Northern Sustainability Symposium is May 3-5 at North House Folk School

The Northern Sustainability Symposium on May 3-5 at North House Folk School in Grand Marais will offer a number of courses on living sustainably. Community members can sign up for soap making and canning or learn about solar water heating systems, root cellars, green houses and more. This photo shows some of last year’s participants in the Sew It Yourself: Hand-Sewing Skills class.

Author Dmitry Orlov is visiting Minnesota for North House Folk School’s fourth annual Northern Sustainability Symposium, May 3-5. Coursework and programs at the Sustainability Symposium revolve around changes that can be made by individuals for a more sustainable future: learning to repair and repurpose, simplify and reclaim the everyday skills of self-reliance from the notso distant past.

Orlov will give a presentation on Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. Born in Russia, he moved to the U.S. while a teenager and has traveled back repeatedly to observe the Soviet collapse during the late eighties and mid-nineties. He is an engineer who has worked in many fields, including high-energy physics research, e-commerce and Internet security.

He is the author of the award-winning book Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects and of the forthcoming The Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors’ Toolkit.

Orlov will also teach two half-day workshops – one on sail-based transport and one on building lasting communities.

Additional event coursework includes 14 courses ranging in length from a half day to 4.5 days. The coursework nurtures the do-it-yourself spirit by teaching skills that are integral to a sustainable future. Courses include hand sewing, knife and tool sharpening, canning food, starting a root cellar, soap making, installing solar panels and more. Registration is required for coursework.

Programming during the event also features a tour of Cook County’s greenhouses, a screening of the film In Transition 2.0, and a woodfired community pizza bake potluck. A complete schedule of events is available at the school’s website at www.northhhouse.org.