This weekend I’ll be attending some talks at the Green Festival, which is being held in Denver at the Convention Center on 14th between Stout and California.
I’m especially interested in David Wann’s talk at 5 pm on Saturday, “Culture Shift: Creating a Restoration Economy.” I own the domain name restorationnation.org and have been pondering what to do with it for some time. I’d like to create some kind of forum on building “an economy that restores.” I hope he can give me some ideas.
At 1 pm on Sunday, Jim Cassio is discussing “Choosing Work for a Sustainable Future.” That sounds good too.
At 2 pm on Sunday, Hunter Lovins will make “The Business Case for Protecting the Climate.”
It costs only $15 per person for the entire weekend, so check it out. There are bands playing (how could you resist Big Green Rabbit?) and food demonstrations and an exhibit hall.
There is lots of similar stuff going on in Denver (and Boulder) these days. There’s now a Transition Colorado group, focused on “transitioning from oil dependency to local resilience.”
And later this month BALLE comes to Denver (May 21 to May 23). BALLE stands for the “Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.” The website is slow, but I finally managed to get to the registration page. Prices go up to $545 for the entire weekend. If you want to look at prices, go to the pull-down menu for the 2009 conference and click on registration.
OK, not to sillify your post but…Hunter Lovins?! How great a porn name is that?
Denveater’s last blog post..Boston Tea Party Turns Denver Thai Party: Thai Basil & the dearth of dandy Mile High Thai take-out
Could make many puns out of it: huntin lov, hunter of love, in the hunter…c’mon, help me out here!
Beth Partin’s last blog post..The Capitol Building on Denver’s Capitol Hill, Part I
I am really looking forward to this conference. I wish we had more time to visit the places but I just don’t think we will.
Re: “I’d like to create some kind of forum on building “an economy that restores.” You should talk to the founders of the Boulder Independent Business alliance.
Joe, thanks for the tip, and thanks for stopping by.
Beth Partin’s last blog post..Crazy About Denver: Views from the Daniels and Fisher Tower
Hello, Beth. Regarding your use of the URL restorationnation.org, can I assume you’ve already read The Restoration Economy (Berrett-Koehler, 2002)? If not, it might be a little hard to find for the next month or two, as the publisher looks like they’ll finally be putting out a paperback edition, and the existing hardcovers are running out. But it’s my new book that might be of more value to your efforts. The Restoration Economy was the first book to cover all the different types of projects, industries, and disciplines that are restoring our natural and built environments. Those projects could considered the “ingredients” of economic revitalization. reWealth (McGraw-Hill, 2008)is more about the “recipe” for those ingredients: how you design, fund, integrate, and implement such projects to bring a community of region back to life. If you have contact info for the speaker, David Wann, I’d love to contact him. Cheers! – Storm Cunningham, storm@resolutionfund.com (Washington DC)
I wonder if I can get some kind of domain name for restoring common sense, personal responsibility, and logic. They died out in the late fifties but maybe I could somehow revive them. 🙂
Good luck. But if you succeed, make sure you don’t restore everything from the 50’s, such as lack of civil rights for blacks/women/gays, complete disregard for pollution and environmental health, constant overthrow of democratically-elected governments in lesser-developed countries to install US-friendly right-wing dictators, etc.
Storm,
thanks for the mention of your book. I’ll check it out. Have you heard of the Global Restoration Network? They have a website that lists restoration projects from around the world.
Bernard, the best way to restore personal responsibility is to live it. And if you seem someone shirking, a well-placed pointed remark or two doesn’t hurt either.
Beth Partin’s last blog post..Crazy About Denver: Denver Green Festival
Hi, Beth: Yes, I’m familiar with GRN, and have been a member of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) since about 2001. Great organization, and I gave them a big plug in The Restoration Economy.
Colin, if you went to the Green Festival, I hope you got a chance to check out downtown Denver.
Beth’s last blog post..Downtown Denver Restaurants: Bayou Bob’s
The BALLE Conference will be amazing! The feeling of unity with hundreds from throughout the country and the world transcends ideological disagreements encountered daily. The focus is how to bring about the changes in creating local economies sustainable because they center on economic, environmental, and social objectives at the same time. The how to make it happen where you live promotes copying the successes elsewhere not time consuming re-inventions. The high coming out of the conference will carry you through to the conference next year!
Dick, thanks for stopping by. The BALLE conference is a little expensive for me, but I’m glad it’s taking place in Denver.
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