CSSC Spring 2012 Convergence

Group photo! Photo by Tia Tyler

From April 27th – April 29th, over 400 students from across the state of California gathered at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a weekend of workshops, speakers, live music, and camping. The theme of this convergence was building a resoNATION – inspiring students to join together to make a positive, resounding impact in the world. We all have unique perspectives, skills, and experiences, and the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) is about bringing those individual resonations into one HUGE resoNATION.

And that is what we did. Most of the 30 workshops offered were student-led, and topics varied from “Transforming White Privilege” to “Agro Eco Coffee” to “Ending Corporate Personhood.” Larry Lansburgh, producer of the film “Dream People of the Amazon,” delivered a thought-provoking and inspirational keynote address about the power of community and perseverance against all odds. After a long day of workshops (and delicious, vegan, sustainable food) we all danced our hearts out to the tunes of The Willows, who played an energizing set for us at SLO Creek Farms.

The CSSC is built on the principle that sustainability has three intertwined threads: ecological, economic, and social. The convergence was a time to explore all of those threads both intellectually and experientially, by opening our minds and our hearts to one another.

Spiral hug! Photo by Tia Tyler. 

Between workshops, over meals or while tossing frisbees, friends were made and conversations had regarding how we can make change in our own communities and on our own campuses. How we can build a resoNATION. Jordan Lambert, Tessa Salzman, and Yamina Pressler did a fabulous job for coordinating this year’s spring convergence. Across the board, students agreed that it was one of the best ones yet. Those three amazing organizers, along with the Empower Poly Coalition and the California Student Sustainability Coalition, worked long and hard to create this space for sustainable collaboration. But rather than write more about the experience, here is a video that encompasses the diversity of voices as well as the common experience that permeated throughout the weekend.

Watch the video here!

If you attended the convergence, I hope this brings back positive memories, and if you did not, I hope this inspires you to come to the next one! The CSSC puts together these magical weekends once a semester – so don’t miss out!

Convergence coordinators Tessa, Yamina, and Jordan. Photo by Tia Tyler

And a poem of my own: 


The word ecology comes from the word ecos
which means "home"
and here and now,
I am home.
Ecos.
Here we have come together to experiment
as a living breathing ecosystem
and that is what we are,
and I am home.
Nutrients have been cycling all day
and I feel the warmth of our symbiosis,
ubuntu.
Here we are home.
I am home.
Individuals connected by unbroken eye contact,
handshakes, hugs,
common passions,
separate resonations that
collide.
We don't need to innovate and calculate
the ultimate solution,
we simply have to go home
create home
together.
Ecos.
I am home.

And a thought: 

My education up to this point has placed the weight of the world on my shoulders. As it should, because feeling that weight is important. Memorize that feeling. Recall it when you start to feel a bit too much like a balloon.  But what the California Student Sustainability Coalition does, is  it takes that weight and distributes it onto all of our shoulders. I can be me, contribute myself, my shoulders - and hold the world up with the rest of my sustainabilibuddies. Sweet, sweet, sweet relief. Memorize that relief. Recall it when you start to feel like your feet are too heavy to lift up.