Alan Seid's Sustainability Work Bio

Alan Seid's bio:

• Alan grew up bilingual/bicultural in Mexico City, Mexico, until the age of 14
• Self-designed interdisciplinary undergrad major in Sustainability (1993)
• Began with an interest in tools, skills, processes, practices & methodologies for sustainable and integral living
• Began applying Joe Dominguez's 9 Step Program for personal financial transformation in 1992 at the age of 21, which led to:
• From 1998 to 2005 took 7 years off from paid employment to (1) full-time explore, learn, develop skills in sustainable living tools, processes, & practices, (2) work on his own personal growth, and (3) engage in an extensive land-search which led to some residential intentional community experiences, and purchasing a former retreat center: Bodhi Creek Farm, 25 acres in the foothills of Washington State's North Cascades, with the intention of forming a sustainability learning center
• Currently practicing permaculture on Bodhi Creek Farm with a focus on edible forest gardens and permaculture-based forestry
• Alan has a facility for articulating other people's work to groups, and currently teaches 5 workshops:

1. Nonviolent Communication^sm (NVC) (originated by Marshall Rosenberg), which Alan prefers to call "Empowered Communication" - an excellent tool for creating mutual understanding without coercion, preventing and resolving conflicts, and finding common ground through our shared humanity; (Alan is a Certified Trainer in NVC);

2. Permaculture Design (originated by Bill Mollison & David Holmgren), an ecological design system for human households and settlements based on working with, rather than against, nature, including but not limited to an emphasis on food systems that mimic the way natural ecosystems work;

3. Financial Integrity (FI) (originated by Joe Dominguez), a practical and proven integrated approach to transforming personal finances, work, and consumption patterns; a tool for creating a relationship with the energy we call money that is clear and empowered; helps us navigate not only our own issues in relation to money, but also a culture and society that is confused and confusing in this area; a micro tool with macro ripple effects;

4. Integral Sustainability (based on Ken Wilber's Integral Model), starting with the conceptual framework from the most widely read and influential of contemporary American philosophers, a man referred to as "the Einstein of consciousness" and who has done the most, of anyone Alan is aware of, to integrate East and West, North and South, premodern-modern-postmodern, Science and Spirituality -- so beginning with a guided tour of the “integral framework” -- and then looking at how this informs sustainability work and initiatives;

5. The 8-Shields/Acorn Model (as taught by Jon Young) a universal pattern that can be used as an organizational structure, a checklist for events, a flowchart for projects, and much more; fun and effective;

• Alan has taught these workshops to hundreds of individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, boards, communities, and college classes, starting with the FI workshops in 1994, and has added the rest to his repertoire over time, as he’s integrated those bodies of work; his 7 years off from paid work from 1998 to 2005 (see above) were key in this process;

• Alan also offers conflict mediation, meeting facilitation, and communication skills training for individuals, couples & families
• Alan is President of the Board of the New Road Map Foundation, which disseminates the Financial Integrity Program (see above)
• He also served on a county-government appointed committee looking at a 20-year comprehensive plan for the area in which he lives
• Alan worked for six months as the Bellingham-Whatcom County Area Director and National Team member for SGLA, Sustainable Global Leadership Alliance, a national Nonprofit that trains young adults to be leaders for sustainability.