Katie Nixon
Growing up in Kansas City, I did not get much exposure to the ideas of sustainability, but I had a growing sense that we could do things better for the planet and for each other. Going to Fairhaven College (Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wa) in 1997, was an awaking in the fullest sense of the word. I delved into growing food and learning about better ways to live and listen with the earth. In 2001, I completed a degree in Permaculture Design and Earth Education. After graduating, I wanted to learn more. So I went to New Zealand where I completed a year course (from Earthcare Education Aorearoa) in Sustainable Land-use Management. Since the completion of that course in 2002, I have been involved in a plethora of activities related to sustainability such as:
- 2003, working for Earthcare Education Aotearoa
- Walking 1300kms in NZ to share the story and importance of our Heirloom seeds to communities along our route.
- Teaching workshops on Permaculture and Eco-village design.
- 2005, Traveling to Ireland and the UK to explore how communities in those counties apply sustainability to their life on a local and global scale.
- Co-creating the Sustainability Research and Education Project.
- 2005, launching our first project on our 30ft sail boat the Broadened Horizons. We traveled to the Hurricane Katrina ravaged coastline to learn and share models of sustainability
- 2007, completing our second SREP trip to Mexico, where we networked with and documented projects working in the realm of sustainability.
- 2008 spending time in Australia and returning to New Zealand. I also started my involvement with Gameen Bank, a micro-lending program, and with Permaculture North, a 400+ member organization that hosted the 9 National Australia Permaculture Convergence, which I was able to help co-ordinate.
- In March 2009 I moved back to my roots to Kansas City, Missouri. Here, I was hired as the Small Farm Specialist-West Central Region (of Missouri) for the Innonative Small Farmers' Outreach Program run through Lincoln University Cooperative Extension. It is a pleasure to be working towards helping the small farmers of Missouri develop more efficient ways of farming while looking after the soil, water, and the environment. I Hope to deepen my understanding of farming and my relationship with our farmers, in order to ro more powerful work for the sustainable food movement in the future.
After studing and practicing models of sustainability for 9 years, I by no means consider myself an expert. The more I see other examples in practice, and the more conversations I have on the topic of sustainability, the more I realize how much there is to learn and share.