This Retreat aims for more substantive interaction than standard conferences allow. Participants will room together and focus on communication and collaboration. Jocelyn Orr, a retreat coordinator, calls it an “opportunity for campuses to cross-pollinate their ideas, skills and lessons learned.”
The activities commence with a potluck hosted by the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT) at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
The retreat planners have collaborated with local non-profit Plan It Green’s Building Green Communities conference, on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Arcata Community Center. This community event is a host of educational opportunities and inspirational speakers focusing on sustainable community planning.
Several HSU student groups are presenting including Green Wheels, CCAT, Green Campus Program, Humboldt Energy Independence Fund and The Bicycle Learning Center.
Also on Saturday, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County will be leading the Community Organizing 101 workshop designed to help people learn about and refine their organizing and leadership skills from 10 a.m. to noon, with the location to be announced.
The first Arcata Farmers’ Market of the season will illustrate the community’s commitment to sustainable food practices from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. accompanied by a Kinetic Sculpture and Electric Vehicle Parade driving laps around the Arcata Plaza at noon.
Sunday morning brings students back to CCAT for a light breakfast and discussion focused around the Take back the Tap campaign; a campaign to reduce the sale of bottled water by offering a filtered tap alternative. Chico State successfully led the campaign two years ago, Humboldt State is just starting and University of Oregon has yet to begin. Orr says that this will be, “a huge opportunity for lessons to be learned from other campuses about the progression of a campaign. “
The participants will conclude their Retreat with a service learning field trip at the Arcata Educational Farm. They will share food, farm, and agricultural practices utilized at their Universities while working side by side in the field.
Orr says the Retreat Weekend is the perfect opportunity to “foster relationships and light fires in others by helping them find projects and campaigns to work on and then giving them some tools and resources to work with.”