Sustainability – Eat, Live and Grow – Better!

Adjusting our lifestyles to change the systems.

Sustainability encompasses more than renewable energy, green building and rainwater collection. It is the awareness that we, and every living thing, are interconnected. It includes understanding how our simple, everyday choices and actions affect those on the other side of the world.

Have Dirk speak at your next event. He candidly challenges the status quo and shares practical ways your audience can make lifestyle choices that will effectively reduce energy costs, energy consumption and create a world that is more harmonious and more livable.

"Dirk Becker is a gifted speaker. His fluid, stream-of-consciousness presentation of ideas creates a dynamic connection with his audience. Dirk has an intuitive way of weaving in pertinant 'aside' comments (to which his audience can relate, evidenced by laughter and tears) while always returning to his current idea being expressed. Within a brief time of speaking, Dirk has the ability to eloquently touch on a myriad of topics, from exploring the elements of connection between us and ourselves, to how our assumptions of others mirrors that internal connection, to the intricacies of organic farming, to the effect of birth order on our behaviour. A long-time activist with interests in politics, the environment and farming, Dirk is also a visionary, with a refreshing personal approach as he engages with the passionate spirit in each of us present in his audience." - Lynn Thompson, Host of Living on Purpose

ADD/ADHD – Modern Conditions:

The roles that society, the environment, nurturing, food and nutrition all play.

How to make ADD/ADHD and other such challenges work for us rather than against us. Dirk's honesty and forthright attitude about discussing this modern condition is raw, enlightening and even uncomfortable at times.

Whether you experience this condition youself, have loved one's who do or if you work with people and children who do, you will come away with real, practical solutions as well as a deeper understanding of the needs surrounding this condition.

ADD/ADHD - Recognizing what it is, how it works and what changes we can make in ourselves, our diet, our environment (including home and classroom) and relationships to make us thrive more and suffer less.

Greater awareness and understanding leads to greater compassion and skills needed to respond more appropriately to create a more harmonious and peaceful experience in life.

Human Relationships – Men, Women, and Everyone Else!

Understanding our natures and nurtures.

The core of our society is our relationship with ourselves and those around us. The more insight and therefore the more consciously we can “be” in those relationships, the more peaceful, happy and successful we will be.

Dirk brings insight, humour and personal experience to highlight the differences and similarities between all of us as human beings in a way that equips us with better tools to be happy and successful in all our relationships: with ourselves, family, friends and co-workers.

"On August 29th, 2009, I had the privilege of hearing Dirk Becker give a talk entitled 'Move beyond communication; learn to experience a real connection.'
Dirk risks making fun of himself and being vulnerable. The best comedy touches on painful issues and teaches us through joyful laughter to live more fully.Within a short time Dirk had some members of the audience so touched by his response to a particpant who shared her challenges with loneliness that we were in tears.
Then Dirk took us to the heights of divine laughter in his descriptions of living with ADHD. In addition, he clearly described some NLP communication principles and possible barriers if we don't understand our differences in the way we learn and communicate. This was also done with humour and caring.
I honestly feel that Dirk is a person who can inspire so many others to risk living a life that matters, a life that brings us all closer to LOVE and caring for our planet."

- Dianne Andrews, Nanaimo

Learning Styles – When "A" Isn’t Just for Apple.

Communicating with and teaching each other more effectively.

All of us are so different. The broader we come in our understanding, the more skilled and adept we can become at conveying our own thoughts and feelings in a way that they will be heard and understood and therefore evoke the response that is in alignment with our original intention.

Dirk shares how to communicate with and teach one another more effectively by looking through the windows of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), introvert-extrovert, personality types and even birth order. His talk is sprinkled with humour as well as serious statistics that cover everything from bullying and suicide in Canada to creating meaningful connections with people we work with and live with.

With greater insight into how we each function, comes a greater ability for us to have compassion for one another and our “process” of how we think, feel and therefore act.

2013 Talks:

June 14, 1-4pm. Lush Valley Food Action Society. 1126F Piercy Avenue, Courtenay. A just and sustainable food system in the Vancouver Island Region is rooted in healthy communities, where no one is hungry and everyone has access to nutritious food. Learn what is happening to support food security in Comox Valley, while giving feedback on the VI Health Region Food Charter and action plans generated at the VI Food Connections Conference

March 12th, 7pm. Ladysmith Garden Speaker Series. Eagles Hall. How to grow more food using less land, space, soil and water! Increase your skills by working together with nature - including insects, birds, temperature, rainfall and the seasons.

Where are we from and where are we going?

February 28, Probis Club, Costin Hall, Lantzville.

February 25th. Nanaimo Youth Services. An exploration of core needs and values.

2012 Talks:

Grow Food & Change Your Life!

May l 7th. 7-8:30pm. Presented by Nanaimo Foodshare (Bowen Park, Activity Rm #1). How to grow more food using less space, soil and water even if you live in an apartment or condo.

March 19th. Seedy Sunday in Nanaimo. Become more adept at growing more by employing your own instinct, understanding and experience. Increase your skills by working together with nature - including insects, birds, temperature, rainfall and the seasons.

2011 Talks:

Powerful Growing Techniques!

April 7th. Gabriola Island. Become more adept at growing more by employing your own instinct, understanding and experience. Increase your skills by working together with nature - including insects, birds, temperature, rainfall and the seasons.

March 19th. Green Solutions Trade Show. Urban farming is the way of the future. This presentation will encourage, educate, and inspire you to start your own mini-farm in your back and or front yard. Dirk and Nicole, of Compassion Farm in Lantzville, have hit the headlines recently over their "urban farm" in a residentially zoned area. This talk will include getting started, materials needed, how-to's, and a few communications tips.

Biointensive Urban Growing.

March 12th. Spring Garden Festival, Beban Park in Nanaimo. Learn how to grow more food in less space using less soil and water.

Urban Mini-Farming.

March 6, Seedy Sunday in Nanaimo, 12pm. Urban farming is the way of the future. This presentation will encourage, educate, and inspire you to start your own mini-farm in your back and or front yard. This talk will include getting started, materials needed, how-to's, and a few communications tips.

2010 Talks:

Living More Sustainably, Reducing Your Need for Money, Growing Your Own Food and Living a Richer, Fuller Life.

April 24th, 1:30pm. Green Solutions Trade Show and Speaker Series, Beban Park in Nanaimo.

Making the Connection between being a locavore and Global Political, Environmental Issues.

April 11th, 9:45 - 11:00am. North Island Master Gardeners Society at the Oliver Woods Centre in Nanaimo.

10 Tips to Change Your Life and How You Grow Food

March 7th, Seedy Sunday, Nanaimo. After years of experimentation, Dirk is increasingly moving from methods that are conventional and control-based to a more integrated and harmonious approach that involves working with nature to bring forth her fruits.

The Connection Between Diet, Global and Societal Change.

Jan 31st, 4 - 8pm. Hosted by the Rawthentic Eatery in Qualicum Beach.

How to Easily Grow More Food and Be More Sustainable!

Jan 13th, Nanaimo Horticultural Society.

2009 Talks:

Move Beyond Communication; Learn to Experience a Real Connection

Aug 29th, Life Mastery Workshop, Nanaimo. In this modern era, we communicate more than ever before using yet more "modern technology". Learn what the barriers are to really "connecting" and the tools needed to create the closeness we all crave as human beings.

How to Create Sustainable Change

July 5th, Organic Islands Festival & Sustainability Expo. Special Guest: Sustainability Guru Dirk Becker and friends Brandon Bauer, Kevin Pegg and Devon Carter will challenge, inspire and provide insight on how to create sustainable change in your life, family and community.

Powerful, Harmonious and Sacred Communication

May 2nd, Youth Convergence at the Shawnigan Lake Ecovillage. Who are we? Who is the Voice in our Head? Explore the mystery, simplicity and complexity of human communication.

Inspirational Farming

May 2nd, Youth Convergence at the Shawnigan Lake Ecovillage. Be inspired to change your life through delving into the magic, energy and power contained in and released from soil, plants and all living things.

Sustainability Fair

April 2nd, Vancouver Island University

How we have all created an unsustainable, consumption-based lifestyle in North America and how we can each change to be LESS... UN-sustainable!

Exploring a Career in Organic Farming

March 25th, 10am, Nanaimo Youth Services

Qualicum Beach Garden Club

March 10, QB Civic Centre, 7pm

Soil has over 2 billion life forms in one tablespoon! This lively talk will explore the interplay of soil organisms and the magic they create.

Be Inspired to Work in Harmony with Nature to Grow More Food

March 1st, 10:30am, Seedy Sunday in Nanaimo. Stop putting your gardens "to bed" in the fall, grow more food in winter. Allow nature to work wonders for you - naturally!

How to Change Your Life Through Growing Food

February 7th, 11:45am. Seedy Saturday in Qualicum Beach. This is the first generation in our history that is sorely lacking in basic survival skills. This talk encourages us to reconnect with ourselves, our children, grandchildren, nature... and pass on skills such as growing food.

Weaving Food and the Growing of it as Part of the Curriculum

February 3rd, Wellington PAC, 6:30pm.