Blog
>How the Symposium Helps Build Local Community
July 28, 2007
Bellingham, WA
Pachamama Alliance's Awakening
The Dreamer Symposium Builds Sustainable, Wisdom Community Locally
Bellingham, WA
Pachamama Alliance's
Awakening The Dreamer Symposium Can Help Build Sustainable, Wisdom Community Locally
When
Mara Mitchell, a trained Symposium facilitator, met with members of our Sustainable
Bellingham and Bellingham IONS vision teams to have a conversation about the possibility
of cosponsoring the Symposium (in October, 2007) we brought up the subject that
many in Bellingham are well educated about the subject of sustainability and we
would want to provide something more for this component of the Symposium for it
to be successful in it’s goals here. Mara thought about it and suggested
we integrate the local community leaders working for sustainability into the symposium.
I think this is a great idea—give the Symposium, and invite local green project
leaders to be part of it. When the subject comes up in the Symposium about sustainability
specifics, ground it in reality and locally by having the people who have worked
on it, for years sometimes, give a short piece. They can say who they are, the
organization or business, accomplishment, “now” project and how to connect
with them.
This way the Symposium takes
on practical meaning and integrates locally. People are informed about what is
happening right in their backyard, (or in their neighbor’s front yard) that
they may not have known about. It gives them a way to connect with people who
know the tools and who have real expertise. Sustainable Bellingham has been looking
for a way to connect these veterans. We would like to map the highlights in our
area--sustainable projects, organizations, businesses and sponsor a regularly
occurring tour so more people can connect and network.
When we started Sustainable Bellingham, we were just a handful of concerned people
who had seen the film “The End of Suburbia” and who wanted to do something
about the looming challenges: global warming, peak oil, the corruption of our
institutions and the erosion of our environment and our economy. We realized the
need to have a parallel relocalized infrastructure in place. At first we spent
a lot of time choosing and developing our organizational model and the tools we
would use. We were unaware of all that was being done by so many groups and of
how necessary it was to connect with the diverse cultural groups and especially
of how important it is to connect across lines of society—non-profits, for-profits,
concerned local governmental agencies and officials, the Neighborhood Associations,
and the spiritual communities. When these factions come together we will be able
to attain our goals because we will have connected in true community. The connecting
up is the real goal. I believe what we want will naturally flow from that coalescence—because
so many people are now wanting harmonious, wise earth community. I believe the
Symposium brings this vision together and supports our working together.
In Bellingham we have developed the IONS community group in a wonderful way. Our
goal has been to build grassroots wisdom community and we have kept our suggested
donations and membership fee reasonable, with no one ever turned away. We have
endeavored with evolving success to organize a monthly community event, bringing
presenters, both local and national to inform and inspire us. Though for years
we met in small groups of 5-15 in our living rooms, now we have several hundred
on our announcement list and find it easy to attract inspiring presenters. Diana
La Due Hand has offered us a permanent home at Wise Awakening’s Orca community
room which holds 50 and we sometimes use other venues for larger events. Our average
attendance now is around 30-50 and sometimes more.
We are noticing that now people come early and stay after to socialize and we
have built time for that into our events. Also we’re now taking our community
building a step forward by cosponsoring with other organizations. We just had
a community-wide David Korten event with around 200 plus attending and a follow
up Strategy Session that attracted 53 local community leaders. We are at present
cosponsoring an Awakening the Dreamer, Changing The Dream Symposium here in October,
2007.
Update: 90 participants
and volunteers attended our October 17th Symposium at Woodside Spiritual Center.
Our overflow list is filling up for our next Symposium, tentatively projected
for February 23, 2008. Eleven from this event chose to take the Facilitator Training
and did so at Camp Brotherhood in Arlington, WA, November 8-11, 2007. It was by
all accounts a wonderful experience. Our Practicum will be at a beautiful retreat
here in Bellingham on December 1 and 2, 2007. After that, look out Bellingham.
There's a Symposium happening soon somewhere near you!
We have much to be grateful for. We especially thank Susan Burns and the IONS
NW community groups who been supporting and inspiring us for years. We thank IONS
and Shift in Action for their wonderful resources. We have much to celebrate.
Lynnette Allen
