The Lifeboat Network
We live in turbulent times and they are likely to get even
bumpier. The combined pressures of climate chaos, social breakdown,
and a post-peak-energy future mean there will be no “going back.”
Science is telling us that we need to mobilize like we’ve never
mobilized before and yet our institutions — the same ones that
created the mess — have demonstrated quite clearly that they are not
up to the job. No one is coming to save us; we’re going to have
to do this ourselves.
We think our best hope lies in creating a fleet of
“lifeboats” — place-based resilience networks with the
practical skills necessary to face an uncertain future and insecure
supply chains — connected in a peer-to-peer mutual support network.
If this sounds even remotely interesting to you, we want to connect
with you.
As part of our commitment to mobilization, we are putting 100
percent of our efforts into growing the Lifeboat Academy
as an experimental “lifeboat” — a model of resilience and
regeneration at the person, place, and community level and create a
support network with others working on similar projects.
Our dream reaches in two directions at once. In one direction,
we want to train dozens of “lifeboat crews” who can start building
practical, place-based networks of committed individuals in their
local community. In the other direction, we want to grow a different
kind of network that takes its cues from natural systems — a light,
nimble, multi-nodal hodge-podge that leans into six degrees of
separation to move information and resources where they need to be
for mutual benefit.
We are using our all our available time, energy and resources to create the first campus of the Lifeboat Academy at Spalding Valley Farm on Pender Island, BC. We envision a space that provides examples and education for other individuals and communities to create their own lifeboats.
Reciprocity and balancing energy flow are some of our core values, and so we extend this opportunity to give back to Lifeboat Academy in exchange for the ways you may be benefiting from our community outreach and education. Every single dollar donated helps us continue to operate as a model for resilience and regeneration, sharing what we are learning along the way.
Thank you so much for your support! We are ALL in this together.
