end of the day
after the street was re-opened to traffic, we stood in the middle of our
colorful creation, with traffic beginning to flow slowly around, Mark
still teaching us how to reclaim the intersection by staying in the
street. One member of the Eco-Village helped this process by
bringing out his amazing rocket stove, an artistic, almost sci-fi like
creation, to the center of the street for all to stand around and get
warm. It had the local auto repair shop guys who were making their
way back to their garage down the street fascinated. Conversations
began, neighbors began to talk, we learned the intersection repair
lesson.
In late March we were honored to have Ianto Evans from Cob
Cottage (cobcottage.com) and author of the Hand Sculpted
House spend three days with us as we organized and
participated in a Cob Bench workshop at the SB City
College LifeScape Garden. The Santa Barbara City
College Students for Sustainability Coalition led the efforts, doing a
beautiful job of first creating a design for the bench, and then day by
day teaching cob skills, while at the same time building and constructing
the bench with workshop participants. We had between 20-60 people each
day gleefully playing in the mud, making batches of this amazing building
material called cob (clay soil, sand & straw). Innocent
bystanders and walkers on the scenic trail through the SBCC LifeScape
Garden got swept into the enthusiasm, soon found themselves joining
in. Children were in heaven getting as dirty as possible with no
one yelling at them.
Some members let us know how much they yearn for
"community". We have found by participating in these
kinds of projects, just showing up, the most powerful community begins to
form and happen. All of the above projects are available for
viewing, please stop by Monte Vista School, L.A. EcoVillage, and the
LifeScape Garden at City College and take a look.
Hope to see you April 22 at the ECO-Film night and monthly meeting-
Margie Bushman
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
Calendar:
**Note: As many of you know, Hopedance Magazine
(www.hopedance.com) supports permaculture and natural building by hosting
a calendar for not only community events, but listings for permaculture
courses and workshops in our west coast region. A more extensive
calendar can be found there, and there is lots happening this spring
& summer! Hopedance magazine is a reasonable $20 a year
subscription, and as they support us, let's support them. Local media is
so rare, especially local media that talks about positive solutions for
the environment. There is also a local permaculture listserve that
is very useful to post and hear about regional events, please sign on at
www.arashi.com
.
<<
Sunday, April 17, 2005,
5th Annual Goleta Earth Day
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
at Stow Grove Park (Areas 1 & 2).
The festival, includes exhibits, children's games, activities, entertainment, a silent auction, a raffle and treats and refreshments.
April 18-21
Earth Week
At Santa Barbara City College West Campus
10am-2pm daily
- Week Schedule:
- Monday April 18th,
- Earth Cycles Day:
- The Earth works in cycles: Water cycles, recycling, bicycles, human health cycles, composting, clean air, etc
- Tuesday April 19th
- Earth Justice and Rights Day:
- Water rights, tree rights, Forest rights, Human rights, social justice, animal rights, etc
- Wednesday April 20th
- Earth Organic/ Plant Day:
- Permaculture, Horticulture, Native plants, organic gardening, organic food, farmers market, herbal remedies, wilderness organizations, etc
- Thursday April 21st
- Earth Sustainability and Clean Energy Day:
- Alternative transportation, bio-diesel, electric bicycles, sustainable living practices, etc
- Sponsored by the SBCC Students for Sustainability Coalition
Sat April 23, 10am-5:30pm
South Coast Earth Day Festival, sponsored by Community Environmental Council (CEC)
At the beautiful Sunken Gardens of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse located at 1100 Anacapa Street. Music, bands, speakers, exhibits, food, bike tune-ups, fun!
***(SB Permaculture Network will have a booth, we love having visitors and would appreciate help for those of you who would like to answer the famous question "What is Permaculture"?. Come by with your best definition, spend and hour or two staffing the booth, it's a fun day of visiting and connecting).
Fri, April 22
Santa Barbara ECO-Film Night featuring
Ocean Oasis,Two Worlds, One Paradise, Baja Calif, 7-9pm, $5
(with Monthly Permaculture meeting & gathering preceding film, 6-7pm)
Sponsored by SB Permaculture Network & CEC South Coast Watershed Resource Ctr.
South Coast Watershed Resource Center, Arroyo Burro Beach County Park, 2981 Cliff Drive
April/Ongoing:
UCSB "2005 Creating a Sustainable Future: Ecology, Ethics and Design" speaker series continues, Thursdays, 7-9 PM, Embarcadero Hall, 935 Embarcadero Del Norte, Isla Vista
from March 31st to June 3rd, free and open to the public.
- April 21 : "Designing Sustainable Campus Communities."
- Ernest Callenbach, Author, Ecotopia.
- Freda Pagani, Director of Sustainability Studies,, UC British Columbia.
- April 28: " Ecological Ethics."
- Satish Kumar, Editor, Resurgence Magazine (UCLA&UCSB)
- Mary Evelyn Tucker, Professor of Religion, Bucknell University, Author
- (UCLA&UCSB), Vandana Shiva and Francis Moore Lappe (April 28 UCSB)
- April 29-May 1: Institute of Reverential Ecology 3rd Annual Zaca Lake
- Retreat: "Creating the Future: Ecology, Ethics and Design."
- (www.reverentialecology.org) phil@reverentialecology.org
- Faculty will include:Satish Kumar,Francis Moore Lappe, Small Planet
- Institute,Vandana Shiva,
- Adam Wolpert, Artist, Activist, Founder, Occidental Arts and Ecology
- Center,Elisabet Sahtouris,Mary Evelyn Tucker,Michael Tobias,
- John Knott, Ocean Robbins, Nandini Iyer
- THE ZACA LAKE RETREAT IS LIMITED TO 150 PEOPLE AND REQUIRES A FEE FOR
- FACILITY USE, MEALS AND TWO NIGHTS ACCOMMODATION.
SAVE THE DATE! AUG 2, 2005
David Holmgren from Australia, Co-originator of Permaculture, comes to Santa Barbara for his only Southern California appearance.
The all day event takes place at Santa Barbara City College, with workshops during the day, and an evening lecture.
- Tentative Schedule:
- Morning Session, 9-1pm
- “PERMACULTURE SOLUTIONS AROUND THE WORLD" with David Holmgren
- Afternoon Sessions, 2-5PM
- with Bill Roley from the Southern California Permaculture Institute, Larry Santoyo of Earth Flow Designs, and Doug Richardson, director of Santa Barbara City College Environmental Horticulture Dept.
- Cost for Day programs, $80 (Students & Prepayment before July 1, $60)
- Evening Lecture with David Holmgren, "Permaculture in the 21st Century"
- 7-9pm, $15
The event is co-sponsored & a fund raiser for: Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, The Permaculture Credit Union, SBCC Environmental Horticulture Department & SBCC Students for Sustainability Coalition.
for more info, sbpcnet@silcom.com, or www.sbpermaculture.org
-end-
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
(805) 962-2571
sbpcnet@silcom.com