Debbie’s Trip to Possibility Alliance

from the Living Energy Farm February – March -April 2016 Newsletter

In early April, Debbie and Nika attended a gathering at the Possibility Alliance in northeast Missouri. The gathering brought together about 80 activists and community organizers dedicated to fighting climate change by creating a network of Centers for Liberation: communities and sustainable living centers working for a just, equitable transition away from fossil fuels and towards community resiliency. Represented at the gathering were nine existing centers (including LEF). A few of them are established groups already living without fossil fuels, including the Possibility Alliance; Be the Change in Reno, Nevada; and the Downstream Project in Harrisonburg VA.

A few other urban projects focus on community organizing, education and social justice while working towards liberation from fossil fuels, including TILT (Taos Initiative for Life Together) in Taos New Mexico, Casa de Paz in Oakland CA, and Vine and Fig (formerly New Community Project) in Harrisonburg VA. Also represented were Carnival de Resistance, a traveling liberation center that sets up a fossil-fuel-free camp in different city every year, and two new projects in northern California and Vermont, which both have land and are working on establishing fossil-fuel-free infrastructure.

It was exciting and encouraging to tap into this network of dedicated folks who recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to act now to create a just and sustainable future. This network will make all of our work more effective, by linking the experience and skill sets of folks who have been living off the grid for years, like the Possibility Alliance and LEF, with the outreach capabilities of the urban centers, which will make our work more relevant to people who will be most adversely impacted by climate upheavals to come.