Dan Allen - Building Resilience

My guest for this episode is Dan Allen, who writes about issues of energy, food, and building resilience at the community level at Resilience.org. I first heard about Mr. Allen during the interview with Keith Johnson. After reading some of Dan's articles, I wanted to interview him as a followup to the recently released conversation with Nicole Foss. Thankfully, Dan was up for it and replied quickly to set things up. During this conversation we talk about his background as a scientist, his work as a teacher and farmer, why resilience matters, and what we can do to build it. I follow this up with some thoughts on all this. What stands out to me from this conversation is that need to build local pockets of resilience, and reach out to people who have an interest in what we are already doing. Dan does that with his students, through the community gardens, and his farm stand. As practitioners of permaculture, we can do that by building functional systems that show people examples that work, and share our surplus as it arises to connect with others. Also, expressed in some of the interviews recently, and also in upcoming ones, is the need to move beyond the garden or the backyard, and to design our support structures and community. To expand our networks. To observe the place where we live, the people there, and meet them where they're at. To find the people already in line with our goals and designs, and help them build their own. To make small changes, to engage, without overwhelming. To show people what is possible by investing in what matters to you, rather than continuing on the take, make, waste path. I admit it's not easy, but together, we can make it happen. I'll be here along the way. Will you join me? Resources: Dan Allen at Resilience.org