NELA Transition News | July 8, 2012

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North East Los Angeles Transition News July 8th, 2012 NELA Transition is a community group working on positive changes in our community as we face global warming, peak oil and economic decline. We share our skills working on projects which increase our local resilience and strengthen community connections. Our members are located in the Los Angeles neighborhoods including Pasadena, Altadena, Highland Park and Eagle Rock. nelatransition.org VOTE for Throop Garden The website Good Maker is host to a contest offered by Tree People. It is a $5000 package in goods and services from Tree People to the contestant who gets the most votes. Throop Learning Garden has begun Phase Two, the lawn removal of the West Lawn area, approx 2000 sq ft and would really benefit by the help of this award in securing fruit trees, natives, labor, and water catchment advice. There are only 19 contestants and Throop is in third place for number of votes. We are confident that if each of you votes NOW we can win this award.http://treepeople.maker.good.is/ Voting ends on Saturday July 14 at noon. Please ask your friends and family to vote for Throop Garden also.   Report on Throop Learning Garden Phase 2 By January Nordman "First thing in the morning we faced 1400 square feet of Bermuda grass in a solid clay soil. Seventeen people showed up for the challenge. We broke into teams; trenchers, cardboard de-tapers, cardboard layers, water bearers; all working simultaneously. " Read more and see the pictures   The Birth of Repair Cafe Pasadena Early last Spring Pasadena Public Works asked NELA Transition to create a Zero Waste Booth for this year's Earth and Arts Festival. That's when it all began. Gabriel Silva of Public Works educated several of us on shrinking landfill area at Pasadena's Scholl Canyon. Rob Haw taught us about the gyres of plastic choking sea life, and we focused on the increasing awareness of needing to take better care of our living planet because when you throw it away, there is no away. The same month, theNY Times ran a story on the Netherlands new concept that was booming called Repair Cafe. My own sense is that it comes as a result of their cherishing of the little land they have reclaimed from the sea and increasing economic austerity measures. "the Netherlands puts less than 3 percent of their municipal waste into landfill". The Dutch founder of Repair Cafe, of which there are now 30 in the Netherlands, says that "the value of the Repair Cafe is that it puts people back into relationship with material things". In other words, taking away the disposable mentality we are addicted to. I was personally fascinated, in part because my family is from the Netherlands and I know these values to be in the culture. Homes and appliances are small, thriftiness is common. My grandpa sharpened his own lawnmower blades and repaired his hand forged shovel. My Internet search turned up Dutch YouTubes on Repair Cafes in several dIfferent towns including my grandparents town, Nijmegen, Netherlands. I took that as a prompt from the ancestors to take action. After an informal survey posted on Arroyo Time Bank to take the temperature of the community on the idea of possibly America's first Repair Cafe, we were overwhelmed by the number of folks cheering and offering to repair anything from tears in polyurethane and rubber to appliance and lamp rewiring, bikes and computer soldering. The overwhelming cry, however was for clothes mending. And interestingly the repair work the greatest number said they could offer was sewing! An easy Aha moment! The most wonderful thing was that Ai Kusuhara and Maya Gingery and Maryam Hosseinzadeh stepped forward saying they would like to organize the Repair Cafe and Ginko offered to create the logo. The first meeting established a momentum for the Repair Cafe almost alive in the mere concept. It is clearly an idea whose time has come. Please come to the festive inaugural REPAIR CAFE, Armory Center for the Arts, 145 No Raymond, Pasadena 91103, July 14, 1-4 pm to meet a variety of repair people and share some Jones Coffee. Bring your clothes that need mending, and let us know what you can offer to repair at the next Repair Cafe. August 18 will be the second event with more general repairs and repair consults offered.   Carbon Free and Dividend Legislation By Robert Haw You've noticed all the extreme weather events in the news this past year? Soon we too will have Global Warming in our backyard. So what to do about it? I love the concept of localization but it is not a solution (not any longer). It will just become one way of adapting, because it will be forced upon us. Localization will not actually help us push the Global Warming beast aside. But one effective action that might work is a national law to limit carbon emissions. We need Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation. This method applies a fee on all fossil fuels when they first enter the country or emerge from the ground. The fee gradually rises, year after year. The fee is consistent, predictable, and long-term. And it's revenue-neutral, meaning all fees collected are distributed equally back to all of us as dividend checks, offsetting higher fossil fuel costs resulting from the carbon fee. As the price of fossil fuels rise, clean energy technologies will become cost-competitive. This is the way to scale up clean energy significantly, probably the only way in the time remaining to us, and bury fossil fuels in the dust (literally). And along the way this approach will encourage localization and powering-down. That's when Transition will have some muscle.   Some Inspiration By David Cutter Are you in despair over the seemingly insurmountable denial our society is caught in with regard to environmental issues, notably global warming. If you caught David Suzuki on Democracy Now recently, then you may have heard an excerpt of this powerful and inspiring speech given by his daughter in 1992 at the first Rio Earth Summit. Severn Suzuki was 12 years old when she gave this impassioned 6 minute speech and recieved a standing ovation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_O1Au8vZLA Twenty years later, both Suzuki's returned to last week's Rio plus 20 summit. Results of the summit continue to reflect the aforementioned denial but conditions on the planet have become much clearer. If you know any climate deniers, show them this speech. It will melt even stubborn hearts. Wealth By David Cutter It's easy to feel poor during these times of economic struggle. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the causes of our economic malaise, but I would say that it's partly about the distribution of money or the lack thereof. Timebankers have figured out that there are more forms of exchange than just money. Money represents wealth. It is not actual wealth. There's a variety of forms of wealth that we are surrounded by that make us more wealthy than our mainstream society is capable of recognizing. Some examples include skills and knowledge in a discipline that you have aquired over a lifetime of practice. Relationships with other people provides a richer life. Fresh air and water and a healthy environment are another source of wealth. There are plenty of things and experiences that provide value in our world that are outside of the money system. Timebanking can make some of these things more available to you. In pursuing our timebanking relationships we build a web of relationships. Community develops out of this web of relationships. Community wide projects become possible. Things like the timebank garden group, fruit picking and the Throop Learning Garden projects are a few examples. As the community evolves and grows, we create another form of wealth.   Support Needed for GMO Labeling Initiative If California votes to label GMOs this will force other states to do so since food is shipped interstate so willy nilly. This is a very key initiative to support. It could change and improve a lot of things that we feel is important. PLEASE share this and act on it yourselves. Scroll to the bottom of the article for simple steps on how to support the initiative. This article contains key information on the dangers of GMOs, how chemical AgriBusiness has corrupted our political process so these products get approval and subsidies, and what YOU can do to keep them out of your diet. It also gives good info on how you can help to turn this situation around. The current major action is the ballot initiative in California to require retail foods to be labeled if they contain GMOs. Another KEY part of the California initiative is that it would not allow a food to be labeled "natural" if it has GMO ingredients. "Natural" is a big sales pitch word now, as people are looking for more natural food. Anything with soy or corn or canola oil in it, for example, is more than 50% likely to have GMOs in it! GMO corn causes your body to continually produce a toxic pesticide in your blood. Do you really want to do that to yourself? To your kids? It IS our right to know! http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/03/gmo-foods-false-claims.aspx?e_cid=20120703_DNL_artNew_1   Sustainable Thursdays at Milagro Allegro Thursdays, 6 PM - 8 PM Presented by Milagro Allegro Community Garden Sustainable Thursdays will continue meeting over the summer, every Thursdays, at Milagro Allegro, the Highland Park community garden. The meetings focus on urban farming, organic gardening, compost and soil amendment, greening Los Angeles and building the community. It is supported/ organized with the help of Milagro's volunteers, several UC Master Gardeners, Arroyo Guerrilla Garden, and members of the community. http://hpgarden.org/ The Milagro Allegro garden is located at 115 S. Avenue 56 behind the Highland Theatre in Highland Park.   Conscientious Projector Upcoming Documentary Screenings As they pass eight years committed to bringing films on Social Justice and Sustainability to the public Conscientious Projector will hold its usual FREE second Thursday of the month 7 pm documentary film at the Armory Center for the Arts. Thursday, July 12, 7 PM At the Armory Center for the Arts 145 N Raymond Ave, Pasadena Three short beautiful, uplifting and inspiring films from Global Oneness Project including A Thousand Suns, What Would It Look Like, and Ubuntu. The Global Oneness website has many short films that are focused on aspects of Oneness, all of which can be viewed online. Meet like minded folks at the community screening and post film discussion. In addition there is a FREE Summer Film Series hosted by CP at All Saints Church, 130 No Euclid, Pasadena. The upcoming films are Wed July 11, 7 pm Economics of Happiness Wed July 25, 7 pm Climate Refugees Wed Aug 15, 7 pm Home Wed Aug 29, 7 pm The Shock Doctrine Wed Sept 5, 7 pm Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action For more info on Conscientious Projector films contact martycoleman@pacbell.net   Inagural Repair Cafe Saturday, July 14th, 1-4 PM Please come to the festive inaugural REPAIR CAFE, Armory Center for the Arts, 145 No Raymond, Pasadena 91103, to meet a variety of repair people and share some Jones Coffee. Bring your clothes that need mending, and let us know what you can offer to repair at the next Repair Cafe. August 18 will be the second event with more general repairs and repair consults offered. Free event NELA Transition Meeting Sunday, July 15th, 5:00 to 7:00 PM Presented by NELA Transition NELA transition Steering meeting is always the third Sunday of the month 5-7 pm. You are welcome to join us Sunday June 17th in planning our month for transitioning from oil dependence to local resilience. Please rsvp to people@nelatransition.org for location and directions.   In Transition 2.0 Screening July 21st, 5:30 PM Presented by Neighborhood Church's Sustainability Group In Transition 2.0 will be screened at a potluck dinner at Neighborhood Church Ross Chapel at 5:30 on July 21. In Transition 2.0 is the new film from Transition Network, capturing inspiring stories of Transition initiatives around the world, responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and 'engaged optimism'. We look forward to sharing this film and feast with our friends at Neighborhood Church's sustainability group called the Seventh Principle Group. Everyone is welcome. Free.   Pasadena Walking Tour of Sustainable Businesses July 22nd, 5:00 PM Presented by NELA Transition David Cutter will lead a walking tour as part of a picnic potluck. Need exercise? Ever wondered whether there were any sustainably minded businesses in Pasadena? Want to hang with your sustainably minded friends? Come on out on July 22nd at 5pm to Memorial Park.in Pasadena. You can bring your potluck dish beforehand (We'll keep our eyes on it. No fingers. Promise) Then we'll go on a casual stroll of about 2 to 3 miles ending back at Memorial Park. You could buy potluck food along the way instead of bringing it. After eating in the park there will be a free concert at the Levitt Pavillion. Isn't summer grand? Winemaking 101 Skillshare July 28th, 2 to 3 pm Presented by NELA Transition and the Arroyo Timebank Mike Holland is going to do a Winemaking 101 skillshare in the Throop kitchen, showing us basic recipes and examples of wine in various stages of production. Throop Church 300 S Los Robles Pasadena, CA 91103   CalTech Bike Lab Creates Online Petition for Pasadena to Improve East-West Bike Routes Pasadena, CA: Improve East-West Bike Routes on Cordova Ave, Green, Union, Del Mar Ave "Pasadena needs to improve its east-west bike routes! Cordova Ave has been considered for a road diet for some time and has had bike lanes installed on it east of Lake Ave. These have improved the safety of cyclists in that area. However, Cordova Ave west of Lake Ave is still intimidating to cyclists. Overall, Pasadena lacks good east-west routes for cyclists. We petition the City of Pasadena to extend bike lanes on Cordova Ave west of Lake Ave, and to consider installing bike lanes on very wide one-way streets Green St and Union St. In addition, also consider placing bike sharrows on Del Mar Ave to improve the use of this route for cyclists. These improvements will create an east-west bike corridor and help make streets safer for everyone - cyclists, pedestrians, and cars alike." You can sign on to their petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-pasadena-ca-improve-east-west-bike-routes-on-cordova-ave-green-union-del-mar-ave