This is not the age of information.
This is not
the age of information.

Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.

This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.

People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.

~ David Whyte ~ from The House of Belonging

The pilot project garden in the Santa Rosa Junior College neighborhood is thriving. Green Sangha Sonoma County met for retreat today and tasted the fruits of our labors. It feels so right to plant, tend, and harvest local organic food right in our own community, rather than depending so heavily on produce transported by polluting vehicles.

Of the Green Sangha Sonoma County Garden Wheel Project, Joanna Macy has this to say:

Dear Debra,

Thank you for sending this inspiring report of the Garden Wheel Project.
What a beautiful example of the Great Turning in action. I love to think of the lives it touches and the connections it weaves!

Warmly,

Joanna

Our Sangha is aligning with 350.org to launch our Green Sangha Sonoma County Garden Wheel project on October 24. As many ecological activists know, “350” is the magic number used to empower our legislators to act on climate protection. No more than 350 parts per million of carbon in our atmosphere will sustain a planet “similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted,” according to Bill McKibben of 350.org. Yet scientists report that through non-sustainable practices, we have exceeded this number-the latest report indicates that there are 399 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere.

Bill McKibben will be speaking in Santa Rosa the evening of October 2 at Sonoma Country Day School, Jackson Theatre. This will be the kick-off event which propels us into joining 80 other countries to create a global day of action in preparation for the upcoming Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December.

We will have our retreat on the October 24 day of action, and plant the first of four edible landscapes that will benefit neighborhood food exchange and food donations at FISH, (Friends In Service Here) Food Pantry in Santa Rosa which provides 24-hr. emergency supply of food to hungry people, no questions asked. The days of creating miracles, with loaves and fishes, (tomatoes, lettuce and apples…) has arrived.

During our retreat today, our letter action revolved around inviting our federal, state and local legislators to both of the events planned in Sonoma County. Our mission is to invite our leaders to join us in supporting the decisions that come out of Copenhagen, and to be a part in actualizing real climate protection initiatives in our county.

This is like a final exam for human beings. Can we muster the courage, the commitment, and the creativity to set this earth on a steady course before it’s too late? October 24 will be the joyful, powerful day when we prove it’s possible. Bill McKibben, www.350.org