The Green Party of Virginia

Retreat

Law School Campus of George Mason University
Arlington, Virginia
February 6 & 7, 1999



Transcribed from tape and edited by Carey Campbell, summarized by Jim Lowenstern

Attendees:
Jonathan Bates, Muriel Grim, Margeret Rood, Cathy Glick, Jeff Seyhan, Patrick Quinn, Roger Hopper, Sharon Williams, Eric Sheffield, Reber Dunkel, Martin Ogle, Sarina Grosswald, Carey Campbell, Mike Piacsek, Amy Soutwick, Jim Lowenstern, Bob Auerbach.

GOV retreat - Saturday morning

Informal discussion related to Northern Virginia Greens activities:

NOVA Greens should run for office (state wide and local elections), recruitment may be needed.

NOVA Greens decided to continue to hold meetings on the first Sunday of each month.

NOVA Greens should begin outreach to other groups. Some of the groups suggested were: Stop Sprawl, Sierra Club, Eco Stewards, Unitarian Church, ACE, TWSC, Burke Cares, Gray Panthers, Audubon, and numerous others.

NOVA Greens will institute 10 Key Values Award to reward and highlight "Green" activities by individuals or groups in the Washington Metropolitan area.

GOV retreat - Saturday afternoon:

Sarina Grosswald , two time candidate for US Congress, spoke to the group. She talked about the Natural Law Party, being a third party candidate, the difficulty and her success getting media attention, preventive instead of reactionary ways to deal with issues, meditation (TM) being effective in prison and education systems, her effectiveness in debates with other candidates, and working with Congressman Moran and Congressional Committees to implement programs backed by the Natural Law Party. We had lunch on Saturday at an Indian vegetarian resturant, Mahdu Ban; most of us had the buffet. It is a short walk from the Arlington Law School campus of GMU

GOV retreat - Sunday morning:

Martin Ogle, Northern VA Regional Parks park ranger and originator of the Arlington Sustainability Roundtable, discussed the Gaia theory, affordable housing , E.F. Shumacher, ecomomic scale, money does not equate to happiness, the roundtable, native and introduced plants and how they effect the ecosystem. A discussion spun off about Gaviotos, Colombia and Findhorn, Scotland, and revitalization in general.

We then had a discussion following up on Saturday morning issues and including topics from the two speakers.

Minutes GPVA

The Green Party of Virginia
Latest Update: February 7, 1999