Together on the Land: Options for sustainable, affordable & ecological living

 SAVE YOUR SPOT - REGISTER NOW FOR SATURDAY'S TOUR!

Multi-Site Guided Tour - Saturday June 6, 2009

Do you dream of living in a sustainable and affordable community?  Some place that thought about long-term land stewardship, green housing or neighborhood building?  Have you wondered what options are already out there?  What models have been created over the years?  Well - this tour is for you.

Tour participants will go on a guided multi-site tour throughout Franklin County, MA to see:

• Cooperative households
• Homes on Community Land Trust Land
• Farmers using Agricultural Preservation Restrictions to preserve their land
• Ecovillage new developments
• Homeowners working with conservation land trusts
• Green homes in existing neighborhoods

Evening Panel Discussion Friday June 5, 2009

Friday night before the tour, speakers from each sponsoring organization will be on hand to answer your questions.  The Friday night talk is a perfect introduction to sustainable communities - whether you will be going on the Saturday tour or not!  Friday night speakers will include:

Lynn Benander, SalmonFallsLand Association & Co-op Power

• Lynn Benander has been a member of the Salmon Falls Land Association for several years.  She has a broad background in cooperative and community development, specializing in legal and governance structures for group-based businesses.  As manager of Co-op Power, she also has experience in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Bill Cole, Katywil Ecovillage

• As a kid on a Virginia dairy farm, Bill Cole says, “We used DDT on everything; I still remember the stench.” After boarding with a Rodale-believing family during his first stint teaching in the late ‘60s, he “discovered the pleasures of organically grown food.  Then followed underground and strawbale houses and the idea of sustainability.”  In 2004, he decided to begin an ecovillage, and a year later discovered Colrain.  Katywil Ecovillage is now a reality, with two houses under construction and two more lots sold.

Bick Corsa, Corsa Carpentry

• Bick Corsa has been building and renovating energy efficient homes since 1980 when he and his brothers built a passive solar-heated home in Michigan.  He has over 30 years experience as a professional carpenter and builder, and has been an energy auditor and home weatherization educator.  Bick just completed an award-winning zero energy home that is being recognized in Massachusetts and nationally for being a net energy producer.  The home has applied for Platinum LEED certification and used safer, healthier building materials and sustainably-harvested wood products. 

Jennifer Gutshall, Cooperative Development Institute

• As CDI's Executive Director and Cooperative Development Specialist, Jennifer has worked for the last twelve years as a community organizer and cooperative business developer. She co-founded the Connecticut Energy Cooperative; later becoming its Manager of Member Services. Since then she has provided planning and development assistance to over twenty emerging co-operatives in a wide variety of industries from retail clothing to auto service and repair to data management to housing. She has completed the Cooperation Works! Professional Development Training Program for Cooperative Development and is currently completing Masters of Science in Community Economic Development at the School of Community Economic Development at the University of Southern New Hampshire.

Pam Kimball, MountGrace Land Conservation Trust

• Pam Kimball is the Development Director at Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust where she works to raise funds and get the word out about the importance of protecting farmland, forestland and water resources to sustain healthy communities for the residents of north central and western MA.  Pam is personally interested in helping to manifest a mosaic of protected working and wild lands interspersed with clusters of sustainable housing. 

Juanita Nelson, ValleyCommunityLand Trust

• Juanita Nelson was one of the initiating members of an economic study group that met for the winter of 1975 at Woolman Hill where she lives.  This group decided to create a community land trust, which became the Valley CLT.  While not a VCLT lessee, Juanita lives in a land trust mode and has been an active member of VCLT for over 30 years.  Her belief concerning land stewardship is part of her philosophy of trying to live non-violently.

Event Co-Sponsors

• Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) is the Northeast's center for cooperative business education, training and technical assistance. CDI's mission is to increase economic opportunities and benefits for people in the Northeast by fostering the growth and success of all types of cooperative enterprises.
• Co-op Power is a regional network of local communities creating a multi-class, multi-racial movement for a sustainable and just energy future. We are a consumer-owned energy cooperative serving New England and New York.
• Katywil Ecovillage is envisioned as a community of people who treasure the beauty of this land and its subtle pleasures, who wish to simplify their lives, and who relish the company of others.
• Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust protects significant natural, agricultural, and scenic areas and encourages land stewardship in North Central and Western Massachusetts for the benefit of the environment, the economy and future generations.
• The Valley Community Land Trust (VCLT) is a non-profit organization that holds title to land, considering it neither as private nor public property, but as a sacred resource to be held in trust for present and future generations.

 SAVE YOUR SPOT - REGISTER NOW FOR SATURDAY'S TOUR!