Permaculture Project May Win White House Award!

March 2, 2012

Dear Friends,

We support and are asking for your support of our friends at UMass Amherst Permaculture who have catalyzed a significant opportunity for Permaculture education and ideas to hit the mainstream media as a finalist in the Campus Champions of Change Award from the White House, the winner of which will send a representative to the White House, receive international recognition, be featured on MTV, and more!

With 24 hours less to go, UMass Amherst Permaculture is running neck to neck with another group for a first place finish!

We need more on-line votes to take it over the edge between now and Saturday night! Anyone worldwide can go online and vote to support the project.

Take a minute to vote online, cast all 3 votes for UMass Permaculture, tell friends to do the same, and send a UMass Amherst to represent Permaculture at the White House, resulting in more international media exposure for the Permaculture Movement!

Voting takes just a minute, go to this link: https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

More Info about this project and the finalists for the award are below.

With Co-Inspriation,

– The Living Mandala Team

Umass Amherst Permaculture – finalist in Campus Champions of Change Aware

UMass Amherst Permaculture is a student group that educates the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and the local community about ecological permaculture solutions by demonstrating edible perennial landscapes that are highly productive, low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible!

“Finishing in the top 5 means permaculture and UMass Amherst will get national attention from the media, President Obama and his staff, plus millions and millions of people worldwide! This one has the potential to be a game-changer, everyone! It may very well be the most important Facebook post I will ever share. ” -Ryan Harb

Here is what you can do to help:

1) Simply click the link and vote (all 3 of your votes!) for “UMASS Amherst Permaculture Initiative”!

2) Share this message on your Facebook wall so others in your network will also vote!

3) Post this message on appropriate Facebook groups you belong to!

4) E-mail this link to your friends, family, listservs, etc! Ask them to vote and share it with others as well.

5) Keep checking back, sharing this on Facebook during the next week, and keep the momentum high! Thank you so so much, everyone. We could be at the White House on March 15 with your help!

Vote Here: https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

AND SEND THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS!!!

Thanks so much for the very insightful conversation that this White House contest has sparked. I’ve enjoyed reading your comments and will post a second reply in the next couple of days. In the meantime I thought I’d share with you the following contest update:

The University of Arkansas unexpectedly gained 20,000 votes today in the voting and has taken over first place due to their food pantry project placing an Ad (I heard this but did not see it first hand) in USA Today. Therefore we are making a big final push to get permaculture back on top and we think we can do it but need your help once more! Here’s my final plea that I’m sharing with everyone, and hope that you will pass it forward!

I know many of you have already voted and for that I am extremely grateful. The support we’ve received from our local, national and worldwide permaculture community has been tremendous. If you know anyone else personally that might be inspired by this – every vote counts during these final 48 hours! A more formal letter about the final 2 days of voting can be found below.

Also, here is a recent radio interview (podcast) about the project and contest that you can listen to here: http://www.wrsi.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5716139

—

Dear friends,

As you probably already know, UMass Amherst Permaculture has been selected as 1 of 15 finalists (out of 1400+ applications!) for the Campus Champions of Change Challenge, a national award hosted by the White House. This means we are in the final round, and the general public is now voting for which teams will get a trip to the White House and also be featured on MTV’s program “The Deans List” which reaches 9 million viewers!   This is an amazing opportunity to bring permaculture to a whole new audience and truly create a huge positive ripple effect in the world. We have only 2 days left to tally as many votes as we can – voting ends Saturday, March 3 at 11:59PM est. Link to vote is here (you can vote 3 times for UMass Permaculture!): https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

Voting and Sharing!:

Anyone will an e-mail address can vote!

Please share this e-mail with others and you will be truly helping co-create the sustainable world that we all envision.

Please post the link on your Facebook wall.

If you have twitter please tweet “UMass Amherst Permaculture Initiative to @JonCarson44”

Short Summary:

I truly believe in my heart that this is such an amazing opportunity to bring new interest and many more people to the permaculture movement. Placing first in this contest has the potential to be very meaningful for humanity and the planet in this time of global transformation. I understand that there are concerns about this contest and bringing permaculture to the White House in general. Please know that all of your feedback is extremely important to me and I honor and respect everything that you all have said. I am trying my best to make a positive impact in the world, alongside my incredible students, and believe that so much good can come from this. Please consider helping us bring permaculture to the white house and to millions more people by voting and passing this on. Thank you so much, everyone. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this amazing global network and to share in these important conversations.

 For the earth and each other,

Ryan Harb

 Vote here. https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

More info. www.UMassPermaculture.com

5 minute video clip of the project.