[Lapg] Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy in Pacoima 04-10-2010

[W Talaro]

Just as none of us learned the principles of practical
financial literacy in school, none of us were taught the practical 
principles
of how to live on a finite planet. If you care about the future of your
children, grandchildren, and other descendants, you owe it to them to 
pass on a
better environmental legacy as opposed to deeper ecological debt. 
 
Have you ever really
thought about where your drinking water comes from? Do you know what 
kinds
industrial and household wastes end up in wastewater? Do you know where 
your
wastewater goes for treatment and how thoroughly it's "cleaned"
before releasing it into the biosphere?
 
Have you considered where your garbage and recyclable
materials go? How much of the waste is buried and how much is 
incinerated? Is
the recyclable material really recycled? In a throwaway society, out of 
sight
is out of mind; however, in nature there is no such thing as "away".
 
Have you learned to match the needs of your desired plants
with what your actual or prospective garden site provides?
 
These questions delve into but a few of the interconnected
aspects of ecoliteracy. In Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy, all of these 
subjects
and more are covered.
 
Sustainability is not possible without ecological literacy
as a foundation. Striving for authentic sustainability at this point in 
human
history is requisite for our survival as a species and it entails 
attunement
with earth’s systems and cycles – the sources of our collective 
survival,
well-being, and wealth. Ecology trumps economy – it always has and 
always will.
 
Exploring the scope of the myriad ways that each of our
lives is inextricably intertwined with our planet is one of the 
objectives of
the workshop but we also address practical solutions that are accessible on the
personal scale. Wendy Talaro of Fruits to Nuts (sustainable garden 
design and
consultancy specializing in edibles and CA natives) and Steve Hernandez 
of
NativeScape Development Corp. (landscape design/building/maintenance 
company
specializing in CA natives and habitat restoration) will lead workshop
participants in a systematic way through the process of ecological 
design and
problem solving. In this fun, highly interactive all-day workshop, you 
will
learn systems thinking using gardens and landscaping as the context for 
the
concrete material and the very same practical skills that these 
ecological
designers use regularly in their businesses.

Who will benefit from attending this 
workshop? You will if
you are:
	* beginning
a current sustainable or organic garden or landscape project and you’re 
feeling
stuck or confused
	* launching
a garden redesign or expansion project and you could use specific help 
and
guidance
	* getting
rid of your lawn in favor of creating a sustainable garden in the 
ground, rain
garden, drought tolerant CA native garden, food forest, edible 
landscape,
container or rooftop garden, or an organic vegetable garden
	* seeking
ways to reduce the occurrence of ongoing garden and landscape problems 
or ways
to solve those problems for good
	* redesigning
your garden so that it will save water, time, effort, and energy while 
bringing
more beauty into your surroundings
	* telling
yourself that you’re a bad gardener or that you have a “black thumb”
	* doing any combination of the above
 
First of all, stop blaming yourself for not knowing what it
would take for your garden or certain plants to thrive.
 
Next, it is time to take your garden or landscape to the
next level with better results – learn to work with nature instead of
inadvertently against it.
 
Important registration information:
	* Bilingual
instruction in English and Español with real time translation is 
available
	* Enrollment
is strictly limited on a first come, first served basis to 16 individuals.
Conversely, a minimum of 4 individuals is needed for the workshop to 
carry.
	* Early
registration until March 27th is $40. Registration until April 3rd is 
$50.
	* All
registration payments must be received by April 3rd to ensure you have 
enough
time for the mandatory multi-part homework. (Seriously. The soil sample 
and identification
process part takes a week.) You’re accountable to your fellow classmates for the
quality of the content so give yourself ample time to complete it. You 
will get
out of this workshop what you invest in it.
	* Homework
(2.1 MB PDF file) will only be sent to you via e-mail or snail mailed 
upon
receipt of payment.
	* Make
checks payable to Wendy Talaro and send to P.O. Box 2382; Gardena, CA 
90247.
Credit and debit card payments can be processed through NativeScape 
Development
Corp.
	* Potluck
lunch on-site to facilitate networking and community building, so please bring
your business cards and a dish or snack to share
	* 25%
student discount available, send with proof of current 1/2 to full time
registration
	* 25%
55+ senior citizen discount available, so send payment with proof of how 
young
you are
	* Cancellation
Policy: No refunds unless the instructors initiate class cancellation.
	* This
workshop is prerequisite forFrom Stumped to Pumped: Great Garden 
Results
Guaranteed. This follow up 
workshop, like
the site analysis practicums we also offer, builds on the practical, 
real world
material covered in Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy.
 
More information about Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy, including
an embedded YouTube video, can be found at Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy’s
temporary online home (until it gets its own domain name and website): http://fruitstonuts.wordpress.com.
Please feel free to forward this link and e-mail to others you think may be
interested.
If you have further questions, please call Wendy @ 310.329.5719 or send
an e-mail to fruitstonuts at yahoo.com. Para preguntas en Español, llame
Esteban, marque 818.302.9699 or coreo electronico steve at gogreennsd.com.
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