We the Future conference at Petaluma campus of SRJC was well attended and fearless in its presentations, free and even included lunch. We treat our young students well in this (Petaluma) town!
I very much enjoyed the presentations of Joey Smith, Let’s Go Farm, and Wendy Krupnik, Farmers Guild/CAFF, with others on the AG classes at the JC, then the presentation by Suzi Gracy and Caiti Hatchmyer, Red H Farm, both informative, engaging and energizing.
Inspiring is a good word for keynote speaker, Nikki Silvestri, beautiful lady with new baby! You can watch her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMFZbDKk5Cs Silvestri is an advocate for climate solutions, healthy food systems, and social change, a past member of Los Angeles Eco-Village, she represents a fertile cross-pollination between social justice, intentional community and healthy food movements.
A day later, discovered an article about Silvestri in the Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture magazine I had on my desk from the Permaculture Convergence at Hopland’s Solar Living Institute last fall. Our friend, Art Kopecky, sold that to me and he has an article there, Communities and Zero Population Growth along with a good piece by Woody Hastings, Intentional Electricity, The Challenges and Rewards of Community Power. Great mag if you’re into intentional community or want to survive global warming!
So about Nikki Silvestri, Soil and Shadow, I wish I’d heard her earlier. Very uplifting her views; very possible the future she sees. She goes into her experiences with People’s Grocery, an Oakland co-op, she blogs and podcasts encouraging stories of community connections, emphasizing complexity in nature and relationships with people – that the more connections we have, the richer our experience and the deeper our ability to regenerate and heal. Even goes into why fecal transplants work – fast! Loads of microbes delivered right where they can be distributed!
Building soil is sequestering carbon, so mindful farming helps heal the planet! She’s on to that.
Her speeches cover Building True Allies and the Science of Hope, among others, and her blog may be found at
www.nikkisilvestri.com/blog/ Fin d a podcast here: (though she has many sites for podcasts)http://www.nikkisilvestri.com/blog/2018/4/10/tree-pruning-as-a-metaphor-for-healing-racism
From her Soil and Shadow site:
As the Co-Founder of Live Real and former Executive Director of People’s Grocery and Green for All, Nikki has built and strengthened social equity for underrepresented populations in food systems, social services, public health, climate solutions, and economic development. A nationally recognized thought leader, her many honors include being named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans. You can see her full bio and website here.