To mark the 10th anniversary of the Transition movement in the United States, Transition US is hosting a national online summit with Transition Pasadena's Ginko Lee (Repair Cafe) as a panelist. Please join us on Saturday, October 27, as we get together locally for a Summit Watch Party and Celebration.

Announced as a day of education, inspiration, and celebration, the first-ever Transition US online summit is titled “Unleashing the Collective Genius: Celebrating 10 Years of Transition in the US.” Bringing together Transitioners from around the country, it will feature panel discussions, live interactive sessions and more. Ginko Ching Lee will participate on a morning panel to discuss Repair Cafe from Tainan, Taiwan.

The Transition Pasadena Summit Watch Party and In-Person Celebration is a BYOE event. (Bring your own everything: plate, utensils, napkins, drink container.) We will provide snacks and hot tea and invite you to bring a lunch dish to share.

Please also bring your own chair.

When: Saturday, October 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Urban Village Garage
557 North Madison Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

Summit Programming (all times Pacific):

9-9:15 a.m.: Arrival and welcome
9:15-10 a.m.: Keynote
10-10:45 a.m.: Panel featuring our own Ginko Ching Lee discussing Repair Cafe

11-11:45 p.m.: Keynote 
11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: - Panel Discussion
12:30-1 p.m.: Lunch and Transition Pasadena Group Introductions 
1-2:15 p.m.: Live, interactive session
2:15-3 p.m.: Live visioning 
3:15-4 p.m.: Visioning, discussion, and closing

Please join us for any or all of the festivities!

As Transition US marks 10 years in existence, its first ever “Walk the Talk” award has been awarded to longtime Transition Pasadena member and climate scientist Peter Kalmus!

Transition Pasadena nominated Peter, saying "Peter truly lives an extremely low carbon lifestyle and has written a book about this. In spite of living in a metropolis, Peter does not fly. He is a climate scientist who understands very well the impact of flying being the WORST contributor to climate crisis. He rides bike, has a grease fueled car named Maybe, raises food, gleans dumpster food, cans excess produce, raises chickens and two sons. He meditates daily and hosts a weekly meditation. He speaks freely about his convictions, and his book Being the Change, Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution has gone into a second printing and been made into a documentary by the same name. (It can be streamed on Prime.) All the book profits go to Citizens Climate Lobby. Peter says he is much happier living his low-energy lifestyle." 

Transition Pasadena members are always inspired by the power of Peter's commitment and the joy in living which he carries. Peter’s website, noflyclimatesci.org, calls for climate scientists and academics to register their commitment to not fly or fly less. More than 100 scientists from all around the world have their bios there. Peter presents at climate conferences via Skype.

Transition Pasadena offers Peter hearty congratulations and deep gratitude for challenging each of us to walk the talk. Cheers to you, Peter!!

I left off last time saying humans are not in control of this universe. Something else is. I like to think of it as Mother Nature. The lecturer Terence Mckenna has called it the transcendental object at the end of time. I'm sure other philosophers have tried to describe something like this, but I'm only aware of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his term the Omega Point. I haven't read much Teilhard de Chardin, but his ideas seem parallel to what Mckenna is saying. Regardless of what we call it, the more interesting question is... what's it doing, and where is it taking us? 

Time to hit the pause button and say: I don't have the answers to those questions, and I don't think anyone else does either. This is an unfolding mystery that will reveal itself over time. We can't stop it. We can't speed it up, and we certainly can't slow it down.

Is there any evidence to support what I'm saying? History is the best place to look for evidence. And nature as well, out of which history emerged. As I said earlier, Novelty has been conserved during human and natural history. Novelty has occurred with ever increasing complexity and is ever more conserved. We can see the increasing complexity and pace. 

One celled bacteria gives way to multicellular protozoa. Swimming sea creatures (Trilobites) 500 million years ago prepare the way for land animals culminating in gigantic reptiles 250 million years ago. Small mammals become larger mammals resulting in hominids (prehumans) between 10 million and 20 million years ago. And finally Homo sapiens appears on the scene about two million to three million years ago. Notice the increased complexity in an increasingly compressed time frame. 

And similarly with human culture. An acceleration of process in a limited domain of biology (Homo sapiens) beginning about a million years ago has led to abandoning "traditional" hunting and gathering to agriculture around 10,000 years ago. Consider how quickly human society went from agricultural to industrial (300 years ago) and then the informational (only 60 to 70 years ago) Greater complexity in less and less time. And all along the way novelty is conserved, not lost. I have said that this is all moving in a direction. Why shouldn't we assume that the direction is good and moving toward a positive conclusion?

All of the novelty of history has coalesced in the present moment. Every given moment in any human society is a distillation of what has preceded that moment. The presence of ourselves on this planet is the major evidence that a transcendental process of some sort is underway on Earth.

I want to end this month by saying that I'm relatively new to this subject. I've only been at this idea for a couple of years. I'm thinking to myself, "What do I know about this?" Some of you have been exploring some or all of this spirituality a lot longer than I have. I'll just end by saying I feel like I'm just an explorer on a really strange trip. In other words, don't shoot me. I'm just the piano player.

—David Cutter
Pianist
Pasadena, CA
Free Book Excerpt: "Artistry and Piano Students: Inspiring a Lifetime of Enjoyment."

I am a news junkie. And I am an optimist.

As a nurse, I come to my optimism from the paradigm of the medical world. In that paradigm we understand that the human body is always tending toward healing itself until its last dying breath. The immune system is constantly fighting for health. I imagine planet earth is like the human body struggling to heal itself. This is resilience: the ability to remain healthy in the presence of risk factors. Resilience is magnified by optimism.

Maintaining optimism to build resilience requires stepping away from the very bad news that’s on TV night after night and self-inoculating with levity and celebration, or "cheer" as Rob Hopkins likes to say. My Transition mind looks for entertainment that’s local and preferably free. And so I celebrate small victories and delights every day in my life like saving energy by hanging clothes to dry rather than running the dryer and catching runoff water and sinking it into my front yard swales.

This month, I celebrate a list of nine recycling bills that have passed in California making our state a leader in reducing waste. Standards have been set for recycling old carpeting, for testing for micro plastics in our water system, and for reducing the prevalence of drinking straws. And an equal number of new bills are in the pipeline.

I also raise a glass to our city for the creation of a plan to substantially shift our energy sourcing to renewable energy away from fossil fuels. Stay tuned for the final report!

I cheer for new rebates our city will give for driving an electric vehicle and buying it locally.

I applaud our library on its 17th year of choosing one book for all citizens to read and discuss. The 2019 winners, yes, two this year, have just been announced. I love a good book recommendation!

Historically, Pasadena’s entertainment center has been the band shell in Memorial Park. I grieve the loss of summer evening’s options to attend concerts, cool off on the grass, run into friends, and enjoy the antics of the MarchFourth Marching Band or other musicians of fading renown. The band shell, previously known as Levitt Pavilion, is now known as the Pasadena Pavilion for the Performing Arts. 

In this time of very bad news night after night on the TV, we need our entertainment, any reason to celebrate, laughter with friends, and cheer to uphold our resilience. I propose we rename the band shell Levity Pavilion.

Did you know that communicating anything to the City of Pasadena is as easy as sending an email? The city clerk will distribute your comments, ideas, encouragement and thanks: mjomsky@cityofpasadena.net.

—Therese Brummel

Great news! During Zero Waste week, the last week in September, AltaPasa Green Circle received a substantial grant from Patagonia, Inc., for its Zero Waste project at the Altadena Farmers Market. 
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Green Circle is a project to raise awareness about plastic waste by providing reusable dinnerware at the Altadena Farmers Market, making reusable grocery bags, creating the concept of BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything), and providing VIP dining space for food truck and food stand patrons. The grant will fund more reusable dinnerware, produce bag making supplies, a DIY zero waste dishwashing station, signage and banners, marketing and outreach.

Patagonia, Inc., is a clothing retailer long committed to sustainability. It gives one percent of its sales to grassroots groups working for environmental causes and making a difference in their local communities. One year ago, Repair Cafe Pasadena was also the happy recipient of $400 from Patagonia for needed tools for the Tinkerers station. 

Green Circle would like to give special thanks to Patagonia's Pasadena staff who voted for us and have been inviting us to make their events zero waste. We need to recognize our fiscal sponsor Day One as our soon-to-be Eco-Partner in the AltaPasa community.

A one-woman-operated Zero Waste Booth at Altadena Farmers Market has evolved into a team of seven over two years. Sylvia Holmes helped me by mind mapping Green Circle at the very beginning. Ginko Lee has shown me how to organize a project that generates place-making opportunities. Susan Campisi has been my partner in eco-crime. Jessica has been the youngest member with the oldest soul. She has given me hope for the next green generation. Joy Lam has brought her business wisdom and crafty hands to our team. And lastly, Dorothy Wong has brought non-stop local eco-activism opportunities to our grassroots minded team. 

Thanks to all Transitioners who have been and will be joining our eco-mission to wipe out all the single-use plastics from our houses, the community and all over Mother Earth!

—Michiko Lynch
Perfectly imperfect zero waste advocate
"Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Regift, then Repeat!"