Welcome! This is a place to get involved and connected. For those who have read Twelve by Twelve, the journey continues here into the soft economy, permaculture, the leisure ethic, and so on. I’ve also included resources for writers, reading groups, teachers, students, activists… and much more. Enjoy!
Permaculture and Wildcrafting
Soft Economy
Spirituality
Reading Groups
Responsible Travel
Further Reading, Viewing, Connecting
Permaculture and Wildcrafting
World Wide Opportunities in Organic Farm. Help out on a family organic farm during your next vacation, in exchange for room, board, and sustainability skills. (wwoof.org) El Bosque Organic Garlic Farm. Stan and Rose Mary Crawford turned a circular stone cabin in their garlic fields into a B&B guesthouse; harvest with them in their revolutionary fields. (vrbo.com/118083)
Permaculture Institute. Study the things our grandparents knew but our parents forgot with
Bill Mollison (permaculture.org.au), or check out his book, The Permaculture Handbook.
Be Self Sufficient-ish: Twins Andy and Dave Hamilton give practical advice on extracting oneself from the corporate economy—even without taking an all-out permaculture plunge. (selfsufficientish.com)
Soft Economy
Find a farmers market near your home. (apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets)
Slow Food USA. Support good, clean, and fair food through a local chapter of this non-profit group. (slowfoodusa.org)
For ideas on socially responsible investing there’s Social Funds. (socialfunds.com) Also, Motley Fool will help you cut up your credit cards. They have an on-line financial literacy quiz. (motleyfool.com)
Center for a New American Dream. Ideas for shifting American culture from overdeveloped to enough. (www.newdream.org)
Stay for free worldwide through the non-profit Couchsurfing Organization. (couchsurfing.com)
Buy fairly traded goods from the Bolivia coffee cooperatives with whom I worked, and from others on the creative edge of the Global South. (fairtradeusa.com)
Calculate your carbon footprint. Input information about your lifestyle and this site tells you how many planets would be needed if everyone consumed at that level. (carbonfootprint.com)
Spirituality
Happy, Healthy, Holy (H3O) Organization. The non-profit kundalini yoga institute holds solstice yoga retreats and white tantric yoga. Their challenging 8-day New Mexico retreat was one of the most rewarding weeks I’ve had. (3HO.org)
Thich Nhat Hahn’s retreats. At the Zen Master’s retreat center in Plum Village, France. (plumvillage.com)
Alternative education includes homeschooling (midnightbeach.com/hs) and Waldorf education (steinerwaldorf.org).
Reading Groups
Reading groups have used my books with great success. Both Blue Clay People and Whispering in the Giant’s Ear combine personal, political, and environmental drama to create long and lively discussions. For suggested discussion questions for each book, or to set up a 30 minute phone visit with your reading group please write me an email. Numerous university classes use the book too, and I’m happy to interact with students over the web. Professors requiring desk copies can write me an email.
Responsible Travel
Samaipata: A wonderful colonial village two hours from Santa Cruz. (samaipata.info) and as featured in my Washington Post travel piece. (LINK)
Stay with Pieter and Marga at their lovely organic farm / posada, La Vispera (www.lavispera.org). Or with Andres and Dora at the friendly gallery / hostel Andorina downtown (www.andorinasamaipata.com)
Tours of nearby Amboro National Park with trilingual ornithologist Michael Blendinger (www.discoveringbolivia.com)
Stay and hoe the rows with Christopher Colombus (yes, his real name) and Sol at their Ginger’s Paradise organic farm up the road in Bermejo (www.gingersparadise.com)
Further Reading and (Non)doing
A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm. Stan Crawford’s masterpiece.
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. Helps to reshape household economy as rebellion.
How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson is a witty manifesto on working less.
Anam Cara: John O’Donahue’s exquisite book.
Yes! A positive news magazine with up-to-date happenings on the creative edge.
Check out Mark Cramer’s Tropical Downs, “a novel of peril and misadventure in search for the elusive automatic bet” which is set in Bolivia.