The RēMind, No. 031: Rēfuge
The RēMind, No. 031: Rēfuge
Updates from Rē / Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth / Farming for Our Future / California Phasing Out Gas-Powered Cars / Climate Change V. Seed Banks / Tribal Bison Restoration
We are back this weekend with some reading recommendations! Curious about how we find a sense of home and rootedness in a time of unprecedented upheaval? Interested in California’s vote to phase out gas-powered cars? Read on!
We have limited spots and scholarships available for our October retreat and we would love to have you there! Is there anything we can do to support your registration? Email us at admin@regenerativeschool.org and let us know!
Offerings from Rē:
Fall Into Balance 2022 Retreat
October 7-9, 2022 in Fayetteville, TN
Mark your calendars! We are happy to officially launch another restorative retreat offering for the upcoming fall season.
Thana Nu of Nourish Me Wellness, Caitlin Smith of Within Wellness, and Ashlei Laing of Rē : The Regenerative school will meet again at the farm to hold space and guide us into balance.
This retreat will be a fresh experience for all those interested in Ayurveda, yoga, soulful nourishment, self-care, and rēconnection to mind, body, and nature. Consider our invitation and lean into a beautiful practice for you. More details to come!
ALL ARE WELCOME! No experience needed! Only open minds!
LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE! Sign up at here AND join our facebook group here!
RēMembering the Origins of Climate Change
According to educator and theologian Parker Palmer, "the opposite of to remember isn't to forget, it's to dis-member." Course facilitator Sara Jolena Walcott applies this framework to our fragmented, short-term understanding of climate change. In this new, three-part course, participants will trace the roots of climate change back 500 years to its roots in colonialism, racism, and theology. Along the way participants in the course will also delve into their own family histories to make sense of the deep history of how we have arrived at today's climate crisis and how we can instead choose to build a more regenerative future. Click here to learn more about this upcoming course! Watch this space for dates and more details!
RēRead
At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth
Once a distant forecast, climate change is now reaching into the familiar, threatening our basic safety and forcing us to reexamine who we are and how we live. In At Home on an Unruly Planet, science journalist Madeline Ostrander reflects on this crisis not as an abstract scientific or political problem but as a palpable force that is now affecting all of us at home. Ostrander offers vivid accounts of people fighting to protect places they love from increasingly dangerous circumstances. This book pairs deeply reported stories of hard-won optimism with lyrical essays on the strengths we need in an era of crisis. For more, click here.
Farming for Our Future: The Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral Agriculture
Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture’s contribution to climate change is substantial—much more so than official figures suggest. We will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions should not be underestimated; they are critical elements both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time. For more, click here.
RēNews
California is Phasing Out Gas-Powered Cars by 2035
By Naveena Sadasivam for Grist | August 25, 2022, about 5 minutes
On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board, the state’s chief air pollution regulator, voted overwhelmingly in favor of phasing out all sales of new fossil fuel cars in the state by 2035… The Golden State is hugely influential in the auto world. If the state were a country, it would be the tenth largest auto market on the planet. Fourteen states — mostly in the Northeast — and the District of Columbia have copied California’s low-emission vehicle mandates in the past. If the air board’s rule to ban new gas car sales receives Environmental Protection Agency approval, other states are likely to adopt similar measures.
To continue reading about California’s Air Resources Board decision to phase out all in-state sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2035, click here.
Climate Change is Shifting How Plants Evolve. Seed Banks May Have to Adapt, Too
By Lauren Leffer for Earther | July 01, 2022, about 10 minutes
Current conditions on Earth—the shifting climate, invasive species, pollution, habitat destruction—make every type of seed bank invaluable. We’re losing plant species 500 times faster than the historical extinction rate, according to one 2019 study. Agriculture is becoming more difficult in many regions because of factors like extreme weather, soil depletion, and disease. Seed banks do more than just catalog. All the stored genetic information they contain can be used to create better crops to feed more people or to bring a plant back to its native range and restore an ecosystem. But those same conditions also pose challenges for seed banks. How can a strategy intrinsically based on pausing the biological clock make sure that it’s keeping up with the future? If climate change and other factors are pushing plants to evolve faster, do seed banks need to evolve, too?
Click here to read more about how we need more seed banks and land preserved in its natural state.
Meet the Group That’s Been Bringing Bison Back to Tribal Lands for 30 Years
By Gabriel Pietrorazio for Civil Eats | July 26, 2022, about 10 minutes
Historical figures indicate that 30 to 60 million [bison] once wandered North America at their peak. But due to the rise of transcontinental railroads, unregulated hide hunting, drought, and the U.S. Army’s eradication of some northern herds, the total population dwindled drastically to only 325 wild buffalo by 1884.
“We see ourselves. They’re a resilient animal, just as we are resilient people,” said Troy Heinert, a Rosebud Sioux member and Democratic minority leader in the South Dakota Senate. “We’ve still been able to maintain our identity, and that is extremely important to us. When you’re handling those animals, they recognize that.”
To continue reading about how tribal tradition is revived with the return of buffalo, click here.
Some other interesting articles we caught up on this week:
People doubt their actions affect climate change. Is that a bad thing?
By Kate Yoder for Grist | August 23, 2022, about 5 minutes
Rebirth of San Francisco’s Salt Marshes
By Skylar Knight for Hakai Magazine | August 16, 2022, about 18 minutes
This Pilot Program Is Supporting Tribal Food Sovereignty with Federal Dollars
By Kalen Goodluck for Civil Eats | July 5, 2022, about 15 minutes
Finding Value in Waste: Identifying Solutions to End Food Loss and Waste
By Elena Seeley for Food Tank | June 2, 2022, about 40 minutesWomen in Rural Bangladesh Bear Rising Cost of Climate Crisis
By Al Jazeera | May 19, 2022, about 5 minutes
Conserving Biodiversity, Preserving Mental Health
By Tori Tsui for ATMOS | May 17, 2022, about 5 minutesThe First Answer for Food Insecurity: Data Sovereignty
By Brian Oaster for the Counter | February 23, 2022, about 15 minutes
That’s all for this week!
As always, we at Rē are grateful for your attention and support. If you liked this newsletter, consider donating at https://regenerativeschool.org/redonate/
Thank you and see you soon!