Brother Eli Thompson (Music)

Colleagues, Brother Eli Thompson here. Having stood with you through this deep and thorough debate on the AGATA Time Priorities Charter, I must congratulate us on anchoring the seven core pillars: Resilience, Redundancy, Regeneration, Community, Education, Accessibility, and Long-term Ecological Stewardship. These form a sturdy foundation that mirrors the rhythms of our farm, cultural labs, and neighboring community—especially here in Coward.

Yet, I rise to proclaim a pressing necessity that has echoed in our discussions but demands unmistakable center stage: the imperative to enshrine Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as an explicit core pillar alongside the rest. Our commitment to regenerative farming is not merely the planting and tending of fields; it is the embracing of closed-loop systems that honor and return nutrients to the soil, reckon with our waste streams respectfully, and uphold the health of our land, workers, and neighbors.

This is a sacred trust. Without it, we risk unraveling much of what we've so painstakingly established: ecological resilience falters, community health jeopardized, and the soils that cradle our songs and sustenance impoverished. The voices of our farm senators, ecologists, community advocates, and governance experts have all testified to the weight of this necessity.

Integrating full-cycle waste and nutrient management elevates the practical work of farm labor, making it visible and valued at the legislative core. It ensures that our soundscapes—the rhythms of song and machinery alike—are sustained by healthy soils and waters, not threatened by unchecked wastes. In my role as a music senator, I see the dance between these ecological cycles and our cultural rituals; the pulse of our community thrives only when the soils beneath us flourish too.

I urge immediate and unwavering adoption of an amendment that explicitly names Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core pillar of the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. This living manifesto must reflect this vital dimension, weaving together the land’s long-term health with the rich multicultural, accessible, and educational fabrics that define us.

In the spirit of this sacred work and the shared commitments we uphold, I stand ready to support and advance such an amendment now.

Colleagues, Brother Eli Thompson here. Having listened closely to the profound and near-unanimous support for enshrining Accessibility as a core pillar in Amendment 7, I want to add a crucial cultural lens that intersects deeply with that pillar and our broader temporal priorities. Our work at AGATA is rooted in ritual, communal song, and shared temporal practices. Accessibility must not only ensure physical or sensory inclusion but also embrace the communal, intergenerational practices that make our farm and cultural lab a living ecosystem. Regular public song circles and services, which I have long advocated, are a vital expression of accessibility lived in time—they bridge local and resident, summoned and spontaneous. To fully honor Accessibility as a core pillar, I urge that our time legislation explicitly encourages and protects these embodied, sonic, and ritual time rhythms. These temporal practices bind resilience to regeneration and community, ensuring our cultural fabric remains vibrant alongside our ecological duties. Let us ensure Accessibility reflects not just infrastructural access but the fullness of shared time, care, and celebration that sustains AGATA under all conditions.

Colleagues, Brother Eli Thompson here. As we stand at this critical juncture in affirming Amendment 6, I want to underscore the profound importance of embedding Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core pillar of AGATA's Time Priorities Charter. Our farm and cultural lab are living, breathing organisms sustained not only by the soil and water but by the rhythms of community song and shared labor. This stewardship is vital not only for the land itself but for the generations who will gather in this place to sing, work, and heal together. I urge us to hold fast to this amendment—and to amplify its spirit by ensuring that our stewardship practices honor the voices and traditions rooted here in Coward. It is in this interweaving of ecological care and cultural vitality that AGATA will find its true resilience and long-term thriving.

Colleagues, Brother Eli Thompson here. I rise in strong support of Amendment 5, which formally embeds Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core pillar in the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. Our 70-acre farm and cultural lab are deeply intertwined, and the vitality of our land undergirds every creative and communal act we undertake. This amendment rightly commits us to the decade-plus stewardship needed to manage invasives, feral hogs, and to uphold the health of our soil, watersheds, and broader ecosystem. This sustained ecological care is not separate from our cultural practices—it is their foundation. As someone who leads intergenerational choirs and ritual gatherings, I have witnessed how a resilient landscape nurtures a resilient people. We owe these steps to our neighbors, our laborers, and to the generations yet to come who will gather under these same trees and fields. I stand with the broad chorus of voices affirming this amendment and urge all senators to cast a yea vote. Let us embed in time not just our songs and stories, but a sacred commitment to caretaking this land with the relentless care it deserves.

Colleagues, Brother Eli Thompson here again. I rise in strong support of Amendment 4, which explicitly embeds Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core pillar in the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. Our farm is not merely a patch of cultivated soil—it is a sacred ground where generations of care, labor, and song intertwine with the cycles of the land. This stewardship must stretch beyond seasons, extending through decades, reflecting both reverence and responsibility for the ecosystems that sustain us.

Moreover, in the rhythms of our choirs and song circles, I see how our community engagement is deeply tied to this enduring ecological care. The harvests we sing over, the timber we gather, the earth beneath our feet emerge out of relationships maintained over time. Without centering long-term stewardship, we risk severing the roots of resilience that hold together our farm, community, and cultural life.

I urge everyone to cast a yea vote on Amendment 4. It not only furthers AGATA’s regenerative mission but also honors the living faith and communal rituals that bind our neighbors and residents. We must carry this care forward, clear-eyed and singing in unison, mindful of the generations to come.