We’re excited to have Annelie on board as a year long VISTA member for *cino! Annelie has been a part of our community for a few seasons now, contributing greatly to The Huss Project Farm, Future Festival and the Three River’s Farmers Market. We have greatly appreciated her presence, joy, and work these past few years.
We’re continuing with a series of bios this week, questioning how the places we’re from inform our collective work in Three Rivers. Annelie was born in Corvallis, Oregon and has lived most of her life there. Corvallis is a “hippie” hub for environmental activism, Annelie said, laughing. “Growing up around agriculture and nature as well as seeing this very intentional way of viewing the earth and we interact with it were very influential.”
After moving from Corvallis, Annelie’s perspective on environmentalism has shifted. While the Corvallis community offers alternative ways in which to care for the world, such as implementing solar panels and growing organic foods, not all of their practices are economically accessible. “Moving [to Three Rivers], I realized that the environmentalist movement is not made for rich people even though a lot of wealthier white people have kind of dominated the conversation,” she said. She has found many examples here of folks using their resources, imagination and time to expand the definitions of environmental work.
Similar to Sugan, Annelie has found the social model for permaculture appealing, drawing particularly on activist Pandora Thomas’ work. Thomas’ model focuses on how to address the felt needs of people who find it most difficult to get their needs met, Annelie noted.
Annelie has recently been asking herself the question of how and where to invest her energy. “I used to think I wanted to invest most of my energy in farm work,” she said. “Recently I’ve wanted to invest my energy in education…and getting people connected to resources for their own benefit.”
More bios to come!
Last modified: March 4, 2020
