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It's Getting Hot in Here

Summer of Solutions 2008...what was it really like?

It's difficult to convey in words what the first Summer of Solutions meant to us. We went in with little idea of what we wanted...and it ended up growing into something beautiful. I hope the following words can convey some of what we felt.
-Kai

Callista Perry:
"For me, Summer of Solutions was an incredible experience.  It's hard to quantify or communicate all the ways in which it impacted me, and I'm sure that I will not know or understand all of those impacts until years from now.  Suffice it to say that I was absolutely blown away.

The first week of Summer of Solutions, I remember feeling more excited about the projects and the experience of which I was becoming a part than I had felt in a long time - and that excitement has not left me.  It's not even that the projects themselves are so exciting - they are, but that's not why I feel so excited.  It is the sense of being part of something so much bigger than myself - the realization that I am part of a ginormous, incredibly labyrinthian web of interconnected individuals and groups, all working towards the same thing.  It is the understanding that if the challenges we face are overwhelming in their magnitude and scope, then the opportunities they create are equally expansive, and the solutions that we are choosing to be a part of are necessarily of equal breadth and depth.

It is the empowerment that comes part and parcel with being part of building solutions that are really REAL, and knowing that those projects and initiatives were started by people my age - my friends and co-organizers. If they can do it, we can do it too.  And we will - because we can.

I remember realizing at the beginning of Summer of Solutions that it would change my life; that it was the absolute best way I could be spending my summer; that it was what I was meant to be doing at that point in time and space.  I was correct - as far as I can tell - on all counts.  There were so many points throughout the summer when I paused for a moment, and took a step back, throwing the circumstances into perspective - every time, I was absolutely floored.  "I am making history," I would re-realize each time. "This is it - right here, right now.  This is the real deal.  Summer of Solutions will be in the climate movement history books decades and centuries from now as one of the places where it all began.  I am part of something so special, so incredibly important - I don't even REALIZE how important this is or what kind of lasting impact this will have, it's beyond my capacity to know or conceive of the scope of the significance of this. How did I get here?  How did I come to be a part of this?"

I left Summer of Solutions so inspired and motivated, and so in love with the sense of energy and empowerment that I experienced there.   I still carry all of that inside of me, always - which is why I am part of organizing a Summer of Solutions 2009 in Worcester, MA.  You should come. It just might change your life."

Andrew Ehrmann:

"The two months we spent together in St Paul for Summer of Solutions where a blast! The friends made, the personal and group growth witnessed, as well as the creative flow of excitement constantly in the air was incredible.

Its lasting impacts for me however, stem from the planning stages of the event.  I was a part of the group of students who  planned Summer of Solutions throughout the six months before the event took place.  This experience was insanely empowering because as a group we worked together to create a collective dream. In terms of the planning and logistics, putting together Summer of Solutions was surprisingly simple.  Basically all we did was figure out how to: connect with and involve interested students, fundraise for scholarships and student stipends, work with our campus to reserve housing, and find projects, organizations and community members to work with. We did not concern ourselves with planning the day to day activities of Summer of Solutions because we wanted it to be a completely open space; we simply built the skeleton. All of the day to day activities of Summer of Solutions were planned with the entire group over the course of the first few weeks after everyone arrived.

For me this is the strongest and most inspiring aspect of Summer of Solutions.  Any dedicated group of individuals can put together a program which, due to its open and creative itinerary, can be adapted to the desires and dreams of its participants.  Working in this manner has taught me more than i can explain."