Green Lane: Modern Harmony with the Earth

In the most immediate sense, Green Lane is soon running out of funding and may lose its space within a couple months. So we are asking for all your help to, first and foremost, cover our base costs and then to take Green Lane to the next phase of being the heart of the city, a community hub, and an education centre for the new culture on Earth...

ONCE UPON A TIME…

As soon as we hear the words “Once upon a time” we are transported to another world, another time, and the magical landscape of a myth. There are so many ways we could tell this story. There is no beginning, middle, or end. There is only the urgent, thrilling, vulnerable story of the NOW.

We turn our story (and our dreams) toward all of you. What is happening now at Green Lane is about how something very small-scale is also a direct bridge to something global.

Our dreams with Green Lane, Christchurch and this Earth are only beginning:

GREEN LANE (The Roots): This story is about the future of Green Lane—a small collective that no longer wants to worry about its survival when, at its heart, is standing for a new culture, a new Earth, and a new way of being human on this planet. The seeds Green Lane is planting are paving the way for a new culture we can all feel coming as new forms of crisis keep hitting our lives, personally and globally.

CHRISTCHURCH (The Heart): This story is also about Christchurch—one city that is buzzing with aliveness, ripeness, and a fierce readiness to emerge into its full power—and what it holds for New Zealand now, but also for the rest of the world. Christchurch carries the cracks of the earthquakes and knows how human beings can come together and build something new in times of not knowing. Someone recently said to us, “Christchurch is the heart of New Zealand.” There are times when the Earth speaks through a city ready to break through and sends sparks to other lands.

EARTH (The Vision): This story is also about us. Humans. And, more importantly, our home called Earth that we can so easily take for granted. Life can no longer be about putting ourselves at the centre, but instead, about dissolving any separation between humans and nature, one another’s hearts, our soul gift and making a living, individuals and communities.

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GREEN LANE (The Roots)

INSPIRATION:

Green Lane’s roots (started less than a year ago) came from:

• the desire for a marketplace based on heart-centred production and exchange.

• the growing passion of how disconnected humans are from “waste”

• the heartbreak of having such little collective awareness of how we actively degrade the natural world on a daily basis

• the urgency to be a catalyst for immediate change in a city, so the city’s transformation may create a blueprint for other cities around the globe.

THE "WASTE" MYTH + WHY COMPOST MATTERS:

In New Zealand alone, 58% of waste diverted to landfill is comprised of organic matter including paper. In landfill, this material breaks down alongside heavy metals and other toxic substances, eventually creating leachate, a dense black liquid that pollutes the Earth and its waterways.

Two crucial points:

1. What we call “waste” (organic matter) can be broken down and processed into some of the most nutrient-dense, Life-giving soil on the planet. Imagine abundant gardens blossoming all over the city, singing with the natural world, having their foundations come from food scraps thrown out from restaurants on the same block! The fruit and vegetables blooming from these gardens are then brought back to the restaurants where the “waste” came from. On a microcosmic level, this a circular and regenerative system supporting the cycle of Life.

2. Though all organic matter that goes into ”waste” is anything but “waste” — our current systems and structures do not empower cities and communities to have intimate, day to day relationships with turning organic matter into compost and beautiful soil.

“Waste” is a capitalist industry. Landfills are merely the underbellies and shadows of our current economic system—a dangerous trajectory that puts its growth and self-interest before EVERYTHING.

Landfills, or dumps, are places we do not want to go. They are cut-off parts of our communities (and ourselves) we’d prefer not to look at. While there are clear paths to working in union with the natural world, our myths about economy and resources are hellbent on individual survival and far from the wellbeing of this home we call Earth, living and breathing to sustain Life.

Taking a close look is not easy, but a necessary step in order to accept where we are at and feel the grief of deeply rooted foundations that need to change.

GREEN LANE'S BEGINNINGS:

Although changing these foundations at the root can be a daunting task, Green Lane’s heart started to ripple into Christchurch instantly through a weekend market and a set of core values embracing people to be honest about where they’re at, but also encouraging each other to become more aware of how our daily practices impact the planet.

Green Lane’s Core Values: https://www.greenlane.co.nz/aboutus

Following on from the weekend market, Green Lane grew a limb as a small-scale community composting hub, working with businesses in close radius to minimise the amount of waste going to landfill. We walk to the local businesses each week, connect with one another face to face, collect the organic waste, and bring it back to our space (where the market happened just days prior).

It is no coincidence a thriving market and neatly kept, sexy piles of compost sit in the same space. The inherent abundance that compost holds (and the rich soil it breaks down to) is a direct reflection of our inherent abundance and creativity as human beings. The compost heaps and the market both work best when understood as reciprocal exchange

On one hand, Green Lane wants to become a bigger community hub for compost education and expand upon the workshops we’re already offering for the general public. Through these workshops and from simply feeling what we’re doing here, our hope is that this small-scale heart-centered blueprint will ripple out. We want to keep showing how a small-scale community model for composting can be well-taught, embodied, and then lived day to day. We want to upscale the size of our hearts, the union between humans and nature, and the inspiration for this to happen everywhere. Community compost hubs will be synonymous with community gardens.

In addition, Green Lane also wants to keep growing into a more abundant community center and educational space in the heart of Christchurch, reminding people to deeply value their skills and creativity. We’re calling in more spaciousness for this here and within our own lives. The market already embodies this by not charging vendors any money to participate. We welcome their expression as a gift to the space, hand them an envelope, and it’s up to them how much money they want to give back to us.

THE ROOTS: PRACTICAL + FINANCIAL NEEDS

Goal: $100,000

This would cover our base costs (rent, operations, labor) for one year and remove any worries of potentially losing the space.

It would support us to refine the foundations already in place—but also provide bandwidth to build upon them—and to develop Green Lane into a fruitful educational and cultural hub in the Heart of Christchurch.

• Monthly rent

• Materials for composting

• Completing Occupational Health & Safety Protocols

• New heating, plumbing and drainage systems

• Power, utilities, media and web design costs

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CHRISTCHURCH (The Heart)

INSPIRATION:

Beyond its Roots (community compost hub + weekend market), Green Lane wants to step fully into a new phase of service in 2021 as a flourishing community Heart of Christchurch—building upon the foundations from 2020 and now growing our creativity, education, and programs within the space.

There are the initiatives already happening in Green Lane, and those to come this year. But the heart of the space lies within a “feeling” people often speak of when they enter the space. And it’s that very feeling of oneness, belonging, being part of something bigger and the freedom to be who we are that fills the pulse of Green Lane.

Imagine this pulse growing and growing as the wider heartbeat within Christchurch as Green Lane grows into a center for education, creativity, and events, remembering the sacredness of our soul gifts and the natural world, and a community hub that lives and breathes Earth’s new culture on a daily basis.

THE HEARTBEAT OF THE CITY:

In addition to the day to day community compost operation and the weekend Market, this is an example of what a dream week could like at Green Lane—our Roots fully covered, and the Heart fully radiating out into Christchurch as we step forth into some new dreams:

We see some of the education and creative initiatives at Green Lane consisting of:

ROOTS

• Compost workshops

• Regenerative farming + horticulture courses

• Teams to help establish other compost hubs in the wider community

• Access network of sustainable, ethical and local small businesses working towards a more harmonious relationship between economics and the environment - available to all

HEART

• Community Meetings

• Weekend Market (co-creations offsite)

• Concerts, performances, creative gatherings

• Brotherhood and Sisterhood work for men + women

• Programs on soul intimacy + connection to the natural world

• Youth Programs to uplift and recognise skills of the individual and how they play a part in the whole

• Open space/times for co-working

EARTH

• Creating a wider web for this in New Zealand

• Bringing Green Lane’s message to other cities

• Exploration of new culture, locally and globally

THE HEART: PRACTICAL + FINANCIAL NEEDS

Goal: $100,000

This next phase of funding for Green Lane’s Heart is in support of landing of the educational and creative programs within the space, and also being able to make the space itself more beautiful and practical to incorporate all of Green Lane’s needs.

We do not want to separate the compost hub from the performance space or classroom or the dance floor. The point is to have all of it weaving into one, central Heart and to create a blueprint for other cities to show them this is possible. We want education of the Earth and soil to be a lived, embodied experienced that can be learned alongside coming to a dance or a group workshop space.

As of now, those involved with Green Lane are keeping it running, but there is barely any income or livelihood when it comes to the individuals behind the project. So this funding for the Heart also helps to provide income for those involved with Green Lane, creating an economy that can ripple out where abundance starts from the Earth itself and the soil, and pours forth from our offerings, gifts, hearts and creativity. This is what we want to keep helping others step into as well.

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EARTH (The Vision)

THE BIG PICTURE:

Sometimes the big vision feels very far, or something local feels far from being global. But dissolving this separation is a key foundation here. Green Lane's story, and the vulnerable initiation it's going through, has never felt separate from what's happening all over the Earth.

What's happening at Green Lane now, here in Christchurch, NZ, is a local blueprint that wants to be shared—from suburb to suburb, city to city, country to country—as other spaces and groups emerge to stand for the new culture arising on Earth at this time. This blueprint is transferable, so while it may show up in different ways locally, it is nothing short of global.

We turned our attention to the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and found that we were naturally aligning with 11 of the 17 goals that weave every country in a global partnership. These are:

• Zero Hunger

• Good Health and Wellbeing

• Quality Education

• Clean Water and Sanitation

• Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Industry Innovation and Infrastructure

• Sustainable Cities and Communities

• Responsible Consumption and Production

• Life Below Water

• Life on Land

• Partnerships for the Goals

To read about these goals in depth, visit the links below:

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

We want to inspire and connect with other groups of people and spaces around the Earth who are also beginning to align with a new reality and ancient truth landing on Earth right now, bringing us back into harmony with the natural world, living from our soul gifts, the creativity and passion that makes us feel alive every day.

Our hope is that, as others around the planet recognize that our story is their story, the name "Green Lane" can simply be exchanged for their group or space's name, then passed on again and again and again.

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Thank you to everyone who's supported us along the way and for being part of this journey, from the local businesses to the vendors to everyone who strolls into Green Lane during the weekend market.

And for those who don't know us, thank you for reading our story and supporting us in anyway you can, whether it's through your donation or passing on our story to others.

- The Green Lane team:

Ben, Ben, Josh, Jonathan, Oli, Bailey, and The Brothers Green

https://www.greenlane.co.nz/

https://www.instagram.com/greenlanechristchurch/