TRANSCRIPT OF The Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain
VIDEO by Coral & Oak Studios

Megan Toben:

“We live in a beautiful and precarious moment in time.

Never before has humanity had access to such abundance, technological resources, power, potential—potential for good and for destruction.

Exploitation of Earth’s ecosystems has taken us beyond a tipping point.

We’re treating the Mother Earth as a supply closet and a waste basket, and that has dire consequences, perhaps threatening the survival of our species and already extinguishing thousands of others.

So where do we go from here?

My name is Megan Toben, and my husband Tim and I have been asking this question together for 12 years.

10 years ago, we opened up our home and our farm to this conversation, as a gathering place for people to come and ask this question together. We’re exploring how we might do things differently.

This work has grown into the Pickards Mountain Eco-Institute, whose mission is healing the Human-Earth relationship through Earth literacy and local economy.

The Eco-Institute runs on solar power. We grow organic food and herbal medicines. We study and work and learn together. We are learning that we are not separate, from the earth or from each other, that all of our actions has implications for the rest of the community of Life.

We’re relearning about interconnectedness and recovering our sense of the sacred in all Life.

We offer field trips for local school groups, residential internships for young adults, workshops in sustainability, and study groups.

We’re reconnecting with ancient skills and traditions in preparation for the future.

We’re also offering a place to be grateful, to come together and imagine our way into a future that we want to live into.

We’re growing resilience together, and we invite you to join us.”