Picture this: ten young West Virginians carrying a 350-lb fiberglass giraffe through the grounds of a community center in a low-income neighborhood in the Chemical Valley.
It’s a bizarre sight – and it certainly isn’t what the socially-conscious participants expected when they signed up for a summer with Build-It-Up! West Virginia, to build infrastructure and expand the capacity of long-term community-run sustainable economic projects in the coalfields. Continue reading
It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly four weeks into Summer of Solutions. I’ll be honest–the world hasn’t changed yet. It is still powered by fossil fuels, the income gap continues to expand, hunger and poverty remain rampant in far too many places, biodiversity is quietly but rapidly stepping out, and what’s worse? The steadfast warming of the planet can only enhance these problems.
The world may not have changed (at least noticeably) in the last four weeks, but something has. There’s a mysterious energy I’ve been getting from the world around me that I’ve struggled to place. Something around me has surely changed. But what? For some reason, my perception of the world has become more positive. I have become more and more optimistic about the abilities of people to overcome the daunting challenges posed by ubiquitous, systemic failures. But why? Continue reading
Two days ago, the United States celebrated the 235th anniversary of our declaration of independence from British Rule. Like most American holidays, we tend to use this as an excuse to have parties, eat a lot, and buy stuff – in this case, fireworks. Many Americans also use it as a time to share their views on patriotism, freedom, and the other concepts our founding fathers talked about – as if the only time it’s appropriate to bring up these words is in the context of the American history or right-wing political rallies.
But when did this language become “right wing”? When did it become cliched/ironic to wear a T-shirt with a bald eagle or an American flag? When did the noble ideal of “liberty and justice for all” become just something we repeat in public school classrooms, not what guides our daily decisions? Continue reading
Cross-posted from WeArePowershift.org
By Anna Nilles
During my first day as a solutionary, I drifted into a conversation among my program leaders about the “side yard wish list.” Simply put, this is all the stuff they wanted to put in the grassy space next to our house. There was mention of chicken coops, bike racks, 3-bin compost systems, tool sheds, and rain barrels. I took one look at the side of the house and chuckled. This would be like when my parents talk about fixing their garbage disposal— it sounds like a great idea, but they never quite get it done.
Little did I know, a week later I would be drafting a floor plan of this infamous side yard and submitting it to a carpenter, who will complete the project next week thanks to a group of volunteers. In addition to fitting all of the “wish list” items into the yard, we will be adding a rain garden, demolishing 2 flights of stairs, and extending the space an additional 8 feet. Continue reading
by Daria Kieffer
It is so hot outside. I guess summer finally decided to show itself in Minnesota, and, as much as I love it, I’ve decided to retreat into a nice cold coffee shop to spend some quality time with my laptop. I’ve officially been living in the Twin Cities, working and playing with Summer of Solutions, for three weeks now, and it’s been a crazy blur of activity the whole time.
It’s funny- when I think about all that we’ve been doing for the past 21 days (farming, repairing bikes, meeting with millions of community partners, potlucks, more meetings), I wonder why I’m not about to keel over with exhaustion. I so clearly remember last summer, when I was working 40 hours per week at a consignment store, and all I felt like doing after an eight hour day was plopping down on my couch with some ice cream. Why aren’t these long days depleting me that way? Continue reading
By Cecelia Watkins
Wake up. Bike from my home in St Paul over to South Minneapolis. Meet up with other passionate people to plan how to deliver 40 free workshops on home energy efficiency to local residents. Attend a fabulously raucous group lunch and engage in a vibrant discussion on how capitalism fits into our vision of the green economy. Learn about urban bee keeping, then bike back across the shimmering Mississippi to repair donated bikes and laugh with a motley crew of community members while learning how to distinguish brake from shifter housing. Bike home under blue skies, listening to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution TED Talk on my MP3 player.
Kirsten, Elena and Daria show off a rusty chain at Sibley Bike Depot
A year ago, I would have termed that a youthful fantasy born out of an head too full of wanting to do it all at once: biking and gardening and weatherizing—making a positive difference in the world while growing personally and maintaining personal well-being in the process. Now, I would call that description a Monday at Summer of Solutions Twin Cities.
For us folks up here in the Pioneer Valley, things have really been picking up. Today some of us headed out to Harvest Moon Farm where We met up with some old and new friends, one of the teams for New England Climate Summer. New England Climate Summer is a summer internship program for young people that travel exclusively by bicycle in small teams across New England, spending about a week in a community before biking on to the next.
The five strong young women, Marina, Kaia, Lisa, Sara, and April helped us weed our garlic beds and add new mulch. In addition, we harvested our first zucchini and summer squash, with our largest zucchini measuring 1 foot long!
As the end of June begins to wrap up the first 3 weeks of our program, we have had quite the journey through training days, farm working days, meeting each other, growing, exploring, and asking the questions we hope to spend our summers trying to discover answers to. Although our team works incredibly hard and is dedicated to our work, we know how to have fun as well. So what have we REALLY been up to recently?
In the time between our long days of trainings and hours in the hot sun weeding garlic, we have found ourselves laughing and joking, and learning each other’s unique charms and quirks. Skateboarding, frisbee, silly games, jam sessions, dinners; our days extend much more beyond the traditional 8 hour work day.
Swinging at Greenfield High School
Learnin’ some new skills
About a dozen of us filled the living room, sitting on all surfaces available and balancing plates on knees or floor boards. The room was full of relative strangers, from high school up to mid-20s, from nearby towns and every corner of New England, sharing company and a meal of lasagna. Energy was high as we discussed the projects that lie ahead this summer, and the ideas we have for our two months together.
This is Summer of Solutions Pioneer Valley, a program in sustainable community development and youth leadership, based in the towns of Turners Falls and Greenfield in northern Massachusetts.
We are a group of about fifteen full and part-time members who are all dedicated to learning how to create solutions in our communities. This summer, that means working on a local farm, learning home weatherization techniques, improving our bike maintenance skills, facilitating and organizing free local classes on topics from food preservation to stone-masonry and much more. Beyond these tangible skills, we’re learning the pieces that make it all fit together.
How do you start a community project? How can you make environmental solutions accessible? What is solidarity? What does it mean to be a sustainable business? How do you sustain yourself while you’re at it?
Working with an exciting variety of community partners, our participants will have the chance to:
1. Become competent in bike commuting and bike maintenance. In our rural corner of New England, cars are a near necessity. We will explore how transportation in our area can become more sustainable, starting with ourselves.
2. Grow their own food and share it with the local community. Through a partnership with Harvest Moon Farm, we will be doing a “workshare” to exchange our labor for produce. We will also be creating a garden at a local community resource center, the Brick House, to provide food and education in the center of Turners Falls.
3. Weatherize a local home and public building under the guidance of a local cooperative, Co-op Power. We will also develop materials to help renters secure energy audits and improvements on their homes.
4. Take and facilitate courses at the Brick House Summer Workshop Series, which offers free classes to the community on topics from gardening to wood working to meditation.
Summer of Solutions goes beyond the tangible work we will be doing, to instill a mindset for the rest of our lives. It’s the mindset that we have everything we are looking for to solve environmental, economic and social challenges. It’s the mindset that people are the key ingredient to make the changes communities are desperately seeking. It’s the mindset that the future can actually look brighter than our present today, and rolling up our sleeves to make it so
Solutionaries 