Growing Community Resilience for an Abundant Post-Petroleum Future

African keyhole gardening, anyone? Bluegrass Bioneers

I, too, read Keith's call to action and took his cue to take a minute to write. I am one of those people that currently have a too large carbon footprint and need to find a job in Bloomington so I can return and decrease CO2 emissions. I live in Louisville and just outside of Bloomington (near the IU Kent Road Research and Teaching Preserve).

Although I am limiting my trips back and forth, I do have many things going on down here (Berea is in my work travels) and I think that through virtual discussions we can have transition community to transition community learning experiences.

I'm preparing to build an African Keyhole Garden because it looks like an even more efficient way of composting (without having to move the compost to the garden each year) and I have extra bricks in the alley. Has anyone done this? Are there things I should be aware of? I'd like to connect it with permaculture principles (beyond efficiency). Any creative ideas? If it goes well, I will use the ideas in what the school gardens that I build with students in area schools.

I also want to notify you that the Bluegrass Bioneers Conference is scheduled for November 2, 3, and 4. Lucille Bertuccio, Steve Akers, I and others hosted Bioneers Conferences in Bloomington a while back. This will be the 4th year for BB in Louisville. Bioneers is a term coined by Kenny Ausubel to describe a movement of social and scientific innovators who look to nature to solve our environmental and social problems. For more information about the national conference go to www.bioneers.org. The Bluegrass Bioneers conference (www.bluegrassbioneers.org) will take place on the campus of the University of Louisville. I would love to have a transition town component/discourse/workshop. Lucille B. was kind enough to come down a couple of years ago to give a workshop. How wonderful to have a group of people that could plan something larger - transition town communities discussing where they are at and where they want to go. Terrell Holder of Louisville would love to work with others to make it a reality. This could breathe fresh air into our local transition work. There might be options for Skyping the event to reduce transportation footprints, if people think it could work. I know in my work, Skype has reduced travel hours and emissions.

The National Bioneers has announced some of this year's key speaker. So far we have:

Nikki Henderson

http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/article.php/people

Fletcher Harper

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-fletcher-harper

Mike Brune

http://www.sierraclub.org/ed/

Gabor Mate

http://drgabormate.com/

Ethan Nadelmann

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-nadelmann

Bill McKibben