Category: Speaker

Richard Hobbs

August 27, 2017

This operational blueprint for a radical new economy and society will be anchored not only in participatory democracy but in participatory human need fulfilling activity, from self and family care to necessary labor with reduced working hours to the time and space for self-realization. Don’t miss this holistic systemic transformational approach to reshaping the future of the United States.

Richard Hobbs is the Executive Director of Human Agenda, a national board member of Take Back Your Time, an immigration attorney and member of the legal collective CLARO (Colectivo Legal Accesible Razonable y Organizado), and member of the newly forming South Bay Progressive Alliance.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-08-27): Building Resistance/Alternat­ives to the Administration’s Plan for America(Richard Hobbs) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Barby Ulmer

August 20, 2017

Barby Ulmer with husband Vic (now deceased) were the founders and co-directors of Our Developing World. Formed in 1982, the non-profit organization strives to raise awareness of the struggles and triumphs occurring in developing countries by creating resources for teachers, hosting events, and leading educational trips to various countries in Central America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

She will focus in this talk (which will include slides) on Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, and will discuss the historical background of similarities of U.S. policy toward these countries and exploitation by U.S. & Canadian corporations, recent struggles and victories there, and what can be done. She will end with a discussion of the Mayan System of Justice, which the speaker finds inspiring.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-08-20): Eyewitness to Central America (Barby Ulmer) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Marilyn Barry

August 13, 2017

Permaculture is a creative design process based on whole-systems thinking informed by ethics and design principles that are featured on the following website: www.permacultureprinciples.com. This approach guides us to mimic the patterns and relationships we can find in nature and can be applied to all aspects of human habitation, from agriculture to ecological building, from appropriate technology to education and even economics.

By adopting the ethics and applying these principles in our daily life we can make the transition from being dependent consumers to becoming responsible producers. This journey builds skills and resilience at home and in our local communities that will help us prepare for an uncertain future with less available energy.

The techniques and strategies used to apply these principles vary widely depending on the location, climatic conditions and resources that are available. The methods may differ, but the foundations to this holistic approach remain constant. By learning these principles you can acquire valuable thinking tools that help you become more resilient in an era of change.

Marilyn Barry is Business Consultant & Administrative Manager for Barry Consulting. Among other things, she provides business project support for small non-profit and private organizations.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-08-13): Community Building and Resilience via Transition/Permaculture (Marilyn Barry) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Dr. Frank Heile

July 30, 2017

Dr. Frank Heile, who has physics degrees from Stanford and MIT, will be discussing his upcoming book, “Spirituality Explained – A Model of Consciousness and Spirituality” (https://spiritualityexplained.com/). This explanation of spirituality is completely compatible with the currently known laws of physics and science; thus, there are no “spirits” in this explanation of spirituality!

Humanist Community Forum (2017-07-30): A Scientific Explanation of Spirituality (Dr. Frank Heile) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Adam Creighton

July 23, 2017

Over one-third of the planet still cooks their food over open fires–at a human health and environmental cost that is staggering, and wholly unsustainable. The health and economic impacts fall hardest on the shoulders of women and young girls, and the paradigm contributes to systemic poverty among the most vulnerable people in the world.

For almost 10 years, the team at InStove (www.instove.org) has been building a movement centered around a technology that could change this paradigm. From unsustainable cooking that kills forests, blackens lungs, and dirties the air, to clean cooking that feeds hundreds at a time, makes hospitals safer, and helps women build their economic assets to escape poverty–for good–InStove has mobilized a sector behind approaches and partnerships that work.

Come see Adam Creighton of InStove discuss their work and the newest applications of their renewable energy technology–a stove which the US EPA has found to be the most efficient in the world.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-07-23): Empowering Women in Ghana with Cookstoves (Adam Creighton) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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