Cohousing-L Mailing List: Taking advantage of the Bill McKibben Keynote Video: toward the 10/10/10 Global Work Party

[Craig Ragland (craigragland]

In the last issue of Cohousing Now!, Coho/US released the Bill McKibben
Keynote video on the Cohousing Website:

http://www.cohousing.org/2010/events/keynote

The video was part of Bill's June 18 keynote address for the 2010 National
Cohousing Conference in Boulder, CO. The keynote was a highlight of the
conference.

OK, that's the official Coho/US part - now for my personal appeal.

This video presents a strong call-to-action that I hope Cohousing
communities around the world will embrace. Bill invites us to throw a Work
Party at each of our communities on October 10, 2010 -- that is 10/10/10.

Some members of my community, Songaia Cohousing Community, viewed the
30-minute video after dinner. At the end, there was applause (which is rare
after videos). This was followed by silence as we swallowed and collected
our thoughts.

What followed was remarkable. It seemed that each of us was ready and able
to look directly at the climate change disaster that has started to
manifest. We openly considered our collective responsibility. Our talk
quickly moved beyond "replacing light bulbs" to consider what symbols might
motivate others to act. Should we go ahead and put solar panels on our
common house? How about offering Pea Patch garden plots for the surrounding
suburbs on our acreage? Perhaps pressing cider to lure in the kids (of all
ages)? Maybe different activities on 10/10/10.

As Bill states, this is not about what we actually accomplish from an
environmental point of view on that date. It is about who we might drive
meaningful carbon legislation on a global level... now.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're going to watch the video again. This will be the
first part of our monthly 2-hour circle. I suspect that Songaia will decide
to host a public Work Party on 10/10/10.

I feel this video is important. Since it speaks directly to those of us who
have embraced Cohousing, it really hits home. Please share this video with
those in your community - or with those who find Cohousing of interest.

What a great symbol it would be if 100 different Cohousing Communities in
the US hosted Work Parties:

100 on 10/10/10

Of course, Coho-L is read by people all over the world and this is global -
so, how about 1,000 Communities throwing Work Parties on a world-wide
basis?

1000 on 10/10/10

What do you think?

Craig Ragland
Exec. Dir, Coho/US since 2008
Member, Songaia since 1992
Member, Human Race since 1957