Up-coming Events   updated 06/04/2009

Friday, June 5th  UU Church of Rutland, 117 West Street, Rutland VT.   Jim Merkel – Real World Sustainability. Free and Open to the Public. Sponsored by Sustainable Rutland, SolaFest, RAFFL and City SEEDs.  For more information, please visit  www.sustainablerutland.org or contact  info@sustainablerutland.org        OK. You are convinced that American culture is  unsustainable. You have watched a string of  economic bubbles blow up and burst. You know  about increasing consumerism, extinction  rates, military spending, as well as decreasing  glaciers, happiness and financial security.   And yet: "All this sustainability stuff sounds great,  but I have to live in the real world."  This presentation highlights how "real-world  status quo" has led to stress, overwork, perverted economics, climate change, poverty, wars  --  and how "real-world changes” can provide the remedy. Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, suggests dozens of Yankee- practical lifestyles steps that can actually not only lighten your footprint but also lighten the heaviness of a world going sour. Friday June 5th.   Click here for more information.

BIOFUELS/VEGGIE OIL CONVERSION WORKSHOP June 12, 6pm to June 14, 2009 at 5pm Yestermorrow Design/Build School 189 VT Rte 100, Warren  http://www.yestermorrow.org 802-496-5545 Contact Kate Stephenson

Summer Permaculture Design Certification Course - June 14-26 at Rock Point in Burlington. Join us for a two week residential Permaculture Design Certification course that goes above and beyond the standard curriculum, led by a group of some of the most experienced designers, farmers, and educators in Vermont and the Northeast. Together, we'll design and implement permaculture solutions for a multi-use community center and nature preserve, and each student will also be guided in generating a whole systems design for space of their own choosing. For more information  click here

 Monday June 22, 7-8:30pm Menu for the Future reading and discussion group- 1st of 6 weekly sessions about sustainable food systems Latham Library, Thetford. The course books may be borrowed or purchased ($21) from the library. Please read the first session for June 22. For more information and to register call the library at 802-785-4361.

Tuesday, June 23, 7:00 p.m. Garbage: The Revolution Starts at Home, a documentary on household garbage by Canadian filmmaker Andrew Nisker: Mayor Room, Howe Library, 13 South Street, Hanover. Free. Bring bowl and mug for popcorn and drinks. Sponsored by the Upper Valley Land Trust, Vermont Earth Institute (VEI), the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club, SERG, Sustainable Hanover, and the Greater Upper Valley Solid Waste District. Information: VEI at vei@valley.net or (802) 333-3664.


START OR JOIN A VEI DISCUSSION COURSE     Check out the newest course on food and food systems "Menu for the Future." Get together with friends for garden-fresh treats and good conversations using this newest coursebook reader or the other VEI topics. The other course topics are: Global Warming, Voluntary Simplicity, Choices for Sustainable Living, Discovering a Sense of Place, Globalization and Its Critics, Deep Ecology andHealthy Children-Healthy Planet. Contact VEI at 802-333-3663 or vei@valley.net about organizing a discussion group.


DISCUSSION COURSES: Please help VEI connect with course sponsors

Sponsors include libraries, faith communities, workplaces, schools, museums, and other community groups. You can also organize a course for your friends and neighbors.

For the Healthy Children— Healthy Planet course we are seeking partnerships with social service agencies, educational programs, schools, parent-teacher organizations and community groups. This course addresses challenges of raising children in a consumer culture and included advertising, overscheduling, technological overload and peer pressure. Course topics also include antidotes—establishing family rituals, exploring nature, creating meaningful learning experiences, and fostering good health.


For the Discovering a Sense of Place course VEI is seeking partnerships with historical societies, conservation commissions and other community groups . This course  offers groups an opportunity to better understand their relationship to place. There are local readings, a mapping activity and sessions on building community and personal empowerment related to community involvement. It’s an inspiring course and a good way to get to know your neighbors better. 
Please send your suggestions to  Valerie Esposito, Ph.D. at vt.earth.institute@gmail.com or call her at (908)930-8333.

JOIN VEI: You can help support VEI’s efforts to start more discussion courses, Eco-Parties  and more by sending $30 to VEI at PO Box 404 Burlington, VT 05402-0404. You’ll receive quarterly newsletters, discounts on coursebooks and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping VEI make the world a better place. 

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To start a course in your area contact:

Brattleboro:        Marcia Bourne                  254-2522         justmart2@verizon.net
Burlington:          Leah Wittenberg              343-1956         veicoordinator@yahoo.com
Montpelier:         Nicole DiDomenico           279-2371          ndidomen@yahoo.com
Rutland:               Mike O’Brien                    438-6170         skyobrien@adelphia.net
Upper Valley:      Barbara Duncan               333-3664         vei@valley.net
Statewide:            Valerie Esposito, Ph.D.   802-881-2039 vt.earth.institute@gmail.com

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