Spring 2010 Earth Day Fair

Sustainability, Peace & Justice Series

Due to popular demand, the Earth Day Fair is now holding sessions Friday, all day on Saturday and expanded into Sunday. The Earth Day Fair serves as the festival’s center for community involvement and environmental education. Centrally located in the Sustainability Pavilion, built by festival volunteers as a live example of sustainable living techniques, the “Circle” will host multiple forums and demonstrations throughout the weekend. This year we have a full schedule of speakers with sessions involving open forum discussions and nature walks.

Friday, April 23 Forum Series -
1:00pm – Living Well Communities, Tracy Lynn of Tracy Lynn Consulting, Inc.: Energy Education, Solar Sales, Sustainable Communities. The Living Well Community, located in Randolph County, is a self supporting community focused on sustainability, health and wellness. This environmentally conscious community honors the history of the land and blends the needs of future generations by preserving open space for farming and recreation. Tracy will conduct an interactive discussion on the benefits to humans living in sustainably designed, free-associating, co-housing communities. For years, Tracy has been an advocate of changing the way humans live and interact with our environment. The further we live from nature and the less we interact with our natural surroundings, the less healthy we are.

2:00pm - Making and Using Biodiesel Fuel, Chris Jude and David Thornton, Piedmont Biofuels Design/Build. Chris and David will lead a down and dirty detailed presentation on this clean and renewable alternative fuel. Learn from the experts how to make one’s car, tractor, or home heating earth-friendly machine! A primer on what biodiesel is, how to use it, and even see a hands-on biodiesel production in action. Also, Piedmont will be on hand for fuel sales in the parking lot by appointment. David is the head of the Design/Build department at Piedmont and Chris has run fuel production at the plant and now works with David in Design/Build. Both have been designing and building biodiesel reactors for several years.

3:00pm - GrassRoots Community Health Care, Valentine Antony, The Pittsboro Center for Natural Medicine. The time has come to reclaim our health care Independence. Our discussion will explore some grassroots alternatives to providing quality health and wellness in our communities. We will investigate new paradigms in medicine plus healing and alternative health care models such as the Free Clinic. Valentine Antony is the co-founder and Director of The Pittsboro Center for Natural Medicine and a certified integrative Reflexologist. Come out and meet our staff!

4:00pm- Green Jobs by Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) with Laura Lauffer, Sustainable Technologies Coordinator at CCCC. Green Jobs are all the rage but what does that mean? What are local trends in green jobs, state and national trends? What certifications are needed, how can you make any business or technology more sustainable? Laura will lead this informative interactive discussion, come ready to share your experiences, ideas and hopes for your green job!

5:00pm - The Independent Progressive Politics Network will host a forum. Our ninth Common Ground for Peace and Justice Forum will gather in open community space to share, dialogue and discover how to bring the energy and inspiration of Shakori Hills to our daily lives. Let us hear your hopes, concerns and solutions. Come join us for a loving discussion!

Saturday, April 24 Forum Series -

10:00am – Nature Walk on the Farm, Pierre Lauffer. Pierre will be leading a nature walk and an informative and philosophical group discussion on the historical natural heritage of the Shakori Hills farm. With more than 20 years experience in environmental management and planning, Pierre is seeking to change the way regions and communities understand resource usage within the communal context and that an important asset to community resource planning involves maintaining “open space.” An important component to a community’s public welfare directly relates to the amount of open space maintained as a communal asset.

11:00am – The Power of Solar Thermal Energy, Fred Stewart, Solar Consultants. A full 14% of total energy used by an average home is due to maintaining hot water. Imagine the amount of energy saved if every house in this country had a solar thermal hot water system. Fred Stewart will conduct a highly educational discussion on solar thermal systems. What are they? And how much energy can a system save a household. With more than 27 years experience installing solar energy systems, Fred is the expert. Solar Consultants has installed thousands of thermal solar systems across the state and helped develop some of the most innovative solar energy systems in the world.

12:00 noon - Compost Conscious “The Secret Life of Compost,” Bob and Camille Armantrout. Bob and Camille are zero waste advocates who have been composting for more than a decade. They will present basic composting techniques using low-tech, inexpensive methods that almost anyone can follow. This interactive discussion is so informative and it is truly great fun for the whole family.

1:00pm – Using and Making Biodiesel Fuel, Chris Jude and David Thornton, Piedmont Biofuels Design/Build. A down and dirty detailed presentation on this clean, green, renewable alternative diesel fuel. Learn from the experts at Piedmont Biofuels how to make one’s car, tractor, or home heating an earth-friendly machine! A primer on what biodiesel is, how to use it, and even see a hands-on biodiesel production trailer in action. Also, Piedmont will be on hand for fuel sales in the parking lot by appointment.

2:00pm - Sustainability and Ecology as Spiritual Practice of Awareness, Love, and Reverence of the Earth with Leif Diamant. Leif (wildearthconsulting.com and Wild Walkabout in Happenings section) will facilitate this exploration through nature connection, inner exploration, and conversation on how living intimately with Nature cultivates wisdom, compassion and happiness. Appreciation, enjoyment, caring and protective utilization of Nature’s exuberant abundance results in thriving humans and a thriving planet.

3:30pm - Kids Music Workshop. Naturally, kids make music using anything they have at hand. Come see how they do it. This workshop is especially made for children to come and experiment with a number of instruments at hand. This is truly great fun for the whole family!

5:00pm - Green Building Round Table, Michael Chandler of Chandler Design-Build, Inc. Bring your green building thoughts and dreams for a reality check with Michael Chandler, local green builder, teacher and writer, two time finalist for NAHB Green Custom home of the year, DOE Energy Value Housing Award Winner and NAHB Green Building Professional of the year. This is not a talk, it’s a question and answer session, so bring your questions and get informed answers.

Sunday April 25 Forum Series

12:00 noon- Grassroots Festival as a Social Enterprise: Modeled Structures for the Future of Capitalism by Jordan Puryear of Grassroots Roadshow, Inc. Jordan is cofounder of the Finger Lakes Grassroots Music Festival and has been involved in organizing and running grassroots festivals since 1991 including the Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival since 2003. Both Shakori Hills and the Finger Lakes Grassroots Music festivals are operated as self-supporting non-profit corporations whose mission is socially conscious. Jordan will be leading a discussion of creating a socially conscious business enterprise or corporation and how these enterprises may contribute to community sustainability.