April 5 & 6: Local Food — By and For the People

What if the food system benefited local producers, nourished nearby people, and built a stronger community? Krishna Singh Khalsa of Eugene, Oregon wants to turn the food system on its head. He wants it to be run by, and for the benefit of, ordinary people — not corporate profit. He’s exploring models of local cooperative, entreprenuerial organizations where people provide the labor, share and hire resources, caretake the land, use all of nature’s abundance, support farmers and food producers, distribute food so that no one goes hungry, and build strong social bonds. Empower people, not profits!

April 12 & 13: The World of Ecovillages

The ecovillage movement is gaining a lot of traction and in some surprising forms, says Diana Leafe Christian, the author of Finding Community: How to join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community. Drawing from ecovillages worldwide, she describes many examples of these “human-scaled, full-featured settlements.” Ecovillages aim to integrate human activities harmlessly into the natural world and be sustainable indefinitely. To succeed, they need to have multiple centers of initiative (e.g., business enterprises), and support healthy human development (like cooperation and having fun). www.EcovillageNews.org

April 19 & 20: Innovation Bears Fruit for Family Farm

Tour the century-old organic Chaffin Family Orchards where even the animals are “farm hands.” Visit chickens in their egg-mobile, scratching for bugs and pooping fertilizer in the heirloom stone-fruit orchards. Goats chomp off low branches from the olive trees, so no fuel or human labor is needed. This certified predator-friendly enterprise includes 200 acres of olive trees plus various fruit and nut trees; sheep, goats, broiler and egg-laying chickens. They distribute only locally through fruit and meat CSAs (community-supported agriculture), growers markets and a farmstand, pro

April 26 & 27: Economy, Ecology, Social Equity — Empowering Future Leaders

What if future leaders became sensitive to local environmental and social issues before stepping into leadership roles? Tanya Narath describes nine day-long events in the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy’s program: Students visit a watershed for ecological context; tour an organic farm (sustainable agriculture); take a walking tour from which students’ urban design ideas are presented to the mayor; explore social issues like racial injustice, homelessness, and poverty; consider water ecology, local economy, transportation and land use. www.ecoleader.org

PEAK TV is sponsored locally by the Center for Excellence in Communication at Clarkson University and the Seymour Family of Potsdam.