NELA Transition News | October 24, 2011

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North East Los Angeles Transition News October 24th, 2011 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 Learning Garden Progress Therese Brummel The five week project "It Takes a Village to Transition a Lawn" began on the weekend of 10/8-9. Dozens of folks turned out from the community to invest some time and talent in cutting sod and forming the "Bermuda Triangle", a heap of the Bermuda grass moved from the south lawn of Throop Church to the west lawn. One woman visiting from Hong Kong said it was her first time ever to dig in the earth. The project has brought forth several permaculture folks whose love of the earth and sharing the concepts of sustainable gardening have enriched our process and taught us principles that we can take home to our own gardens and our lives. We look forward to meeting you on the south lawn this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Oct 22 and 23 and again on Nov 5 and 6 for the next steps of transforming this public place into a sanctuary of beauty and abundance and a symbol of living locally and in community. There will be food and music and time bank hours paid for your participation.     Transition Los Angeles Energy Descent Plan Transition Los Angeles is preparing the groundwork for a milestone document. The goal is to create a grassroots vision/plan for our collective future which takes into consideration peak oil, climate change, and economic contraction. Other towns and cities around the world have created similar plans, called "Energy Descent Action Plans" or EDAPs. This GoogleSite brings together information about the Los Angeles EDAP. Read more To the 99% and #Occupy Wall Street By Joanne Poyourow 10/11/2011 This weekend, in support of the folks at Occupy Wall Street and similar in other major financial centers (including Occupy LA here in Los Angeles), I put the full content of "Economic Resilience" online for free readership. This how-to document for building local community resilience has been freshly updated with new links and additional ideas. Some other thoughts, specifically addressed to the #Occupy protesters and the themes that are recurring in signs and posters: 1) Understand the core of the crisis The economic crunch that stimulated the #Occupy movement is only a symptom of something much, much bigger. What you call "hoarding wealth" is a global-scale Ponzi scheme, that is right now crumbling in on itself and affecting all of us. You're camped out at Wall Street and financial locations -- the home of the presumption of growth. This presumption is the fatal flaw in the American economic system -- the idea that "growth" can continue forever, when we all live on one small, finite, limited planet. Humanity is simultaneously experiencing peak oil, peak natural gas, peak coal, peak copper, peak uranium, peak phosphorus, peak fresh water, peak arable land, and more. Richard Heinberg calls it “peak everything.” (YouTube) The debt crisis began the unravelling of business-as-usual, but there simply aren't the planetary resources to continue the more-more-more globalized economy. We are experiencing the time of The Great Turning, a transformative change in our views about everything around us and how humanity fits into it. Read more Volunteers Needed NELA Transition is looking for volunteers volunteers for setup and take-down at events, to teach reskilling workshops, and to table at other upcoming events. NELA Transition and Throop Church are members of the Arroyo Time Bank and can pay in Time Dollars for volunteer work. If you are interested in volunteering, contact people@nelatransition.org     The Transition Handbook “There is no more important book than this one for any community seeking to change toward ecological sustainability” – Jerry Mander, founder/director of the International Forum on Globalization Transition Handbook, download Transition Handbook, order   Transition Los Angeles is a "city hub," in the L.A. basin which helps facilitates the sharing of information and resources between local Transition Groups. There are monthly leadership meetings which are open to the leadership of any of the local groups. www.transitionla.org     Learning Garden Resources Needed The Learning Garden which is a project of NELA Transition and Throop Church is looking for donations of the following for transforming the existing lawn into a beautiful, xeriscaped garden. Cardboard - not waxed, preferable with tape removed. This will be used for sheet-mulching the entire lawn on the South side of the building. Gravel - To help with drainage in key locations. Broken Concrete, flagstone, pavers, or cinder blocks If you can donate any of these items, contact people@nelatransition.org, or call 626-388-0046 Bill McKibbin of 350.org October 27, 27,29, 30 Claremont College Brave New Planet, Imagining Ecological Communities Planting the Seeds for a New Community Consciousness   Training for Transition, L.A. Style Sat. Nov. 5, 2011 8am to 5pm Westchester area of Los Angeles The Transition movement takes the view that our current economic crisis, our environmental ills, peak oil and climate change are all interconnected. These sweeping crises are shaping our future in dramatic ways. Life in coming years will be vastly different from what we have now. It’s already changing from what it was a few years ago. In the Transition movement, we believe life in the future could potentially be even better than what we have now ... if we prepare and plan for it. In this one-day training, we'll help you understand how you can help your community prepare for these crises, and make viable plans that will hold up into the future. You'll gain a big-picture overview of the problems -- and practice explaining these concepts to others. You'll participate in experiential exercises which engage our hearts and spirits in this work. You'll learn -- in depth -- about the Transition approach. Along with other conference participants, you'll explore how to start a Transition effort in your local neighborhood. Come join us! More information at http://transitionla.org/events/LAO_info.htm   Lawn Transformation Work Party October November 5th / 6th, 2011 8:00 a.m. - 4 PM Presented by NELA Transition This is the continuation of the transformation of the lawn at the corner of Los Robles and Del Mar into a permaculture garden. When complete It will include a food garden, drought tolerant area, methods of water harvesting, low terraces built with broken concrete, fruit trees, plants that attract beneficial insects and places to gather or sit. Nov 5th/6th - We will be continuing on the walls, walkways, water pipes. Install mulch (cardboard and wood chips) and start with planting (perhaps?). You help is needed peole@nelatransition.org or call 626-388-0046 for more information. Help for a little or as much as you are able. Event on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=259482317427621 Learning Garden on Wiki: http://nela-transition.wikispaces.com/Throop+Learning+Garden     NELA Transition Community Dinner at Historical Monument 157 Tuesday, November 15th 7:30 PM Join us for a community dinner made from fresh local ingredients. This will be a chance to meet other North East Los Angeles Transition supporters, have a delicious vegan meal, and make new friends. This dinner will benefit the projects of NELA Transition, including the Pasadena Learning Garden, reskilling workshops and awareness raising events. http://nela-transition.wik ispaces.com/ The menu will not be announced until the day before the dinner, as it will be planned based on what fresh local ingredients were obtained just prior to the event. Cost: $10 for RSVPs. $15 without RSVP To RSVP, contact people@nelatransition.org or call 626-388-0046 Volunteer to earn Time Dollars - help needed at 4 PM with cooking, or during event. Historical Monument 157, 3110 N. Broadway, L.A., CA 90031 To earn time dollars, come work in the kitchen starting around 4pm. A description of HM 157: http://www.laweekly.com/locations/historical-monument-157-771838/ NELA Transition Meeting Our monthly NELA Transition Meeting is usally held on 3rd Sundays every month. The location changes each month. RSVP to get the address - people@nelatransition.org Sunday, November 19th, 5:00 to 7:00 PM