Vancouver's Leader in Transition toward Strong, Resilient, Complete Communities
April 2013
The Sharing Project - Crowdfunding!
Over the past week, The Sharing Project has gained a ton of major media support. From front page of the National Post, to Global TV's 6pm news, the Tyee, and an interview on CKNW and CBC, Village member Chris Diplock and colleagues are presenting a viable economic model for creating a city that consumes less and connects more.
You can help this alternative economy become even more viable by joining the crowdsourcing of this project through indiegogo. Contributors receive perks from Modo, the Vancouver Tool Library, The Hive and more.
Please check out The Sharing Project campaign & share with your networks: http://igg.me/at/thesharingproject.
The project only has until Tuesday April 16th, when the campaign ends, and any amount helps! Check out a little more about this project on the Village site here.
----------
2013 Neighbourhood Small Grants
Neighbourhood Small grants are easy to apply for and a great way to help get your neighbourhood project off the ground!
New this year: a) The grant areas have been expanded --everyone who lives in Vancouver is now eligible to apply, and b) both grants are now for up to $1,000.
Deadline for applying is March 31st.
This grant cycle is now closed, but some neighbourhoods may offer a 2nd round.
-------------
The New Economy Summit at UBC:
Redefining Prosperity/Rethinking Our Economy
April 4-6
Presenters (including a number of VVers):
Herb Barbolet, Michael Barkusky, Paula Barrios, Morris Berman, Jordan Bober, Randy Chatterjee, Michelle Colussi, Matt Dickson, Darren Fleet, Patrick Francios, Derek Gent, Tom Green, Andrea Harris, John Helliwell, George Hoberg, Barbara Joughin, David Korten, Michael Lewis, Michael Linton, Donnie MacLurcan, Tara Moreau, Ross Moster, Ann Pacey, Ellie Perkins, William Rees, John Restakis, Benjamin Richardson, Conrad Schmidt, Juliet Schor (via skype), Christie Stephenson, Kate Storey, James Tansey, Vanessa Timmer, Elizabeth Ü, and Bob Williams.
------------
March 2013
--------------
Village Vancouver March Meet-up & Potluck
Sunday, March 17 from 1pm to 4pm
West End Community Centre, Bidwell Room
----------------
February 2013
Sunday, February 24 from 9-10:30 am and 11am-12:30pm in Kits
RSVP here
or to Ross at ross@villagevancouver.ca
------
Fifty neighbours attended the Kits House Community potluck gathering last week to celebrate the dozen plus Dropin "Spahgetti" nights held over the last several months, and a splendid time was had by all!
Next "spaghetti" night Sunday, Feb 10.
January 2013
-------
SCRIPT FROM THIS PORTION OBAMA's SPEECH (underlining added): We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries — we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways, our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
---------
December 2012
"Save for a Rainy Day!"
Oops, I guess that message doesn't work much around these parts. In fact, it doesn't work much anywhere else across Canada!
Indebtedness in "our home and native land" continues to rise rapidly, reaching new and unprecedented levels, and even beyond what our spendthrift southern neighbour toyed with in 2008...and we know where that got them!
According to the Financial Post, we on average each owe almost 165% of what we earn each year. Yes, and this is before taxes. That's an AVERAGE. Many have much more debt.
How is this sustainable, for individuals, or for the economy as a whole? Banks love it...well, as long as everyone pays up, and the economy grows fast enough to cover both principle and interest payments...but debt can weave a nasty web around everything we do. Debt cuts off choice and options. It becomes a trap. Some liken it to one big Ponzi scheme.
Please avoid it as best you can, and celebrate the holidays by thanking those you love with your love, and nothing necessarily more.
Happy Solstice! The days will soon get longer, and the rain maybe a bit less...wet.
---------
November 2012
Watch an Urban Garden Sharing music video, made locally.
What could be more entertaining!
Aviva Community Fund Voting Results
Hi everyone,
A brief note to let you know how we did in the Aviva Community Fund competition.
As you may have already heard, we came close - over 2200 votes and a 14th place finish out of 564 entries. We finished very strongly, but couldn't quite reach the 10th place finish we needed to move into the semi-finals.
We'd like to thank all of you for your fantastic support.Without it, we wouldn't have done nearly as well as we did.
Even though we didn't move on, it's a very healthy sign for Village Vancouver that we were able to garner such a high level of enthusiasm for our Kits Village demonstration proposal. We continue to run primarily on people power, and this year has seen an amazing array of activities (over 250!) and new projects emerging in Village -- and 2013 promises more of the same. Getting involved does make a difference!
Once again, thanks for all you do!
Be well, celebrate, and persevere.
-- Ross and the rest of Village's Board of Directors -- Ann, Beth, Dana, Diane, Jacquie, Jason, Jordan, Randy, and Thomas
P.S. And thanks for tolerating all our emails during the voting!
----------
Read about a revolution in urban agriculture of scale taking place in Chicago.
Vote for Village Vancouver to help us win a $50,000 grant!
The competition ends 9 am Monday morning the 26th. We're getting close, but need everyone's vote!
If enough of us Vote for Village today (Sunday) before 9 pm and then again between 9 pm tonight and 9 am Monday, we'll make the semi-finals.
We're movin' up - from 66th to 14th (out of 564 projects) in the last week in the small grant category, thanks to your support. Help us crack the top 10 and move into the semi-finals.
Village Vancouver has done a lot with very little over the past few years to build stronger communities in our region and to catalyse projects that bring us closer to the more sustainable, resilient, connected and livable world that we all need so urgently to build together.To take our efforts to the next level, we need more resources. And now, with the Aviva Community Fund grant competition, we have the opportunity to obtain those resources. Please VOTE once a day for the next 2 days from November 25 - 26th. And please invite your networks to vote.Your can also invite your friends on facebook to Vote for Kitsilano Demonstration Transition Village.
Each day runs from 9 pm to 9 pm Pacific Time. You still have time to vote today. (And you can vote again after 9 pm.) Please note that voting ends at 9 am Monday the 26th.
With enough votes, you can help propel Village Vancouver into the Aviva grant semi-finals to win $50,000 to build a neighbourhood transition toolkit that will drastically accelerate our journey to a more positive and resilient future for the Vancouver region!
There are thousands of members of the Village Vancouver community. If each of us casts at least one vote, we have a great shot at winning $50,000 for Transition in Vancouver!
Deepen your support by becoming a contributing member of Village Vancouver!
Of course, voting is not the only way that you can help. You can also make a huge difference by becoming a contributing member of Village Vancouver Transition Society. Even if only a small percentage of our community members become dues-paying members of the Society, we can very quickly raise the funds that will allow us to engage in change-catalysing projects without depending exclusively on grants. Will you make a difference by becoming a member today?
Thanks for all you do in the world, and remember, vote for your very own Village Vancouver by clicking here, every day for the next 2 days if you can!
---------
Thank you to all who attended
Neighbour Savour 2012 !
Well over 250 people ate scrumptious food, listened to great local music, danced, made crafts, visited the community tables, and met their neighbours. It's an event that's hard to beat, especially when we came away with just 4 litres of compost, some recyclables, and just ONE LITRE of actual waste that will need to make its way to the dump. After feeding 300 or so people, that ain't so bad at all!
Now, if you think you left something behind, check out the pictures of a few found items here.
And a big round of applause for all of the volunteerswho helped make it happen, including some amazing local students from UBC Land and Food who kept at it all night (We just hope they took a few minutes off to sample the great food.)
------------
This week: Free talks by authors Jerry Thompson and Chris Philpott
Wed, Nov 7
Get prepared for Cascadia's Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America
Village presents an evening with Jerry Thompson, author of "Cascadia's Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America". There will be a lecture and panel discussion around neighborhood earthquake preparation.
Learn about the geology of the Cascadia's Fault and how an organized community response can help assist emergency responders, preserve property and save lives!
For more information please contact: KitsEarthquakePrep@gmail.com
Thurs, Nov 8
Green Spirituality
7pm to 9pm at UBC, Student Union Building, Room 215
Village presents a talk by Chris Philpott, author of Green Spirituality, from Transition Town Leamington Spa in England
Green Spirituality wants to alert people of this planet to the perils that face us all, and to show that, if we are prepared to heed the teachings of ancient and modern spiritual wisdom, we can still face the future positively. The presentation will be a combination of detailed information about global environmental problems and world poverty, along with solutions to those problems rooted in the spiritual teachings of different traditions.
For more info see event post or www.greenspirituality.org
----------------------
October 2012:
Three local non-profit groups – Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, Village Vancouver, and the False Creek Watershed Society have teamed up to create a series of 10 “Earth Walks”.
NEXT WALK: Oct 14. Connecting with the Land. Last walk of the season. Click here for details.
We live in the city of Vancouver with almost a million residents. We are blessed to be surrounded by mountains, forests, oceans and rivers. But how well do we know the nature in our own backyard? The natural world is present everywhere – from the gardens of Kitsilano to the Lost Streams of False Creek to the Mighty Fraser River and even at the local shopping centre!
Please join us for this exciting series of free walks this summer and fall. The leaders are amazingly knowledgeable in their specialty. So come along to listen to their words, connect with the land and ask lots of questions!
Earth Walks Vancouver - Summer/Fall 2012:
Please register for the event(s) of your choice online here: http://www.falsecreekwatershed.org/events.html. We will add more information as it becomes available.
Past walks:
1) July 21 “Bee Walk” through Kitsilano with Mary Bennett. From bee-friendly gardens to hives to eco-art; how bees fare in the big city. 1:00 – 3:00
2) July 29: “Who ever heard of a nature walk in a shopping centre?” Oakridge Mall with Celia Brauer. Come check out the fact that Mother Nature is everywhere. 10:30 – 12:30
3) August 11: “A Place of Many Bridges"- a walk through history on the Fraser River’s North Arm -with Terry Slack . Listen to tales about the Fraser River on the skytrain bridge over the North Arm – some history, some discussion about the fish and how a river works and what this riverbank will look like in the future 10:30 – 12:30
4) August 18: “St. George’s Street Rainway – bringing a creek back to a city street” with Greta Borick Cunningham. A walk along the historic creek which will one day be daylighted and the new painted mural
5) “Paradise in the City” - Strathcona and Cottonwood garden. How community and nature come together to produce paradise. Leader and date TBA
6) Sept 9: “A Lost Stream Walk - Gibson’s Creek” with Dan Fass. A walk along an old stream bed to talk about how the city evolved and changed over time.
7) Sept 15: “Fish in the City - Fisherman’s wharf to Granville Island market” with Louise Towell. Fish from the sea, fish from False Creek, fish from the ocean. What is the history, where our fish come from, how they are faring in the deep ocean? And how the Stream of Dreams teaches children about fish and watersheds. 10:00 – 12:00
8) Sept 23: “How the Forest Works” with Terry Taylor. Forest ecology and how the forest does our work for us – in Pacific Spirit Park. 10:00- 12:00
9) October 7: “Economics in Place and Time” with Michael Barkusky. A walk on the false creek seawall from Leg-in-boot square to Granville Island to look at the history of False Creek and how the natural capital of the water and shoreline has changed over the last 150 years. 1:00 – 3:00
UPCOMING:
10) October 14: “Connecting with the Land” with Pamela Zevit. A walk along Wreck Beach – one of the last close-to-wild beaches in Vancouver – including discussions about how we connect to the land in our fast-paced techno-industrial urban society and meditations to help forge stronger links. 10:00 -12:00
July 2012:
6 pm Potluck
6:45 AGM
8:15 Visioning Session
http://www.langara.bc.ca/campus-facilities/campus-maps/pdf/campusmap20100805.pdf
On 4th, just west of Trafalgar, next to the Westside Community Food Market, in the Kits Neighbourhood House area.
Please contact Ross at ross@villagevancouver.ca if you can help for a couple/few hours.
-----------
July newsletter now available! Click here!
------------
Langara College Sustainable Communities Summer School/Village Vancouver 5th Annual Transition School
July 7-13, 2012
Over 40 different workshops, including 15 VV Transition School offerings on Re-Skilling, Community Building and the "Big Picture". Register for one or several!
Workshop fees vary, please check the workshop descriptions. (Some are FREE, and low income and student discounts are available for the other workshops.)
For specific Course Descriptions, Costs, and Registration info:
Community and Cultural Development
http://tinyurl.com/community-culturaldevelopment
Communication and Facilitation
http://tinyurl.com/communication-facilitation
Social Ecology
http://tinyurl.com/socialecology
For General Info on different ways to register, click here.
For further info:Sarah St. John @ 604.323.5193 at Langara.
------------
June 2012:
Kits Village Permaculture PET Day Blitz
------------
Car Free Village
Sunday, June 17
75+ Villagers helped make this Village Vancouver's most successful Community Village ever for the thousand plus people who visited us.
BIG THANKS EVERYONE
from your Main St. Car Free Fest Community Village organizing team (Ross, Jason, Randy and Raimey)
Photo by Dana Wilson
Pictures are beginning to be posted here in our new Car Free Day 2012 Album!
More pictures here.
-------------
Join us for a community "barnraising" in transforming a property using Permaculture design principles. Last year close to 25 people participated in converting a Kits front lawn near the beach into a Village Vancouver Permaculture food forest. This will be our 2nd Kits Village project.
June's Kits Blitz garden party will be held at a home near 5th and Arbutus, and and we'll be working on a front yard and a blvd. and focusing on medicinal plants and flowers. VVer Nick Grabovac will facilitate. Nick is a Permaculture Designer and founder of Vancouver Permaculture Meetup.
Please RSVP on Event post. Everyone welcome - it's fun, it's educational, and we feed you!
Supported by a Green Neighbourhood Small Grant from the Vancouver Foundation.
(By the way, we're always looking for more locations in Kits Village and elsewhere to create more Permaculture gardens.)
Update: Currently, over 20 people have confirmed - what a great response! If you're planning on participating, please RSVP right away, so our hosts know how much food to prepare.
Vancouver Foundation and the City of Vancouver have announced a new Green Neighbourhood Small Grant program. Up to $1,000 per grant. Every resident of Vancouver is eligible.
Deadline for applying: May 25.
For further information, click here.
Also currently available:
Community Neighbourhood Small Grants (up to $500)
North Shore (June 8, 4 pm deadline, online or paper)
April 2012 Click here for April Newsletter
Vancouver Foundation and the City of Vancouver have announced a new Green Neighbourhood Small Grant program. Up to $1,000 per grant. Every resident of Vancouver is eligible. Deadline for applying: May 25. For further information: http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/greenest-city/small-grants ---------------
Neighbourhood Small Grants
Apply soon for up to $500 through your local participating Neighbourhood House or Community Centre.
It's easy to apply!
Come up with a good idea, and we, your community, will help you make it happen and happen better than you could ever imagine.
If you need help writing a grant--really just a paragraph--just give us a holler. For more information, refer to the Vancouver Foundation NSG page here.
(See links for neighbourhood boundaries and see if you're eligible.) Carnegie, Ray Cam and Strathcona Community Centres (May 18 deadline, online or paper application)
West End (May 25 deadline, online application) Surrey - Whalley neighbourhood (May 25 deadline, online application) North Shore (June 8, 4 pm deadline, online or paper application)
South Burnaby, also check here Mount Pleasant and Riley Park (March 31 deadline; online application) Kiwassa, Frog Hollow, and Cedar Cottage (March 31 deadline for a different grant: "Community Small Grant" $500-1500. paper application.) NSG grant info: http://communityconnection.wordpress.com/ (April 30 deadline; online application.) South Vancouver and Collingwood (April 30 deadline; online application) Carnegie, Ray Cam and Strathcona Community Centres (May 18 deadline, online or paper application) Kitsilano/Arbutus Ridge/Point Grey/and parts of Dunbar and Fairview neighbourhoods (April 24 4pm deadline, paper application)
---------------- Need help visualizing the magnitude of the Tar Sands? Check out this well-researched and visually powerful analysis by Barry Saxifrage (PDF download), as published in the Vancouver Observer.
---------------- Click here for March Newsletter
----------------
The Neighbourhood Small Grants are coming out!
Apply soon for up to $500 through your local participating Neighbourhood House or Community Centre.
It's easy to apply!
(See links for neighbourhood boundaries and see if you're eligible.)
Mount Pleasant and Riley Park (March 31 deadline; online application)
Kiwassa, Frog Hollow, and Cedar Cottage (March 31 deadline for a different grant: "Community Small Grant" $500-1500. paper application.) NSG grant info: http://communityconnection.wordpress.com/ (April 30 deadline; online application.)
South Vancouver and Collingwood (April 30 deadline; online application)
Carnegie, Ray Cam and Strathcona Community Centres (May 18 deadline, online or paper application)
Kitsilano/Arbutus Ridge/Point Grey/and parts of Dunbar and Fairview neighbourhoods (April 24 4pm deadline, paper application)
West End(May 25 deadline, online application)
South Burnaby, also check here
Surrey - Whalley neighbourhood (May 25 deadline, online application)
Come up with a good idea, and we, your community, will help you make it happen and happen better than you could ever imagine.
If you need help writing a grant--really just a paragraph--just give us a holler. For more information, refer to the Vancouver Foundation NSG page here.
---------------
March 2012
Watch Sacred Economics, a new short film by Ian MacKenzie, just released online here:
http://sacred-economics.com/film/
After the film premiers (March 1, 9 am PST), live conversation with Charles Eisenstein and Ian MacKenzie hosted by Village member Justin Ritchie
----------------
Robin Wheeler North Vancouver memorial/Roberts Creek Celebration of Robin's Life information
Times and dates for the memorial in North Vancouver (Monday, Feb 27) and Celebration of Robin's Life in Roberts Creek (Sunday, March 4) have been announced.
You can share your thoughts about Robin here.
February 2012 Click here for February Newsletter
........... Sad news. Our great friend and ally, Robin Wheeler, passed away Monday afternoon, February 20th, after battling pancreatic cancer for the past year. A kind, wise, patient and loving soul, Robin was the author of Gardening for the Faint of Heart and Food Security for the Faint of Heart, founder of the Sustainable Living Arts School and One Straw Society, and taught several dozen workshops for Village over the past 3 years. She touched hundreds (and likely thousands) of us in gentle and nurturing ways and will be sorely missed. Please feel free to share your thoughts here...
......................
Join Village this month in Transitioning to Resiliency
TONIGHT:
From Here to There (Part 2): Food, Energy, & Transitioning to Resilient Communities Feb 28
Join Village this month in Transitioning to Resiliency
Next up:
Transportation Transformation: Sustainable Transportation for Your Community Feb 18
VV February Meetup Feb 19
"The Power of Circles" Teleseminar Launch featuring Joanna Macy, Vicki Robin, Juanita Brown, Christina Baldwin, & Maureen Jack-LaCroix Feb 21
YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip movie screening w/Producer Mark Dixon Feb 26
From Here to There (Part 2): Food, Energy, & Transitioning to Resilient Co
----------------
Thanks to the over 250 people who came out to hear Richard talk about the issues we're facing and his vision of a resilient future. (Including lots of Transition Towns!) We'll be posting material from his talk later in the month.
....................................................................
And thanks to everyone who attended the Food & Farming Program and The Econmics of Happiness! The theatres were packed for almost all of the films.
Village is also very pleased to be sponsoring the Food/Farming Program on Saturday at the Film Festival along with Slow Food Vancouver, and the screening of The Economics of Happiness on Sunday.
...........................
More Resiliency coming up this month:
De-mystifying De-materialization panel: the Why, What, and How Behind Reducing Energy and Materials in our Economy --
Bill Rees, Vanessa Timmer, Ross Moster at SCARP
(SCARP Symposium is now sold out)
....................................
Richard Heinberg is one of the world’s most effective exponents of the urgent need to move away from fossil fuels and towards a post-growth economy. Author of 10 books, including 2010′s The End of Growth, his wry, unflinching approach addresses challenges such as climate change, peak oil, economic instability, and food insecurity. He exposes the tenuousness of our current way of life, while exploring governmental responses and promising grassroots models in community resilience, including the Transition Town Movement and the Occupy Movement. Heinberg offers a radical vision for a truly sustainable future.
Admission to the World Community Film Festival opening lecture is by donation and the event is sponsored by Village Vancouver, Langara Continuing Studies and Vancouver Peak Oil. Register thru Langara 604.323.5322 (CRN 50966) or RSVP here.
For more information go to:
www.codevfilmfest.org or Village Vancouver-Richard Heinberg
...............................................................
Village is also very pleased to be sponsoring the Food/Farming Program on Saturday at the Film Festival along with Slow Food Vancouver, and the screening of The Economics of Happiness on Sunday.
in Theatre 2
12:00 pm
1:15 pm
......................................................................................................................................
Nicole Foss (aka "Stoneleigh") at Langara College -
Download Powerpoint Presentation Here!
We're pleased to have welcomed Nicole Foss, aka Stoneleigh of The Automatic Earth, back to Vancouver on February 2 to talk about the future of our economy. She packed a lecture hall at Langara College last year to provide key insights on our economic future, not all of which were particularly welcome but nevertheless came to pass.
Now, after the Occupy Movement launched last fall, she presented a new, more upbeat tone and theme in The Storm Surge of Decentralization. This is the 99%'s reaction to what we now know about the Ponzi schemes embedded in our modern financial systems, and changes have already begun. You may download her presentation slides here, one of which--what to make sure you begin to stock up--is copied below. We are working on providing short teaser video clips from the evening, and will soon have DVDs available to sell or show at Village events. 
Note, the term "Protection" means 'Community,' people looking out for you and ready to come to your aid.
Nicole Foss is a globally-sought issues leader on transition and an expert on the macro-economics of resilience.
January 2012 From Grist Last Week
Extraction of Alberta's energy-intensive tar sands has expanded steadily in recent years, with about 232 square miles now exposed by mining operations. Tar-sands production is expected to double over the next decade, which could mean the destruction of 740,000 acres of boreal forest and a 30-percent increase in carbon emissions from Canada's oil and gas sector. ..........................
Village Vancouver January Meetup January 22
25 attended. Great energy! .......................... The Bugs that ate Monsanto This story will remind you of the scene in Avatar where the combined forces of all natural creatures gang up on their human attackers. Well, it seems--and we knew this all along--that Mother Nature has a way around the pesticide Roundup and the genetic modification to corn, soy, and other crops that produces a toxin in the plant, Bt. Yes, it does make you wonder why crops used as food (at least for some creature) should be producing a biotoxin against a wide spectrum of insect life. Well anyway, in this well-researched article in Grist magazine, laying out just how plants and insects gained resistance from these GM crops and what is going to happen now, it is clear that man's hubris is now biting us in the...ere...well...you know. Nature 1, Industrial Agriculture 0. Bio-dynamic farming is showing its worth.
December 2011 Happy Solstice!
------------
Most-Read Stories in Today's Globe
What a nice time for such headlines! Hitting us hard with such lines as housing showing “classic signs of over valuation, speculation and over supply,” "home prices would actually look 25 per cent overvalued based on current prices," "the household balance sheet is stretched and highly susceptible to adverse shocks," "anecdotal evidence suggests the vast majority of pre-construction [condo] sales are to investors", and "this inventory of units will be dumped on to the rental and/or re-sale market just as sales momentum and housing demand ebbs." On the industrial and trade market front: "Canada’s position in world trade has weakened, the primary evidence being a persistent trade deficit after years of enjoying a trade surplus." And: "The biggest change has been the shift in our goods producing economy from value-added manufacturing to non-renewable natural resources development.... the increase in exploitation of natural resources leads to a decline in the manufacturing sector." So, what is one to do with such dire economic analysis? Chalk it up to another bout of difficult lessons learned, apologize to anyone younger than yourself, and give gifts this holiday season that keep giving: yourself, your time, and your love. And finally, commit to Transitioning yourself in 2012!
A Senate Resolution to Remember (in the US)
S.J.RES.33
Latest Title: A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to expressly exclude for-profit corporations from the rights given to natural persons by the Constitution of the United States, prohibit corporate spending in all elections, and affirm the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations and to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures.
Sponsor: Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] (introduced 12/8/2011)
Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.J.RES.90
Latest Major Action: 12/8/2011 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Yes, this amazing bill from independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has survived two readings. No doubt it will "die in Committee," but the sentiment will not die. Why are corporations legally people? Who animated them? Dr. Frankenstein? ..........................
Durban
Now that Canada has left Kyoto to join the US in apostasy on our climate future, most of the rest of the world is coming closer together. In a welcome but guarded surprise, 194 assembled nations at Durban, South Africa agreed on an extension of the Kyoto Treaty for five years AND committed to start negotiating legal limits on GHG emissions applicable to ALL nations--not just the currently industrialized ones now covered under Kyoto.
Curiously, Canada signed onto this new document despite its now full renunciation of Kyoto--pointing exactly to weaknesses in the new "Durban compromise." The vague commitment to a new global treaty to limit GHG emissions is short on details and is only required to be in place by 2020, long after most current governments will be out of office and too late to hold global warming to less than the 2C increase likely to cause many dire consequences. Some more details are on CBC here, the Globe here, in British news here, and on the David Suzuki Foundation website here, and for the real inside scoop on what it all really means, read Thomas Homer-Dixon's comments here.
The take home from Durban once again is that WE MUST BE THE CHANGE we seek in our world. It is up to each one of us to live in a way that ensures a future for our children, the human race, and all creatures of this earth. The global Transition movement looks increasingly to be our only way forward.
390.31
Imagine if the Earth's normal "body temperature" were 350, and now it is 390.31. Would you be alarmed?
Actually 350 is not a temperature per se, but a concentration of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere (in parts per million). And 350 isn't normal, it is more like 41 degrees C for a human, survivable but on the edge of death. 390 is, well, not survivable. We are headed most certainly now to 450. According to the International Energy Agency, a conservative multilateral research institute, 2010 saw the largest increase in CO2 emissions ever to a current annual output of 30.6 gigatonnes of the stuff.
You might ask what about our Kyoto commitments signed 21 years ago? That wasn't the plan!
And you'll remember that Canada is finally pulling out of Kyoto, AFTER having posted one of the largest increases in CO2 emissions since 1990 of all industrialized countries. Look in the mirror. We are responsible. Canada is responsible.
---------------- Wednesday, December 7
From Here to There: Food, Energy, and Resilient Communities To register:
http://fromheretothere.eventbrite.com/ There is space for 125 participants. The event is fully registered. If you're not registered, there's still a chance you can attend, as there are usually no-shows. We suggest coming to the museum around 4:30.
Registration/Doors at 4:30PM
Event from 5:00 to 7:30 PM In partnership with the Vancouver Food Policy Council and Village Vancouver Transition Society, the Museum of Vancouver is hosting a public dialogue in order to support the development of a Vancouver Food Energy Descent Action Plan (FED-AP) to address Community Food Resiliency. Join us on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 for a community visioning event that encourages people to think about the future of food in Vancouver, especially as cheap energy sources peak and climate change intensifies. An Energy Descent Action Plan is a visioning process that outlines steps to help move us from being a high energy to low energy use region. Specifically, it sets out to collaboratively articulate a vision for a “powered-down, resilient, re-localized future”, as well as outline practical steps and actions for getting there. The plan is meant to be a user-friendly, inclusive and practical document for both local government and the community. Key community organizations involved in ongoing community food projects and a cross-sector of interested individuals will come together to co-create this vision and share their knowledge, resources and inspiration to further initiatives and focus on the strategies of the FED-AP. Targeted at change and policy makers, related organizations, students, and all individuals interested in Food activism and community building, the event will run on December 7th from 5:00 to 7:30 PM (registration/doors open at 4:30 PM) with light refreshments available. http://fromheretothere.eventbrite.com/
Co-sponsors:
BC Cooperative Association, Be the Change Earth Alliance,
Board of Change, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Car Free Vancouver, Centre for Sustainable Community Development - SFU, City of Vancouver Social Policy, David Suzuki Foundation, Dialogue Centre - SFU, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House, Downtown Eastside Right to Food Initiative, Ecotrust, Evergreen, False Creek Watershed Society, FarmFolk CityFolk, Food Tree, Gordon Neighbourhood House, Grandview Woodland Food Connection, Home Harvest Farms, Kitsilano Transition Village, Langara College Sustainable Communities Program, Main Street Neighbourhood Village, Oak Street Farmers Market, One Earth Initiative, OXFAM Canada – BC, Rangi Changi, Renfrew-Collingwood Food Security Institute, South Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network, SPEC, Trout Lake Cedar Cottage Food Security Network, Two Block Diet, UBC AMS Sustainability Fund, UBC Farm, Vancouver Peak Oil Executive, Vancouver Permaculture Meetup, Vancouver Youth Food Policy Council, West End Neighbourhood Food Network, Westside Food Collaborative, Zero Waste Vancouver
..........................
November 2011
Bill McKibben at UBC
Founder of 350.org and 3-decade-long climate change activist and journalist, Bill McKibben addressed a UBC audience on Thursday 17 November at the Chan Centre with a frightening message. The demise of the Keystone XL pipeline connecting the Tarsands to Texas will increase pressure to pipe this oil across BC and ship it along its shoreline to markets in Asia. Demand for coal exports from BC is also rising, positioning BC--in Bill's words-- as "one of the main staging grounds of global warming," the gateway to climate armageddon. Click here or the image above to see Bill McKibbon's 40-minute speech with dozens of added images to emphasize his key points. Canada to withdraw from Kyoto Accord At talks on the future of the Kyoto Protocol starting Monday November 28 in Durban, South Africa, speculation is rising that Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent will announce our country's pull-out from the accord. While it is correct to say that Canada has done little overall to meet its legal commitments under this treaty, and that the Tar Sands alone blow all current conservation efforts out of the water, the expected repudiation of this solemn commitment could undermine more responsible efforts globally.
Countries should be asking themselves why Canada is sitting at the Kyoto negotiating table with a secret plan to formally withdraw from the protocol mere weeks after the talks end. This move is a slap in the face to the international community ... Shame on Canada. - Hannah McKinnon of Climate Action Network Canada.
This is all the more reason to watch the video below.
Municipal Election
In Vancouver, Vision Vancouver returned to power without its junior partner COPE but in essentially the same majority position. NPA gained an additional Councillor, now 2, and in a pleasantly surprising new development, the Green Party secured its first ever seat on Vancouver Council with the election of Adriane Carr.
Occupy Vancouver Rally Today at Noon
Occupy Vancouver is appealing to all friends and supporters to attend a rally at 12 noon on Monday, November 21st (TODAY), at the Vancouver Art Galleryto show solidarity and support in response to the Supreme Court of BC granting the City of Vancouver permission to forcefully remove any Occupy Vancouver standing structures at the Art Gallery from 2 pm onward on Monday.
-------------------------------------------------
Vancouver Island Organic Farmer Dirk Becker writes brilliantly about the Occupy Movement here. CBC is running a poll on clearing the Occupy Vancouver camp. Voice your opinion by clicking here!
.........................................................................................................................................................
Click on link for Village Vancouver Newsletter - October/November 2011
.............................................. It's Election Season The elected entity with the greatest authority to control green house gas emissions, combat climate change, prepare for Peak Oil, and build community resilience is your municipal government.
Neighbourhood Associations across Vancouver are organizing candidate debates on city planning issues during the three weeks before the final polling day on November 19. You can also vote as early as November 9, and almost every day in between to avoid lines and schedule your vote around travel or other commitments. Click here for the advanced polling schedule on the city web site.
The current debate schedule is on our calendar of events and here below. Click on the title link below and you can download each event directly to your personal calendar in Outlook or iCal.
Village is a co-organizer of the NEXT CANDIDATES MEETING:
Come to one or all, and ask hard questions!
Ask candidates if they know what Transition is, and if not, explain why it is the fastest growing social movement on earth!
Monday Nov 7
Macy Monday
7 to 9:15pm.
Building a better world is a demanding and often challenging undertaking. Joanna Macy has devised a set of exercises which can reconnect us with our purpose, and rekindle our fire. A taster workshop in this inspiring work based on systems theory, Buddhist philosophy and wisdom from various indigenous cultures.
Organized by Heather Talbot and Maureen Jack-LaCroix.
FREE. Limited to 15 participants (This workshop is now full. Please RSVP if you're interested in attending a future Macy Monday. We also encourage you to join our Heart and Soul <Inner Transition> group.)
To register: Here or 604-362-1829
............................................. Greenhouse Gases Rise by Highest Amount on Record
Those who hoped that humankind could actually lower global greenhouse gas emissions are in for a rude shock. Worldwide news is reporting on Friday, 4 November that the global output of carbon dioxide jumped in 2010 by the largest amount ever in one year: 6%, or 512 million metric tons more than 2009. That increase is more than the annual carbon dioxide output of every country on earth except China, India, and the US. Canada is a major offender, with increases of 9% in just this one year, and nearly 30% overall since 1990. (The Kyoto Accord--which Canada signed--committed us to a 6% decrease.) Reported in the Guardian is this alarming comment:
In 2007, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its last large report on global warming, it used different scenarios for carbon dioxide pollution and said the rate of warming would be based on the rate of pollution. [US Department of Energy's Tom] Boden said the latest figures put global emissions higher than the worst case projections from the climate panel. Those forecast global temperatures rising between 4 and 11 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4-6.4 Celsius) by the end of the century with the best estimate at 7.5 degrees (4 Celsius).
This is NOT GOOD. The carbon junkies--essentially all of us--have a problem, a very serious problem, and it is a suicidal habit. Read more here.
October 2011 Village Vancouver October Meetup Oct 16
1pm to 4pm
West End Community Centre, Denman Room
870 Denman St.
Meet Village Vancouver members, hear what’s happening in VV networks, villages, and projects, including the West End Transition Village, learn about the new West End Neighbourhood Food Network, and share a potluck lunch.
FREE
To register: Open to all, register online at www.westendcc.ca, or in person, or by calling WE Community Centre (604-257-8333). Event 45409.404WE
(VVers: Please RSVP here as well.)
............................................................ A Victory (Garden Story) in the Mainstream Media! Thanks, Randy Shore.
It is a rare and delightful treat to read about--and view--in our mainstream media the explosion of urban food gardening, and even more so to see that it is not simply a syndicated column by Michael Pollan (much as that doesn't occur often enough). Yes, the Lower Mainland is slowly putting itself on the food security and healthy local diet map, and a big 'thank you' needs to go out to Randy Shore not just for his longstanding recognition of the work of the many dozen urban farmers in and around Vancouver, but also for embracing food gardening himself. As is true of the best of journalism, speaking from experience carries the most weight and conveys the most information. It is also deeply respectful of one's subject. In this humble and heartfelt homage to small-scale farming, including all the exasperation and joy of learning anything so highly complex from scratch, Randy Shore pens a truly great article (linked directly by clicking here). As an added benefit to us, he got help producing a great short video of his experience--here.
Maybe one day we will all realize just how much knowledge, skill, awareness, sensitivity, experience, social support, and GOOD SOIL one needs to farm for one's food in a healthy and sustainable manner. Few recognize and celebrate the expertise and heroism of today's local and organic farmers.
They will be feeding us some day soon, but only if we help them to get established now. The only other option--and it is a good one for some--is to learn the trade yourself. Start composting and sheet mulching NOW!
Village is a great place to do this. Take a gardening workshop, join your neighbourhood village and garden collaboratively with others, or help start a new food growing or seed saving project. Lots of possibilities! (If you need some help, we'll see what we can do.)
--------------------
This Weekend (Oct 8-9):
4 Free and near Free Gardening Workshops
with Gardening for the Faint of Heart and Food Security for the Faint of Heart author Robin Wheeler
Oct 8
Concepts in Year Round Gardening (almost full)
details and registration:
Oct 8-9
Personal Food Security
Apartment Gardening (almost full)
Edible Landscaping
details and registration:
......................................................
September 2011: World Economic Forum
What does the World Economic Forum have to say about Transition?
Lots. In a recent study of Global Risks for 2011, the top threats to the world--see adjacent chart--included "financial crises," "climate change," and "extreme energy price volatility." All three where listed as significant both for severity of impact AND likelihood. 
Do these three issues sound familiar? Economic Instability, Climate Change, and Peak Oil are the foundations of Transition and the basis of the work of Village Vancouver. Read the Transition Network's one-page summary of this report here, and consider how this will affect you, and what you can do now.
Better yet, join us at any event or join or form a project. It's fun, rewarding, and maybe even lifesaving.
____________
TONIGHT - TUESDAY SEPT 27!
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN
BUILDING THE SOUTH VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD NETWORK
What options already exist for fresh, local food in South Van? Where are there gaps?
What would a sustainable and resilient food system look like in South Van? How do we get there?
Interested in networking, collaborating, dialoguing, growing, sharing, and celebrating healthy food options in South Vancouver? Join the discussion around strengthening our local food webs, networks, and urban agriculture initiatives . All are welcome!
A collaborative effort by Village Vancouver, Vancouver Food Policy Council, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House and Community Members.
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time:
6:30 (try or make some Kale chips!)
7:00-9:00pm—Discussion
Location: South Vancouver Neighbour House
6470 Victoria Drive and 49th
Questions? Email: chelan@southvan.org
FREE! To register, email:
foodsecurity@southvan.org
--------------------------------------- Global Finance in Free Fall? 
As stock markets open their star-crossed fall sessions, a summer of discontent is forecast to turn into a free fall as sovereign debt--mostly inherited from failed banks--causes turmoil in currency and stock markets.
The BBC is reporting the Eurozone reaching an inflection point as the larger economies of Italy and France face increasingly distrustful bond markets and the EU formally refuses to issue debt in its own name. Meanwhile, the world's largest economy failed to create even one job in August, and its fiscal house is in such dire straits that further stimulus spending seems both politically and economically impossible. China faces an overheated economy, undervalued currency, ecological systems in free fall, and a long-feared "middle income trap" where domestic demand fails to materialize due to persistent low wage rates. China is the sole engine of global economic activity and is facing its own over-investment and debt leverage bubble.
Is this the end of the world as we know it? Gold--the last refuge of the desperate--is soaring to new highs above $1,900 per ounce as the panic deepens.
Is it time to hunker down and save for the coming rainy days, or will personal saving itself deepen the crisis? Either way, fortune favours the prepared. Be prepared. Start by meeting your neighbours; lots of them are active on this website.
-------------------------------------- The Permaculture Movement Grows from Underground http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/garden/permaculture-emerges-from-the-underground.html
By MICHAEL TORTORELLO
The eco-ideology known as permaculture has entered the mainstream.
August 2011: Vancouver City Increasing Indebtedness Exposed
"According to the city’s consolidated financial statements for 2010, Vancouver made debt repayments totalling $34.8 million last year.
"A draft document dealing with Vancouver’s strategic capital outlook for 2011 to 2021 states that debt servicing as a percentage of operating expenditures will rise from the 2010 level of 6.7 percent to 9.7 percent over the 10-year period.
The draft outlook includes a footnote saying that these figures do not include debt servicing in connection with the former Olympic Village, referred to as the South East False Creek Village. That means the city is in deeper debt because of the Olympic Village."
This just in from Carlito Pablo of the Georgia Straight; read more here.
-------------------------------------- US Debt Downgraded, Now at Risk of Default
The cost of indebtedness climbs inexorably higher as Standards and Poor's downgraded US debt to AA+ from AAA on Friday August 5. Analogous to the New York Yankees being relegated to the Minor League status of its AA farm team the Trenton Thunder, the United States has now been dethroned from its premier position in global finance.
S&P has just signaled that it believes US debt is no longer risk free; in other words, default by the US government on its nearly 15 trillion dollars of debt is now seen as a distinct possibility, albeit very, very unlikely (<0.17%). The cost of borrowing will now rise, not just for the US, but likely for everyone. Note that it could have been worse; the other two ratings agencies, Moody's and Fitch, haven't followed suit...yet. Read more about Transition's answer to economic instability here.
-------------------------------------- World Economic Fragility
Jeffrey Garten of the Yale School of Management and author of many books on globalization commented to the New York Times this week that “the lesson of the debt limit crisis is that if there is another financial calamity, we’re operating without a safety net." There is also no room left for fiscal policy approaches to the depressed US economy.
China has indicated it will continue to pare down its purchases of US Treasuries in an vote of no confidence. Read more on the New York Times here, or as a PDF here.
In a review of Dmitry Orlov's book Reinventing Collapse in The Tyee, Villager Justin Ritchie writes "perhaps the argument for greater resilience and sustainability here in Canada can be made anew."
--------------------------------------
July 2011: Don't Mind Us While We Clean Up this Site...
We've heard your suggestions for improvements and are trying out a leaner and clearer web site organization. We hope you will still be able to find everything you used often before, but let us know immediately if you are missing anything. We'll find it for you, and make it easier for others to locate as well. Chime in, and we'll all benefit!
Building a Neighbourhood Food Network in South Vancouver Saturday, July 23 1-4 pm
presented by Village Vancouver, Vancouver Food Policy Council and South Vancouver Neighbourhood House Registration details >>
----------------------------- Join us at the Folk Fest
Village members and friends are welcome to join us on our main stage tarps each day and evening at the folk fest. We'll post our location each day on the info board (located by the info booth and CD/merchandise tent, a couple hundred feet down the path on the south side of the main stage). Or you can look for the VV lawn sign during the day (comes down when the evening concert starts).
Rumour has it that the tarps will be orange and olive green this year. Saturday location: 7-8 tarps from stage Sunday location: 4-5 tarps from stage
-in the middle, between sound booth and stage-
Thanks to Derek Irland for getting us the great locations both days!
(& also to Randy Chatterjee for Saturday tarp assistance)
----------------------------- Seattle is Making Sustainability Legal
Don't laugh, because municipal regulations are the single largest barrier to sustainable development and lifestyles. Of course personal habits are nearly as destructive to our environment, so you are not off the hook. Take a look at the ordinance/bylaw changes Seattle is now implementing to move toward a deeper green relationship with its people and natural surroundings, including enabling home-based entrepreneurship, reducing parking requirements, allowing small commercial retail establishments within residential zones, and greatly expanding healthy mobile food vending. ----------------------------- Ride the Volunteer-run Downtown Historic Railway
The oldest and longest-running trolley line in Vancouver is ready to roll again this summer, and thanks for your help to keep this low-carbon, local-commerce-generating service. The Railway will be back in operation on Friday 1 July and will operate on weekends and holidays 'till mid October (or later if the weather is good). Trains run half-hourly from Granville Island and Cambie St., a few steps from Olympic Village Station on the Canada Line, and the #84 bus.
Departures from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm.
Adults $2.00; children and seniors $1.00
June 2011:
In the wake of Car Free Day, read this article from the International Herald Tribune and wonder why Vancouver has not one pedestrian street:
Pedestrians and trams are given priority treatment in Zurich. Tram operators can turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach, forcing cars to halt.
ZURICH — While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.
Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of “environmental zones” where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter. To read further, click here.
-----------------------------
Thanks to the 40+ villagers, friends, groups, and chickens who participated in a multitude of activities and demonstrations in our 10 tent demo village on Sunday. (And thanks to everyone who lent us tents and canopies, including the Vancouver Tool Library.)
Hundreds of festival goers stopped by the village - we think we were one of the most popular attractions - and a lot of interest was expressed in VV and what we're doing.
CAR FREE VANCOUVER IS COMING...THE DAY AT LEAST.
THIS SUNDAY FROM NOON UNTIL 8 PM! 
COME VISIT VILLAGE VANCOUVER'S AMAZING ECO-VILLAGE ON MAIN STREET AT 13TH AVENUE.
We have about 35 Villagers participating, and over 35 activities and displays...bees, chickens, seed saving and swap, Permaculture, Two Block Diet, Home Harvest Farm, mini-workshops, arts, kids activities, bike repair, solar panels, bokashi, cargo bike, living wall, community currency, rocket stoves and recipes, books, gardening advice, worm composting, rain barrel, passive house energy efficiency, Museum of Vancouver, Scouts Canada, Community Arts Council of Vancouver, neighourhood visioning (filming and visioning posters), lots of info on Village Vancouver and Transition Towns & our community partner organizations, and much more!
There's still time to add an activity. And still time to volunteer. And we're looking for one (or two) more tents or canopies to borrow for the day. Contact ross@villagevancouver.ca
------------------- TRANSITION IN VANCOUVER workshop this weekend June 11 - 12
The Permaculture-inspired Transition Town movement was initiated over five years ago in Totnes, UK so citizens could take action and adapt their lives to peak oil and climate change, and now, increasing economic instability. The movement has spread very quickly around the globe.
Join leaders of the transition movement in Vancouver for a 2-day workshop and dialogue introducing the principles, steps and lessons of the successful Transition Town model of local response to global challenges, and engage in generating positive, tangible responses based on collaborative efforts and community self-reliance.
The workshop will be led by sustainability/resiliency educator and certified Transition Trainer Lena Soots, with additional presentation from Village founder/convenor Ross Moster. http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/transition-town-workshop http://www.langara.bc.ca/social-cultural/summer-school/courses.html#1
May 2011: Nicole Foss delivered a great talk. 60 or so people attended, with most staying long past the scheduled 9pm end time to engage in a lively Q&A session. TONIGHT! Tuesday May 31 Stoneleigh lecture (aka Nicole Foss of The Automatic Earth blog): A Century of Challenges
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Location: Langara College Theatre A122b in "A" bldg, 100 W. 49th, Vancouver
Event Type: big picture, economic, talk
Organized By: Village Vancouver, Langara College Continuing Studies, and Vancouver Peak Oil
Nicole Foss spoke at last year's annual Transition Gathering in England and impressed the heck out of everyone with her very powerful talk.
A Century of Challenges is a comprehensive analysis of energy, finance and the interaction between the two from a big picture perspective.
We are looking at a series of interlocking crises of which energy and finance have the shortest time frame, which is why we concentrate on them.
Nicole Foss offers a roadmap for what is coming and why, and also what people can do individually and together in the face of this most significant of predicaments.
She is an international energy and finance expert, and the co-editor of The Automatic Earth blog. Formerly, she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies who specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.
By Donation: $5-10 at the door (No one turned away.) Register: thru Langara College 604.323.5322. CRN 60849. For more info: Ross ross@villagevancouver.ca. orhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/stoneleigh-lecture-aka-nicole
---------------------- Check out The Tyee's new series on Urban Agriculture
Building on a 2009 six-part series, Good to Grow: Raising Food in BC's Cities, David Tracey has written a new book, Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution with New Society Publishers. He writes this week in The Tyee from his book about how other cities around the world are engaging the local farming community and enabling the farming of "fallow" urban plots by right of law. Check out this new article here, and read about the "eight reasons to get growing": 1. Eat healthier, live longer.
2. Not one of Michelin's 67 three-star restaurants around the world can produce a fresher salad than the one you just picked.
3. Home-grown tastes better. Who grows it, knows it.
4. An average-sized plot can save a family $500 a year.
5. Physical, mental, spiritual exercise.
6. Mow no more forever.
7. Food improves the local environment.
8. Urban farms enhance biodiversity, the web of life supporting us all.
Just arrived yesterday (May 25) on the Greenest City listserv was a job posting for a new City of Vancouver Project Coordinator responsible forCityStudio, a Greenest City "hub and center for sustainability education by creating the world's most innovative inter-institutional campus/city collaboration for learning and implementation of urban sustainability strategies." Got that? Check it out here, and be quick about it, since applications are due next week, on June 1. The job was posted May 22.
As the Canucks head to the Stanley Cup finals after a 17-year drought, thoughts turn to more prosaic droughts that the amazing global climate carnage that 2011 has thus far brought, including record tornados across the US and crop failures from Russia to Texas. Here in BC, near record snowpacks and among the coldest springs on record threaten potentially devastating floods in BC next month. Will we see another 1894 or 1948? Here is what Bill McKibben just penned satirically in a 350.org blog about our peculiar 2011 weather:
Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Missouri, you should not ask yourself: I wonder if this is somehow related to the huge tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that—together they comprised the most active April for tornadoes in our history. But that doesn’t mean a thing...
This could be a moment where history branches into two directions. On the path to the right, we turn down the chance to restrain ourselves, and decide with a shrug to burn all the oil left in the world's soils, and hack down all the remaining rainforests. But there is another path, where we choose to protect humanity's habitat – and are prepared to pay for it.
Read Johann Hari's powerful call to action here, and consider how Ecuador's offer to preserve its rain forest--and refrain from drilling for oil underneath it--is not only inspirational, but also an object lesson for BC.
16-Year-Old Sues US Government over Climate Change
"I am 16 years old. This morning I filed a lawsuit against the United States of America, for allowing money to be more powerful than the survival of my generation and for making decisions that threaten our right to a safe and healthy planet."
Read the press release here and press coverage here. Alec Loorz of Venture California (pictured above) is joined in the lawsuit by 3 other teenagers, and cites the Public Trust Doctrine, which compels government to protect collective resources--such as water and air--that are essential for survival. Similar lawsuits have been filed in the states of Alaska and Arizona.
Food Security and Food Market Deregulation ON THE AGENDA Sedgwick, Maine has done what no other town in the United States has done. The town unanimously passed an ordinance giving its citizens the right “to produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing.” This includes raw milk, locally slaughtered meats, and just about anything else you can imagine. It’s also a decided bucking of state and federal laws.
Thanks to the over 250 people who came out to hear Richard talk about the issues we're facing and his vision of a resilient future. (Including lots of Transition Towns!) We'll be posting material from his talk later in the month. Richard Heinberg Opens Film Festival Friday February 10th 5 – 7 pm Theatre 5 (Room A130) Langara College And thanks to everyone who attended the Food & Farming Program and The Econmics of Happiness! The theatres were packed for almost all of the films. ............ Nicole Foss (aka "Stoneleigh") at Langara College - Download her Powerpoint Presentation here!
© 2013 Created by Randy Chatterjee.
