The Collaboratory Experience
CONVENE – COLLABORATE – ACT
The framework for the Deep Ecology Collaboratory is based on four Deep Ecology principles: Biodiversity & Extinction, Overpopulation, Globalization vs. Local Economies, and the Myth of Human Supremacy.
Each presentation will be followed by a workshop/strategizing session where collaborators can tap into the wisdom of the topic leaders to brainstorm ways of identifying and addressing each of these problems on a local level, with a global view. The third day will be spent taking the information gleaned from the talks and creating a Deep Ecology Manifesto for Preserving our Planetary Commons. The Manifesto will be a framework for designing and implementing solutions that can be replicated in other communities. Samples of strategies that could be enlarged upon are:
- Recruit Deep Green revolutionaries to run for public office and provide the necessary training.
- Determine what local changes would benefit the Deep Green movement and design and introduce ordinances or legislation to accomplish this.
- Provide training in grassroots Deep Green activism.
- Design strategic lawsuits or other persuasion to protect habitat.
- Implement local economy strategies, such as Slow Money and local currencies.
- Work with behavioral specialists to create a movement that will effect real change, with a positive and hopeful message, that will appeal to the average person who feels helpless in the face of massive world problems.
The goal is not to only educate, but by the end of the Collaboratory, the group will have a good start to an action plan to address Earth’s Climate Change and Biodiversity Crisis on political, social, and scientific levels. We will have a message and vision to convince people to become Deep Green Revolutionaries that is free of fear or shame.
As a final takeaway, we will continue the conversation between the collaborators after the event with Loomio, an online tool for collaborative decision-making. Loomio will allow people to share what worked and what didn’t in their communities, help decision-makers come to consensus, and reduce the learning curve as new communities get on board.
The Collaboratory is retreat-style, meaning all collaborators will be provided meals and lodging on site, included in the registration fee. Working on the Manifesto will be punctuated by lighter events, including:
- A 20-year retrospective on the success of the California Condor preservation program
- A fireside talk with Dave Foreman
- A concert featuring the winners of the Protest Song Songwriting Contest
- A guided walk through the Pennington Creek Biological Reserve