On September 15 and 16, I attended (and documented!) the first northeastern RUST: Radical Urban Sustainability Training. The event was produced by Scott Kellog and Stacey Pettigrew, co-founders of the the Austin, TX Rhizome Collective. Scott, together with co-teacher Lauren Ross - a licensed environmental engineer - and a half dozen (or so) guest presenters, led the group through a weekend of hands-on learning about urban, low-budget, ecological design. Topics included alternative energy - from solar to wind to methane harvesting - to compost and compost tea, natural plasters and paints, bioremediation of polluted soils, catching and using rainwater, small-scale mushroom production, to the NYC community gardens movement More Gardens! and more.
Stacy and Scott have produced four RUST trainings in Austin, but this is the first to take place in the northeast. It was held at the Albany Free School, a community school for children pre-K - 8, now running for 30+ years, that focuses on student-directed education. The neighborhood community that has grown up in association with the Free School made an ideal venue for the hands-on workshops: participants just had to walk around the block to find a micro-livestock system (aka a chicken coop in a side lot), a small-scale aquaculture system in a backyard greenhouse, and an earthen oven and bench in a garden space.
Energy was high throughout the weekend, despite some less-than-ideal weather for some of the folks camping just outside of town. It didn’t hurt that the food, all vegan, was plentiful and delicious. When folks dispersed late Sunday afternoon, back to NYC, western Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, the mood was inspired and exuberant, everyone buzzing with the new designs and bold plans fermenting in their minds.
Find a slideshow of the event here.
