2009 Local Sessions

Thanks to all of our 2009 local session presenters!

Live Keynote: Joan Dye Gussow

Joan Dye Gussow lives, writes, and grows organic vegetables on the west bank of the Hudson River. She is Mary Swartz Rose Professor Emerita and former chair of the Nutrition Education Program, Teachers College, Columbia; and though long retired, she still teaches Nutritional Ecology at TC every fall.

Her service includes two terms on the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, a term on the FDA's Food Advisory Committee and a term on the National Organic Standards Board.

A long-time advocate of relocalizing the food system, her books include The Feeding Web, The Nutrition Debate, and Chicken Little, Tomato Sauce and Agriculture. Her most recent book, based on the lessons learned from 30 years of working toward growing her own, is This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader, published in 2001.  Click here to read a short interview with Gussow. 
 

Local Sessions

High Road for Human Rights
Presenter: Rocky Anderson, Executive Director, High Road for Human Rights

High Road for Human Rights organizes and mobilizes people at the grassroots level in communities around the country to heighten awareness about human rights abuses and to take effective actions to stop preventable suffering through changes in US policies and practices. In addition to its work on genocide, slavery, torture, the undermining of the rule of law, and the death penalty, High Road focuses on climate change within a human rights framework. Join Rocky Anderson as he discusses the challenges, opportunities, and rewards of taking the High Road. 

Living Locally: Finding ways to live locally for a more sustainable future
Presenter: Alison Einerson, Betsy Burton

Local First Utah will lead a discussion about how to go "local" in every aspect of your life. Presenters will talk about how it helps your wallet, your community, and your neighbors.

Sustainable Transportation: Bicycling - A Better Way to Travel 
Panelists: Ralph Becker, SLC’s bicycling Mayor; Roger Borgenicht, Utahns for Better Transportation; and Dave Iltis, Editor of Cycling Utah and Chair of the SLC Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee

Here is your opportunity to discuss bicycling issues with Mayor Becker and our other experts. Join a forum discussion that will examine why cycling benefits all of us, and how we can improve bicycling in our community and on a regional level. We will look at what is happening in other places so we can explore what is possible in Salt Lake City. Dave Iltis, who has been a tireless campaigner on behalf of bicyclists, will advise us on how to get involved. The forum discussion will focus on these important questions: How can we make cycling more accessible and safer for everyone? How do we increase the level of cycling on the Wasatch Front?

Finding the Sweet Spot: Creating Good Work in Challenging Times
Presenter: Ben Mates, Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community

Unemployed or underemployed? Uninspired in your current job or profession? Feeling called to create the world you envision? Join others like you to create good work that is personally rewarding and makes a sustainable difference for others. (Based on “Finding the Sweet Spot” by Dave Pollard.)

Grow, Gather, Eat
Presenters: Realms of Inquiry students and Erika DuRoss, teacher

Join high school students from Realms of Inquiry as they share their Bioneers class project to incorporate the norms of a rural citizen into the lifestyle of an urban community member. Come and hear about their challenges and successes in completing this project.

Public Transit Solutions and Innovations from around the World
Presenter: John Inglish, UTA General Manager

See how transit systems have developed around the globe, and the various transit modes/solutions that are available. The new opportunities streetcars present for the Wasatch Front to develop the most progressive and successful transit network in the country will be discussed, as well as the role of bus transit and how it will be integrated into the transit network. Session will also focus on technology, emphasizing how electronic fare systems, GPS technology and real-time passenger information will be critical to our transit system. There will be time for audience participation in the discussion and questions and answers. This is your opportunity to learn where our transit system is headed and voice your opinions and concerns.

Transition from Oil Dependence to Local Resilience
Presenters: Jim French plus other Transition SLC steering group members

Members of the "Transition SLC" steering group will lead conference participants through a "Web of Resilience" exercise, give a brief overview of peak oil and climate change, and pose a visioning question to be discussed in smaller groups - ie: "What would an optimal lifestyle without cheap fossil fuels look like?" The groups will take notes and share their positive future visions to the larger group. Finally, we will reach out to attract passionate conference attendees to help stage transition concept awareness events. These public events will bring peak oil and climate change awareness to the broader community, get people talking to each other and build enthusiasm for Transition ahead of the "Great Unleashing."

Sarah House
Presenter: Jeff White

Join Jeff White on a tour of the Sarah House located on the campus of Westminster College. Sarah House Utah is a small non profit that seeks to provide fast, green minded, safe, affordable homes for the underserved. A used shipping container has been up-cycled into a safe, modest home with modern comforts, using simple eco-friendly materials. It is water wise, seismically safe, termite resistant, and extremely affordable.

Alternative Economics and Community Integration
Presenters: Brenden Kendall, Erin Ortiz, Rebecca Gill, and George Cheney, The University of Utah Department of Communication

How do we make sense of our economic and communal lives, and how can we usefully integrate them? In this session, facilitators from the University of Utah will discuss a range of alternative economic initiatives and those programs' unique challenges. In particular, the facilitators will share lessons learned from their recent research on a complimentary currency program in Moab, Utah. Considerable time will be spent in open discussion; participants will be encouraged to share their experiences with alternative economies, consider opportunities for the promotion of local trade or money, and help one another form creative responses to community problems.

Changing our Ways
Presenter: Joan Gussow

Participants in this session will be asked to consider some of the following questions in order to explore what will be required if we wish to move toward a more local, seasonal diet: How complicated does a meal have to be? What is variety and how much of it do we need nutritionally? Do we have time to cook? What would we eat in winter? 

Rising American Indian Nation (RAIN)
Presenters: Forrest Cuch and Shauna Engen, Rising American Indian Nation

Empower Utah’s Indigenous Population to live in sustainable ways while preserving ancient knowledge. Rising American Indian Nations, Inc. (RAIN) was created to provide effective training and technical assistance to American Indians and their tribes and to empower American Indian people to become leaders who will make major contributions to humanity. This session will explore bridging the gap of misunderstanding by educating the public on the differences in the two cultures.

Community Capital
Presenters: Ruby Chacon and Mackenzie Scott, Mestizo Coffeehouse

Building neighborhood capital is critical to a sustainable world for all individuals. Ruby Chacon is the co-founder of Mestizo Institute of Culture and Art (MICA) and co-owner of Mestizo Coffeehouse with her partner Terry Hurst. Their creative vision and talent has led to an art institute and museum on Salt Lake’s west side. Cafe Mestizo works in partnership with our residents, government, and businesses to build on the strength of neighborhoods. This program was developed to inspire youth to experience the power and freedom to imagine, dare, and create new possibilities.

Cohousing
Presenter: Charles Nuckolls, Professor of Anthropology, Brigham Young University

In this presentation, Nuckolls, a professor of Anthropology at Brigham Young University, will trace the history of the cohousing movement from its origins in 19th century America, in communities like Brook Farm (Massachusetts), the Amana Colonies (Iowa), and the United Order (Utah.) We will see how modern cohousing communities represent viable alternative to the surburban, car-dependent cultures most Americans are familiar with. Nuckolls will also compare cohousing groups and ecovillages with "traditional" communities in the parts of the world he studies professionally as a cultural anthropologist -- especially lowland Amazonian Ecuador and the Telugu-speaking region of South India. Cohousing, he will show, is not novel or experimental, but a model that works, and has worked, throuought the world and for most of history.

The Case for Extremism
Presenter: Tim DeChristopher, Peaceful Uprising

Tim DeChristopher will explain why it is time for a new paradigm in the environmental movement that goes beyond incrementalism. He will argue that our reaction to climate change should be in scale to the magnitude and intensity of the problem. The audience will help in creating a vision of how a new paradigm can be put into practice. The discussion will delve into the appropriate role of emotion in a movement that has shied away from passion and ethics in recent years.

ReSkilling for a Sustainable Future: The Year-Round Garden

Learn how to make and use a simple, low maintenance hoop house that will allow you to harvest greens throughout much of the winter in Salt Lake City. This workshop will take place outside in Westminster’s campus garden, so please dress for the weather.