Silverton presents sustainability workshop in Camden March 16

CAMDEN - The Camden Public Library will host a workshop presentation by Seth Silverton, the founder of the Wood Chop School of Lincolnville, on "Resilient Community – a Sustainability Workshop," on Saturday, March 16, at 2 p.m. in the Picker Room.

"In this gathering, we will explore the pressing need for connecting with each other to strengthen and build a sustainable and resilient community," said Silverton. "Come with an open mind and a desire to share skills and contacts that relate to the issues of sustainability and resilience. We will attempt to answer some of the most pressing questions of our time with regard to our food and our health."

Continued Silverton, "Want to know who teaches bee-keeping in Maine? Have you always wanted to grow more of your own food, but needed more direction? Have you wondered how you will be able to cope with diminishing Social Security payments and Medicare plans? Participants in this new village will leave this meeting with healthy ideas for the future of their relationship to the place in which they live, to their own bodies, and to each other."

After working for many years in investment banking in New York City, Seth Silverton moved to midcoast Maine with his family and worked for a large oil company for a while. With the skills and knowledge gained from a career in resource-based energy, he soon started an energy consulting business, where he advocated for the use of alternative energies and the exploration of sustainable energy sources. As a sought-after speaker, he gives talks on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy policy, as well as resource scarcity. Silverton started the Wood Chop School (WCS) in 2010 as a way to offer community participants the tools they need to create and maintain a sustainable future in an environment designed to encourage both personal and social growth. blends key aspects of educational tourism, ecotourism and agritourism to create a comprehensive and engaging rural learning experience. Through its keynote and core curriculums, WCS features dynamic, hands-on programs that address the most pressing issues of our time—post peak oil energy options, water scarcity, global food supply, and climate change—and address these issues through the development of tangible, real-world skills.

Silverton recently presented his "Resilient Community" workshop in a TED-type talk in October 2012 at TEDxDirigo. TEDxDirigo is a world-class platform to celebrate innovation and creativity in Maine. Through the popular and effective TED Talk format, it delivers ideas from Maine's brightest innovators and change makers and serves as a catalyst for positive change in the state and world.

For more information on this workshop and other upcoming events at the Camden Public Library, call 236-3440 or visit camden.lib.me.us.