NELA Transition News | March 9, 2012

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North East Los Angeles Transition News March 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 Zero Waste To Become an Official Part of Pasadena Policy By David Cutter The City of Pasadena has hired an engineering consultant to develop a zero waste program. Residences typically have 3 forms of waste, compostable, recyclable and landfill. The goal of a zero waste program is to get as close to zero waste going to our landfill as possible. It's likely that the city will introduce this in stages as most people will find it to be a daunting task. Three public workshops will help to develop the focus of the program. The workshop was designed to take in public comment in an open format. At the second workshop, the consultant will present a distillation of ideas down to 3 or 4 possible directions the city could take. The last workshop will be a presentation of the city's final choice of plan. The first workshop has already occurred and three NELA members were present and voiced the message of transition. If you would like to make a comment to the consultant, it might not be too late. Give Michelle Leonard a call at (626) 584-4916 NELA subsequently approached the city and consultant with the idea of an educational activity around zero waste at the Earth and Arts Festival April 14th. Not only for educating, but also to promote zero waste and related concepts to the general public. The city and consultant were both supportive. The city will help to promote our activity. We plan to have an artistic display of zero waste concepts at a sign in table and a "passport scavenger hunt" sort of activity. Visitors will receive a "passport" with four places to get stamped. Once completed, the visitor is entered into a drawing for the winning prize. The city is also donating a compost bin as the winning prize. We need help staffing our display table on Sat April 14th. Training will be provided and time dollars for time bank members as well. The event is from 10am to 4pm. Volunteers are welcome to choose a shift or stay all day. If interested, please email David at [email protected] An Appreciation for Collaboration By David Cutter In June of 2011, I wrote an article about the development of a collaboration between NELA, Throop Church and the Arroyo Time Bank where we would work on monthly potlucks. It was interesting to reread that article and reflect on how the collaboration has developed over the last nine months. The potlucks have become a regular part of the community and last month we had Ripe Altadena and The Arroyo Food Co-op in attendance while Diane Carroll led us through some community building work. There were forty to fifty people in attendance and I heard lots of positive comments during and afterwards about how great the activity was. The evening was a synergy between members of both NELA and the timebank and I don't believe it would have occurred without the previous months of collaboration. Also at the time of that 2011 article, NELA and Throop Church began working on the garden project. While this was a separate collaboration, both NELA and Throop Church became organizational members of the time bank which allowed both Throop and NELA to start paying "volunteers" with hours. These hours could then be spent by the volunteers into the time bank economy creating more relationships and community along the way. One Throop Church board member wrote that the partnership between Throop and NELA has evolved to become something like a family of gardeners. People of two different groups need to have a common project that feels important. The common project acts like a magnet, drawing individuals together despite different interests or walks of life. The NELA/Throop collaboration is as strong as it is because of the overlapping connection to the common project, the garden. Local food growing and permaculture are primary concepts in transition work. The garden's function and appearance are of course, critical to the church. Having two groups working on this garden has led to some beautiful synergy. Caltech recently donated a thousand pound, seven foot tall olive tree. The tree was planted recently and.... ladies and gentleman, we have shade in the garden now. Watching different groups work together on common projects, I've observed that the community that results is magical.  More things become possible than what might at first have been imagined. Therese Brummel recently observed that the network of folks linked to the time bank and NELA is growing and becoming more strongly and intimately tied. We are learning to love each other. I see that a number of smaller working groups are forming outside of the hub of these two main groups. We are finding many leaders and each leader is doing the work they are called to. What we are growing is dynamic and that Spirit is taking charge drawing each person to what they are best suited. You are reading this because you have a rising consciousness to the need for community at this time. What are you called to? How can you engage? How can you be a leader? When you take the first step, the doors will open.   Grow Heathrow - Everything is Changing This is a documentary abut an abandoned market garden site in Heathrow that was transformed from a derelict mess into a beacon of community strength and a great example of how to live sustainably on this planet. "I returned to the site which has been transformed from a derelict mess into a beacon of community strength and a great example of how to live sustainably on this planet." The director Dean Puckett has made an unashamedly positive film about the project. Watch it here <http://crisisofcivilization.com/grow-heathrow-everything-is-changing/> Transition Heathrow Website http://www.transitionheathrow.com/   The Crisis of Civilization The Crisis of Civilization is a remix documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system. http://crisisofcivilization.com/   Transition Companion 'Here, Rob sets out an exciting, much-expanded idea of what Transition is and could become; one that is rich with hard-won insights and practical advice. It's a work full of bold answers, inspirational ideas and daring solutions. Although profoundly serious at heart, it's never somber. In fact, it's a great deal of fun, frequently demonstrating how Transition is a highly creative, stimulating, and even playful process. … The Transition Companion offers an extraordinarily rich yet highly accessible model for drawing together the people around you, and describes the tools needed to start an economic and social renaissance in the place you live. It's a book that is unashamedly ambitious and far-reaching in its scope and vision. But, if we are to successfully navigate what's coming toward us, and hold on to our identity, our community, and our shared optimism for the future, that is exactly what we need.' --Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, from the foreword More information   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   Neighborhood Fruit Harvest Sunday, March 10th, 10:00 AM There will be a Neighborhood Fruit Harvest outing on Saturday March 10 at 10:00 am. This time, we will be visiting a host in Pasadena that has multiple kinds of trees that needs some attention. Bring your hat, glove and container and get ready to climb some trees. It is going to be a fun outing. RSVP for the location Visit the Facebook page for more details or contact Ginko at [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/events/180100732102285/ Hope to see you all! Nadine (323) 960 0195   Eagle Rock Urban homestead tour and natural dyeing class Saturday, March 10th, 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM Homestead Tour: 3/10 starting at 11 am Address: 4867 Wiota St., LA CA 90041 I'm opening up my home to my fellow urban homesteaders and I'd love to meet time bank members and other NELA residents as well. I've got a budding food forest in the front yard, bees, rabbits, and cats that all contribute, and a couple other systems in place to reduce my footprint and make life more fun. I'll share what I've figured out and what's stumped me. I would love to get feedback and ideas from you. Here's some background on me and a link to where I occasionally blog about my homesteading adventures: www.mamabotanica.com A $5 donation or a time dollar would be greatly appreciated! Please RSVP to me at [email protected] Natural Dye Class: 3/10 1:30-4:30 Address:4867 Wiota St,. LA CA 90041 (following the homestead tour) Renee Stevens, an accomplished fiber artist visiting from Minnesota (and my mom), will lead a natural dye class. In the class we'll dye 2 scarves - one sheer silk chiffon and one silk charmeuse. We'll use a bundling technique popularized by India Flint, the author of EcoColour. **Bring interesting leaves from around your house and eucalypus branches (with leaves) if you have them. Rose leaves are great too. Bring lots of leaves! Different colors, textures, shapes, and smells all good! Also a couple rusty nails or other small piece of rusty metal if you have some. Renee will share some of her natural dye projects using a variety of different materials and techniques. Don't miss it 'cause Mom leaves for Minnesota the following week! $20 covers materials and snacks. Please RSVP to [email protected] Hope to see you on the 10th! Thanks, Joan Stevens Echo Park Timebank Walking Tour Saturday, March 17th, 11 AM to 2 PM The Echo Park Time Bank Saturday Social will be a walking tour of the Red Hill area with Maryam Hosseinzadeh. The tour begins at 11AM on the traffic island directly across from Echo Park Lake on Glendale Blvd. and Park Ave. Echo Park has been home to singers Woody Guthrie and Tom Waits, gay rights activist Harry Hay, artist Paul Landacre, and many, many other radicals and artists --- a locational legacy that directly connects with the same community spirit and ideals of the Echo Park Time Bank. End at Taix for a snack and a beer in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! Roundtrip 4.5 miles. Wear comfortable shoes. 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 - [email protected] This month's meeting will be in Pasadena. Is open to everyone. Sunday, March 18th, 5:00 to 7:00 PM   Inner Transition Thursday, March 22 and Tuesday, April 17 6:30 to 8:30 pm The Transition movement calls us to attend to the Inner Transition, the heart and soul shift, the shift in consciousness from our old lives to a new way of being. This is a great challenge. And we are finding our way through together. We will have two sessions of our Inner Transition group Thursday, March 22 and Tuesday, April 17 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Throop Church Fireside Room, 300 So Los Robles, enter from Del Mar. Our intention is to experience what is called Oneness. When we experience Oneness with other humans and all life, we touch the divine. That experience can guide our actions and give them meaning. We will use the Living with Oneness Study Guide http://www.globalonenessproject.org/sites/default/files/education/downloads/LivingOnenessStudyGuide.pdf for these two sessions. This is a masterful and lengthy guide to the shift in consciousness. "It is natural that love, support, compassion and other positive feelings happen in relationships where we feel mutually connected." This is our path to stewardship of the planet which is ailing from our loss of that interconnection. Session one will address the first 22 pages. It is advised that you read them, but not mandatory to attending the sessions. If you feel called, bring a passage from the study guide or another source that has touched you. We will create a small space in the Fireside Room for small objects that are sacred to us to help set our intention. Some call his an altar. Please bring an object that holds meaning for you such as a rock, seeds, a photograph, or whatever you would like to place in this collection. . You will take your contribution home. Light refreshments will be shared. All are welcome. Please RSVP: [email protected] I look forward to sharing this journey with you. Community Potluck Presented by Arroyo Timebank and NELA Transition Saturday, February 25th 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Come and meet others involved with these organizations. This event is open to everyone. Bring some food or drink to share. It is time to put our heads and hearts and resources together to share info and ideas on community building. How else but over food! Join the potluck and find out more about the many creative, dynamic and energetic groups focused on community right here in town. At this month's NELA Transition/Arroyo Time Bank Potluck meet Diane Carroll, a transplant from Austin, Texas, who will lead us in fast, personal advancement within Deep Community. Her successful and unique concept called BOUNCE is an interdependent means of defining, evaluating and moving forward on your path of greatest fulfillment and purpose while learning to advance with time banking, free support, and community. Read More Throop Church 300 S Los Robles Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101   Open Letter to Pasadena City Coucil This is an open letter to Pasadena City Council. Consider copying it and sending a personalized version of it on to City Hall. The City's address is: Phyllis Currie General Manager Pasadena Water and Power 150 South Los Robles Ave., Suite 200 Pasadena, CA 91101 Mayor Bill Bogaard Office of the Mayor 100 N. Garfield Avenue, Room S228 Pasadena, CA 91109 Your Commissioner Pasadena City Hall 100 N. Garfield Ave, Pasadena CA 91109 Dear Pasadena City Council and Pasadena Water and Power: Pasadena is too dependent on coal-fired power. Wherever coal is burned, its emissions pollute the air, soil, and water, and they are beginning to disrupt Earth's climate patterns. (Just look at this year's warm winter across the US.) Although Pasadena's power from the coal-fired Intermountain Power Plant is cheap, that price is achieved at great environmental cost: the plant consumes huge amounts of strip-mined coal1 and is one of the nation's larger emitters of heat-trapping, climate-tipping gases. Moreover this plant's legacy coal seam is nearly exhausted, and its likely replacement is a site within 10 miles of Bryce Canyon National Park2! No one wants to vacation in Bryce Canyon with a pall of coal dust everywhere. We have to believe what we know. And what we know is that CO2 emissions are causing irreversible changes to our benevolent climate, melting glaciers, and raising the level of the sea, changes that in turn will degrade our standard of living. And we also know that the price of coal is rising fast – due to played-out mines, higher transportation costs, and stricter environmental regulations. The smart course of action is to get out of coal while other doors are still open – investing now in local, clean energy projects that will provide good jobs right here in Pasadena. Higher capital costs for clean energy can be offset with future fuel savings and sustained energy conservation measures. This is not rocket science. So I ask you with urgency, Council members and PWP: develop a plan to end Pasadena's use of coal by 2020 and replace it with aggressive energy efficiency policies and local, clean, renewable energy sources. Yours very truly,   1 Pasadena’s portion: 13 lbs of coal per day, for every man & woman in Pasadena 2 Alton, Utah