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SEED volunteers help with the construction of a new community center.
November has been a busy month in the Coal River Valley.
The SEED community advisory team is composed of local residents who are working to realize their vision of a sustainable and prosperous Coal River Valley. Those of us working as organizers originally imagined the advisory team as a sounding board for work plans and ideas to make sure that we stay in line with their vision, but at the November meeting it became clear that the community team is much more than that. The meeting was a lively three hour discussion of potential projects – ranging from biomass energy projects to community agriculture – that could bring Coal River Valley residents together in a common pursuit. With that end in mind, the community advisory team has decided to build a community owned greenhouse and plans to break ground on the project in the winter.
We are moving forward in the information gathering phase for two wind development projects in the the valley. In the coming months we will launch a fundraising campaign to purchase and install a wind turbine in the 100 kilowatt range in 2010. In addition to this single-turbine installation, we are beginning to lay the groundwork for larger wind development in the future.
A Listening Project is a series of one-on-one or one-on-one-on-one meetings or discussions that are designed to gather information, create relationships, spark a proactive approach to the problems faced by the participants, and make new contacts for future one-on-ones. The listening project is at the foundation of SEED organizing. Just as the community advisory team guides projects once they are in motion, the listening project determines, and will continue to determine, which projects we support. We completed a listening project in which we met with twelve residents over the summer and fall, and have compiled information to identify the main projects to move forward with. These include the wind project, the community advisory team, a wood kiln and a new community center.
-Andrew Munn
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