The PlanetShifter.com Networks Interview with Soul Ecologist Catherine Walker

Thanks for this experience, Willi. You are bringing consciousness into the world to meet itself in its myriad forms.
With love, Catherine

"Soul Ecologist?" Nice. Please give us some examples of this -- in the world -- and in the spirit!

Soul ecology is about connecting with the earth so as to build one's inner capacities. One becomes more deeply tuned in with nature which invites their own authenticity to come through. The work involves holistic nature-based activities and meditative practices. A natural outcome of this work is a renewed ability to live a more purposeful, meaningful and sustainable life from the inside out. Soul ecology is a deeply intimate way for people to joyfully re-discover their heart's purpose while connecting intimately with the natural world.

This work evolved like watercolors pouring into each other from several different vessels. It emerged out of 3 decades of my own spiritual and metaphysical practice, the holistic design science of permaculture, a 3-year Waldorf training immersion, and a half-dozen years as a career counselor and life coach, fused with my passion for tuning in to the natural world. It's been a tremendous pleasure working with people such as Christopher Kuntzsch, Penny Livingston and all the amazing souls that together make up Daily Acts and the Transition Town movement.

You asked for examples. Confidentiality is a guiding light in this work and it is honored completely. Without a doubt, the most challenging soul healing journey has been with my daughter, who continues to be the greatest blessing I have ever had in my life. She unfailingly shows me where I need to heal, and what it truly means to love someone unconditionally.

What is happening at Worldsanctuaries.org? How does this work compare to DailyActs.org?

World Sanctuaries was a non-profit permaculture-inspired program for creating ecosystem-friendly gardens. The lion's share of my time was spent on the phone and on in-person site visits explaining how permaculture practices created living connections with the earth, its simplicity and ease of practice. I embraced the program as an approach whose time had come and envisioned permaculture gardens sprouting everywhere.

As it turned out, New Zealanders comprised nearly 80% of our certification business. That was the result of the program establishing its roots in New Zealand through the Global Volunteer Network's earth restoration project in 2005. Here in California, only a small percentage of landowners actually proceeded with certifying their properties. I never would have imagined that!

In retrospect, the biggest challenge was bringing in this new way of thinking (permaculture) and trying to get it to seed and sprout in people's minds. Trouble was, I was trying to do it all myself. Not a good model of sustainability! Despite(or perhaps because of) all the energy that went into it, WS was moderately successful for nearly 3 years before CTI invited me back on board to, among other things, organize and lead their first sustainability program.

DailyActs.org -- led and inspired by the awesome Trathen Heckman -- incorporates permaculture into everything we do by inspiring people through plenty of hands-on workshops that inspire action and through collaborative connections with local co-inspirators and their communities. I fell in love with Daily Acts because their model - their way of operating in the world - is fabulous - the best I've ever seen for really getting sustainable living into the hearts and minds of our communities.

Evolution. Hope. Survival. Disparity. Where are you at today?

It's all about evolution. We must move beyond survival into evolution. This means changing the way we see the world - to see it holistically – to see ourselves as creative contributors, not consumers. Hope is a natural outcome of seeing and being in the world as co-creator of the earth's healing. Disparity is the junk that comes up as we move in the direction of co-creative evolution.

Zero Waste. Right! Isn't this the silliest eco-play ever!?

It's actually how nature herself operates. Check out those amazing Kiwis; they are some of the most forward-thinking humans on the planet.

Please share some insights into the organizational ups and downs at Transition Cotati. Key principles? What is the future look like for this group, in say 20 years?

Transition Cotati is Northern California's first Transition Town. I first learned about the Transition movement in late 2008, and subsequently, discovered Transition Cotati through CTI colleague, Hide Enomoto, who leads Transition Japan and founded Transition Fujino after living at Findhorn in Scotland with his wife and children for several years.

I learned about Transition Cotati through a chance encounter with Elaine at a sustainability tour of Ellis Creek Water Recycling facility in Petaluma. There was an instant connection and affinity between us. We got to talking, and Elaine invited me to attend one of Transition Cotati's weekly meetings while I invited her to join me at Daily Acts' annual breakfast fundraiser. We've been connecting since then at Transition Cotati's weekly meetings.

Transition Cotati is composed of six amazing people for who sustainability is a way of life. Transition Cotati exists to bring the community of Cotati into sustainable relationship with itself so as to become more resilient, self-sufficient and ultimately lighten Cotati's ecological footprint while infusing the local economy with renewed life. Together, we comprise a wheel of forward motion for the community of Cotati, raising awareness through monthly films, events such as the 350 Garden Challenge - a Sonoma County-wide initiative to put a garden on every block - herb walks, canning and gardening workshops, the introduction of time banking, and building ongoing developments with Sonoma State University's Center for Community Engagement, its student body and faculty toward creating a truly sustainable future for the Town of Cotati and everyone involved in this town's evolution.

For example, we're working on initiatives that will involve SSU students gathering information about what Cotati residents need in their community so they can get what they need locally, without driving a car 10 to 15 miles away to access those things. At that point, this information will be shared with Cotati businesses, which we hope -- along with time banking -- will really spark a shift. We're also working on ways to make solar power economically available to Cotati homes and businesses. The lovely Judith Newton is Transition Cotati's primary point of contact and she can be reached through our website.

There are 7 principles that a Transition Town is built upon:

• positive visioning
  
• helping people access good information and trusting them to make good decisions
  
• inclusion and openness
  
• enabling of sharing and networking
  
• building resilience
  
• inner and outer transition
  
• and subsidiarity - self organizing and decision making at appropriate levels.

Twenty years from now in 2030, the town of Cotati can be a model of thriving, sustainable living for other communities to learn from and emulate.

Is sustainability like a religion?

Living sustainably on the earth is an outcome of awareness of the earth's condition. Being aware isn't a religion, it's a practice, like anything else one cares about deeply. In that sense, anyone could choose to parallel living sustainably with religious practice. If doing so served a greater awakening to our true nature and relationship to the earth, then some may find it helpful. Awareness of earth care has always been alive in me since I was a child.

Have you done Awakening the Dreamer?

I came very close to doing it, but from all accounts, my sense was that walking a spirit-infused path of purpose had already awakened the dreamer in me many times over. So much so that I have facilitated others through to the clarity of their own purpose and begin to take steps to make that dream come alive.

Is permaculture just another way man has justified using up the earth's resources?

Ha, ha, ha! That's funny! In understanding permaculture, one understands how beautifully it nourishes the earth's resources and feeds her soil and root systems so completely. Permaculture is the ultimate holistic lens from which our relationship to the earth can be seen and experienced in a thoroughly conscious way. To practice permaculture principles (there are at least 12 depending on who you talk to) is to practice closed-loop system living, which ultimately approaches a zero waste philosophy.

Can you share poem about the metaphysical life with the us?

What Do You Really Want?

Let your brain whirl and spin itself
into blessed exhausted silence
Let it rest like a baby
in the open palmed hands
of the heart held Now.

What do you really want after all?
To win, to pick the sweetest fruit on the tree?
Or to rest from the endless succession
of temporal moments
and the promises that they never keep?

What do you really want?
To take or be taken?
To find the great pearl of liberation
or to be consumed by it?

This is by Adyashanti.

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Catherine Walker Bio

A vibrant writer, designer, soul ecologist and environmental educator, Catherine specializes in working with the formative. She has walked a spiritual path for over three decades, discovering valuable insights to healing, transformation and wisdom, particularly through nature.

Since founding Worldsanctuaries.org in 2005-a non-profit permaculture-inspired program for creating ecosystem-friendly gardens-Catherine guides and transforms small to medium-sized businesses to become sustainable and green certified. Her presence fosters safety and openness to individuals and groups and deepens their ecoliteracy discovery process. She is passionate about regenerative design and inspired by the vision of co-creating permaculture-inspired edible sanctuary gardens where healing arts and spiritual rejuvenation can take place to nourish the human soul and foster evolutionary change for the environment.

Before joining Transition Cotati as a member of their steering committee, Catherine spearheaded and led a sustainability stewardship initiative for CTI-the Coaches Training Institute-an international life coach training firm spanning 13 countries worldwide. By building and leading an internal sustainability committee, Catherine inspired an ecological mindset amongst a 30-person staff and management team as well as amongst a 45-person international partner consortium that led to company-wide policy changes and established CTI's first state-based, 5-county criteria system for Green Certification in 2009.

Ms. Walker holds a BA in Conservation Management from Union University, is a Waldorf trained educator through the Rudolf Steiner College and is a Certified Permaculture Designer and Ecology of Leadership graduate of the Regenerative Design Institute. Catherine enjoys meaningful travel to France with her daughter as a way of deepening family connections and exploring resonant possibilities with like-hearted souls on the path of evolutionary consciousness. Currently writing a book about the metaphysical in everyday life, Catherine lives in Northern California with her partner and two cats.


Connections -
LinkedIn Profile | permaculturesanctuaries.blogspot.com | cwalker at sonic dot net