Hosted By
Center for Holistic Ecology
In Association With
Gaia University
Solari, Inc.
Ecovillage Training Center
Living Mandala
Global Village Institute
The Leadership School
Oklahoma Food Cooperative
Facilitators
Catherine Austin Fitts
Andy Langford
Liora Adler
Albert Bates
Jennifer Dauksha-English
Greg Landua
Valerie Seitz
Ethan C. Roland
Jonathan Cloud
Carolyn A. Betts
More to be Announced
Summit Inspiration
What Does a Sustainable Working Economic Model for a Modern Rural American Community look like? Communities throughout America are looking for the solutions to increasing energy costs, shaky financial markets, changing ecosystems, and job losses in a globalized economy. How do we respond to a world which seems to present us with changes and challenges almost daily?
Concept
This Summit is a participatory event. Organizers, facilitators and content instructors will engage course participants in both conversation and design. We'll be consolidating existing tools and strategies whilst collaborating to expand the working models so they can be used by a wide demographics. Our aim is to gather together people from as many diverse backgrounds as possible. With diverse representation from the business, environmental and local communities we will engage participatory problem solving and establish forums for communicating about the challenges facing the environment and the global economy.
Summit Description
Join community investment experts, permaculture designers and sustainability entrepreneurs for this dynamic gathering and integrative educational experience of Greening an American Community. Learn valuable tools and skills in real life scenarios to address the economic and environmental challenges of 21st century America. In this real-time Green Business Development Summit we will explore creating forward looking sustainable businesses, money cycling, local investments, and optimizing the local natural and human resources to implement models of regenerative business and local sustainability.
Get access to cutting edge content about new business models, key industries, design solutions, and green investment opportunities that are ecologically and socially responsible as well as economically profitable. This workshop is a participatory, hands-on experience and design charrette to explore implementing regenerative economic models and applying them to create real, actionable business plans and investment opportunities for a zero-waste economy in the small town of Hohenwald, Tennessee.
Join a diverse crowd of local and national leaders including small business owners, city council members, financial advisors, permaculture designers, investors, accountants, construction workers, philanthropists, local officials, students and more as we come together for this real-time Green Business Development Summit to create solid businesses solutions and tangible investment opportunities to empower robust local responses to the challenges faced by communities around the country and planet.
Complementary Currencies
This year's Summit will be proceeded by an intensive workshop on designing and implementing Complimentary Currencies. The theme of local currency as a tool for creating local financial stability will also be a theme that weaves through the Financial Permaculture Summit in 2009. More information coming soon.
Design Charrettes
Attendees will spend the first portion of the gathering discussing and learning about finance and regenerative models. During the second half of the gathering, participants will break into specific design teams in focused areas. Each focus area will be facilitated be experts in the respective field who together with participants will create a design and business plan for that focus area which will then be presented to a panel of officials including - state senators, state representatives, county commissionerss, bankers, lawyers, state department members, members from the local chamber of commerce, and more.
Design Charrette Details
The primary focus of the design teams will be on the development of practical and applicable business designs relevant to Hohenwald, TN and Lewis County, and to develop models that can be replecated elsewhere.
The specific focus areas for this years design charrettes will be announced soon.
Last year’s design charrettes consisted of:
-
•Green Incubation
-
•Ethanol
-
•Builders/Designer/Association/Supply
-
•Farmers Cooperative
For more information and updates on the results of last year’s design charrettes click here.
Goals Articulation
There are three overall goals for the event:
1. Local Participation:
-
-Local Economic Development
-
-New Green Businesses Incubated
-
-Education
2. Model Green Business Development
-
-Consolidate and add value to existing models
-
-Replication of simulated designs
-
-National participants disseminate model in their communities
-
-Generic template for green business development
3. Model Community Development
-
-Consolidate and add value to existing models
-
-Replication of simulated designs
-
-National participants disseminate model in their communities
-
-Generic template for community development
-
-Networking forum
-
-International conversation
Additional Goals
1. Enjoy the community of being together and have a great time.
2. Create linkages between networks of economic development, permaculture, and finance leaders.
3. Enrich templates for community development and green business start-up.
4. Begin the development of business start-up and investments that contribute to the financial health of Hohenwald, TN on a permanent basis.
5. Connect through blogs, videos, audio to collaborate with and further inspire people around the world doing similar things.
6. Create a powerfully, hopeful vision of how changing the flows of money in an ecosystem can help to transform our situation that will help expand options and build political and economic support for business, community, and government leaders across America and the world.
Adding Value
The strategic value of this event on the local community is three fold:
-
1.Educational Value: We're offering a cutting edge educational opportunity to an otherwise disadvantaged rural area. This event is bringing national attention to Middle Tennessee, highlighting the area as a prototype community/region successfully facing current day challenges.
-
2.Economic Development: Through the event we'll be simulating the design of new green businesses to be developed in the area. We've already held 4 design sessions open to the public to prepare for the October simulation. At these sessions we surveyed the businesses most needed in the region. We've enlisted more than 20 local representatives, senators, bankers, brokers, lawyers, etc., to assess the feasibility of the designs produced through the October simulation.
-
3.Environmental Protection: The event is going to be a 'Green' event. We'll be calculating and then offsetting our carbon footprint. The offset will go directly to planting trees in this county and to local biochar production. We're implementing every strategy that we can to 'Green' the event. We'll be marketing the event locally as 'Green' and educating the local participants about our efforts.
