BRATTLEBORO — Transition Brattleboro will sponsoring a series of presentations on the theme of “sense of place” from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 20 and 29 and March 28.
The sessions will take place at 111 High St., Apt. 1, and led by nature connection educator Amy Hyatt, executive director of the Vermont Wilderness School.
The presentations will explore connections to the natural world, aspects of mentoring and learning needed to create resilience in the local knowledge base, and regenerative community relations.
The series opens on Feb. 20 with “Going Local, Going Deep: Connection with Place.” Transition Town Initiatives are about local resiliency and local capacity. To succeed in those goals, a community must develop a deep relationship with the land, animals, plants, trees, birds, and waters.
“From that place of deep relationship, one can remember how to tend the places we live and the commons for abundance and resiliency,” event organizers write.
On Feb. 29, the topic is “Community Mentoring and Local Resilience.”
The presentation will discuss current research on learning and brain development that indicates that people learn best when engaged with people, nature, and real-life situations. In past generations, the vitality of families and communities were dependent on older generations passing their skills and insights on to younger generations, and younger generations sharing their vitality and imagination with older generations.
The series concludes March 28 with “Peacemaking and Regenerative Community Relations: Lessons from the Haudenosaunee and Others.” For a community to become regenerative, it needs to have some practices and tools that allow us to engage conflict and disruption in a way that leads to creativity, renewed life, and deeper relationships.
Hyatt will share stories and lessons from the Peacemaker and Haudenosaunee, who went from rampant warfare and destruction to the Great Law of Peace - an alliance that has lasted for more than 1,000 years. She will also share current practices and principles that can be used today in one's personal life, community relations, and governance (i.e., community decisionmaking).
For more information on these talks, visit www.transitionbrattleboro.org or call 802-254-8582.