In 2011 we published our children's book ''Happy in the Sun'', participated in two [http://spacewiki.com/Space_Elevator_Conference space] [http://www.100yss.org/ conferences] and two big [[Earth Day 2011|environmental]] [http://www.moving-planet.org/ events], and held a [[Music Festival]] and a three-day [[Seed 2011|unconference retreat]]. That said, of our [[OnePagePlan#2011 1 Year Goals|six yearly goals]], we achieved only 1⅓ (Spiritual Practice plus the book, which was one of the three Media sub-goals). For 2012 our yearly goals are more focused and based on things we can directly control.
[[Image:2011 events collage.png|375px|left]]
Our quarterly goals have been looking good. The [[OnePagePlan#2011 4th Quarter Goals, due 12/31/2011|fourth quarter]] is a nice example: we set five goals, missed only one of them (and not by much at that), and achieved Super Green on two goals for the first time ever. To wit:
In October, we founded the [http://www.meetup.com/SolSeed/ SolSeed Meetup group] and quickly reached our Super Green goal of at least twelve people signing up on the group's webpage. Our first meetup event in early 2012 went really well, with an in-depth discussion of SolSeed over a friendly dinner.
One way to describe the SolSeed Movement is as a "topical community," for people who embrace science, cherish all life, and seek to help Earth give birth to a family of living worlds. In the past couple of months we've been working on cultivating other related topical communities: I found a [http://www.facebook.com/groups/168117373276247/ Facebook group] devoted to working on Closed Environment/Ecosystem Life Support Systems (like Biosphere 2 only smaller), and Shelley discovered the [http://www.meetup.com/cfi-sfn/ Secular Families Network], which supports families raising children with scientific values.
In addition to his work on cultivating SolSeed's own community, Brandon chose the participants in the 100 Year Starship Symposium as his second topical community, which would double as a project to enhance [http://spacewiki.com/100yss SpaceWiki] by making it a central resource for information about the Symposium. He could use help with this ambitious project, as progress was slow this quarter.
[[Image:Hike in the dark for Winter Solstice 2011.JPG|450px|right]]
We actually made lots of progress toward our "red" goal of finishing the first draft of ''[[SolSeed: Helping Life Thrive, On Earth And Beyond]]''. The first and last chapters still need a fair amount of work, but we're getting close.
In December, we held our third Winter Solstice festival, with a novel twist: a hike in the dark before dinner. We decided to stay in town due to worries that starwatching wouldn't be possible, but as it turned out, we had clear skies and were able to observe the Pleiades and the moons of Jupiter from the summit of Mt. Taber.
In 2012 we are looking forward to building on our momentum, including the publication of our second book, an equinox celebration on Sunday March 18 (mark your calendars), and much more! Stay tuned for details.
Thanks for reading!<br>
Ben Sibelman
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P.P.S. Space Elevator climber contest photo credit: Elaina Franklin (all other photos by Ben Sibelman)