Eric: I want to honor Hank's assertion that we need some practical action, and I think Paul Krafel's water practice (the game from The Upward Spiral) would be a good start
- Brandon: I like the idea, but it would be hard to organize trips ahead of time when it has to happen during a rainstorm, and the improvements would take a long time to appear, making it hard to keep people interested
- Ben: Also, getting to the wilderness without a car is difficult ... but we should focus on learning to think long-term
- Brandon: We could do an urban version of the practice, e.g. disconnecting downspouts from the sewers and removing impermeable paved surfaces, replacing them with gardens where rainwater can soak in instead of running off
- Ben: Also rainwater capture (reduce dependence on city water supplies)
- Eric: We would have to include an observational component, e.g. taking people down to the stormwater exhaust pipes to show their negative impacts
- Brandon: We could get Mathew and Molly as allies and tie it into their interest in composting toilets
- Eric: I prefer going into the wilderness, "seeing and healing nature" ... maybe we shouldn't play Paul's game until we've studied our environment to see if it fits
- Ben: There might be Sierra Club outings like this, with something like trail restoration
- Brandon: That kind of trip usually doesn't include enough close observation of your surroundings
- Brandon: There's hubris in the idea that we can heal nature ... Paul is humble and talks instead about "making plays"
- Ben: Paul believed that by "acting high in the drainage," he could have profound positive effects
- Eric: But only in a few micro-drainages ... the overall watershed will barely notice, unless many more people start playing Paul's game
- Eric: Planting trees is also a good practice ... you can do it anywhere
Brandon: I'd like to focus on finishing the SolSeed book ... it will give us something to show to help us grow our membership
- Ben: Of our four three-year goals), Vision is the only one we can plausibly complete, and the book fits into that
Eric: We should consider having multiple locations where SolSeed groups are gradually growing ... your group is still growing toward "critical mass" even if it's spread across multiple locations
- Ben: It's no longer just a question of me moving to join the Seed Village, which probably won't move itself ... Eric also has a family and is unlikely to move
- Brandon: A few people have expressed angst about the fact that SolSeed doesn't have activities outside Oregon
- Ben: On the other hand, let's list the benefits of building an intentional community:
- It's a test-bed for small communities on space missions
- It will draw in people who are really serious about living their values
- It's hard, but maybe we should get used to taking on hard projects
- Brandon: It helps us focus our energies toward SolSeed activities
- Also, there are questions about whether SolSeed Meetups are the right way to go