Permaculture, Cooperatives & Community Wealth
Universities and their students, staff, faculty, and visitors spend large amounts of money in countless businesses, as do hospitals. Imagine if most of these businesses were in the university or hospital’s community and were cooperatively owned by their workers. This would provide an enormous boost to local prosperity and social justice. Join us to learn more about the concept of “anchor institutions,” as well as a current initiative organized by UC graduate students to launch worker-owned cooperatives around UC campuses. With: Ted Howard, Democracy Collaborative; Marcus Renner, UC Community Economies Collaborative. Hosted by: Melissa Fant, John Valenzuela, David Shaw from Santa Cruz Permaculture.
World Cafe
October 20th | 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Panelists
Ted Howard
President
The Democracy Collaborative
Ted Howard, co-founder (in 2000) and President of The Democracy Collaborative, an action-oriented progressive think tank, has been named one of “25 visionaries who are changing your world” and identified by the Guardian newspaper as “the de facto spokesperson for community wealth building” internationally. He is co-author of the new (2019) book, The Making of a Democracy Economy.Melissa Ott Fant
Founder
Green Gal
Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.John Valenzuela
Cornucopia Food Forest Garden
John Valenzuela, a horticulturist, consultant and educator who focuses on a diversity of productive trees, shrubs, vines and other perennials, growing an “ecosystem of abundance” with his Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens, has taught permaculture for 30 years, from Hawai’i to California, Washington state and Central America. He is actively engaged with the non-profit California Rare Fruit Growers organization.David Shaw
Founder
Santa Cruz Permaculture
David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.Marcus Renner
Doctoral Candidate in Geography
UC Davis
Marcus Renner, a doctoral candidate in Geography at UC Davis, previously coordinated sustainability efforts at two different college campuses and currently coordinates UC Davis' Community Economies Collaborative, a faculty/student reading group. With a background in environmental studies and playwriting, Marcus' current focus is on the intersection of local economies and the arts, and how UC-Davis can facilitate the development of community economies in the surrounding region.
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