Back To Our Roots: Missoula Hosts AERO Expo And Annual Meeting Highlighting Sustainability Oct 26

The city of Missoula will host a unique event https://tinyurl.com/y929vett this October as folks from the Garden City and all across the state come together for the AERO Expo and Annual Meeting, a yearly opportunity to learn from as well as network and connect with experts in the fields of sustainable agriculture, clean energy, resilient communities, and self-reliance. Both an educational opportunity and a celebration of local successes, the Expo offers hands-on workshops for skill-building, informative panels and presentations, a keynote address, local tours, food, and fun.

By Corrie Williamson

Founded in 1974, the nonprofit organization AERO held its first annual gathering in 1984, with a focus that year on alternative agriculture, and has been bringing Montanans together ever since in a shared mission to nurture and promote a more sustainable Montana. Each year, the Expo is hosted by a different city in Montana, with recent venues in Butte, Kalispell, and the Highwood Mountains outside of Great Falls. The head of the planning committee for 2018 is Missoula local Jeff Pernell, a community-minded entrepreneur who owns Hero Coffee Works as well as Galactic Farms, which focuses on growing food indoors in a contained environment through sustainable energy and closed systems. Pernell sees Missoula as the right place at the right time for this year’s gathering of sustainability enthusiasts – a town poised to be a positive model for change: "We have a lot of folks already doing really great sustainability projects here in town, and so it’s the perfect location to serve as an inspiration and model for other places," said Pernell.

"Missoula’s nickname is the Garden City and our theme this year is "Seeds of Sustainability in the Garden City." The Expo is a chance to connect with different organizations and businesses and hear a lot of great presenters and experts talk about how they’re making a difference here with the hope that that seed is planted and when folks take it home it blooms there as well."

A well-known leader in Montana’s sustainability and local resilience movements, AERO has offered resources, events, information, and networking to Montanans for over 40 years, with a focus on creating local leadership through education, information and advocacy around the key issues of renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. This year, Pernell notes, "We’ve trying to go back to our roots in the fact that we?re offering a lot of hands-on workshops where people can participate in activities and learn from experts in various fields." Held at the Missoula Fairgrounds, the Expo’s dining and keynote speakers will take place in the Home Arts Building, with the majority of the workshops occurring in big tents in the carnival lot. "It’s gonna have a more down to earth feeling," says Pernell.

The Expo is open and welcoming to the public, and is the only opportunity of its kind offering a statewide gathering for members and nonmembers to share skills, ideas and resources. Expo organizers aim to draw up to 250 participants from towns both small and large across the state, and welcomes anyone who shares a commitment to making Montana a more resilient, sustainable place to live.

Jennifer Battles, AERO’s Executive Director, notes: "AERO was born from a group of Montanans that refused to accept the status quo, and would not be discouraged by barriers. Expo is a yearly event that uniquely exemplifies the resilience the determination, and the creativity of folks that call this place home. We learn from each other, share food with one another in community, trade stories with each other, and take action together. For over 40 years, these efforts have helped change the face of agriculture and energy use in Montana. Come find out how you can be a part of the next 40 years."

As one means of modeling sustainable practices, the Expo serves locally sourced, organic food for all its meals. Friday night, attendees gather for a potluck of homemade food; Sunday morning?s meal will be provided by popular local breakfast spot Ninja Mike’s, which is dedicated to using seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. The remaining meals will be prepared by well-known Missoula caterer Silk Road, which sources from the Western Montana Growers Co-op, a coalition of growers in the Flathead, Jocko, Mission, and Bitterroot Valleys whose goal is to provide the region with fresh, quality products from local farms.

Additionally, the Expo will feature an electronic recycling collection opportunity open to all, not just attendees, through Oreo’s Refining. Pernell notes: "Everybody’s got a closet full of technology, and ideally that?s not ending up in a landfill somewhere. Bring your computer towers, tablets, cell phones, & cords that go with them. Not all e-waste, like monitors, can be recycled so please contact Oreo’s refining if you’re curious about what you can recycle with them. Friday and Saturday morning drop off is open to the public, and is free. Drop stuff off even if you?re not coming! You should register, of course, and attend our meeting, but if you just want to drop off e-waste, this is a good time to do that."

At the Expo, the hope is to reimagine and reconfigure energy and agricultural systems to lay the groundwork for lasting, sustainable change within communities. Learning from others who respond successfully to challenges through shared problem-solving is one of the central goals of the event, which will kick off with a series of tours highlighting local examples of innovative, sustainable solutions, on Friday, October 26. "The tours are fantastic. We?ve got four different tours, one heading west, one to the Bitterroot, one based at the college, and one that?s Missoula-centric," said Pernell. "There’s a lot of good opportunities."

The tours are split into regions to make it possible for folks to select a convenient route as they arrive for the Expo, and see as much as possible that highlights sustainable initiatives and remarkable models in the Missoula area. One tour, with sections led by Ellie Costello, of the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project, Bob Giordano of FreeCycles, Jeremy Drake of the Home ReSource Center, and Hays Daniel of Shelter Designs, will focus on downtown Missoula, hitting some major hotspots for resourceful community building and resilience, all centered in one neighborhood.

Home ReSource is a nonprofit business whose primary operation is collecting and selling reusable building materials; attendees of the tour will learn how they pursue their mission to reduce waste and build a more vibrant and sustainable local economy. The next tour stop, MUD, maintains a robust tool library, empowering its members to do-it-themselves. The tour then wanders to Shelter Designs, a local yurt manufacturing business, who will demonstrate modern yurt construction and show off a 20 yurt! This tour concludes at FreeCycles, Missoula’s favorite bike and alternative transportation community center. Other tours include:

Bitterroot Tour: 9:30 am – 3 pm. Attendees will cruise the Bitterroot Valley for a view of ethical cattle ranching and land partnerships with Oxbow Cattle Co. Oxbow raises grass-fed livestock and sells to local restaurants and markets. After a tour of the farm, gather at the uniquely sustainably built Wildwood Brewery in Stevensville, where we will discuss waste diversion in the brewing process.

Westbound: 9:30 am – 2 pm. Head out west to rustle up some fresh developments in institutional sustainability! The first stop on this tour is Missoula’s Wastewater Facility. Hold your nose, but open your ears to the fascinating process of this critical, and environmentally-conscious public service. Next up is the budding Freedom Gardens of Frenchtown – a young non-profit in partnership with the Frenchtown School District. Freedom Gardens will have a new greenhouse and aquaponic system on display, and will discuss their curriculum to include the students of Frenchtown in the growing process. Lastly, this tour makes a stop at Satic, Inc., an all-American producer of solar and other energy-efficient technology that aims to make real energy change accessible to all!

University of Montana/Farm-to-College: 9:30 am – 3 pm. Garden City Harvest and UM’s Farm-to-College Program are essential to understanding sustainable community agriculture in Missoula. Garden City Harvest, a non-profit with farms and community gardens located all over Missoula, has just constructed a new headquarters and community center at River Road Farm. UM’s Farm-to-College Program is one of the most influential of their sustainability initiatives, due to its public education efforts and reach to all who partake of the delicious food options on campus. This tour visits UM Dining?s largest garden, then rides the zero-fare Mountain Line transit to UM campus. After a lunch break at the Lommasson Center, visit the Food Zoo gardens while discussing state-wide sourcing, waste diversion, and public outreach at the institutional level. There are many UM Dining lunch options for purchase at the Lommasson Center, including the Food Zoo dining hall, made-to-order meals, and retail products.

Among the dozens of presenters this year is Missoula’s own Paul Wheaton, a passionate promoter of permaculture (the development of agricultural systems designed to be sustainable and self-sufficient) and director of Permies.com, which features extensive forums, tutorials, information, podcasts, and other resources on topics like homesteading, gardening, clean energy, and much more. Wheaton will offer a workshop on Rocket Mass Heaters, a high efficiency space heater system that he claims, "can save the world in about five ways." Using 1/10th of the wood of a conventional wood stove, their exhaust is typically just steam and CO2, and switching from electric heat to a rocket mass heater can reduce your carbon footprint significantly, according to Wheaton. The workshop will focus on the design, construction, and operation of a rocket mass heater, and cover its many benefits.

Climate change and waste reduction also feature as prominent topics at the Expo, another reason Missoula is an ideal host site, notes Pernell, as the City of Missoula recently adopted a Zero Waste Resolution that aims to reduce the city?s waste production by 90 percent by the year 2050. A Zero Waste Panel will feature Dr. Bradley Layton and Caitlyn Lewis discussing how to reduce our consumption and waste, while Dr. Lori Byron will present on "Effects of Climate on Nutrition, Agriculture, and Human Health. Kristen Walser of Billings will speak on ?Greenhouse Effect, Carbon Footprint, and Carbon Tax."

Other topics include industrial hemp, DIY solar, hazard preparedness, hydrosol distillation, the role of cooperatives in our communities, energy savings through efficiency, small engine maintenance, oyster mushroom production, and more. The Expo also features a "Harvest Market" where organizations like the Montana Renewable Energy Association and Farmlink will have representatives tabling with information about their work, and where local businesses like Timeless Seeds, the Montana Meat Cooperative, and Alger Beef can sell their goods and products. Saturday evening will close with a silent auction and raffle of locally made artisan goods, artwork, and food items. Kids are welcome and activities provided. Volunteer tickets are also available at a reduced rate.
In another return to roots, AERO will host renowned agroecology expert Dr. Miguel Altieri as this year’s Expo keynote. Altieri also spoke at the organization’s first conference, on alternative agriculture, in 1984. A world-renowned expert in agroecology, Altieri will deliver a keynote address Saturday morning titled, "Agroecology: The Only Viable Path to Feed a Planet in Crisis," and will also offer a workshop and Q&A on "Methodologies for Assessing Your Farm’s Resilience," along with his wife, agroecology professor Dr. Clara Nicholls.

AERO Board of Directors Co-Chair Robin Kelson notes of Dr. Altieri: "For anyone interested in sustainable food systems, climate change, resilience issues or resource conservation, Dr. Altieri offers an invaluable perspective on where we are today and what our opportunities are for developing resilient food systems in our communities moving forward. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have him at Expo. Bottom line: run, do not walk, to come hear this man speak."

Another way the meeting will feel down to earth- After a day of workshops, panels, networking, and other educational opportunities, attendees can kick back with the Beet Tops, an old time string band devoted to bringing square dancing to the people. Pernell, who saw the Beet Tops perform at the Moon Randolph historic homestead outside of Missoula, said of the choice: "They are so much fun – and what struck me was that in this age of technology, we are becoming more and more separated from that face to face to human interaction, and the square dance used to be the way that you could meet people and have a chance to connect: you?re going to dance with a dozen people in each song, and don?t know who you’re going dance with, and suddenly you’ve interacted with all these folks. And I think that’s one of AERO’s main roles – bringing people together."

Additional details about Expo, including schedule and registration link can be found at http://www.aeromt.org/expo, or head to AERO’s website at http://www.aeromt.org or find them on Facebook.

Bottom line: AERO is on a mission to empower local leaders – young and old – with vital resources to take back to their own communities, and you-re invited. To learn more and register for the conference, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-aero-expo-annual-meeting-seeds-of-sustainability-in-the-garden-city-tickets-47555256051

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Info Box
Missoula models for sustainability kick off AERO Expo

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Opening day tours that highlight local Garden City area hot spots and illustrate sustainable models and initiatives include:

Bitterroot Tour: 9:30 am – 3 pm. Attendees will cruise the Bitterroot Valley for a view of ethical cattle ranching and land partnerships with Oxbow Cattle Co. Oxbow raises grass-fed livestock and sells to local restaurants and markets. After a tour of the farm, gather at the uniquely sustainably built Wildwood Brewery in Stevensville, where we will discuss waste diversion in the brewing process.

Missoula Centric: 9:30 am – 2 pm. Browse one of Missoula’s hotspots for resourceful community building and resilience! This neighborhood-based tour includes Home ReSource, the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project (MUD), Shelter Designs, and Freecycles. Home ReSource is a nonprofit business whose primary operation is collecting and selling reusable building materials. You’ll learn how they pursue their mission to reduce waste and build a more vibrant and sustainable local economy. MUD maintains a robust tool library, empowering its members to DIY! Shelter Designs is a local yurt manufacturing business, and they will demonstrate the modern uses of a 20? construction. This tour concludes at FreeCycles, Missoula?s favorite bike and alternative transportation community center.

Westbound: 9:30 am – 2 pm. Head out west to rustle up some fresh developments in institutional sustainability! The first stop on this tour is Missoula’s Wastewater Facility. Hold your nose, but open your ears to the fascinating process of this critical, and environmentally-conscious public service. Next up is the budding Freedom Gardens of Frenchtown – a young non-profit in partnership with the Frenchtown School District. Freedom Gardens will have a new greenhouse and aquaponic system on display, and will discuss their curriculum to include the students of Frenchtown in the growing process. Lastly, this tour makes a stop at Satic, Inc., an all-American producer of solar and other energy-efficient technology that aims to make real energy change accessible to all!

University of Montana/Farm-to-College: 9:30 am – 3 pm. Garden City Harvest and UM?s Farm-to-College Program are essential to understanding sustainable community agriculture in Missoula. Garden City Harvest, a non-profit with farms and community gardens located all over Missoula, has just constructed a new headquarters and community center at River Road Farm. UM’s Farm-to-College Program is one of the most influential of their sustainability initiatives, due to its public education efforts and reach to all who partake of the delicious food options on campus. This tour visits UM Dining’s largest garden, then rides the zero-fare Mountain Line transit to UM campus. After a lunch break at the Lommasson Center, visit the Food Zoo gardens while discussing state-wide sourcing, waste diversion, and public outreach at the institutional level. There are many UM Dining lunch options for purchase at the Lommasson Center, including the Food Zoo dining hall, made-to-order meals, and retail products.