Author: Leslie Lindballe

As the Caring for Creation series comes closer to its close, and the spring opens her full glory to us, I thought it would be fitting to finally have a listening party for the April 29th Caring for Creation class.  I invited a few of the finest of folks over to my house for potluck and fellowship before listening in on what’s happening in Vancouver.

Alas…. the best laid plans.  Our all-star broadcaster, Vida, was having some difficulties with attending the gathering and wouldn’t be able to send out the session on the #ds106radio airwaves.  What should I do??? Cancel the gathering?

I looked into the resources and prepared and impromptu discussion gathering and when folks arrived, I was prepared.

But then a wonderful thing happened!  We began to just sit and share with one another – our lives, our struggles, our observations.  Most of us knew each other, but a few were new friends, and others had much catching up to do.  We enjoyed our various food offerings and when it came time to turn over the attention to a video for discussion, we decided, instead, to make art.

I have struggled with inviting others into the spaces I have created this year – both in the digital and the analogue!  There have been few folks who have made it to my home and not been whisked away to a local coffee shop or pub.  Hosting this lovely group was challenging, and just allowing the evening to BE felt like some kind of risk.  In the end, I made a postcard for my boyfriend’s mom.  Another woman had her first experience enjoying making art!

Then I thought back to the reading about preparing the way for a world beyond capitalism and I figured we had done just a little work in that direction.  No television, no outside entertainment – just people getting together and enjoying each other’s presence.

Sorry to Jan who was trying to listen in to the broadcast – looks like the April 29th show was in the analogue.

In this archive from the March 3rd class,  Dittmar Mündel and Carmelle Mohr open the Caring for Creation series by turning us toward hope and love.  When we look at the multiple pressing issues facing our natural world, our communities and even our own lives, the weight can be paralyzing.  By turning away from fear and toward a deep and personal love for our places and their natural systems, we can act in gratitude.  Affection for creation helps us face these challenges with hope.

The Chester Ronning Center for Religion and Public Life at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta has been instrumental in the Caring For Creation, Spirit of the Land, and Responsibility for the Land courses.  The ongoing work of this unique center continues with an internship project investigating Alberta’s oil and gas economy.

Please see the letter from the Ronning Center that follows and consider supporting students in their continued work in addressing these pressing issues from holistic perspectives.

I write to you today to introduce a Ronning Centre Internship project – Responsibility for the Land. This initiative grew out of two conferences held on campus: Responsibility for the Land (2012) and Spirit of the Land (2013) and a number of courses held by the Ronning Centre to investigate the cultural and spiritual dimensions of Alberta’s oil and gas economy. Our research is centered on understanding and documenting the impact of oil and gas development given the primary place of the petrochemical industry in Alberta and to facilitate meaningful multi-perspective dialogue to connect health, land and community.

We ask for your assistance in supporting Ronning Centre Internships so we might continue important work such as this. With your help, this summer our students will investigate in greater depth the issues inherent in managing our natural resources and engage in meaningful dialogue with a diverse group of Albertans and form relationships with various First Nations, industry representatives and municipal politicians. It will be equally important to inform our understanding with scientific and analytical knowledge to provide a foundation for this discussion. We will share what we learn on our upcoming website, www.responsibilityfortheland.org, which will serve as an accessible and comprehensive resource, forming a basis for continuing and informed public discussion. (To see parts of the project already well underway, visit www.albertavoices.ca).

Augustana is committed to developing our students as thinkers, researchers and communicators – this internship opportunity will allow students to explore and apply their academic learning and advance their skill sets. With your help, a wise and on-going conversation regarding responsible stewardship of the land, the challenges presented by our energy needs and the impact of oil and gas developmentin Alberta will be generated.

Sincerely,
David Goa, Director
Chester Ronning Centre
For the Study of Religion & Public Life

I came across this tweet from Chris Turner who spoke at the Spirit of the Land conference in November.

“It’s time we started selling sustainability rather than treating the threat of climate change as some kind of punishment for capitalism.”

— Chris Turner (@theturner) April 2, 2014

This prompted me to look further at his feed and saw this article he had been reading in the Ottawa Citizen.  It’s short and worth it, so go ahead and click.

It’s a valid argument that our response to moral imperatives in the Western world is quite often resistance.  In the post-modern milieu, I will do what you tell me not to do just because you told me not to!  We mistrust authority (sometimes for good reason) and many times act like defiant teens.  Even in exploring such life-giving activities as having pot lucks, growing food, and fostering community, we are afraid of what others will think.  I’m overjoyed when people come by and think it’s “cool” that I recycle, that I have a vermiculture in my house, and that I want to join the community garden.

Thankfully, we’re not just here to share the scary story of climate change with each other.  I deeply feel that Caring for Creation and Spirit of the Land are about showing the belonging, the joy, the self-esteem that can come from engaging with the natural world.  After all, our mother Earth is the greatest source of love and belonging there is!

This week the internet had a cold – strep throat or something nasty – and it just didn’t work.  Carmelle, Greg and I worked so hard to get the broadcast up and running, and it just didn’t want to play nice(cast).  I felt the cold hard edge of resistance rise against my will.  I was defeated, upset, and spent.

So when I got home after a long day of defeat, I did something different.  I skirted my computer, that whole digital world, and I went for a walk.  Now walking at the end of March for you folks out on the coast is a glorious thing!  Lennor wrote about the sweet ocean spray on her face in this post, but out here on the prairies I contend with the still biting winter wind, the ice on the walkway, the layer upon layer that prepares me to enter the cold.  Winter is like one of those marginal acquaintances that I have to prepare myself to reluctantly spend time with.  So why would I get out there after such a hard day?

Well, my frustrations with the digital world quickly wound into my head – repeating a mantra of negativity that never fails to leave me breathless.  I have recently been working with my body as a way to escape that merry-go-round of defeatist thinking.  I get down into my body.  I feel, I work, I use my muscles and suddenly that circular thought works its way into my circular bloodstream.  It churns its way through my sinews and finally escapes through my pores.  I literally sweat it out. (Though I don’t get too sweaty…. I’m a gentle walker!)

When I came home, I was still a bit upset that I couldn’t achieve what I had aimed for, but it was suddenly a manageable thing.  I thought how tomorrow the internet may be over its cold and that maybe I was just pushing it a little too much for its own good.

Just like the weather, this too will pass.

When I got back in, I tuned into #ds106radio – a large part of my frustration – and I found @bryanjack broadcasting from Port Moody.  He was singing some of his original tunes along with favourite covers.  Others gathered from the #ds106radio world. @DrGarcia @rowan_peters @cogdog all tuned in to share a little digital campfire time.  I was reminded how this space is one for friends to gather and I was reminded how blessed I am to be part of sharing that space with new friends.

So thank you all for participating.  Thank you for your patience.  And when your frustrations present, I hope you have many worlds to give you perspective.

Greetings all, from a frozen Alberta prairie

During the final Spirit of the Land class, students reflected on the journey the course took them on.  Connecting with family and tradition, with land, earth and water, with each other, and with themselves, each student took a moment to share a brief glimpse into the transformative power of interdependence.

Tif’s Presentation

Sam’s Presentation

Natasha’s Presentation followed by her excellent recipe book!


Adventures Living Naturally

Leah’s Presentation

Kerstyn’s Presentation

Kate’s Presentation

Joelle’s Presentation

Jennifer’s Presentation

Hans’ Presentation

Geordie’s Presentation explaining his artwork below

Erika’s Presentation

Eagle’s Presentation

Dittmar and Sarah’s reflections

Carolina’s Presentation

Alyssa’s Presentation

Ally’s Presentation

Early in the Spirit of the Land class, we were fortunate enough to visit the Coen farm for a tour of Takota’s fledgling forest permaculture project.  The day was brilliant!  Full of wonderful sunshine, glorious vistas, and fine fellowship in the stunning Coen home.  While Camrose can be considered a rural city, it is still a city, and the chance to get right into the middle of nature is such a grounding and replenishing experience.  This film footage sat in my hard drive for some time and I wondered how I could share it with you all.

Well, fast forward to the Spirit of the Land conference and Takota’s talk about his experience in meditation with a plant.  When we decide to pursue right relationship – be that with the natural world or with each other – there is a certain amount of guilt that we experience for our past actions.  This can be so heavy it hinders our ability to move forward in joy and connection.  For myself, I have this quote – we spend in foolish mistakes the energy that will later be returned as sage-like wisdom.  If you are to carry the guilt of your 22 year old decisions, you must also lighten yourself with the liberating decisions you will make at 44, 66, 88, 110!

For Takota, it was by simply spending time in solidarity that he found liberation from the paralyzing experience of guilt.  I hope I have done it justice.

And please visit the farm’s website!  www.grassrootsfamilyfarm.ca