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Wow.
Last night, more than 400 people packed into a sold-out opera hall for a 3-hour lecture and Q&A session, while quite a few were turned away for lack of space.
The energy was incredible: focused, positive, scared, calm, determined, & eager. It was all there.
When I originally asked how many in the crowd had seen the Crash Course, nearly 3/4ths of the hands went up. Clearly, something is going on out here. The organizers of the event, Cooper and Bob and a local group dedicated to sustainability (FOCUS), did an incredible job with the logistics, and, obviously, patiently setting the stage over the past several months. Kudos!
This event was extremely gratifying to me, because it showed that big ideas, even ones that would be labeled as "not happy ones" by our culture, have a secure and growing place in people's lives.
The most impressive part of the evening was the vast cross-section represented. There were plenty from the under-thirty crowd, there were conservatives and ex-hippies, old and young, rich and poor. One person drove up from LA, others from several hours away, and then there was Mr. Fri, from the site here, who came up from Texas.
I hope that people who were in attendance will take the time to share with us some of their reflections from the evening. I am eager to hear how it went for those in attendance. For me, it was a highlight of my 'career' so far.
- cmartenson's blog
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Thanks for coming to Sonora, Chris, and for sharing your insights with us. As a member of last night's audience, I too saw a broad cross-section of our community. As you pointed out, not everyone will have reacted in the same way. To varying degrees there was a mixture of denial, anger, fear, despair, acceptance and, yes, a real detemination to make a difference. There's one thing that didn't happen: No-one in that sold-out audience was left untouched, which is a powerful gift for our small town. We look forward to welcoming you and your family back to Sonora in the future.
Last night was truly awesome for our little community. Being the one selling tickets at the door, I was frustrated that we had to turn interested and excited people away. Some had driven an hour to attend the talk, but arrived too late. I am hopeful that we'll be able to have Chris and his family return as we work together toward a more sustainable and self-sufficient community. His message has been the fire beneath many of us to plan and think about our own homestead and how we can not only provide for our own needs, but for those of our neighbors and help share our skills and knowledge through the FoCuS education program. I'm the immediate past-Executive Director of FoCuS and I have decided to shift my energies to a very local level....basically walking distance radius from my home. Within that radius there are about 500-1000 households that can work together if we all start networking.
I think one of the most important messages last night was the message of hope. It's so easy to think of the Crash Course as a negative message, but it's really not. It's a dose of reality and, if you are listening with open ears, we can create a tommorow that will be much brighter and more sustainable than the course we are on today. There is NO downside. How horrible would it be if our communities were able to produce their own food, energy, and water? How horrible would it be if neighbors worked with neighbors to fulfill their needs? I hope we can wake up enough people so we can get our feet under us first, but I'm actually looking forward to the new challenges and the end of consumerism, greed, and feeding frenzy to use up all of our natural resources!
For those interested, here is the link to the FoCuS website: http://foothillsustainability.org/
Thank you Chris! We love you!
How I wish we could get Chris to come to Australia.....
Mike
Peace on Terra http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roeoz/
And why can't we?
Dick
Chris, congratulations! I am so glad that you had such a successful and gratifying event after all your hard work!!
Coop, well done!!
"Do what you can, with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are." - Nikosi Johnson
Chris, thanks for a job well done.
We appreciate your coming to our small town and getting things going. I managed to get about 15 of the 300 or so people I have told about your site to attend. We have created very localized co-ops that are working feverishly towards self sufficiency and the ability to create excess, which we know is the basis of economy. This is also providing the ability to reach out to help others and is re bonding our community in ways I didnt foresee when I began this project. I would like to add we have done this without the benefit of donations, or large amounts of money, being completely self sufficient even in our inception.
We have also started moving towards larger scale photvoltaic and other renewable energy systems that will feed into aquaponic systems.
The intent is to create the completely green resource for energy, industry and food production that will simultaneously clean up some of the industrial sites here in the area and returm the water to our ecosystem in state of cleanliness that doesnt exist at most of these toxic areas.
This also accomplishes the goal of increasing employment, removing prior industrial wastes from the local environment, providing a model and resource for other commercial interest to visit and learn from and hopefully improve upon. All of this while producing a profit and showing that small communities can create their own resources without damaging the systems they depend on environmentally.
You have lit a fire that others, like John Robb (http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/) and Tom Krenshaw (http://freedomguerrilla.com/) are feeding through resilient community theory as a practical response to so many potential problems.
Thanks again for your work sir.
Joe Bick
Last night was just spectacular, as already mentioned. In addition to the demographics already mentioned as being present, there were also a number of elected officials (county supervisors and city council members) from both counties. My wife and I will be following up with our supervisor on how to bring this message into focus across the county more visibly.
Being a recovering mathematician myself, I always love it when we are reminded of how the exponential function works, so "Be prepared to be surprised -- soon"!
I'll be teaching another round of the CC in Calaveras in April, and I am very confident that last night's experience will bring many of those not previously enrolled out for a great four week experience. Angus has already started plans for the follow-up work to the CC in Calaveras as well!!
We're on it!
I wish I had been able to be there but I am in LA and I had to work so could not take the drive all the way to Sonora. It sounds like it was a great event.
Congratulations to Coop for putting on a great event
Ken
Southern California - North Los Angeles area.
Wow Chris, look, you are starting to appear in the media!
Diverse crowd hears lecturer talk of future lacking resources, growth
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
January 29, 2010 12:00 AM
SONORA - Normally, grim graphics showing the worldwide depletion of resources such as oil and copper would seem unlikely to get a laugh.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...
Thanks Pinecarr and Kenc! I am awestruck at the turnout, the event and the response! It will take me another day or so to get it from experience to paper.
But make no mistake, this event came together because of all of the concerned and involved citizens in our area that have seen the Crash Course and have managed to work through their various stages of awareness and arrive at a point of action. As you all know, this is not necessarily a "walk in the park"!
And you will be happy to know that our favorite information scout is in the air as we speak on his way back to his family. Thanks Becca and family for sharing Chris with our community. As we drove through the California Delta farmland in the early dawn hours this morning on the way to the airport I couldn't help but marvel at the changes I have experienced over the past year in sharing his visions with others. The full moon was setting in the west behind a thin veil of clouds, miles and miles of beautiful farmland was showing itself it the early light and a new day was dawning. It was perfect! I am certain we will make a difference in how this wrinkle turns out!
Watching the Crash Course and attending the Lowesville Seminar last year was a game changer for me. Being present at his lecture and Q&A session was truly incredible. Chris is a remarkably talented speaker and his way in engaging the audience and responding to questions is a work of art in action. But the best part is that Chris is not an act, he is the real deal and his message is simple truth from his heart and he cares a lot about sharing it. It carries the day. People do and will react to the message in their own individual way. That is OK - everyone needs their own space to work things out. The most profound experience however is being in the presence of someone who is doing what they love to do because they care about others and want to make a difference. That is what Chris brings to the table in abundance.
There were a couple of times during the presentation when people felt a standing ovation was appropriate. How about that for impact considering the subject matter!! It was incredible. It was because everyone knew he was giving it to them straight. It was because he cared about them more that the material. That is a very valuable commodity in our society these days because it is so scarce! ( I'm kinda referring to politics here!) The nice part is we can all have some of that because it is who we are too and all we have to do is to get out there and spread some of it around. Before very long it will come flooding back in .... I can assure you of that. That has been my reward!
Coop