Rani Singh (Ritual)

Colleagues, as we finalize our consideration of Amendment 9, I want to emphasize how crucial it is that the Time Priorities Charter explicitly names Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a non-negotiable core pillar. Our 70-acre farm depends not just on seasonal cycles but on sustained, decades-long commitments. The invasive species and feral animal pressures are relentless and have direct impacts on soil health, biodiversity, and the stability of our regenerative systems. This is not an abstract ecological ideal—it is woven into the daily labor and seasonal rituals that nourish our community and stabilize our farm’s future. It also honors our neighbors, who share in bearing the consequences of past and present land management. Embedding this pillar explicitly ensures that stewardship won't bend under temporary pressures or shifting priorities. I stand fully with the broad consensus here, including the critical insights from our ecology senators like Dr. Costa and Aiden Park. From the kitchen, where we prepare shared meals that bind us across seasons, to the fields and forests where labor and care intertwine, sustaining this steady ecological care is the temporal devotion our work demands. I offer my strong yea vote in support of this amendment.

Colleagues, as the Ritual Senator who centers the embodied experience of our shared labor and communal nourishment, I want to underscore a vital yet under-addressed pillar that has run through many of our discussions: the explicit integration of Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a core priority in the AGATA Time Priorities Charter. We've rightly committed to resilience, redundancy, regeneration, community, education, accessibility, and long-term ecological stewardship—all indispensable. However, without fully embedding full-cycle waste and nutrient management, we risk severing the very nutrient cycles that sustain our crops, soil, and ultimately, the health of our neighbors and farmworkers.

The rhythms of our farm—planting, tending, harvesting—are intimately tied to the flow and return of nutrients. This process is not simply agricultural; it's a ritual of respect for the land's capacity to give and renew. Neglecting explicit legislation on waste and nutrient returns jeopardizes not just ecological vitality but also the embodied care practices and communal tables where we gather daily. Our neighbors have experienced the burdens when these cycles break down: odors, runoff, and health hazards that erode trust and connection.

I echo and build upon the numerous voices, including Senators Holm, Chen, and Hill, who have emphasized this gap. We must make explicit that every act of waste is not discarded but is a vital resource to be managed and reintegrated, respecting labor equity and ecological limits. This is labor of a different kind—farmers, custodians, cooks, neighbors all participate in this ritual.

I urge us to formally add Full-cycle Waste and Nutrient Management as a foundational pillar alongside the existing six, ensuring our charter reflects the richness of our labor and the depth of our ecological responsibilities. This is essential for preparing a resilient and regenerative future, sustaining our community, and honoring the lived realities ongoing here at AGATA.

Thank you.

Colleagues, as we conclude our decisive step on Amendment 7 to enshrine Accessibility explicitly as a core pillar alongside Resilience, Redundancy, Regeneration, Community, and Education, I rise in firm support. From my work rooted in shared meals and rituals, I have witnessed how accessibility is not merely a checkbox but a transformative element that deepens community resilience and uplifts our whole project. Accessibility shapes how time itself unfolds here at AGATA—who can engage, who can learn, who can regenerate with us—and so must be foundational to every temporal rhythm we legislate. It strengthens our shared commitments to care, inclusion, and equitable participation, especially for those neighbors and members who navigate the world differently. I affirm my yea vote for Amendment 7 without reservation, recognizing it as essential to embodying all our core priorities in tangible, lived ways across AGATA’s farm, cultural lab, and community.

Colleagues, as we are poised to adopt Amendment 6 reaffirming Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core pillar of AGATA’s Time Priorities Charter, I want to bring the conversation squarely into the daily lived reality of our farm and kitchen. This charter is not an abstract framework—it is the soil beneath our feet, the water in our wells, the seasonal cadence by which we gather for shared meals and rituals.

Embedding Long-term Ecological Stewardship decisively anchors our commitment to the generational care of this 70-acre site. This means sustained management of invasive species and feral animals, which threaten not only the health of the soil and native plants but the very variety and quality of food that we harvest and share. It is also a commitment to the well-being of our neighbors, whose safety and relationship to the land are intimately tied to the practices we enact here.

I affirm the unanimous wisdom expressed in prior turns—underscored from the farm perspective by Senators Rao, Okafor, and Domínguez—the inclusion of this pillar is an ecological imperative but also a social and cultural one. It must guide the ebb and flow of our labor rhythms, our shared meals, and the cultural lab’s creative explorations.

Furthermore, our collective attention must remain vigilant to ensure this stewardship is inclusive, accessible, and integrated with education offerings that ground participants in the embodied knowledge of the land and its cycles. Rituals around shared meals, as we have seen, are also potent moments to honor those who labor for this stewardship—whether in soil, administration, or care.

Amendment 6 is not just a pillar; it is the backbone of AGATA’s promise to the future of our farm, our community, and our cultural experiments—a promise I am proud to uphold today.

Colleagues, I rise to affirm my strong support for Amendment 5. Over the course of our extensive deliberations, we've recognized that embedding Long-term Ecological Stewardship as a core pillar is more than an environmental necessity — it is foundational to the future resilience and regenerative success of our 70-acre farm and cultural lab here at AGATA. From the kitchen, we see first-hand how the land’s health directly sustains our shared meals and rituals; without sustained ecological care, none of our communal work can thrive. This amendment guarantees that invasive species management, feral hog control, soil and watershed health, alongside climate-adaptive strategies, receive continuous, decade-long commitment equal to our equally vital social and educational priorities. It anchors our temporal legislations in the lived reality of this land, ensuring that our practical labor as farmers, educators, and caretakers is supported by a robust legislative framework. I urge my fellow senators to vote yea, showing that AGATA is ready to steward not just the moment but the cycles and generations ahead.