SolSeedMovement News
August 2018
Gaia's People begins to explore collaboration with Pagan Renewal
August 2018
Unconference in Portland Oregon on Resilient Communities
March 2018
2018 Spring Equinox Storytelling and Sushi Feast
February 2017
Mexican dinner outings in both Portland and Ottawa
September 2017
June 2017
- Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, and Ren celebrated the Summer Solstice on June 20th with a canoe trip to Ross Island, including Drumming the Eons.
- Eric did a YayLifeTri in separate segments on June 23rd, 24th, and 25th, including the Perth Kilt Run as the running segment.
May 2017
- Workbee in Hoyt Arboretum, Tree planting at Buckleberry
March 2017
- 2017 Spring Equinox Storytelling and Sushi Feast in Seattle and Ottawa
February 2017
- Riverrain hike in Tryon Creek State Park in Oregon, Skating outing in Ottawa on the Rideau Canal, Mexican dinner outings in both Portland and Ottawa, Terra Mystica - Fire and Ice in Ottawa.
December 2016
- We held our second annual Space Elevator Solstice in Portland and Gatineau. This time we built two climbers and a conveyor-belt elevator.
October/November 2016
- Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren and Ben gathered in Portland for the Saturn Holloween event while Eric and his family celebrated Samhain in Gatineau a week later. At both events we played the Xtronaut boardgame to celebrate the space program.
September 2016
- We participated in the Earthseed Festival of Changes, part of John Halstead and Tony Schlisser's new Earthseed Wheel of the Year.
August 2016
- Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, Ben, and Eric gathered in Portland for the Shiny Green Acorn Festival from the 12th to the 14th, joined by friends of SolSeed including Eric's wife Michelle, Ben's father Steve, and Ted Sarvata.
July 2016
- On July 1, we joined John and his daughter Katya for the first event in the new Earthseed Wheel of the Year, the Festival of the Teacher.
June 2016
- [Brandon and [Ben joined Earthseed Shaper John Halstead to attend the Shaping Change Conference in San Diego from June 3-5.
- On June 18th, we joined John Halstead and fellow Shaper Tony Schlisser for an Earthseed Rite of Remembrance for the Orlando shooting victims.
April 2016
- Ben was a speaker at the Contact Conference in Silicon Valley from Friday the 1st to Sunday the 3rd, presenting a talk on Friday expanding on Eric's vision of Biospheric Communionism.
- On Saturday the 30th, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben joined a work party to clear English ivy from trees in Marquam Nature Park in Portland.
March 2016
- On Sunday the 20th, we held the 2016 Spring Equinox Storytelling and Sushi Feast in Redmond and Gatineau, including the board games Evolution and Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice.
February 2016
- On Saturday the 6th, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben went on a Riverain hike in Portland with old and new friends, including Ted and his family. Then we went to dinner with Ben's parents and Keith Lofstrom at a Mexican place that serves deep-fried ice cream.
January 2016
- Brandon, Eric, and Ben became Shapers of John Halstead's Earthseed and Eric started contributing posts to its blog.
December 2015
- On Saturday the 19th, we held the first Space Elevator Solstice in Redmond, with all of our Contributing Members (Eric and Patrick joined via Skype from Gatineau), space-elevator luminaries Michael Laine and Bryan Laubscher, and people from Ben's sci-fi book club.
November 2015
- Eric, Michelle, and Patrick moved to a new home in Gatineau, right next to the immense urban forest of Gatineau Park.
October 2015
- On Saturday the 31st, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben turned the Seed Village into a space colony for A Martian Halloween.
September 2015
- On Sunday the 20th, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben had a "Shiny Green equinox" in Portland, featuring a visit to the Industrial Cafe, a Pagan Pride Day festival, and Oaks Amusement Park.
August 2015
- On Saturday the 8th through Monday the 10th, we held our first annual Shiny Green Festival in Portland with all of the SolSeed Contributing Members and friends both old and new, including Michelle Saumur, Keith Lofstrom, and John, Ruth, Katya, and William Halstead.
- We started developing a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of human-sized versions of Oberon Zell's Millennial Gaia statue.
July 2015
- Eric started work on his concept for a tree-climbing robot that could graft fruit-tree limbs onto existing trees in a forest.
June 2015
- On the weekend of the Summer Solstice, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben visited Maryhill State Park and its Stonehenge replica for YayLifeTri, Drumming the Eons, and stargazing.
May 2015
- Eric participated in two Ottawa tree-planting events as well as the 2015 Multifaith Housing Initative Tulipathon.
- On Saturday the 2nd, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben participated in a Hoyt Arboretum work party and were joined by Ben's parents for a showing of the movie *Planetary*.
March 2015
- Ben started working on the SolSeed History page to help share the story of our first ten years with members and friends.
- We celebrated the Spring Equinox with our third annual SolSeed Storytelling and Sushi Feast. (Eric has been holding these for much longer.)
February 2015
- Brandon attended the big Pagan convention, Pantheacon 2015 in San Jose on President's Day Weekend.
- Ben visited the world-famous Biosphere 2 closed-ecosystem research facility near Tucson on Friday the 20th.
- On Saturday the 28th, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, Ben and his parents held the SolSeed 10th Anniversary Celebration, featuring a canoe trip to Ross Island in Portland.
December 2014
- Brandon started the Gaia Wiki project, and Ben and Eric helped create content for it.
- On Saturday the 21st, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, Ben and his parents, and Ted and his family participated in the Longest Night Masquerade, featuring a blend of SolSeed and Pagan elements such as the "Holly King and Queen."
November 2014
- Brandon got his blog entry about Gaia's Heartbeat posted on the Humanistic Paganism website.
October 2014
- On Sunday the 5th, Eric presented a service about SolSeed for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa.
- SolSeed became a partner of the The Spiritual Naturalist Society
September 2014
- On Saturday the 20th, Ben gave a talk at the Seed Village about global warming and ways to fix it, attended by Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, Ben's parents, and three new acquaintances. Then we made protest signs which we brought to the climate rally the next day.
- On Friday the 26th, Eric got his blog post Why I'm Religious but not Spiritual posted on the Humanistic Paganism website.
August 2014
- Ben traveled with Lion, a long-time friend of SolSeed, to visit the Windward intentional community in southern Washington State.
July 2014
- Ben finished a short music video using the chorus of The Seed.
June 2014
- Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, Ben, Eric, and Patrick got together on Mt. Hood in Oregon for Sol 2014.
March 2014
- In Portland, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben celebrated the Spring Equinox by planting bioswales in the Lents neighborhood, then joined Eric via Skype to tell stories about life in the Phanerozoic Eon.
- The SolSeed Movement began an experiment with a system of governance called Holacracy.
February 2014
- Eric created our second orientation email.
January 2014
- Brandon created the first SolSeed orientation email.
- John completed the Gaia's Heartbeat music video, working through several drafts and incorporating our feedback.
December 2014
- John completed the Gaia's Heartbeat song and started work on the accompanying video.
- For the Winter Solstice, we invited two teachers from a company called Music Together to lead us in a series of sing-alongs, including dancing and instruments such as drums and “jingle bells” that everyone could play.
- We returned to the first liturgical season, Genesis, which uses the original opening ritual developed back in 2010.
November 2013
- We started celebrating the eighth liturgical season, Viventibus Galaxia (Living Galaxies).
- Brandon started working with John Boswell on a new song and music video called Gaia's Heartbeat.
September 2013
- On the Fall Equinox, Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ren, and Ben went on a hike and had a picnic dinner at Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia Gorge.
- Eric's family had an equinox dinner where each food item combined dark and light colors to represent the balance of day and night on the Equinox.
- We established a SolSeed "liturgical year" that will have eight separate rituals for our Weekly Service Calls, and started using the new ritual for Viventibus Mundos (Living Worlds), the seventh of the eight "liturgical seasons."
June 2013
- We held the Sol 2013 retreat in Ottawa.
- We sponsored a Portland State Aerospace Society rocket launch!
May 2013
- John and Will completed the final draft of the SolSeedSong!
April 2013
- John and Will completed the first draft of the SolSeedSong.
March 2013
- We held the 2013 Spring Equinox Storytelling and Suishi Feast in Portland and Ottawa.
January 2013
- We held the 2013 Vision/Purpose Retreat on Skype to talk about what SolSeed is all about and what our primary statement of purpose should look like (or if we should have more than one!)
December 2012
November 2012
- Ben finished the SolSeedSong lyrics and sent them to John and Will.
- Brandon got partial a hard copy of the SolSeed book printed so we could see what it would look like.
October 2012
- First Seeing Nature - Reading & Practice in Ottawa
September 2012
- We built tabletop biospheres on the Fall Equinox. Unfortunately they didn't last very long.
- Eric held an Equinox in Space celebration in Ottawa.
- Completed the pedal powered water pump
August 2012
- We helped fund John Boswell and Will Crowley's original album of songs about science, Terra Lumina. In exchange, they're writing the SolSeedSong !
- Ben presented a paper called "Why go to space?" at the 2012 Space Elevator Conference.
- Started weekly "Seeing Nature" reading and practice meetup events in Portland
July 2012
- The beginning of the pedal powered water pump
June 2012
- Ben is presenting a talk at the We the People Power Festival on the 16th in Seattle.
- We're holding our fifth big unconference retreat, Sol 2012, starting on the Summer Solstice at the the Oregon coast.
- We're also holding our first ever Summer Solstice triathlon in Portland, YayLifeTri, along with Eric's companion event in Ottawa.
April 2012
- We visited the Silverton area for Earth Day 2012.
March 2012
- We had an awesome Spring Equinox Festival at the Seed Village in Portland, Oregon, featuring lots of activities for kids, music and dancing, and brunch.
- We also told stories and shared sushi in Ottawa, Ontario, home to new active member Eric and his family.
- Ben met some famous scientists and had a great time helping to design an alien culture at the Contact Conference in Sunnyvale, California.
January 2012
- The first SolSeed Meetups involve a sit-down dinner and then a Symphony of Science movie-watching party.
December 2011
- We held our third Winter Solstice celebration, featuring a hike up Mt. Taber in the dark, followed by a candlelit dinner.
October 2011
- We created the SolSeed Meetup group and quickly got several interesting people signed up.
- We started cultivating kindred Topical Communities.
September 2011
- For the Fall Equinox this year, we're participating in the Moving Planet worldwide climate action event by holding a group bike ride to the big Portland event.
- Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, Ben, and Boni are all going to Orlando, Florida for the 100 Year Starship Symposium!
August 2011
- Ben and Brandon attended the Space Elevator Conference in Redmond to promote SpaceWiki, and Brandon gave a talk about building a railway to space for the 150th aniversary of the transcontinental railroad.
June 2011
- To celebrate the Summer Solstice this year, we went on a hike to beautiful Wahclella Falls in the Columbia Gorge, followed by dinner at the Seed Village.
May 2011
- On Memorial Day weekend, we held a Vision Workshop at the Seed Village.
April 2011
- We once again attended the City Repair Earth Day festival as exhibitors, this time with a triple-wide booth where we also hosted Mathew and Molly with Cloacina and Gus with the Green Granges.
March 2011
- We hired Swift Architecture to start designing the "Seed Pod," the backyard cottage that will be the second home added to the Seed Village.
February 2011
- We held our fourth Open Space event, Seed 2011, on the slopes of Mt. Hood!
January 2011
- We had a Music Festival on the 15th featuring local singer, songwriter, and pianist Lori Henriques!
December 2010
- Join us for the Longest Night Festival, Tuesday December 21, 2010 at the Seed Village. Email Shelley for details.
November 2010
- Brandon and Ben went to the student-run SpaceVision 2010 conference in Sunnyvale, CA to promote the SpaceWiki project.
October 2010
- Molly took us on an EcoVillageTour, visiting five intentional communities around East Portland.
- Brandon quit his job at AboutUs and founded the first SolSeedBusiness, quickly obtaining contracts to do consensus polling for the Meyer Memorial Trust and a follow on contract with AboutUs continuing work he was doing before he left.
September 2010
- We held a SolSeed Service celebrating the Fall Equinox at the SolSeedVillage.
August 2010
- SolSeed helped sponsor the Buckman Neighborhood Picnic and held another mural painting there.
July 2010
- Brandon and Ben went to the NewSpace 2010 conference in Sunnyvale, CA to promote the new SpaceWiki project.
June 2010
- We officially decided that Brandon and Shelley's house is the site for the SolSeedVillage!
- Then we held a Longest Day Party in their backyard on the Summer Solstice.
May 2010
- "Lettuce" Bring Life -- the seeds planted at our Earth Day 2010 event are germinating!
April 2010
- We had a great time at Norwescon 33 and met lots of awesome people, 9 of whom have become FriendsOfSolSeed.
- We had a double-wide booth at the Portland Earth Day event, "Re-Seeding Our World", with fun activities including actual seed planting!
March 2010
- We reserved a table at Norwescon!
- We held the second SolSeed Service, featuring an equinox-themed celebration and discussion of Balance, including a fun children's activity and followed by a potluck.
February 2010
- The first SolSeed Service was a big success, with music, poetry, and discussion centered around the idea of Empathy.
January 2010
- Ben finally posts notes from sessions he attended at Sol 2009 more than half a year ago!
December 2009
- A warm welcome to all the great people we met at OryCon 31!
- Interested in joining and participating in some of our exciting projects? See JoiningTheMovement
- Just want to sign up for our monthly newsletter, but didn't get a chance at the con? See FriendsOfSolSeed
- Want to track the progress of our new virtual Parable of the Sower book group? See SolSeed Book Program
- Longest Night Festival
- When: Dec. 19-21, 2009 (Saturday-Monday)
- What: OpenSpace event followed by a Solstice Party on Monday night
November 2009
- Planning has begun for our next face-to-face event, the Longest Night Festival, to take place in Portland December 19-21!
- Ben has belatedly uploaded some Sol 2009 photos to start the Sol 2009 Photo Gallery. Who knows, he might post his handwritten notes from the sessions anytime now.
October 2009
- We now have a OnePagePlan for the last quarter of 2009 and beyond.
- We have reserved a table at OryCon!
May 2009
- Beach Outing and Cleanup this weekend May 23. Join us!
April 2009
- Sol2009 is definitively scheduled for June 27-29 (see the Invitation)
- Jesse joins the movement.
March 2009
- Jillian joins the movement.
- Paul joins the movement.
- Sol 2009 is getting close to being scheduled for July 4 to 6, 2009 (change of tentative dates).
February 2009
- Bertie joins the movement.
- "SolSeed: Pick a Future" music video trailer posted (currently down while we wait for permission to use the music)
January 2009
- Alex joins the movement.
- Ted joins the movement.
- Joy joins the movement.
- It's the final day for Seed 2009. We've had LOTS of amazing discussions, met some remarkable people, and as we come to a close we are refining our vision for the future of The Movement. Notes from our open sessions are available here if you'd like to read, reflect upon, or remember our time together.
- Seed 2009 is underway! Most of us have arrived, and we are gearing up for the official opening ceremonies - as well as preparing for our first OpenSpace sessions. You can check out the Seed 2009 Photo Gallery and view the happenings as we post some pictures.
- Seed 2009 is just days away. It's a new year, a time for new beginnings, and hopefully lots of new friends!
October 2008
- Seed 2009 registrations coming, and folks are buying plane tickets!
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
Planning has commenced for Seed 2009, a retreat and openspace event for SolSeed members and friends. Email Brandon to join the planning process. Tentative dates: <s>Dec 31, Jan 1-3</s> in Government Camp, Oregon. Stay tuned for details!
June 2008
- AJ Adair joins the SolSeedMovement!
- Brandon commissions Mark Nilsson to create a painting to illustrate the SolSeedMovement
March 2008
- SolSeed now has a lounge. This is great place to discuss your half-baked (or fully baked) schemes and ideas. By joining you will be up-to-date on any announcements, group messages, or upcoming events. Come hang out at the lounge!
- Kalvin joins the SolSeedMovement!
- Chris Dawson joins the SolSeedMovement!
- Brandon has started making SolSeed related claims. Come join the fun!
February 2008
- Brandon is looking to commission an illustrator to create an illustration of SolSeed with potential for follow-on illustrations of core concepts. If you'd like to help me think about the concept and find an artist contribute to SolSeed/Artists.
- Check out this user-generated SolSeed video for a little inspiration!
Solseed Movement
- I would like to bring to the attention of the members of the Solseed Movement, the Space Settlement section of the website of the National Space Society. Nearly all material concerning Space Settlement (almosty 20,000 pages), that is not proprietary or classified, is included. http://www.nss.org/settlement/
Mark Hopkins
January 2008
- Kevin redirects the Earthseed reference to SolSeed on Wikipedia to its new home on AboutUs.
- Brandon redirects solseed.net, com, org, and us to the SolSeed page on AboutUs.
- Kevin sparks some barnraising
- Kevin James Daniels joins the SolSeedMovement!
August 2007
- Benjamin Sibelman and Brandon CS Sanders begin moving the content over from the original group on the now defunct Omidyar.net
__NOTOC__
Quick links
- TheDestiny
- Starfarers
- SelfLove
- Empathy
- Wisdom
- SolSeedCalls
- SolSeed Services
- Media
- SolSeedVillage
- Stories!
- Videos
<br style="clear:both"/>
The SolSeed cluster of pages is a WelcomingSpace.
SolSeed means "the body of all life."
SolSeed, the body of all life, is organized like a human body is. If you and I take care of ourselves and our neighborhoods, SolSeed will be healthy and can accomplish amazing things that we as individuals could not accomplish alone. If we do our part to provide and care for the body of all life, it will provide and care for us.
Sol
Sol is the life-giving star at the center of our Solar system. Sol (our sun) literally provides all the energy that animates life on Terra (our earth).
The energy an eagle uses to flap its wings comes from Sol. The energy an ant uses to carry a leaf comes from Sol. The energy you use to read and understand this text comes from Sol. Ants carrying, eagles flying, people thinking ... none of these would exist if Sol didn't send its life giving energy our way.
AND
Without Life, the energy from Sol simply bounces off the planet. Life literally collects the energy Sol sends to earth, and stores it up for future use. Plants take energy from Sol and convert it into denser, more storable forms. The sugars and fats that our bodies burn are little pools of energy that originally comes from our sun. Ants carrying, eagles flying, people thinking ... none of these would exist if Life wasn't capable of storing up the energy Sol sends.
Seed
Seeds are highly effective mechanisms for spreading Life. They consist of instructions for creating Life and a packet of energy and materials that gives the new Life a good start. The instructions and energy are packaged in a protective covering that gives them a great chance to arrive together and take root.
Our solar system is a kind of seed. The biosphere on our earth Terra encodes the instructions for creating life and contains vast stores of energy saved up from our sun Sol. The large outer planets protect the embryo of Terra from rocks, comets, and other space debris that could shatter her.
Life
Life is the means by which the Universe engages Itself.
Everything, no matter how alive, is composed of atoms, finer particles, waves, strings and other energies. At some level of description, its behaviors are governed by the simple physical laws that order these basic constituents. And yet...
When we think about how and why a person acts, we rarely refer to simple physical laws. Instead we talk about needs, wants, feelings, desires, emotions, goals, relationships, and other organizing principles that are very far removed from the laws of physics. The behavior of a human being is governed by principles that Transcend and Include the foundational laws of Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Astrophysics. Unlike the rest of the Universe, life-forms obey the Observership of the Universe through the conceptual artifacts of experience and meaning.
Continuum of Life
Life is a multi-dimensional continuum. The higher forms of life cannot exist without the less organized forms.
- Quarks
- Electrons, Neutrons, Protons ... composed of quarks
- Atoms ... composed of Electrons, Neutrons, Protons
- Compounds and Molecules ... composed of Atoms
- Crystals
- Carbohydrates
- Nucleotides
- Amino Acids
- Lipids
- Proteins
- Enzymes
- RNA
- DNA
- Plasmid
- Organisms ... composed of Compounds and Molecules
- Viruses
- Bacteria
- Archaea
- Fungi
- Plants
- Animals
- Societies and Ecosystems ... composed of Organisms
- ant, bee, and termite colonies
- human families, cities, nations
- Cascadia, Gaia, SolSeed
Even a single human being can be more or less alive depending upon how much creatorship they have within their own life. If they are trapped, repressed, and powerless, they are not as alive as they could be if they were free, fully self-expressed, and powerful.
SolSeed
SolSeed means "the body of all life." The following snippet is taken from the SolSeedCreed.
Sol, Terra, you, me, we, ALL, are precious SolSeed.
As SolSeed's intelligent spark, WE are its caretakers, WE must fulfill TheDestiny.
SolSeedMovement
The SolSeedMovement exists to bring together and support <b>all** those who believe that life is precious. It is about supporting each other in living the highest quality lives we can create.
TheDestiny
TheDestiny of SolSeed is to take root amongst the stars.
There is no moral imperative except that which you choose for yourself. If you choose to Join the SolSeedMovement you are choosing to believe that life and all that sustains life is precious. That belief requires that you nurture and protect the only life that we know of.
At some point in the distant future, Sol will expand to the point that life as we know it will not be able to exist in this solar system. If we really believe that life is precious, we should move decisively to nurture and protect it. Life is vulnerable here ... all our eggs are in one basket.
Being worthy of and fulfilling TheDestiny are the two ultimate goals held by members of the SolSeedMovement. The phrase "Take root amongst the stars" means literally to send life from our solar system out to settle in other star systems.
At this stage of TheDestiny the most important responsibility of the SolSeedMovement is helping humanity mature into its role as protector of SolSeed. This maturing process includes improving the quality of life for all of SolSeed everywhere in the world.
Strategic Planning
- Make a model of growth
- Start measuring the number of people at each spot in the funnel of engagement
- Identify milestones
- Recruit
- Identify some conventions or conferences to recruit at (Octavia Butler fans?)
- Create website
- Focus on The Destiny
- Create SolSeed book to give people as a recruitment tool
- Get illustrations for each topic
- Checks
- I pasted this here because this is the page that all of your hits from your Google ads are landing on, and it was blank.