The Summer of Solutions: Back to the Twin Cities

(Cross-posted and modified from Its Getting Hot in Here) In the midst of this era of change, a number of the youth leaders I work with are starting to catch a glimpse of the long-term strugglestill ahead. We have a new government and the stimulus is coming, but we must still innovate a sustainable economy that can grow as the old one falls and in the process revitalize communities of all backgrounds. In thisstruggle, we must figure out how to make our buildings efficient, oururban planning smart, our agriculture sustainable, our grid systemrenewable, and our industries green. This is the epic economic,political, and social project of our generation and those that willfollow - it will take decades and be global in scope. It must beparticipatory and people-supporting not only to be fair, but also tosucceed.

Let's be frank: most of us (despite often caustic ongoing denial) have a pretty good idea of why this needs to happen, and a somewhat more vague idea of what needs to happen, but relatively little sense of howto achieve it. More news: our political leaders, scientists, andeconomists don't know either. We are embarking on a societal process offiguring out how to create this new future, and unfortunately, much ofthe current planning is being done by supporters of unsustainable andunwise options (such as "clean coal",nuclear, tar sands, sprawl, agribusiness, central stationtransmission, etc.) who prefer "solutions" that will recreate the samefailing system we have today.

This summer, I'm inviting youth leaders who want to building their capacity and career to develop the solutions we need - figuring out the how - to join us for the Summer of Solutions. In 2008, we piloted a program in St. Paul Minnesota with 25 participants, while a sister program started in Portland Oregon. Now we're going nationwide.

The Summer of Solutions is a grassroots program led by pioneering youth innovators in 12 locations nationwide (Austin TX, Burlington VT, Corvalis OR, Eugene OR, Michigan, Omaha NE, Portland OR, San Francisco CA, Seattle WA, St. Louis MO, the Twin Cities MN, and Worcester MA).Each program will unite a team of youth leaders from a widerange of backgrounds and skill-sets for approximately 2 months to accelerate and launch newinitiatives around energy efficiency, community-based energy,sustainable food production, sustainable urban design, and greenindustry by creating innovative partnerships with existing local groupsand building initiatives that can sustain themselves over time.The program fosters community-based innovation,peer-to-peer learning, and participatory leadership, and empowersparticipants to build and practice skills in community organizing,social entrepreneurship, and sustainable development. The Summer ofSolutions teams form creative communities that help participants:

The Summer of Solutions is a grassroots program that will helpcreate green jobs, foster local sustainability initiatives, and createsolutions campaigns that will model how to actually solve the climate and energy crisis while revitalizing the economy and fostering social justice.

I'd love your help spreading the word. If you know a young person who would want to be a part of it, invite them to: APPLY HERE

The truepower of the Summer of Solutions lies both in the method embedded inthe program itself, and in the lived experiences of the participants. Part of it is the incredible can-do attitude that drives our work andincreasingly builds our legitimacy with local governments, businesspartners, and labor leaders. We are a national initiative started andrun by grassroots volunteers, often setting up programs amid classesand jobs, and training each other in the process. This essence is bestcaptured by the blog post that Callista Perry wrote at the beginning of last summer's program - she has since gone on to help start up the 2009 program in Worcester Massachusetts.

The methodor approach to social change we are using is far more about personaland collaborative creativity towards ways that work, than it is aboutadvocacy fights between grassroots power and corporate money. Thesolutionary approach makes sweeping change -- but it does so quietly. By creating solutions thatbenefit the participants and invite other actors (whether communitypartners, labor, small business, faith groups, farmers, governments, orcorporations) to join us in doing things differently, our approachsubtly transforms existing power systems through a mobilization ofpeople power. Tyler Magnuson put it beautifully in his recent blog post:we're about a sustainable activism that gives us life, creates tangibleresources (financial, social, emotional) for ourselves and others, andbuilds itself through the collaborative process of creation. Isometimes think of it as similar to jujitsu: we use the strength of thesystem to transform it. If you think of activists as pushy, angry, frustrated people who focus on limited issue and never listen to what you think and feel, you might be surprised.

In theSummer of Solutions, we learn by doing and teach each other: togetherwe figure it out. That includes you - regardless of you're background - we'd love to work together to figureout the how. Join us this summer.

To everyone (even all those I don't know and who's work I might not understand) who is making the solutions happen: Thank you.