Wellness With a Creative Spirit
202 Fourth Street, Irwin, PA 15642 (724) 331-9085 www.TheGreenBough.com

NOURISHING THE BODY, MIND AND SOUL OF BUSINESS, TOO!
Think LOCAL, Be LOCAL, Buy LOCAL, LOCAL First
Think GREEN, Be GREEN, Buy GREEN, GREEN First!
Seeking local farm & food advocates, business entrepreneurs and policy makers!

Dear friends,

Last summer, we were approached with an opportunity to help raise consciousness in the region about the global trend towards GREEN LOCAL LIVING ECONOMIES. The Local Economy movement is one that we had been following with interest for several years and we are seeing it grow very fast in the U.S. and globally. It is a movement that is helping revitalize communities with a renewed grassroots sense of progress, prosperity, generosity, and alignment with the planet.

We gladly agreed to sponsor and help organize a 4-lecture series, hosted at CMU.  The primary focus of the series has been on describing the factors that make healthy local economies thrive, and the connection with local food, local farming, and green local entrepreneurship.

The fourth and final lecture and workshop are coming at the end of this month, and we are asking for your help to get the word out within your local community.  We need your help to connect with local independent business owners, community organizers, farmers, distributors and grocers, restaurant owners, friends and family members, and anyone who might have interest in being part of this local movement, and be part of the discussions that are now taking place.

This great country was founded and has blossomed inspired by revolutionary economic equity principles and ideals.  Help us apply the vision of Local Living Economies to ensure that the upcoming green socio-economic revolution (what Charles Reich described as the "Greening of America", and Paul Hawken called "Natural Capitalism") becomes a reality and creates a true common basis of enlightened wealth-building for our communities.

In Gratitude,

Fernando & Susan Cardoza

Join us for the
FINAL LECTURE &
PUBLIC WORKSHOP

April 29 & 30, 2008

Please join us for the much anticipated final lecture program and public workshop!  

Principal Sponsors
Carnegie Mellon Office of the Vice Provost for Education

Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation

East End Food Cooperative


Fay-Penn Economic Development Council


Paragon Monteverde


The Green Bough



Associate Sponsors

Carnegie Mellon Heinz School of Public Policy and Management

Green Block Farm


Grow Pittsburgh


Penn State Cooperative Extension


Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture


Urban Ecology Collaborative


Urban Farming Initiative


Do you want to learn more
about Local Living Economies?

Visit...


Help us build a Local Economy in Pittsburgh!
Plan to be at the 6th Annual BALLE Conference JUNE 5-7, 2008
in Boston, MA.


Come straight into the heart of the dialogue as we move forward decisively to simultaneously build the Local Living Economies movement and the Local Living Economies field.  Several major developments will be unveiled at the BALLE Conference.

BALLE CONFERENCE SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Bill McKibben
founder, Step It Up, and author, Deep Economy

Congressman Ed Markey
chairman, House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
(invited)

Majora Carter
founder, Sustainable South Bronx

Judy Wicks
White Dog Cafe, and co-founder, BALLE

David Korten
Yes! Magazine, and author, The Great Turning

Michael Shuman
author, The Small-Mart Revolution

Michelle Long
board chair, BALLE, and founder, Sustainable Connections

Laury Hammel
Longfellow Clubs, and co-founder, BALLE

Don Shaffer
Comet Skateboards, and president, RSF Social Finance

Manuel Hidalgo
executive director, Latino Economic Development Corporation

Valerie Ervin
councilwoman, Montgomery County Council (MD)

Mark Sardella
founder, Local Energy

Click here to register today.

 

The Local Economy and Urban Farming series is a four-part lecture program exploring the connections between the food we grow and eat, local markets, the potential for thriving green local economies and global social equity. 
 
Lecture: "Local Living Economies: Green, Fair and Fun"
Speaker: Judy Wicks, White Dog Cafe

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Time: 5:00-6:30 PM
Location: Connan Room-University Center, Carnegie Mellon
Admission: Free


Speaker Profile:
Judy Wicks is probably best known for establishing The White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her Philadelphia home in 1983. As the restaurant grew, so did her notion that the strength of business relied upon the quality and sustainability of its local grown ingredients. Envisioning how strengthening relationships among independent community-rooted enterprises could inspire broad and profound culture chance, Wicks joined the Social Venture Network and co-founded the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) in 2001. She is currently writing a book about The White Dog Cafe and local living economies called "Good Morning, Beautiful Business."


Workshop: Food and Farming-Based Economies: The Next Generation of Business in Pittsburgh   [Get the poster!]
Keynote Speakers:
Ben Gisin, Publisher of Touch the Soil Magazine
Judy Wicks, Founder, White Dog Cafe and Co-Founder BALLE.

Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Time: 1:00-5:30 PM
Location: Singleton Room-Roberts Hall, Carnegie Mellon
Admission: Businesses-$50, Non-Profits/Non-Carnegie Mellon members-$30, Carnegie Mellon members-Free

Register by Friday April 25 online.  For all registration inquiries, please email cmu.publiclectures@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This workshop will convene the Pittsburgh region's academic, business and non-profit community in a discussion on locally-based food systems and their potential to catalyze neighborhood revitalization in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Topics of discussion include a review of national sustainable business models addressing food, environment and social equity and evaluation of current efforts to support local agriculture and the larger policy issues as they relate to land use, environmental sustainability, public health, lifestyles and local entrepreneurship opportunities.

Michael Krajovic, President and CEO of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, will be Master of Ceremonies. Invited guest panelists will include:

  • Robert Davidson, Special Assistant to the Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
  • Court Gould, Executive Director, Sustainable Pittsburgh
  • Mary Hunt-Lieving, Senior Program Officer, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
  • Kim Miller, Former Board Chair, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Brenda Peyser, Associate Dean, Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon
  • Denny Puko, Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Director, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development

Event Organizers

Larry Patrick, Adjunct Faculty, Carnegie Mellon
Renee Roy, Adjunct Faculty, Carnegie Mellon

Fernando Cardoza, The Green Bough
Michael Krajovic, Fay-Penn Economic Development Council
Mary Beth Steisslinger, Urban Ecology Collaborative

About Judy Wicks

Founder and CEO of the White Dog Café in Philadelphia, she is also co-founder and chair of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN). Wicks started the White Dog Cafe in 1983 and grew it into a “Philly institution," including the  Black Cat, best known for buying organic produce, and pastured meat and poultry from local family farmers. The Cafe also acts as a center for dialogue on progressive issues. The company contributes 20% of profits to growing a local living economy, and supports alternative energy by investing in wind-generated power. The recipient of many local and national awards and contributor to several publications, Judy Wicks is a frequent guest on lecture platforms as well as on radio and television.

About Ben Gisin

Ben comes from a 20-year banking career culminating as the senior agricultural approval officer for one of the nation’s top ten agricultural banks.

Upon leaving the banking industry, he consulted farmers and ranchers struggling to survive financially where he negotiated some of the largest and most complex debt settlements between farmers and their creditors.

Author of Farmers and Ranchers Guide to Credit and hundreds of published articles he is now publisher of Touch the Soil magazine and lectures around the nation.

You can read a transcript of one of his recent lectures on food security and exchange systems HERE.


©2008. The Green Bough LLC. All rights reserved. Exploring Wellness with a Creative Spirit!

Back