NELA Transition News | June 9, 2012

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North East Los Angeles Transition News June 9th, 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 3 Steps Toward a Politics of Global Warming Making nice doesn't work. It's time to try something else. by Bill McKibben Published in Yes Magazine Step one involves actually talking about global warming. For years now, the accepted wisdom in the best green circles was: talk about anything else—energy independence, oil security, beating the Chinese to renewable technology. I was at a session convened by the White House early in the Obama administration where some polling guru solemnly explained that “green jobs” polled better than “cutting carbon.” No, really? In the end, though, all these focus-group favorites are secondary. The task at hand is keeping the planet from melting. We need everyone—beginning with the president—to start explaining that basic fact at every turn. Read More   Repair Cafe Use it up Wear it out, Make it do Or do without. These are wise words from the era of our grandparents that are making sense again. There is a project brewing for a Repair Cafe or Fix It event. Is this something that interests you? Are you handy with figuring broken things out? Would you like to help organize the first event ? We have a number of folks who have already volunteered to repair things from clothes to furniture, bikes, lamps, jewlery, a woodworker and a welder. Save your broken items from the landfill. Scholl Canyon will be full in just 20 more years. And save the natural resources by not buying something new when you have that thing that just needs repair. And keep the economy local by paying for repairs with Time Dollars through the Arroyo Time Bank. Contact Therese Brummel [email protected] if you would like to be a part of this inspiring and sustainable new project. There are plenty of successful models around the world already up and running. For more info here is a recent NY Times article about an Amsterdam Repair Cafe.   Cardboard Lasagne Mob at Throop Garden We are expecting a large truckload of mulch any day now and planning to have a short-notice cardboard lasagne mulch day to cover the west lawn at Los Robles and Del Mar to prep it for a new concept of natives and edibles. Many hands will make this light work and help us meet the city deadline for lawn removal rebate of June 30. Please stay tuned to the Arroyo Time Bank Google Group or the NELA Transition facebook page for notice on which day this will happen and come on out to earn a few Time Dollars and have some fun. Intant gratification guaranteed! Long Term happiness also may fill your heart and bones over time.     NELA Transition Learning Garden Work Party Sunday, June 10, 8am to 11pm "Every breath is a giveaway dance between you and the plants." Susun Weed 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. Thanks again to all who have participated to make this garden community come alive. We just received a new shipment of mulch so are ready to begin preparations for the Los Robles lawn conversion. The date will be announced in the near future. In addition, we will water, prune, & harvest as needed. We will also brew compost extract for the roses, so if you want a sure cure for June gloom mildew, this activity is for you! Check out our progress & photos at: http://nela-transition.wikispaces.com/Throop+Learning+Garden Contact [email protected] for more information. Throop Church 300 S Los Robles Ave Pasadena, CA 91101 Contact day of event: January 626.840.9375   Hydraulic Fracturing Workshop Series: Speak Out Against Reckless Fracking June 12th, 7-9 PMin Culver City May 16 – July 25, 2012, Across California The practice of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking,” is an environmentally damaging oil and gas–drilling technique involving injecting millions of gallons of highly pressurized water, sand and toxic chemicals deep into the earth. Now fracking has become a major issue in the Golden State. But Californians still have time to safeguard their water, air and health from this dangerous and poorly regulated form of oil and gas production. The Department of Conservation is hosting a series of workshops to discuss fracking — where you can speak up. These workshops are to be conducted as part of a comprehensive information gathering process aimed at the development of regulations governing hydraulic fracturing. Each workshop will begin with an overview of oil and gas production in California, including discussion of California’s geologic formations where oil and natural gas are found. Existing well construction requirements and what those regulations protect against will follow. The overview presentation will also focus on technical, nonpolicy aspects of hydraulic fracturing. Following this overview, the Department will welcome public comment. These workshops are intended as an information gathering exercise to advise the Department about specific public concerns regulations could address. Please go to this web page for the entire workshop schedule, and check it regularly for updates about times and locations. Then learn more about California fracking and speak out against it to state officials. More Info this page has public meetings schedule including Culver City June 12, 7-9 pm   Koch Bros Exposed June 14th, 7:00 PM Presented by Conscientious Projector http:// www.kochbrothersexposed.com/ Save the Date! Koch Bros Exposed free screening June 14 at 7 pm at the Armory. The 1% at its very worst! THE ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 145 NORTH RAYMOND OLD PASADENA   POTLUCK with a PURPOSE Saturday, June 16th, 6:00 PM Presented by NELA Transition and the Arroyo Time Bank This months Potluck with a Purpose will be a fun one Sat June 16, 6 pm Throop Hall, 300 So Los Robles, Pasadena. The ongoing Purpose is still to: Have some local free fun, Laugh, meet a community of like-minded folks working for sustainability in their lifestyles, eat delicious potluck food with old friends and new acquaintances, Earn a time dollar for your own potluck dish, promote zero waste(bring your own dish, cup and utensils), network, laugh, swap needs and offers for Time Banking, brainstorm, enjoy the historic and beautiful location of Throop Church Hall, tour the Throop Learning Garden on your own laugh! Come early at 5pm for Yvonne's class on Pressure Cooking, the new/old boon to fuel-efficient, low-cost, time-saving cooking and Scoops' expert guidance on No Knead bread making. This special class requires reservation as space is limited. The RSVP for the cooking class is: http://www.facebook.com/events/156122194519141/ The cost is one time dollar and $4 materials cost. If this is is your first potluck, the time dollar you earn with your potluck dish will cover the one time dollar charged for this class. Only five spaces still available. Conscientious Projector Summer Film Series Conscientious Projector will have a special Summer Film Series at All Saints Church, 132 No Euclid, Pasadena, 91101. Some of the most salient and illuminating documentaries they have shown over the last year and a half will be featured at these free screenings. They have selected films by creative and insightful filmmakers dedicated to raising awareness and reimagination on consequential issues that human-kind faces in these fast-changing times. Was there a film that you really wanted to see and had to miss it? All films are on Wednesday nights at 7pm free of charge. Here is the lineup thus far: June 20, Tom Shadyac's spirited meditation on the human condition, I Am. July 11, the Economics of Happiness July 25, Climate Refugees August 15, Home NELA Transition Meeting Sunday, June 17th, 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 [email protected] for location and directions.     Dr Eugene Tsui; A radical departure for architecture by David Cutter On Tues May 27th, I attended a lecture at Caltech given by "architect" Eugene Tsui. Tsui (pronounced "Tsway") Author of Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as the Basis for Design. Dr. Tsui has been pursuing the idea of studying nature as a way to solve design problems for decades. His work is starting to catch on. Harvard University has just created a new institute devoted to the concept of studying nature. (http://wyss.harvard.edu) What was even more inspiring was that Dr Tsui has managed to get some city officials to approve many of his designs. Several of these fanciful designs exist as real buildings. In Dr Tsui's lecture, after descibing the imminent resource shortages, the shortcomings of our infinite growth economy and of course environmental degradation, he proceeded to describe and show slides of some of his building designs. The pictures were captivating and left me with the feeling that I was looking at human cities from the year 2500AD. For example, a building that looks like the emerald city and integrates urban agriculture, athletic facilities including an olympic swimming pool and many "neighborhoods". All in one "building". An actual structure designed by Tsui and built in Taiwan is known as the Prosperity Tower. The tower has a spiral appearance and is taller than Chicago's Sears Tower. The tower sits in a lake in downtown Taipei. The lake serves multiple functions including cooling and fresh fish for the restaurants inside. I present two more design examples for your enjoyment. The first is an actual building. The second awaits approval. Based on the tardigrade, a microorganism whose structure is considered the most indestructible in nature, the house features huge, swollen skylights on the side and roof that flood each room with natural light. Veinlike 6-inch pipes twist along its sides, pushing warm air in on cool nights and hot air out on steamy summer days. And it's efficient: In only 2,100 square feet, the Fish House packs in four bedrooms, a kitchen, dining area and living room with a 30-foot-high ceiling - all for a total of $250,000. That's around half the price of an average home in the Bay Area. Less is more indeed. The Ultima Tower, perhaps the best example of Tsui's visionary design, envisions a world of dynamic engagement between nature and man. This two mile high city is based on the structure of termite mounds, the tallest objects not built by people. The tower will house one million people on a one square mile footprint. Tsui proposes placing the tower in downtown San Francisco, but it could be replicated anywhere. It's "vertical neighborhoods" contain lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, and diverse habitats, and functions like a living organism. Needless to say, solar and windpower and natural water filtering make it completely self-sustaining. A central elevator links the many neighborhoods and avoids the isolation of urban sprawl.