One of the participants in one of the summer workshops emailed me the following, noting “Josh, you can use this with my name if you wish for announcements or upcoming workshops.” The next workshop begins in January, so if you’re interested in actively leading our culture away from collapse instead of sleepwalking into it, claiming you can’t make a difference, email me and join us in January.

I should mention, the growing alumni community is growing more active, supportive, and coming up with new activities. You’ll love it. It beats claiming nothing you do matters.

From Josh Myrvaagnes:

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I wish to clarify what I got from taking the sustainability leadership workshop. 

Before the workshop, I had managed to get my carbon footprint down to 12,000 pounds a year (6 tons), direct emissions, and greatly reduce my indirect emissions.(monetary contributions to fossil fuel companies, agribusiness, etc..). But I was running out of steam, feeling lonely and burned out, and freaked out by the enormity of the suddenly larger climate events that were affecting the homestead I was trying to build. Four anomalies in one year, in our local area.

I had long thought, if I just do my part, other people will see me leading by example or see others doing so, and they would do their part. But now it seemed like they weren’t doing their part, and instead were stepping on the accelerator.

In the workshop, I found community around my feelings, and help to re-tap into to joy. Joy is really the engine, joy is really what gives me energy to get stuff done. And I get a lot of joy from being with people, when there’s place for calm social engagement, and a reflection of my basic sense of reality on major issues of survival.

In the video project our class made, I said that the biggest change was making sauerkraut, and I meant it, and thought that’s not the only change. It was significant that the workshop gave me the energy to do that task, rather than procrastinate.  But that in and of itself doesn’t knock a lot of extra pounds off of my carbon footprint. However, being in the course also got me to ride the train to my mother’s, instead of driving the whole way, and to get my bike repaired, so that I’ve been biking much more. I’ve been getting in better shape, since farm chores don’t necessarily support my whole body health. And I have found that I have a voice in things, actually feeling and seeing that my example communicates something versus simply holding that notion as abstract.

I would recommend taking this workshop to homesteaders, especially if you’re feeling isolated, if you’re not really that connected to neighbors who are on board with what you’re trying to do, and even if it’s not making a big difference in terms of the impact you have directly, it may give you a way to bridge some gaps between you and family or old friends.

I was concerned becoming sustainable just to brag about it to other people wouldn’t motivate, but I’m not bragging when I share. Sharing about it with other people who understand does help me to feel normal. And that’s something I had been missing.

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Ready to join? Watch the video and email me to register.

• ← Diving into Eric Foner Talks
• More precedent for expecting we can each live sustainably soon →