Cultivating Connections Recommends:  

Events for Metro Louisville - October 2015

Affirming Connections between Planet, People, Power and Possibilities

Table of Contents - Click to Jump to the Details
Sunday the 4th * This Planet is a Guest House w/ Mark Steiner
Mondays beginning the 5th * Reading the Forest: Nature Education Workshops
Wednesday the 7th * Louisville Sustainability Forum Special Time 12:15pm
Friday the 9th - Sunday the 11th * Tantric Ecology: Planetary Regeneration
Sunday the 11th * Louisville TimeBank Potluck Dinner
Wednesday the 14th * People's Climate Day of Action March and Rally
Thursday the 15th * A Taste of Integral Mondo Zen
Monday the 19th * Social Change Book Club presents Laudato Si by Pope Francis
Tuesday the 20th * Sierra Club presents John "Rolf" Eisinger Metro Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator
Thursday the 22nd * Film Screening: Plant Pure Nation
TBA * Compassionate Louisville Town Hall Meeting at the Louisville Islamic Center
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Sundays in October at 5pm
The Guest House
Hosted at Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion
411 North Hubbards Lane 40207

Sunday, October 4 at 5pm

This week at the Guest House we welcome Mark A Steiner as our wisdom teacher, John Shealy as our meditation guide, Angela Scharfenberger as our musician and Kevlen Goodner as our visual artist.

How can humans welcome the non-human world which first welcomed us? We have forgotten our original and essential connection to nature and the planet. We are estranged from our original home and now must begin our journey back to our original essence and reconnect with the earth that first welcomed us.

Join us on this journey back to the planet... the original guest house.

The Guest House will be moving throughout the community.  Sunday's in October will be hosted at Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion

The Guest House...

...where all worldviews, from agnostic to atheist to faith-professing, are respected...

...where all experiences, from mundane to exotic, from painful to joyful, are embraced...

...where all talents, from those newly discovered to those well-developed, are appreciated...

...where all voices, from not-ready-to-speak to shaky to steady, are honored...

...where being human is enough.

At the guest house we weave together the diverse gifts and wisdom of our community, creating the space for the emergence of collective insight and knowledge, which then guides us in our individual journey of being fully human and our collective journey of being a flourishing community, city and planet.
 

 
Mondays - October 5, 12, 19, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Reading the Forest: Nature Education Workshops
Louisville Nature Center, 3745 Illinois Ave, 40213

Uncover the multiple layers of Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve through the study of the land and the ecological communities that reside here. We will take a close look at habitat composition, the land's history and what the vegetation tells us about land use. This class is for those who want in-depth knowledge of forest ecology. Expect to spend a lot of time in the woods.

Instructor, Carolyn Cromer, is an ecologist who has spent her career managing natural areas in KY and CA. With masters degrees in ecology and forest management, her passion is forest ecosystems. Take a walk with her and learn how to read the forest.

10/5-Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve from the Ground Up
We will start in geologic time to look at the physiographic regions of KY and where Beargrass Creek Nature preserve fits in. We will look at the bedrock and soil, talk about the structure and function of the forest floor and discuss the preserve's land use history.

10/12-Forest Structure and Function
Learn about forest structure from the canopy to the herbaceous layer. We will discuss what types of forest communities are in Beargrass Creek preserve and learn about specific plant species and their functions in the ecosystem.

10/19-Fungi and Wind Storms and Critters, Oh My!
Our last class will touch upon the role of members of the various kingdoms in the forest, including animals, fungi and other decomposers. We will talk about disturbance, both natural and human-made, and its role or effect on the forest ecosystem. Last, but definitely not least, we will learn about primary invasive plant species, how they got there, and their effect on native plants.

Cost: $20 per class/$45 prepaid for all three
Registration and information 502-458-1328
 
 

 
Wednesday, October 7,
Special Time 12:15 - 1:30 pm
Louisville Sustainability Forum
Passionist Earth and Spirit Center
(located behind St Agnes Church at 1920 Newburg Road)

Featured presentation:

Janet Jernigan, Executive Director of Just Solutions 
Just Solutions works to create, facilitate, and teach collaborative processes for managing conflict and building community.
Just Solutions provides services in:
  • Mediation for disputes in the following areas:
    family/divorce, business, employee relations, neighbor-to-neighbor, congregational, organizational, and community.

As we as: Facilitation, Organizational conflict and change, Coaching for effective communication, Team building, and Strategic planning.


Just Solutions provides training in: Mediation, Conflict Management, Effective Communication, and Facilitation.

Shorter presentations:
Urban Agriculture, Valerie Magnuson,
executive director of "Louisville Grows"

Valerie will provide background on Louisville Grows and its current projects.  Louisville Grows is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2009.  Today, it works to grow a just and sustainable community in Louisville, KY, through urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education. http://www.louisvillegrows.org/

A concrete solution to climate change: Jean Christensen

Jean is currently building a chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) in Louisville. She will outline CCL's focused approach to addressing the issue of climate change and explain why she believes so strongly in it.  CCL is an international, non-partisan, grassroots organization committed to creating the political will for a livable world. The primary goal and activity is to empower citizens to exercise their ability to persuade Congress to enact legislation to place a fee on carbon and return the revenue, as a dividend, to American households.

Now in its seventh year, the purposes of the Louisville Sustainability Forum are:
1.We hold and promote the intention of sustainability for Louisville.
2. We establish and nourish relationships that strengthen
community and create change.
3. We create a space for discussion that inspires, motivates and deepens
our ability to catalyze social change.

Food & drink:
Feel free to bring a bag lunch. If you'd like to prepare extra food or drink to share with others, that is always welcome!
 


Friday through Sunday, October 9-11
Tantric Ecology:
Planetary Regeneration with Indian and High Amazonian Practices
Atmaram Ashram, 2700 Hillside Terrace, Louisville, KY

This three-day workshop will introduce participants to eco-theological knowledge systems and practices in the two ancient civilizations of India and Peru, where the non-human world has been a part of, and continuous with, the human world.  These are also civilizations where the entwined masculine and feminine principles are central.  The workshop will consist of Yogic and Shamanic practices, as well as basic readings and discussions around Hindu, Buddhist and Shamanic versions.  The aim is to equip us with tools to help reverse the current global ecological degradation and enhance our psycho-spiritual health through effective methods of aligning ourselves to our planet.

Guest Instructors:  Dr. Frederique Apffel-Marglin & Dr. Neela Bhattacharya Saxena

Cost:  $275
(includes meals, materials and overnight accommodations, if required)
Contact:  Rebecca Martin   atmaashram@gmail.com     (502) 897-5266


 
Sunday, October 11 from 6 - 8pm
Louisville TimeBank Potluck Dinner
Highlands Community Campus, 1228 E Breckinridge 40204

Potlucks are a big part of the TimeBank community. We come together to share food, fun and build community all at the same time. Members get to know each other, and people who are not members can learn a bit about timebanking from chatting with our members at the potluck. Many exchanges get set up at our potlucks too!

We always encourage members to bring guests, and all community members are welcome too! PLEASE BRING: A dish that serves 12 and your own table service to make clean up easier (if you forget, there is plenty to borrow from the kitchen).

The entrance and parking lot are behind the building off of Barrett Avenue.
 
 
  
 
Wednesday, October 14
People's Climate Day of Action
4:45 Gather at 6th and Broadway
March a Downtown Route
5:30 Rally at Metro Hall

Do you want our local and state politicians to do more to address climate change?  So do we!  Mayor Fischer proclaimed Oct. 14th "People's Climate Action Day;" now we're asking him to act.  Observe the day with us in a march in solidarity with the national People's Climate Movement (PCM).  Meet up at 6th and Broadway at 4:45 pm.  From there we'll take a looping downtown route with a stop at 5:30 for a rally on the steps of Metro Hall. We'll end where we started, a distance of about 1.7 miles. Bring your signs and your voices.  RSVP on Facebook and also on the PCM event page.

The fall 2014 People's Climate March signaled to both U.S. and global leaders that large numbers of people in the United States cared about the climate crisis. Not only was the march the largest action on climate in history, but we successfully changed the notion that climate change was just an environmental issue. The march made it clear that this is also a social and economic justice struggle. Building off of the energy and success of the march, the People's Climate Movement was formed to continue to build on that energy and excitement and expand across the country.
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Thursday, October 15 7 -8:30 pm
Earth & Spirit Center and Flowing Dharma invite you to
Doshin Michael Nelson Roshi and A Taste of Integral Mondo Zen
Earth and Spirit Center, 1924 Newburg Road

Doshin is a poet, teacher and troublemaker - a Zen Master and founder of Integral Zen. Doshin worked directly with JunPo Dennis Kelly Roshi in developing Mondo Zen and is highly skilled in this transformative practice.

Mondo Zen™ is a dialectic exchange between Zen master and student - a direct transmission of pure awareness, of pure meditative mind. Mondo allows us to bring clarity, wisdom and deep caring into our lives.

Integral Zen brings together the Integral theory of Ken Wilber, the shadow work of Carl Jung, and the power of Zen practice. Doshin's broad perspective invites deep insight into ourselves, our conditioning and our interactions with others.

Fee is $10 before October 9 $15 thereafter

To register for the talk, call ESC at 502-452-2749 or
go to www.earthandspiritcenter.org
Info: JohnShealyPhD@gmail.com or 502-727-299

Also join Doshin for a 3-Day non-residential Integral Mondo Zen Retreat for experienced meditators, Oct 16-18 @ ESC. Space is limited to 20. To register for the retreat go to www.BeMindful.org/mondo1015.htm

 

 
Monday, October 19
Social Change Book Club presents
Laudato Si, On Care of Our Common Home by Pope Francis
Heine Brothers,  119 Chenoweth Lane

Addressed not only to Catholics but to "every person living on this planet," Pope Francis' second encyclical is a challenging call for a "bold cultural revolution" in how we think about technological progress and economic growth.

The degradation of our environment, he says, is a symptom of deeper problems: rapid change, unsustainable overconsumption, indifference to the poor, and the decay of social values. He offers a variety of solutions, including a change in lifestyles away from "extreme consumerism" and towards a greater sense of social responsibility. For Christians, an "ecological spirituality"-one that is grounded in the convictions of our faith-is not "an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience."

Pope Francis calls on all of us to devote more care to our home ecosystem. He calls for us to recognize the interdependency of nature and human society. Because they are linked, damage inflicted on nature corrodes our social fabric. Rather than recommending short-term technological or political solutions, Pope Francis states that before cleaning the environment the human race must first clean its own inner house and change its own attitude to itself and others.

NOTE: We are looking at the social change implications of this document, from the perspectives of its content, origin, moral, spiritual and scientific groundings.  

Laudato Si, On Care of Our Common Home may be read online or downloaded free here. One of the many synopses available online can be read here.

The Social Change Book Club is now in its ninth year of monthly meetings. It is open to everyone who is interested in understanding, participating, leading, or supporting social change. Each month we select a book and get together to discuss. Selections rotate among three themes: social changes, how we work with others to make change happen, and the inner qualities needed to bring change into the world.

Hosted by Howard Mason


  
 Tuesday, October 20 7pm
Greater Louisville Sierra Club presents
John "Rolf" Eisinger,
Louisville Metro Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator
Clifton Center, 2117 Payne St

John "Rolf" Eisinger, Louisville Metro Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, will discuss the state of biking and walking in Louisville and related programs and initiatives.
Rolf has over six years of experience managing Louisville's bicycle and pedestrian program. Under Rolf's leadership, the pedestrian program has become a bronze-level Walk Friendly Community, and the bike program has reached silver status as a bicycle-friendly community (according to The League of American Bicyclists).

We hope you'll join us to learn more about where we're headed and what each of us can do to advocate for improvements in this important area of sustainable transportation, recreation, and public health.

Greater Louisville Sierra Club's programs are always
free and open to the public.
Please join us.



Thursday, October 22, 7:30 pm
Film Screening: Plant Pure Nation
Baxter Theatre, 1250 Bardstown Road

Written and Directed by Nelson Campbell and including the producer and writer of FORKS OVER KNIVES, the film examines the political and economic factors that suppress information on the benefits of plant-based nutrition, while making the connections of this idea to larger issues such as medical practice, farming, and food deserts. The film's story follows three people working to spread the word about one of the most important health breakthroughs of all time.

The filmmakers hope to use PLANTPURE NATION to create a broad grassroots movement. PLANTPURE NATION FOUNDATION, a nonprofit organization, will establish local chapters called PLANTPURE PODS in cities and towns across North America. Members of these chapters will help to plant seeds of change around the message of plant-based nutrition in their communities.  

PLANTPURE NATION was filmed across the USA and features Steve Forbes, Jr. (Editor-in-Chief Forbes Magazine), Dr. T. Colin Campbell (Co-Author, The China Study), Dr. Neal Barnard (Founder and President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine), Dr. Michael Greger, (Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture, Humane Society of the United States) leading the list of world-renowned experts, doctors and authors who speak on the topic.  Ticket information at PlantPureNation.com

Considerable parts of the film were filmed in Louisville, including during of the PlantPure Rally summer 2014. You might see someone you know!





Date and time to be announced
Compassionate Louisville Town Hall Meeting  
Louisville Islamic Center, 4007 River Road, 40207 

Experience compassion in action!  Each month we invite you on a pilgrimage to discover the city's often hidden compassion gems. Once at the site, we will share the mission of the host organization, celebrate the newest organizations to have adopted a compassion resolution, congratulate the newest Compassion Laureate, share how Compassionate Louisville is encouraging compassionate action, and provide a forum for you and others to share their compassionate actions.

Everyone is invited! Bring a Friend! No RSVP required.

Through intention and social innovation, Compassionate Louisville creates
and celebrates a community and world becoming more and more compassionate.

The mission of the Partnership for a Compassionate Louisville is to
champion and nurture the growth of compassion.
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