Local Earth Festival

Posted on April 23, 2012 by localearthcollective

~Inspired by Love for our Planet & ALL Beings on it~

“It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community – a community practising understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Vision – The Local Earth Festival is an annual celebration of community and nature; inspiring citizens of the world to create resilient local communities & healthy lifestyles.

What – A seven day celebration of natural building, permaculture, music, art, health and yoga; bringing together passionate individuals who have the desire to actively learn and share. Full days of building, planting, playing and exploring will be followed with a delicious family style meal. Festivities of music, dance and performance will kick off each evening after dinner! The world’s most knowledgeable and respected permaculturists, natural builders and organic agriculturists will share with us tools for sustainable living; while brilliantly talented musicians, yoga teachers and artists inspire our souls in the celebration of life! Free time is planned into the schedule for participants to explore the amazing natural beauty surrounding the festival; waterfalls, rain-forest, pristine beaches & amazing surf!

Why – Our present human behaviors & societal systems are leading to environmental degradation, rapid depletion of natural resources, alarming loss of plant & animal biodiversity, failing economic systems and political instability. Our collective actions have resulted in unsustainable population growth, sky-rocketing consumption rates, unrealistic energy demands and dependency on fossil fuels.*

“In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.” – Richard Buckminster Fuller

Local Earth inspires us to come together as community; and work together as a team to address both the local & global challenges we are facing as a society. With creativity, cooperation & collaboration we can create innovative and viable solutions; we can not do this alone. *Added Bonus – It is more fun & feels good to work together as a community!*

The Local Earth Festival provides a nurturing environment & a fresh canvas for those who are seeking a new way of life! Local Earth promotes a lifestyle that is simple, vibrant and connected to nature. The festival offers those of us in a fast-paced, complex and modern culture with an opportunity to explore life in a deep & fulfilling way.

How – Through celebration & education we provide participants with the tools and training necessary for cocreating an environmentally sustainable society. Hands-on workshops & interactive classes empower the participants with the skills needed to build new living-systems & models for ecologic community development.

Every year people travel from all around the world to a barren desert in the middle of nowhere to build an avant-garde community for 60,000 people; the community is then destroyed at the end of the week. What if a fraction of the time, energy and resources that are committed to Burning Man every year, were focused on the construction of an innovative community that remains, sustains and thrives!? Can we imagine what that may look like?! The Local Earth Festival is here to inspire the world with new possibilities, progressive examples of responsible living and forward-thinking solutions to the challenges facing us today!

The 2013 festival will focus on the construction of a Resource Center for the community of Uvita, Costa Rica. We will work with local community leaders and the citizens of Uvita / San Josecito to build a sustainability hub for this region of Costa Rica. The center will provide the people of the region with information on natural building, permaculture, organic agriculture, healthy lifestyle & conscious community development. The center will provide the community with tools, a tool-share program, a skill-share program and a multi-media library.

The center will be naturally constructed with locally sourced & sustainably harvested materials (passive solar heating/cooling, natural day-lighting, rainwater catchment, composting toilets & grey water system). The potential building systems include a combination of superadobe, bamboo, cobb, waddle & daub, adobe & strawbale. The potential program elements include a community kitchen (rocket-stoves with locally sourced fuel), conference area, short-term living space (dormitory/hostel), bathing area, cafe (internet / organic local food & beverage), social/performance space, relaxing/zen lounge and a community garden.

Who – “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” – Hopi Elders. Local Earth participants are the ones we’ve been waiting for! We are bringing together the brightest leaders, specialists, visionaries and educators; and matching them with those who are hungry to learn! We are listening to the native teachings that have been shared with us for centuries, and making decisions that will benefit our children seven generations into the future.

Local Earth participants are those who have the courage to allow love and wisdom to lead the way! We are planning for approximately 300 attendees the first year; with the possibility of growing the following years.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

The Local Earth Organizing Team is composed of dedicated global citizens who are committed to ‘Being the Change’, Living the Change & Inspiring the Change’! If you are interested in joining the team… please contact us!

The festival is connected to a global grassroots campaign that is taking root in local communities all around planet. The Community Resilience Program is a community lead education program that supports the Local Earth principles. There are currently Community Action Groups forming in California, Oregon, Colorado, Costa Rica, Haiti & Switzerland.

Where – The festival will be held in the community of Uvita (San Josecito), Costa Rica in 2013. The festival will most likely be held in this location for the first several years… and then begin traveling around the world. The project construction will vary each year from that of a Community Resource Center, an Ecovillage or a Green School. The festival location each year will be dependent on the project focus.

When – The first festival will take place in March of 2013. The exact date of the annual festival will depend on the climate & location of each years festival. We will potentially be collaborating with the Envision Festival; in this case the dates will be the week following Envision. We are fortunate to be alive at this unique moment in history where the fusion of indigenous wisdom & technology is possible. We have the opportunity to build a tipi that is solar powered, a superadobe dome with naturally conditioned air temperatures & a yurt with wifi!

We invite you to join us for what could be one of the most inspiring and life changing experiences of your life!

Collaborative Global Team
This is an open-source creation developed by a diverse collection of individuals and organizations. Below is a list with some of the desired partnering organizations and individuals whom we hope will be joining us in this endeavor. The invitation is open to any individual or organization interested in supporting an environmentally sustainable and socially just presence on this planet. We invite you to join us!!

Organization Invite
(this is a list of organizations we would be honored to collaborate with!)
Bioneers
TED
United Nations
Future Generations
University for Peace
EarthFlow Design Works – Permaculture for Humanity
Treekaya
International Living Future Institute
The Living Building Challenge
Institute for the Future
Gaia Education
Cal-Earth Institute
Pachamama Alliance
Transition Town Movement
Kleiworks
International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
Green School
Global Ecovillage Network
Venus Project
The World Wide Permaculture Network
Visionary Culture Radio
Zeitgeist Movement
City Repair
EcoTrust
Habitat for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity
Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
Solar Living Institute
Patagonia 1% for the Planet
Burning Man Organization
The Buckminster Fuller Institute
Earthship Biotecture
…. and many others…

Artist Invite
(this is a list of artists we would be honored to collaborate with!)
Michael Franti
Jack Johnson
Ben Harper
Beth Preston
Xavier Rudd
Jason Mraz
Brett Dennen
John Butler Trio
Make Peace Brothers
MC Yogi
… and many others….

… Welcome to Local Earth… Welcome Home …

Treekaya Roots Immersion ~ Organic Gardening & Composting Workshop

Posted on October 11, 2011 by localearthcollective

Creative Fundamentals of Organic Gardening & Composting

Learn with creativity and passion the basics of organic gardening from ‘Papa Earth’! Mark Boyko has over 35 years of garden and nursery experience he will be sharing with us! This will be sun and fun-filled workshop with vast amounts of knowledge to be shared from a master gardener. We will be learning hands-on the fundamentals of organic gardening, composting and providing local sources of nutritious food (We will be getting dirty!). There is a good chance a bit of yoga, music and celebration will finds its way into the Roots Immersion as well. Join this grassroots movement of re-skilling our local community, living more sustainably and getting in touch with Mother Nature!

Week 1 – Designing in Harmony with Nature & Creating Fertile Soil…

observation of site and surrounding environment
garden design basics (climate, orientation, natural elements etc)
develop a site specific project and implementation plan
clearing of the site
soil composition
garden bed & compost preparation
re-mineralization (mulching, rock-dust, seaweed)
vermiculture (worm castings)
environmentally appropriate plant selection

Week 2 – Planting Seeds…

basics of planting from seeds & starters
planting mechanics and fundamentals
drip irrigation application and methods

Week 3 – Singing Songs… Nurturing our Garden & Soul!

water management
natural methods of integrated pest management
LIVING organics
Presence, LOVE & Celebration!!! (music & potluck 1:00 – 3:00)

Information & Details

Prices
— Individual Weekend Workshops (5 hours) – $60
— 3 Week Full Immersion (15 hours + celebration!!!) – $160

Email: karen@treekaya.org for Reservations (760 805 8895)

Roothaven (Vista)
Dates: October 15, 22 and 29th
Time: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM (5 hours)
Location: Roothaven (1285 Barbara Drive, Vista CA, 92084)

Plant Seeds! … Sing Songs! … Grow Together!

For more details: see website (www.treekaya.org)

Awakening the Dreamer Symposium (Vista – October 8th @ 2:00 PM)

Posted on September 30, 2011 by localearthcollective

The Treekaya Team warmly invites you to join us for an afternoon of inspiration on Saturday, October 8th @ 2:00 PM! We will be going on an emotional ride of awakening to the realities of our current world… and how we can work together as communities to implement healthy change!

The mission of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet! (http://awakeningthedreamer.org)

The trifold focus of the ATD mission supports the Treekaya mission for ecologic community development. Our calls to action will be guided towards environmental sustainability. We will provide numerous ways for people to get involved in our local community through organic gardening/composting workshops, weekly study/work groups and natural building workshops.

Roothaven Community Home (Vista)
Dates: October 8th
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: 1285 Barbara Drive, Vista CA, 92084
(google link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1285+Barbara+Dr,+Vista,+CA+92084&hl=en&sll=33.187304,-117.220535&sspn=0.018568,0.041263&vpsrc=0&hnear=1285+Barbara+Dr,+Vista,+California+92084&t=m&z=17)

We hope to see you on Saturday!!!

Information from the Pachamama Alliance…

The Call

In the mid-1990′s, through a mysterious set of circumstances, a group of North Americans visited a remote and intact group of indigenous people – the Achuar – located deep in the Amazonian region of Ecuador.

This relationship, that was to become The Pachamama Alliance , was actually initiated by the indigenous elders and shamans themselves who, out of their deep concern for the growing threat to their ancient way of life, and their recognition that the roots of this threat lay far beyond their rainforest home, actively sought the partnership of committed individuals living in the modern world.

Changing the Dream of the North

From the beginning, our indigenous partners have reminded us that one of the most powerful actions that can be taken in support of the rainforest and its inhabitants is to “change the dream of the North,” since it is our dream—our desires and appetites—that is driving the destruction of the rainforests around the world.

The Pachamama Alliance took the Achuar’s mandate to change the dream of the north- the dream of the modern world- seriously. It was clear that a task of this magnitude would require the collaboration of huge numbers of individuals, communities, institutions, and governments around the world.

They began looking for a tool powerful enough to meet the task, and after nearly a decade of research and development, culling leading research from across disciplines, they offered the first Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium in March, 2005.

Awakening the Dreamer

Soon after, the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Program was developed as a full fledged department of the Pachamama Alliance and it wasn’t long before partnerships across the country, with organizations in the UK, Belgium, and Australia were formed and brought the symposium to communities around the world.

The incredible response the symposium received in such a short time has made one thing clear: people from all walks of life are ready to make an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on the planet the guiding principle of our time.
We think that’s very exciting.

Today, the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium is supporting the shift in humanity, from a dream rooted in consumption and competition, to one of sustainability and mutuality.

MC Yogi ~ Music ~ Dance ~ Sustainable Living San Diego! (July 1st, 7PM, WorldBeat Center)

Posted on June 22, 2011 by localearthcollective

Infinity Holistic Productions and the World Beat Center are ecstatic to present an evening of live music and world dance celebrating “moksha” (freedom and liberation) featuring world renowned yoga inspired hip hop artist MC Yogi!

Who: MC Yogi
What: Concert
Where: World Beat Center
When: Friday, July 1st 7-11:30pm

Website: www.yogiliving.info (buy tickets here)

MC Yogi takes the experience of liberation through movement and music connecting ancient myths with modern turntables and tablas. Shaking speakers with conscious lyrics and sacred mantras, amplify his signature style of yoga inspired hip-hop. Be prepared to jump, sing, clap and dance as he gets the dance floor energized, rocking the door of your heart wide open. MC Yogi’s albumElephant Power has been a bestseller in the yoga market and in the top 20 albums in the world music category on iTunes since it’s release in Sept. 2008.

Opening for MC Yogi for is the inspiring husband and wife duo Avasa and Matty Love. Avasa and Matty pour their love for each other into their soulful, melodic world pop anthems, creating a new soundtrack for all generations. Harmonies, hip-hop beats, reggae bubbles and jazz horns accompany lyrics and melodies that illuminate a world of possibility and unconditional love.

This community event will support Treekaya, a local non-profit organization whose mission is to create a balanced global society that exists harmoniously with our natural environment and the importance of sustainable living. A benefit raffle will support San Diego Treekaya.

Delicious food provided by Prophet’s kitchen (A San Diego original). These lovingly prepared local vegetarian organic foods will be available throughout the night.

The TreeKaya Experience @ the Encinitas Environment Day! (June 5th, 10 – 4 PM)

Posted on April 7, 2011 by localearthcollective

Overview
The goal of the TreeKaya booth at the Encinitas Environment Day is to present ‘Community Sustainability & Environmental Education’’ through fun, music, art, dancing and citizen engagement in local GREEN projects! (http://www.eeday.org)

We will have numerous books and resources on local sustainability. We will distribute information on recycled/seed paper (we will try to limit how much paper we use/distribute… we will keep it very brief to local projects people can get involved with). We will distribute seeds, starters and information for community gardens.

We will have local musicians (drums, guitars, singing…anything that makes harmonious sound!) leading play-along music and singing sessions, and local artists assisting with the Community Vision Mural.

We will have a community painting party the week before the event (potentially on Wednesday 6/1). We will be painting a TreeKaya Community Mandala to share the primary principles of our organization; this will be the backdrop to our booth. We will gather various materials of leafs, stones and driftwood to paint inspiring messages and the website on; and distribute these to the festival visitors.

We will also have several video cameras at the tent. We will offer interested visitors the opportunity to be filmed with short 1-3 minute interviews to be posted on ‘The Community Voice’ blog. We will ask them simple questions like… “What does Sustainability mean to you?”… “What does Community mean to you?” … “What are you currently doing in your life to make a conscious effort to live more harmoniously with Nature?”… “What are examples of eco-friendly things that you would like to see in our community?”

All in all we wanna have ALOTTA FUN, share alotta valuable environmental education and get visitors INVOLVED in local GREEN projects!!!
Tent / Teepee / Table / Creative Space
We need something upon which to display our Treekaya information, environmental resources, books, seeds etc. as well as chairs. We want to create an organic and natural feel – hopefully with natural materials of bamboo, wood, burlap (bulk coffee bags) etc. We are thinking it would be awesome to have a teepee/yurt and hammocks too!!! If anyone has any of these materials / things we could use for the day we would appreciate it sooo much!!!

Treekaya Community Mandala
The Mandala will be a big circle/wheel with a blended Earth and Tree of Life in the middle. Like spokes of a wheel the various facets of ‘sustainability’ will branch off from the center. They will represent the 4 cardinal directions of an environmental compass; North (Love & Community)… South (Sustainability & Social Justice)… West (Living)… East (Wisdom). The connected spokes will form the wheel with the words/titles (Community) Collaboration, Fellowship, Nature, Health, Spirit, Culture, Celebration, Cooperation, Education, (Sustainability) Food, Water, Shelter, Energy, Indigenous Wisdom, Natural Resources, Waste/Recycling, Economy and Government. Numerous words & images will flow around the core; friends, family, fun, laughter, organic, harmony, music, dancing, yoga, meditation, community gardens, farmers markets and smiles! The phrases ‘Harmony with Nature’ … ‘Healthy & Happy Lifestyle’ … and ‘Education . Empowerment . Training’ will be written around the inner circles of the mandala.

We will provide a large 8’x8’ canvas and eco-friendly paints, and all artists in the community are invited to help us create the Mandala! The tentative date for the painting of the TreeKaya Mandala is Wednesday June 1st (we will update the website with more detailed information). If anyone knows of a local art studio that would be interested in co-creating with us and donating any materials that would be awesome!

Community Vision Mural
At the festival we will provide a large blank canvas and eco-paints next to the Treekaya Mandala. We will invite any community members at the festival to pick up a paint brush and add something to the Community Vision Mural! We will invite them to share/paint something that represents a healthy, happy and sustainable community to them! (once again if any art studios or individuals would like to collaborate with us and provide materials it would be greatly appreciated!)

Music / Dance
We invite any musicians and dancers in the area to join us for a day of celebration dedicated to Mother Earth, our local connection to Nature and community collaboration! At varying times through out the day we will have interactive community music sessions going on!

The Community Voice / Video Interviews
We will offer any visitors who are interested to be filmed with a short 1-3 minute interview to be posted on ‘The Community Voice’. We will ask them simple questions like… “What does Sustainability mean to you?”… “What does Community mean to you?” … “What are you currently doing in your life to make a conscious effort to live more harmoniously with Nature?”… “What are examples of eco-friendly things that you would like to see in our community?”.

Materials / Resources / Information
We will host a beach clean up the week before. We will be gathering bottles, cans, trash etc. We will also gather drift wood, stones and leaves. On our community painting night we will write inspiring messages of stewarding our environment, caring for the Earth and loving our community. We will also write the website (www.treekaya.com) on the items to let people know they can check the GREEN Community Calendar and Community Voice on the website to find out more about upcoming environmental events and projects.

We will also be handing out starters, seeds and information on local community and neighborhood gardens. We will have a collection of donated pots (also painted on the community painting night) to give away for people who do not have lawns to plant food in. We will also provide educational material on how to grow food in pots, and what foods grow best in our climate. We will also be gathering re-usable coffee mugs and water bottles up until the event and distributing them to visitors.

We have a variety of educational books on sustainability, natural building, local economies, the Transition Town Movement, community gardening etc. We have a decent selection available right now, but would appreciate more books on display from any local community members who would be willing to loan their books for display for the day. We want to have a vast and diverse library of books available for the day! If you feel like donating books, we are in the process of creating a local Sustainability Center and would gratefully host your books in the resource library!
Link to Center: (https://treekaya.wordpress.com/localsustainabilityalliance/sustainabilitycenter/)

CommuniTEA Gathering

Posted on March 3, 2011 by localearthcollective

Click the Leaf to find Community Gatherings!

TreeKaya is simply about creating, building and collaborating with our local community. We host weekly gatherings, social events, collaborative art & music projects, films, classes, workshops, meetings and expert guest speakers. Sharing our collective community wisdom & knowledge!

We work together as a community and we celebrate together as friends! We meet weekly at 6:30 PM (see ‘Calendar’ for local details). Our social gatherings are celebrations of fun, food and music. While our meetings are solution oriented work sessions on specific community projects or topics.

Here are some of our upcoming community events… potlucks, beach bonfires, community murals and collaborative art projects, presentations on renewable energy, nutrition classes, yoga classes, meditation, workshops on sustainable living practices, community meetings on environmental conservation and use of our natural resources, communication-based meetings with our local government to make sure our opinions and thoughts are being accurately represented by our city officials, spoken-word and poetry readings accompanied by local musicians, natural building projects and community gardens… just to name a few!

If you have questions or are interested in hosting a community event please contact us! If there is no local Treekaya weekly gathering in your community … get in touch with us and we will help you organize one! Treekaya is a simple grassroots local model of community organizing that can be implemented on a global scale!

Email: global@treekaya.com
Phone: 619.517.4469

1st Week – CommuniTEA Social

These gatherings are about meeting new friends in the community, celebrating and having fun!

potluck
bonfire
food
music
film
art
dance
friends

2nd Week – CommuniTEA Health

These gatherings are about raising the Health of our community as a whole! Learning from one another and sharing our collective knowledge about healthy lifestyles and nutrition.

nutrition
organic gardening
yoga
meditation

3rd Week – CommuniTEA Sustainability

These gatherings are focused on the creation of a well-balanced local community. The goal is to empower us as individuals with the skills and knowledge to plan and develop our towns in a more sustainable manner. Collectively we will guide our communities towards more healthy and localized food sources, economies and natural building practices.

renewable energy infrastructure
local organic food source
natural resource conservation
permaculture design principles
natural building practices and materials
waste, recycling and composting
resource based economics
healthy communication (nonviolent)

4th Week – CommuniTEA Art

These gatherings are an opportunity for our community to come together and creatively express ourselves! These are collaborative art projects with an infusion of mixed-media. We invite everyone in the community to express yourself in whatever manner you choose!

music
dance
painting
poetry
photography
singing
pottery

TreeKaya Community

Posted on January 1, 2011 by localearthcollective

Treekaya is Community!

CommUnity Peace Walk to City Hall! This Wednesday 5PM @ the Yurt ~ Yoga Swami

Posted on December 6, 2010 by localearthcollective

Please join us this Wednesday to show your support for the Yurt at Yoga Swami… and to voice our collective community truth… “We want our Yurt!” …”it is a safe, inspiring and ecologically friendly structure that holds important space for the CommUnity of Encinitas.”

The petition is the first step and will help city council see how important this is to the community. Our goal is to get 1000 by Tuesday! Please sign! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-yurt-yoga-swamis-912-s-coast-hwy-101/

We will be gathering as friends and community at the Yurt at 5:00 PM. At 5:30 we will begin our CommUnity Peace Walk to the Civic Center for the City Council meeting. This is our opportunity as individuals and community members to come together and communicate with our elected City Officials. This is an opportunity for ALL of us to LEARN and GROW together… an opportunity for us; the individuals in the community to learn how to effectively communicate with, and interact with our local political system.

There is no ‘Us’ and ‘Them’… there is only ‘Us’… ALL of Us… there is only ‘WE‘… WE are ALL part of this community. ‘We’ are comprised of many beautiful and diverse parts… ‘We’ includes us human beings as individuals and community members, ‘We’ includes a political system that has been created by millions of people over thousands of years, ‘We’ includes the human beings that work within this political system that ‘We’ human beings have elected.

NOW it is time for ALL of us to come together to listen, learn, speak, inspire and support each other. It is time to work together to create the most vibrant, ideal and healthy community we can envision.

Please join us at 5:15 at the Yurt (912 S Coast Highway 101) for the Peace Walk. Or you can meet us at 6:00 at the Encinitas Civic Center (505 S. Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas). For the CommUnity Peace Walk we invite you to bring instruments, hulu hoops, fire spinning toys, signs with POSITIVE solution oriented community messages, a POSITIVE attitude, a desire to learn, empowerment to speak your truth, motivation to take action for things you care about and most importantly a LOVING heart!

Listed below is the City Council Mission Statement… let’s ALL work together to make sure the Mission Statement is upheld… it is the responsibility of ALL of us in the community to work together to create the community we want.

City Council Mission Statement – TO GUIDE AND PROMOTE ENCINITAS AS A DIVERSE AND VIBRANT COMMUNITY IN A WAY THAT DEMONSTRATES:

LEADERSHIP AND VISION FOR THE CITY
RESPECT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
A POSITIVE APPROACH TO SOLVING PROBLEMS
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
COMMITMENT TO PROVIDED ESSENTIAL SERVICES
BALANCE AND HARMONY WITHIN THE CITY AND OUR ENVIRONMENT

SO THAT, IN THE LONG TERM, ENCINITAS REMAINS AN EXCELLENT PLACE TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY.

WE the COMMUNITY want this mission statement upheld!!! WE ALL need to work together to make that happen. We want to make sure too much Gentrification does not creep into our community/system and suffocate our ability to maintain a DIVERSE & VIBRANT COMMUNITY. We want to remember, respect and empower the individual. We want to remember how to work together and communicate towards a common goal.

My personal and possibly idealistic opinion is this, “A healthy, happy, diverse and well-balanced GLOBAL community… Starting RIGHT HERE in our LOCAL ENCINITAS community!” When I say ‘well-balanced’ I am referring to a holistic and localized approach to sustainable community development.

This holistic localized approach addresses our local economy, government, financial system, natural resources, locally grown organic food sources, renewable energy infrastructure, and ecologically conscious building practices. Yes that is correct… ECOLOGICALLY CONSCIOUS BUILDING PRACTICES = YURT… this includes the materials used to build the structures (are the materials local and/or sustainably harvested), the overall energy and carbon-footprint used to create the structure (additive sum of man-power and machine power) and the financial resources necessary to build the structure. The sustainability also incorporates the durability, safety and practicality of the structure.

The simple truth is that the yurt is a safe, inspiring and ecologically friendly structure that holds sacred space in the Encinitas Community for healthy, conscious and creative community gathering. The community is SPEAKING OUT CLEARLY… “Please do not take away this supportive and inspiring community space!”

In our present local and global truth… we have pressing concerns with both the economy and environment. Our communities (all over the world) need to be extremely pro-active, forward thinking and creative to develop solutions to these concerns. When I say ‘Communities’… again I am referring to the collective and all-encompassing ‘WE’… ‘We‘ the individuals, ‘We‘ the political systems and ‘We‘ the elected officials need to work TOGETHER to create innovative solutions to our economic and environmental concerns.

With high unemployment rates, high numbers of home foreclosures and our heightening dependency on oil and other fossil fuels… we as communities need alternative options for reasonably priced and environmentally friendly structures. ‘WE’ need to hop out of the box… do a little dancing and get ON IT! We have cutting edge technology in communications, manufacturing and renewable energy research; at the same time we have the wisdom of indigenous cultures who teach us simple and sustainable living practices.

The wisdom of these indigenous practices teaches us how to respect our environment, grow our own food locally, care for our agricultural soil, conserve our sources of water, effectively manage our waste and BUILD NATURAL ECOLOGICALLY CONSCIOUS STRUCTURES.

We now have the beautiful opportunity to merge Planet Earth’s Indigenous Wisdom and Technology … the synergy creating a harmonious blend of the Then and the Now… guiding us towards a Sustainable Future!

The Yurt is a perfect example Ecologically Conscious building. People have been safely living in, communing in and building yurts for thousands of years beginning in Mongolia.

The yurt requires very little energy to be constructed and requires very few natural resources to be built. Passive solar heating and cooling architectural design methods can be incorporated into the structure and the surroundings to require very little energy for heating and cooling.

Seismically the structures are extremely safe in earthquakes… the engineering of the wood lattice creates flexible shear in ALL directions… no other structure on the planet can claim to have 360 degrees of shear structural design in response to seismic activity (which is extremely HIGH in California as we all know).

The dome-like structure of the roofing support creates a centrally focused, compression-based structural system that is very strong. This allows for the spanning and construction of save community spaces without interior supports. This is what invites MAGIC into the yurt… it is an organic circular space with a central axis and no interior columns.

This is what we mean by hopping out of the ‘box’ and into the dance of life! One more feature of sustainability is the ease and low-energy input in which a yurt can be transported to a new location or environment.

With this said… hop out of the ‘box’ and dance with Us in the CommUnity Peace Walk to City Hall!!! This is a beautiful opportunity for all of us to come together… to work… to play… to learn… to inspire… and to create the vibrant and sustainable community we all want to live in! We want to pass on to our children and grandchildren the gift of a healthy and happy local community and WORLD where we ALL have the opportunity to thrive!

With Love,

Joshua Alvord

A message with Peace and Love from Carris…

As with everything in life the effort to save the Yurt at Yoga Swami keeps shifting, changing and taking new forms. Thank you all for reading these notes and supporting the effort without pause or question. As of right now fellow community members and activists are trying to get the Yurt agendized at this Wednesday’s city council meeting. We hope to have the city council hear the issues at hand regarding permitting, re-zonging, design review and parking mitigation in order for them to grant a variance in the code with regard to this particular structure. Basically the city is requiring around $100,000 in architectural, permitting and parking mitigation in order to legally permit this structure. We believe these fees are simply due to misunderstanding the purpose and impact the yurt has.

Above all Yoga Swami is not merely the Yurt, but the yurt stands for so much more. It is a circle representing our interconnectedness to each other, it is an eco-structure representing our duty to the earth and it represents a different way of being in the world.

Save the Yurt ~ Sign the Petition! ~ Yoga Swami

Posted on December 5, 2010 by localearthcollective

Save the Yurt! Sign the Petition! Please forward this on to everyone you know who is in support of the yurt! Spread it like Wild-Flowers!

petition link: ( http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-yurt-yoga-swamis-912-s-coast-hwy-101/ )

We invite everyone who is interested to join us at the City Council Meeting next Wednesday (Dec. 8th) at 6:00 PM. We will be meeting as a group at the yurt @ 5:30 and then walking over to City Hall together as commUnity! Everyone is entitled to speaking their truth for 3 minutes.

The Yurt at Yoga Swami is a wonderful community space that is safe and brings much joy to many members of the North County Community. As far as I understand how our government works… it is a democratic system correct?! … and that the ‘City’ acts on behalf of ‘Us’ the citizens of the community?! Please correct me if I am incorrect thus far! If this is the case … the VOICE of the PEOPLE is LOUD and CLEAR in this situation… Yoga Swami and the Yurt is a beautiful gem of organic nature and community gathering… in a land of what in my opinion is becoming a ‘shopping mall land of boxes and business’.

I, and many other local community members of North County do not want to live in, or practice yoga in ‘Boxes’ anymore. I (and I believe my voice is also carrying the message of numerous other local community members) want to live my life, practice yoga and live in a community that is not stuck in a ‘box’ mentally, physically, emotionally, politically or spiritually. Oh boy I just threw out two firecrackers …’politics’ & ‘spirituality’!… probably a no-no… yet let us go there for a moment. Let’s jump outta the ‘box’ for a moment and merge the two… saying something along the lines of, “we are all just human beings on planet Earth doing the best we can to be happy and healthy while we are here, and learning to get along the best we can”. All of must first admit we can all be hypocrites at times, and that none of us really ‘know’ the answer to anything… we just give it the best shot we can… and try to remain fluid and open to change, and ideas from others. Our ‘religions’, ‘politics’ and ‘spiritualities’ are philosophical tools we create and use in attempt to understand the structure and organization of our local community, and our universe at large.

How does this relate to the Yurt and Yoga Swami?! …hmmm… let me tie that back in. On a very grounded, rooted and simple level… leaving ‘spirit’ & ‘politic’ aside… we have an amazing, safe and inspiring community space located in the heart of Encinitas which serves thousands of local residents. It serves us in a way that none of the ‘boxes’ can serve us… it is an organic community space rooted in nature, friendship, health, community sustainability, generousity, compassion, conscious living and celebration. The yoga classes, workshops and community gatherings that take place at the Yurt and Yoga Swami are a vital part of the Encinitas community.

My professional background is in architecture and commercial development… so I am very aware of zoning, codes, permitting etc. The Yurt is an extremely safe (seismically and structurally), low-cost and ecologically friendly structure that humans have been safely existing in for thousands of years. I am tired of simple, safe, low-cost and ecologically friendly places and structures being ‘zoned’ out of being in our community by the ‘city’. I go back to this… is the ‘City’ not ‘Us’ the citizens of the community?! And once again I say this… our collective voices of the City… our collective Voice of the Citizens of this community… is WE WANT THE YURT! If anyone in the ‘City’ can find more local citizens of the community who say ‘No, we do not want the yurt’… then we will allow our ‘Democratic’ process to create the appropriate steps of action… yet I feel the ‘City’ may have a challenging time finding more people to vote against the yurt, than for the Yurt. So now we come to this beautiful moment where WE the citizens are SPEAKING our VOICES LOUD & CLEAR… and standing STRONGLY in our rights as citizens to speak and act for what we feel is right. I do not have the time or desire to go into the ‘professional’ architectural justification as to why the Yurt is an amazingly useful, safe and valuable structure…. simply put it is a reasonably priced, seismically safe and ecologically friendly structure that can provide communities many valuable uses… especially in these economically and environmentally challenging times. The citizens of our communities, our local economies and our environment have dire need for safe, low-cost and ecologically friendly structures. We can not accept the ‘City’ taking that a way from the ‘Citizens’ of the community.

“We have an obligation to manage our limited resources so that we proceed down a sustainable course… we do not have the option of “outlawing” the most sustainable approaches to building. Yet, the lack of a larger context in code development and application has allowed this regulatory type of “mismanagement” of resources to pass unnoticed and unquestioned for decades. These are the issues of the next century that will be imposed on us whether we ignore them now or not.” – David Eisenberg, Sustainability and the Building Codes.

The Citizens want the Yurt! We are willing to speak and act towards the protection of this beautiful community space!

Thank you for your time and consideration!
Joshua Alvord

Save the Yurt ~ Yoga Swami ~ Living in the Round (Please sign Petition)

Posted on December 5, 2010 by localearthcollective

Save the Yurt! Sign the Petition! Please forward this on to everyone you know who is in support of the yurt! Spread it like Wild-Flowers!

petition link: ( http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-yurt-yoga-swamis-912-s-coast-hwy-101/ )

We are also filming community members, teachers and students this Sunday at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. This is your chance to share your message and your heart… our chance to tell our community story of why this is such an important place! The video clips will be used to leverage viral social marketing to raise awareness and create the 2000 signatures we need to save our Yurt!

Dear Community,

The Yoga Swami yurt has been sacred space for the community for the past 5 years. Yoga Swami was created based on the ideals of community support, stewardship to Mother Earth, sustainability, and simply being in the world in a different way. Although the City of Encinitas gave us verbal permission to construct the yurt in 2005, City Hall has now required us to meet current building codes, which from our perspective, do not support sustainable eco-structures. On Thursday, December 9th, 2010 we are being forced to remove the yurt.

As the owner of the yurt and Yoga Swami, this is evidently inspiring me to create change and prosperity for the future of sustainable eco-structures. While honoring the guidance of the Universe, I recognize that some events are inevitable and merely serve to encourage new conscious endeavors.

As a result of the closure of the yurt, there is now much opportunity for growth on local, national and global levels. If you wish to be educated or take action, please visit the Yoga Swami website at www.yogaswami.com for opportunities and considerations.

Above all, the yurt represents a community with intention of sustaining mother earth and humanity. The spiraling energy created by the yurt and its inhabitants will only catalyze expansive creativity and Light. The legacy of Yoga Swami lives.

We will continue to create community and a place for sacred practice, maintain cultivation of love, beauty, peace and harmony for the city of Encinitas, and persevere in upholding natural, organic, eco-conscious surroundings as we intend to resume regular class schedule in a new location.

We hold our beloved Encinitas, City Hall (including the city council members) in honor, realizing that their intentions, as well as ours, are inherently good.

Thank you for the love and light you have contributed to the yurt.

With Love,

Dawn Singer Owner of the yurt and Yoga Swami

Dear Yoga Swami Teachers and Holistic Leaders,

In an effort to save the Yurt and Yoga Swami from being torn down we are calling upon your support!

What:

Leveraging viral social marketing to raise awareness and create the 2000 signatures we need to save our Yurt!

Why:

Time is limited, this must get traction and awareness within the next 72 hours! And we are not just relying on the petition and signatures. We are in the process of getting put on this coming Wednesday, December 8th’s Encinitas city council meeting schedule. Will you help us get the word out?

Who:

We are enlisting teachers and other holistic leaders of the yoga swami and local Encinitas community to come out and tell the camera why they must sign the petition and/ or come out and show their support at the city council.

We are asking that any Holistic Leader, peace activist, or yoga teacher who wants to support donation based yoga to come out this Sunday the 5th to tell the world why they must support this worth cause.

How:

We will be shooting, uploading and publishing candid and heart centered, high vibrational videos so that you many send them out to your networks.

When & Where:

Sunday December 5th @ 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM @ the Yurt

If you want to get involved or help out on Sunday, then call Jason Brett @ 760.533.0937 or email jasontbrett@gmail.com

Message from Joshua and the TreeKaya Organization!

I, and many other local community members of North County do not want to live in, or practice yoga in ‘Boxes’ anymore. I (and I believe my voice is also carrying the message of numerous other local community members) want to live my life, practice yoga and live in a community that is not stuck in a ‘box’ mentally, physically, emotionally, politically or spiritually. Oh boy I just threw out two firecrackers …’politics’ & ‘spirituality’!… probably a no-no… yet let us go there for a moment. Let’s jump outta the ‘box’ for a moment and merge the two… saying something along the lines of, “we are all just human beings on planet Earth doing the best we can to be happy and healthy while we are here, and learning to get along the best we can”. All of must first admit we can all be hypocrites at times, and that none of us really ‘know’ the answer to anything… we just give it the best shot we can… and try to remain fluid and open to change, and ideas from others. Our ‘religions’, ‘politics’ and ‘spiritualities’ are philosophical tools we create and use in attempt to understand and navigate the structure and organization of our local community, and our universe at large.