What we talk about when we talk about Sustainable Orcas Island

Contributed by Phil Heikkinen

Following are some of the notes that Phil Heikkinen circulated regarding the last meeting of Sustainable Orcas Island. The group will meet again this Wednesday , March 25  at 5:30 p.m. at the Library. All are welcome to particpate.

• Bill Griswold shared an article by Catherine Austin Fitts (solari.com), “Financial Permaculture,” and said that he has seed kale available [lwgriswold@hotmail.com]
• We talked about the seed-saving potluck at the West Sound Community Center on March 5. Thanks to Lisa Warden, Allan Rosato, and Rhonda Barbieri.
• Sharon Abreu and Samara Shaw talked about the upcoming May 2 Sustainable Living Fair at Eastsound Village Green.
• Mikial Denker talked about his used bike shop and other happenings (Matthew Maher’s housing pods for example) at the former body shop on the Eastsound-to-Orcas road.
• We talked about alternatives for cooperative buying, perhaps working with Homegrown; also Robin Gavriel’s Mystical Island Naturals.
• We talked some about locally-produced ethanol, though we had some disagreements among us about how feasible this was on a large scale.
• We talked about the Whole Islands Catalog (which is to me very much a part of a communication/security priority). We can use it to form committees around various priorities, create an online seed exchange, sign up for the Sustainability Fair, etc.
• We talked about low-energy means of obtaining water, and for how to use wastewater in gardening (Learner Limbach had the most experience with this among those of us at the meeting).
• We talked about the importance of having an Odd Fellows Hall liaison for SOI, especially in light of all the strong initiatives that the Odd Fellows are taking on in the area of sustainability and community resiliency.