All Blog Posts Tagged 'south' - Village Vancouver2024-03-29T07:12:07Zhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profiles/blog/feed?tag=south&xn_auth=noThe full documentary LA HUERTA DE LA ESQUINA / THE CORNER VEGGIE GARDEN, on YouTube and Vimeotag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2019-10-18:4670368:BlogPost:1395562019-10-18T11:17:09.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p>Hello everyone!</p>
<p>Here you have the documentary, called la Huerta de la Esquina / The Corner Veggie Garden, about how urban gardens are helping to solve problems that exist in both cities and citizens; problems related with health, social integration and environmental pollution.</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/285874286" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/285874286…</a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Hello everyone!</p>
<p>Here you have the documentary, called la Huerta de la Esquina / The Corner Veggie Garden, about how urban gardens are helping to solve problems that exist in both cities and citizens; problems related with health, social integration and environmental pollution.</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/285874286" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://vimeo.com/285874286</a></p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/hkTK20rNRjg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://youtu.be/hkTK20rNRjg</a></p>
<p>Nowadays, the film has encouraged us to continue with the eco agriculture message, creating an on-line magazine in the beautiful region of Asturias in north of Spain. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es</a> </p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p></p>Accelerating Climate Emergency Action (in all aspects of society)tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2019-07-11:4670368:BlogPost:1392202019-07-11T02:38:00.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p>The following passages are from five text boxes this writer included with tweets on the Twitter Platform, as outreach and sharing related to the paper <span><a href="http://nebula.wsimg.com/d9408ae2876dc55554bdd974c2e1667b?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1">“Brainstorming 100% Reduction in GHG Emissions ASAP Campaign”</a></span> (157 pages; June, 2019)( <span><a href="http://bit.ly/321sn60">http://bit.ly/321sn60</a></span> ). [Note: This paper is a major…</p>
<p>The following passages are from five text boxes this writer included with tweets on the Twitter Platform, as outreach and sharing related to the paper <span><a href="http://nebula.wsimg.com/d9408ae2876dc55554bdd974c2e1667b?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1">“Brainstorming 100% Reduction in GHG Emissions ASAP Campaign”</a></span> (157 pages; June, 2019)( <span><a href="http://bit.ly/321sn60">http://bit.ly/321sn60</a></span> ). [Note: This paper is a major revision on an earlier paper, and includes an Appendix with 616 tipping point related organizations and institutions (described by their Twitter profiles), which are offered as first call for a request of 5-10 page overviews--from many different points of view--on how to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 100% ASAP.]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the most important points about this paper: we will need this kind of comprehensive collaborative problem solving <em>sooner or later</em>, to both realize, and adopt to, the kind of “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” [IPCC SR15 on what is needed for 1.5<sup>o</sup>C (2.7<sup>o</sup>F)] that we, collectively, must succeed in achieving. This writer is most strongly advocating for <em>sooner</em>, and achieving the transformation to limiting Global heating to 1.5<sup>o</sup>C--rather than later, which may involve many challenges that we cannot successfully manage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><u>The Brainstorming 100% Reduction in GHG Emissions ASAP Campaign</u></p>
<p> </p>
<p>This Brainstorming 100% ASAP Campaign proposes to streamline to the frontlines of public discourse the best 5-10 page overviews of how we can achieve a 100% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions ASAP--and thereby catalyze local Community Visioning Initiatives, and contribute significantly to maximizing “all hands on deck” participation in positive tipping point activity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Brainstorming 100% ASAP Campaign identifies organizations and institutions which are already contributing in trustworthy, verifiable, and peer-evaluated ways to guiding public discourse towards achieving 1.5oC--and asks them to provide a 5-10 page overview of the best ways to decrease emissions by 100% ASAP. Further, the Brainstorming 100% ASAP Campaign also makes a call for 5-10 page overviews from organizations and institutions critical to education, ecological sustainability, communication, access to basic needs, emergency assistance, social cohesion, preserving the roots of wisdom and compassion, etc.--as such organizations and institutions are directly or indirectly related to Climate Breakdown mitigation… and as part of the many steps still required to provide a most comprehensive picture of what actions need to be prioritized at the local community level (Appendix 10 recipient list includes 616 organizations and institutions with 98.9 million followers as recipients of first call requests for 5-10 page overviews). </p>
<p> </p>
<p>100-150 of the best 5-10 page overviews can function as a needs assessment--of the kind which precedes local Community Visioning Initiatives (as such will help residents see the need for Community Visioning and many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers). Universities and colleges--which are already far advanced in recognizing and implementing climate change solutions--will be natural lead organizations for building the partnerships necessary to carry out Community Visioning Initiatives in their local community.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Such 5-10 page overviews can also be a key resource for the “over 735 local governments in 16 countries have declared Climate Emergency” (as of 7/6/19)(see <span><a href="https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/climate-emergency-campaign">https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/climate-emergency-campaign</a></span> ).<br/></p>
<p>This Brainstorming Campaign can accelerate opportunities for people around the world to become part of a system of mutual support, encouragement, and positive tipping point action in their local communities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><u>Why is the Brainstorming 100% ASAP Campaign Needed?</u></p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We have left the 10,000-year climate ‘safe zone’."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Global Carbon Emissions are Still Rising.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There continues to be well-documented, evidence-based reports showing that negative feedback loops are moving at speeds, and in patterns, which go beyond previous projections.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Species Extinction Rates Are Accelerating: “The Report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.” [IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019)]</p>
<p> </p>
<p> “Renewables have a long way to go and a short time to get there.” Renewables Global Status Report 2019 (REN21) (Very helpful summary article <span><a href="http://bit.ly/2XbgUx6">http://bit.ly/2XbgUx6</a></span> by David Roberts)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We are only at the beginning of understanding how much the implementation of already known (and yet to be discovered) solutions--to all of the unprecedented challenges ahead--depends on understanding, and responding respectfully to, “a mix of economic, cultural and psychological barriers.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Conflicts may arise, among people with different, but very personal, beliefs--especially when basic resources (like water and food) become scarce. “We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record.” [Refugee Statistics; “Figures at a Glance” (UNHCR)] </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><u>Local Community Visioning Initiatives</u></p>
<p>with many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers (brief overview)</p>
<p>[much more detail on p. 30-38 in <span><a href="http://nebula.wsimg.com/d9408ae2876dc55554bdd974c2e1667b?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1">“Brainstorming 100%...”</a></span> (<span><a href="http://bit.ly/321sn60">http://bit.ly/321sn60</a></span> ) paper]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) Preliminary surveys of 150 key local leaders from a significant variety of fields of activity. </p>
<p>2) Universities and colleges assisting with Community Visioning--and providing related curriculum, workshops, and teacher training, to support many Neighborhood Learning Centers [Example Community Visioning--13 minute documentary “Chattanooga: A Community with a Vision” (<span><a href="https://vimeo.com/9653090">https://vimeo.com/9653090</a></span> )]</p>
<p>3) Many Neighborhood Learning Centers providing support for Community Visioning Initiatives; and providing places, in local neighborhoods, for discussion, information sharing, mutual support and encouragement, fellowship and friendship</p>
<p>4) Local Newspapers reporting on-- a) preliminary surveys of 150 key local leaders from a variety of fields of activity b) different stages of Community Visioning process c) the countless workshops at Neighborhood Learning Centers d) the job fairs at the end</p>
<p>5) Residents (especially those who are unemployed) who volunteer time and energy to assist with Community Visioning, resulting action plans compensated with local currency</p>
<p>6) The job fairs at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process, which provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to offer and facilitate new employment opportunities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1000 Universities, colleges assisting with</p>
<p>carrying out local Community Visioning Initiatives</p>
<p>+ many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers </p>
<p>= an exponential acceleration in solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><u>Selective buying--done in accordance with</u></p>
<p>5-10 page overviews from 1000s of organizations</p>
<p>on how to achieve 100% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions ASAP</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are billions of people who could be investing their time, energy, and money (their “votes”) in the everyday circumstances of their community life--and such “votes” could lead to countless ways of earning a living which are carbon-neutral, sustainable, socially responsible, and spiritually meaningful--if they only knew how.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This writer believes that education in Neighborhood Learning Centers, during comprehensive Community Visioning Initiatives, can result in people everywhere learning a) how to downsize their carbon footprint, and voluntarily use much less energy b) where to buy food and material purchases they absolutely need c) what kind of businesses to boycott so that the most carbon neutral and circular local economies can be established in the shortest amount of time; etc.--gain greater awareness of how all the “little events” in everyday community life have a positive and cumulative effect on the solutions-investment-training-employment sequence… and how all the investments of time, energy, and money (the “votes”) each of us make in our everyday circumstances become the larger economy. If this kind of selective buying is done in accordance with 5-10 page overviews from thousands of organizations on how to achieve 100% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions ASAP, and thousands of Community Visioning Initiatives with supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers, a very quick re-structuring of local, regional, and global economies may be manageable… and it may be enough of a downsizing of the Total World Energy Demand to match up with the efforts at establishing electric grids with 100% renewable energy source.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><u>Accelerating Climate Emergency Action</u></p>
<p>(in all aspects of society)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We need to encourage as many people as possible to be thinking--and thinking to the point of brainstorming--about how we will decrease emissions by 100% ASAP. Asking thousands of positive tipping point related organizations and institutions for 5-10 page overviews on how to achieve 100% reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions ASAP—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) makes available all the key emission reduction pathways in a form most people can read--from powering the grid with solar and wind (instead of fossil fuels) to reducing energy use in our everyday lives</p>
<p>2) provides a clear visualization of transformations needed in every aspect of our lives—since different organizations will focus on the priorities in their fields of activity</p>
<p>3) provides the equivalent of a needs assessment for local communities, of the kind which precedes Community Visioning</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The <span><a href="http://nebula.wsimg.com/d9408ae2876dc55554bdd974c2e1667b?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1">“Brainstorming 100% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions ASAP”</a></span> Campaign paper (<span><a href="http://bit.ly/321sn60">http://bit.ly/321sn60</a></span> )(157 pages; June, 2019) includes a 19 point list on why we need 100% reduction ASAP; an overview of how the Campaign would work; descriptions of the many positive pieces which can supplement local Community Visioning Initiatives; much supportive evidence, links, and references; and a list (with Twitter profiles) of 616 positive tipping point related organizations and institutions, as potential recipients of first call requests for 5-10 page overviews. This kind of mobilizing and accelerating of action, in communities around the world, is going to be needed sooner or later--to both realize, and adopt to, the kind of “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” (IPCC SR15 on what is needed for 1.5<sup>o</sup>C) that we, collectively, must succeed in achieving.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>LA HUERTA DE LA ESQUINA TRAILER ENGLISH SUBTITLEStag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2018-04-19:4670368:BlogPost:1343242018-04-19T09:47:19.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello Mother Nature lovers!!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We finally have it!</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052270?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="306" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052270?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="457"></img></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The time has come to announce that the documentary is ready. Here you have the trailer for the movie.…</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello Mother Nature lovers!!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We finally have it!</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052270?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052270?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="457" class="align-full" height="306"/></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The time has come to announce that the documentary is ready. Here you have the trailer for the movie.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/rEVeFRUTji8">https://youtu.be/rEVeFRUTji8</a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From now on, we start working on its distribution, in this order:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1. Sending it to all those people who helped us during the crowdfunding campaign.</span><br/> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. Making it available to the public, through online platforms.</span><br/> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. Through film festivals, internationally.</span><br/> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">4. Projections organized by institutions, groups and associations, that request to include the documentary, in its program of social and cultural activities.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We would also need to work on editing the DVD of the film, and once we have it, we will begin the delivery phase of all the rewards to our co-financiers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thank you very much for your interest and all your support.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/2018/04/14/trailer-la-huerta-de-la-esquina-english-subtitles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/2018/04/14/trailer-la-huerta-de-la-esquina-english-subtitles/</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ?lang=en</a></span></p>Chapter 13. School of gardeners!tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-10-30:4670368:BlogPost:1317162017-10-30T08:30:00.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979053165?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="276" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979053165?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="413"></img></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;">Hello!</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;">I see the garden as one of the best ways to cultivate sense of responsibility, community and teamwork, so I was especially excited to be in a garden worked…</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979053165?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979053165?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="413" class="align-full" height="276"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Hello!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">I see the garden as one of the best ways to cultivate sense of responsibility, community and teamwork, so I was especially excited to be in a garden worked by children, since I never had the opportunity to share a garden with my classmates. Maybe I wanted to remedy it, being next to what are, in my view, people privileged by having an orchard in their school and being able to learn from it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">We shared a news on our page of facebook, in which echoed a garden located in the school of Infiesto , in the Concejo de Piloña , Asturias. <a href="http://www.lne.es/oriente/2016/06/15/clase-fesoria-pilona/1942710.html." target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: #008000;">http://www.lne.es/oriente/2016/06/15/clase-fesoria-pilona/1942710.html.</span></a> So we decided to get in touch with Conchi de la Iglesia, a teacher of language and hearing and responsible for the garden. I take this opportunity to thank you again for your kindness and interest in collaborating with our project.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">When we went to school and met class, what most surprised Estefania and me was the concentration and calmness of the children, firstly attending Conchi’s instructions, and later in the tasks on the Orchard. Not a cry, not a bad face. Quite the opposite.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979054883?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979054883?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="557" class="align-full" height="373"/></a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Homework, among other things, was to investigate ways to combat pests, not only to gain knowledge, but also because they really needed a remedy for the whitefly that was stalking their schoolgarden .</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">This picture was taken by one of the kids.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979056904?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979056904?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="541" class="align-full" height="362"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">What they harvest is destined to the kitchen of the school, and come to my mind the problems that many children have had in our childhood with vegetables. Looks like If I’ve worked the garden in school, it would helped me, among many other things, to enjoy much more the flavor and variety of vegetables offered by a real organic garden like this, mostly germinated from local seeds.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Health!</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a class="_2wmb" href="https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@lahuertadelaesquina.es,</a><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/garden?src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>garden</strong></b></a><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/huerta?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>, </b></a><b><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Infiesto?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><s>#</s><strong>Infiesto</strong></a>, <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pilo%C3%B1a?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><s>#</s>Piloña, </a><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Asturias?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><s>#</s><strong>Asturias, </strong></a><strong><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/schoolgarden?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><s>#</s>schoolgarden</a> </strong><strong>, <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/local?src=hash"><s>#</s>local</a>,</strong></b></span></p>Salish Sea Bioregional Gathering this weekend!tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-10-18:4670368:BlogPost:1314062017-10-18T21:36:37.000ZLouise Trusler Manganhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/LouiseTruslerMangan
<p>There are beautiful, real and inspiring ways available for us to address the challenges we face. We share with so many others a passion for moral, ethical and spiritually-informed leadership to empower us to save our planet --and all living species -- while also building a just, compassionate and sustainable society. This is not only possible, it’s up to all of us together to grow into what’s required in this time. Let’s connect the Salish Sea bioregion with commitment, purpose and…</p>
<p>There are beautiful, real and inspiring ways available for us to address the challenges we face. We share with so many others a passion for moral, ethical and spiritually-informed leadership to empower us to save our planet --and all living species -- while also building a just, compassionate and sustainable society. This is not only possible, it’s up to all of us together to grow into what’s required in this time. Let’s connect the Salish Sea bioregion with commitment, purpose and vision!</p>
<p>You are invited to take part in the Salish Sea Bioregional Gathering. Please go to <a href="http://www.interspiritualcentresociety.com">www.interspiritualcentresociety.com</a> and let us know when you can be with us.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052581?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052581?profile=original" width="480" class="align-full"/></a></p>HIERBABUENA ASSOCIATIONtag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-10-17:4670368:BlogPost:1316012017-10-17T09:41:37.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052422?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052422?profile=original" width="337"></img></a></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;">Hello.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;">We are in the final stretch of the project, immersed in the task of editing the documentary, which we hope to have it finalized in early…</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052422?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052422?profile=original" width="337" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">Hello.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">We are in the final stretch of the project, immersed in the task of editing the documentary, which we hope to have it finalized in early 2018.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">Meanwhile, another #urbangarden we have had the pleasure to meet, has been the orchard that has the Association Hierbabuena "Asturian organization of, for and by people who know the mental suffering," located in #LaCorredoria #Oviedo. <a href="http://hierbabuenasaludmental.blogspot.com.es/">http://hierbabuenasaludmental.blogspot.com.es/</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">It was Ester Abella, the author of the Cuaderno de Campo, Mi Huerto Ecológico <a href="https://www.verkami.com/projects/16053-cuaderno-de-campo-mi-huerto-ecologico">https://www.verkami.com/projects/16053-cuaderno-de-campo-mi-huerto-ecologico</a>" target="_blank">, which recommended to contact this Asturian association, because they had an #urbangarden.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">It seemed to me a fantastic idea, since as I explained at the time, starting to work a #Organic #Garden, was for me, one of the main escape routes of a stage of emotional suffering in my life, and from the day I started with this documentary project, my great motivation was to be able to transmit to the people the therapeutic capacities of working an orchard.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">I spoke with Silvino, the person in charge of the orchard, and he invited me to stop by to meet us. The day I went, we quickly realized that our projects connected perfectly.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4">This is the piece of land that corresponds to them in the orchards that the Oviedo City Council has in the neighborhood of La Corredoria.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979055042?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979055042?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">In that first meeting, I also met Esther and Vanessa, who also welcomed me wonderfully. Here they are.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979056887?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979056887?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">The day we went to record, we also met more people from the association, who usually lend a hand in the garden and who were encouraged to tell us their story.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">In the next blog entry, we will tell you our visit to the garden that have the students of the school of #infiesto, in the Concejo de #Piloña #Asturias.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Health!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #339966;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339966;">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/</span></a></span></p>More Than Bread: Sourdough As a Window Into The Microbiometag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-07-25:4670368:BlogPost:1298332017-07-25T14:37:27.000ZBeth Carruthershttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/BethCarruthers
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/17/536485684/more-than-bread-sourdough-as-a-window-into-the-microbiome" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/17/536485684/more-than-bread-sourdough-as-a-window-into-the-microbiome</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/17/536485684/more-than-bread-sourdough-as-a-window-into-the-microbiome" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/17/536485684/more-than-bread-sourdough-as-a-window-into-the-microbiome</a></p>Crowdfunding in final sprint!tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-07-10:4670368:BlogPost:1292032017-07-10T16:00:00.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051565?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="376" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051565?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="545"></img></a></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">If you still have not been able to, but would like to collaborate with our project, you are still on time as there are 11 days remaining. We have achieved so far € 6,980, so we have exceeded the minimum budget necessary to continue with the production of the documentary. Now we…</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051565?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051565?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="545" class="align-full" height="376"/></a></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">If you still have not been able to, but would like to collaborate with our project, you are still on time as there are 11 days remaining. We have achieved so far € 6,980, so we have exceeded the minimum budget necessary to continue with the production of the documentary. Now we need to try to reach the optimal budget of € 9,000 to help us, among other things, to edit a didactic manual to work in schools and associations, issues related to food sovereignty and the importance of community gardens.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Here you have the link of our crowdfunding <a href="https://en.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339966;">https://en.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina</span></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #339966; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://youtu.be/jHCKNo-AQYs"><span style="color: #339966;">https://youtu.be/jHCKNo-AQYs</span></a></span></p>
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<p></p>13 Steps for Long Term Culture Changetag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-06-12:4670368:BlogPost:1283082017-06-12T22:31:34.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p><br></br>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (<a href="http://www.cpcsi.org">www.cpcsi.org</a> ) provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.<br></br><br></br></p>
<p>The…</p>
<p><br/>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (<a href="http://www.cpcsi.org">www.cpcsi.org</a> ) provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.<br/><br/></p>
<p>The <a href="https://nebula.wsimg.com/01036225c03d9ba762fc2e58718eae3d?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1" target="_blank">“13 Steps for Long Term Culture Change”</a>paper (78 pages; May, 2017) being introduced here is the second Summary Paper from The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative. The first CPCS Initiative Summary Paper was <a href="https://nebula.wsimg.com/830f2467ba9e88925240c8182f52a408?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1" target="_blank">“Recalibrating Our Moral Compasses: to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny”</a>(85 pages; June, 2015, updated July, 2016).<br/><br/></p>
<p>The “13 Step…” paper--<br/><br/></p>
<p>A. --has an 8 page introduction which includes the following sections:</p>
<p>In that “Convergence of Critical Challenges Alert”<br/>The “Convergence of Critical Challenges”<br/>Unprecedented Challenges + Serious Blind Spots + Most Complex Cultural Landscapes Ever Created on Earth = “Way Beyond” Uncharted Territory<br/>The Four Part “Constellation of Initiatives” Approach in the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper<br/>The Down-To-Earth Practical Value of Wisdom<br/>All the “little events” in everyday community life can have a positive and cumulative effect<br/>Surely, there will be work to do….;<br/><br/></p>
<p>B. --provides an overview of the following 13 steps</p>
<p>1. “Community Good News Networks” <br/>2. “Community Faith Mentoring Networks” <br/>3. “Spiritual Friendships”<br/>4. “Interfaith Peace Vigils”<br/>5. “Recalibrating Our Moral Compasses (ROMC) Surveys” <br/>6. “Community Visioning Initiatives”<br/>7. “Neighborhood Learning Centers”<br/>8. “Spiritually Responsible Investing”<br/>9. “Ecological Sustainability/Permaculture/Ecovillages”<br/>10. “Appropriate Technology”<br/>11. “Food Sovereignty/Food Waste/Local Food Councils/Community Supported Agriculture”<br/>12. “Local Currency”<br/>13. “Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Projects”<br/><br/></p>
<p>[Special Note: In addition to the overviews of the 13 Steps, a summary statement, three related fields of activity [from a list of <a href="https://nebula.wsimg.com/edc1857760b254bb90dfdc35f295371e?AccessKeyId=238D35F9602A8D5BA6F3&disposition=0&alloworigin=1" target="_blank">“125 Related Fields of Activity”</a> (also at the CPCS Initiative webpage for archived IPCR Initiative documents at <a href="https://www.cpcsi.org/about-the-ipcr-initiative.html">https://www.cpcsi.org/about-the-ipcr-initiative.html</a> )] and one sample question (from various IPCR and CPCS documents) are included with each step, as examples of starting points for workshop discussion.]<br/><br/></p>
<p>C. --has an appendix which includes a 2 page challenge assessment (“Unprecedented Challenges Ahead—February 2017”), and a 4 page piece titled “30 Propositions and Premises which make up the Foundation of The CPCS Initiative”<br/><br/></p>
<p>D. --has a 13 page “Notes and Source References” section<br/><br/></p>
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<p>The ten most critical challenges identified by this writer:<br/><br/></p>
<p>1) Global warming and reducing carbon emissions<br/>2) A marginalization of the treasured wisdom associated with religious, spiritual, and moral traditions<br/>3) Cultures of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgence<br/>4) The end of the Fossil Fuel Era<br/>5) The increasing world population and its implications relating to widespread resource depletion<br/>6) Current trends indicate that we are creating more and more “urban agglomerations”--(megacities with a population of more than 1 million people--more than 400)—and almost all megacities are running massive “ecological deficits”<br/>7) Global inequities and the tragic cycles of malnutrition, disease, and death<br/>8) Significant progress towards positive tipping points for the other challenges cited in this list will almost certainly make it impossible for the U.S., and many other countries, to resolve unprecedented public debt<br/>9) Deterioration of trust/confidence in institutions responsible for guiding public discourse—and the related loss of social and spiritual cohesion<br/>10) Sorting out what are real challenges and what are sound and practical solutions is becoming more and more difficult—People who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and money—voting—all the time.<br/><br/></p>
<p>This writer believes that--at this most critical time in the history of life on Planet Earth--we have an urgent need to make unprecedented progress towards resolving timeless shortcomings of human nature—even though such shortcomings are perceived as so much a part of who we are that most of us accept such as inevitable. Thus, the uncharted territory we thought we were in to achieve carbon neutral economies might be more accurately described as “way beyond” uncharted. There should be no one who has any doubts: there is no culture or association of societies that ever existed on planet Earth which has had to resolve the kind of challenges the next few generations of people will have to resolve.<br/><br/></p>
<p>It is the complexity of succeeding in integrating wisdom and compassion into the everyday circumstances of community life--at this critical time when wisdom and compassion are so urgently needed--which has persuaded this writer to make what contributions he can, by sharing the documents and resources he has created as a part of building The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at <a href="http://www.cpcsi.org">www.cpcsi.org</a> ).<br/><br/></p>
<p>This “13 Step” document can create, and/or contribute to, many positive multiplier effects--and assist with accelerating solution-oriented activity at this most critical time. I urge readers of this message to make use of this “13 Step” resource.<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>Stefan Pasti<br/>June, 2017</p>Final stage of the crowdfunding campaign!tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-05-26:4670368:BlogPost:1280442017-05-26T08:05:13.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051142?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" height="326" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051142?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="487"></img></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;">Hello Village Vancouver people!</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;">June 10 is the deadline to reach € 6,000. At the…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051142?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051142?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="487" class="align-center" height="326"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Hello Village Vancouver people!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">June 10 is the deadline to reach € 6,000. At the moment we are at € 4,755 , so we have 17 intense days ahead, to get € 1,245 that we still need.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Here is the link of the campaign <a href="https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina" target="_blank">https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Many people ask about what we will do with the documentary once we finished it. Our intention is to include it as support material for courses and conferences that promote issues such as food sovereignty, sustainability or ecology.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">We still do not know exactly how many projects are still missing to record, but we have set the date of the end of December this year, to have the documentary edited.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">With your help, we will get it!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3"><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/</a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; color: #008000;" class="font-size-3">Thank you very much!</span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052908?profile=original" target="_self"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"/><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052908?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="125" class="align-center" height="200"/></a></p>
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<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052908?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979054625?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> </p>La Huerta de la Esquina / The Veggie Garden Corner is on Crowdfunding Campaign!tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-05-18:4670368:BlogPost:1278622017-05-18T09:30:00.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span>Hello beautiful people!…</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051049?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" height="506" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051049?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="358"></img></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span>Hello beautiful people!</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051049?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051049?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="358" class="align-center" height="506"/></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">We are very happy to announce you that our CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN for the documentary project on urban gardening "La Huerta de la Esquina/The Veggie Garden Corner" is going very well!</span><br/> <span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">So far, we have obtained 4.015 €.</span><br/> <span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">WHY WHE WANT TO FINANCE IT? The main reason to create this project is to produce a documentary that shows how the urban gardens are helping to solve problems that exist in the cities and in the citizenship; problems related to public health, social integration and environmental pollution. We also think that, La Huerta de la Esquina / The Veggie Garden Corner, will help people in towns to connect with Nature and create community.</span> <br/> <span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">This documentary will become a source of inspiration and a guide for the creation of new urban gardens, this is our main motivation.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">We not only receive economic contributions. You also have a section called "CROWDSOURCING", in which you have other ways to help the project.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Here you have the link, where you can help us and read more about the project:</span><br/> <span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina" target="_blank"><span style="color: #993366;">https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina</span></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">FOLLOW THIS STEPS TO DO YOUR CONTRIBUTION: If someone has doubts about how to make a contribution, the first thing to do is to enter the link <a href="https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="color: #993366;">https://www.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina</span></a> and press the pink button that says "CO-FINANCE THIS PROJECT", when entering, you will see all the rewards that we offer you, according to the amount that you decide to contribute. Once you have pressed the reward you like, you must press the green "Submit" button. The following is to register, entering your name, e-mail address, enter a username and password. Then you have the option to pay with a card or with a virtual wallet. Finally, you will be asked to enter the data of your credit card. That's all.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Thank you very much for your help and have a wonderful day.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #993366;">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/</span></a></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg" target="_blank" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #993366;">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg</span></a></p>
<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #993366;">https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ" target="_blank"><span style="color: #993366;">https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ</span></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #993366; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Manuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravo.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051049?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <br/></span></p>
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<p></p>La Huerta de la Esquina / The Veggie Garden Corner, an Urban Garden Documentary Projecttag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-05-03:4670368:BlogPost:1277272017-05-03T09:30:00.000ZManuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravohttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/ManuelMateoEstefaniaBravo
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051242?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" height="211" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051242?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="573"></img></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Hello.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">We are Manuel and Estefanía, the spanish couple who were…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051242?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051242?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="573" class="align-center" height="211"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Hello.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">We are Manuel and Estefanía, the spanish couple who were living in Vancouver three years ago.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">We have just released the crowdfunding campaign of La Huerta de la Esquina / The Veggie Garden Corner, an urban garden documentary project which started in Vancouver.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">This is the link <a href="https://en.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina" target="_blank">https://en.goteo.org/project/la-huerta-de-la-esquina</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">So far, there are three countries represented in the documentary (Spain, Canada and Germany).</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">We would appreciate any help you can give us to spread the campaign.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">And this the video/trailer of this project <a href="https://youtu.be/R9XQnuTgIKE" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/R9XQnuTgIKE</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Our links:</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank">https://lahuertadelaesquina.es/</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6jKWDBYWYF2Xeqhk2ZBGg</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/lahuertadelaesquina.es/</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/LaHuErTaDeLaEsQ</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Thank you very much.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051434?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979051434?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="136" class="align-center" height="218"/></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="color: #008000; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">Manuel Mateo & Estefanía Bravo</span></p>Funding available for small neighbourhood-based projectstag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2017-03-02:4670368:BlogPost:1272522017-03-02T20:48:13.000ZDanielle Gauldhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DanielleGauld272
<p><strong>Applications are now available for the 2017 Neighbourhood Small Grants</strong></p>
<p>Bring together a group of neighbours and apply for $50-$500 to work together on small projects that build community and/or sustainability in your neighbourhood!</p>
<p><strong>Submit your applications at <a href="http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca">www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca</a></strong></p>
<p>Application deadline is April 4th</p>
<p>Three small grants now open for…</p>
<p><strong>Applications are now available for the 2017 Neighbourhood Small Grants</strong></p>
<p>Bring together a group of neighbours and apply for $50-$500 to work together on small projects that build community and/or sustainability in your neighbourhood!</p>
<p><strong>Submit your applications at <a href="http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca">www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca</a></strong></p>
<p>Application deadline is April 4th</p>
<p>Three small grants now open for application!</p>
<p>Vancouver Foundation, our local community partners, and Community Foundations of Canada are proud to bring three small grants opportunities to lower mainland residents:</p>
<p>Neighbourhood Small Grants offer up to $500 for projects that connect and engage residents, share skills and knowledge, build a sense of ownership and pride, and respect and celebrate diversity.</p>
<p>Greenest City Neighbourhood Small Grants provide up to $500 for residents of Vancouver to develop projects that contribute to the City of Vancouver's Greenest City 2020 Action Plan.</p>
<p>Canada 150 Small Grants offer up to $500 for residents of the lower mainland to support projects that encourage participation in community activities to mark Canada's 150th.</p>
<p>Paper applications are also available in Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, Tagalog, Spanish, Punjabi and Vietnamese on the website or at your local Neighbourhod House.<br/> <a href="http://froghollow.bc.ca/">http://froghollow.bc.ca/</a><br/> <a href="http://cedarcottage.org/">http://cedarcottage.org/</a><br/>
<a href="http://www.kiwassa.ca/">http://www.kiwassa.ca/</a></p>
<p>If you are receiving this email and do not live within the boundaries of the East Vancouver Neighbourhood Small Grants area, please check if you are eligible to apply in your neighbourhood at <a href="http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/communities">http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/communities</a></p>
<p>If you live in Kensington-Cedar Cottage, Commercial Drive (east of the Drive to Boundary), Hastings Sunrise or Renfrew areas and have any questions, please emailnsg.east@gmail.com or contact Kiwassa, Frog Hollow or Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood Houses. If you don't live in this area, please check to see if the grants are available in your neighbourhood at: <a href="http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/communities">http://www.neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca/communities</a></p>
<p>To learn more about the program and what kind of ideas we fund, please see: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-jP9EvwJ0w">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-jP9EvwJ0w</a></p>And ANOTHER great post on why NOT to rake those leaves, and just let our garden bee in the Fall. This one from the Xerces Society.tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-10-22:4670368:BlogPost:1255242016-10-22T21:29:59.000ZBeth Carruthershttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/BethCarruthers
<p>Support our pollinators and songbirds!<br></br> Put the rake and pruners down and nobody gets hurt! Your "messy" fall garden is teeming with life.<br></br> By Justin Wheeler from Xerces Society (home of bee love) You really need to check the link for the photos :-)<br></br>
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/put-down-those-pruners-pollinators-need-your-garden-garbage/">http://www.xerces.org/blog/put-down-those-pruners-pollinators-need-your-garden-garbage/</a></p>
<p>It should be welcome news for weary…</p>
<p>Support our pollinators and songbirds!<br/> Put the rake and pruners down and nobody gets hurt! Your "messy" fall garden is teeming with life.<br/>
By Justin Wheeler from Xerces Society (home of bee love) You really need to check the link for the photos :-)<br/>
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/put-down-those-pruners-pollinators-need-your-garden-garbage/">http://www.xerces.org/blog/put-down-those-pruners-pollinators-need-your-garden-garbage/</a></p>
<p>It should be welcome news for weary gardeners. You’ve weeded, tilled, and toiled under the hot sun all summer long, and now — it’s time to stop. For many, however, the temptation to pick, pluck, and prune the landscape to make it neat and tidy for the winter is too hard to ignore. This impulse to “clean up our gardens for fall” has serious impacts on a whole host of pollinators and beneficial insects. All it takes is a weekend and some garden tools to wipe out whole populations of insects who have been hard at working hard in your yard all summer too – provisioning their nests and making well-stocked winter homes for the next generation.</p>
<p><strong>To Every Season…</strong></p>
<p>Insect pollinators spend the winter in a variety of life stages (egg, larva, pupa, or adult) depending on the species. For example, native bees will have spent their lives in your garden drinking nectar, collecting pollen, and building their nests amongst your fruits and flowers. After hatching, the “new” bees will spend the winter in their nest cells as pupae, emerging as adults the following spring or summer. Lather, rinse, repeat.</p>
<p>This is why timing is critical. Habitat needs to be protected year-round.</p>
<p>peponapis_pruinosa_male_elsa<br/> 70% of bees are ground nesting, like this squash bee which will nest 6 to 8 inches beneath the soil surface – right beneath the summer squash, zuchinni, and pumpkins you plant. Photo by Elsa Youngsteadt CC BY-NC – 4.0</p>
<p>Cut down the stalks and stems bees are nesting in too soon in the spring, or while the bees are settling in for the winter and it’s game over for your pollinator pals. Apply a thick layer of wood mulch over the top of ground nesting bees (70% of native bees are ground nesting), or till your garden in spring or fall, and you’ve wiped out your best allies including bees who emerge early in the spring to pollinate tree fruit and squash bees that live just beneath the surface of your garden and pollinate your pumpkins with aplomb!</p>
<p><strong>Leave Leaves Bee</strong></p>
<p>Unlike other native bees, bumble bees do not overwinter in their nests. Instead, new bumble bee queens emerge from their childhood homes in the fall and search for overwintering sites, burrowing into leaf litter and loose soil. See above re: mulching/tilling.</p>
<p>Leaf litter, with its mix of bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates is an ecosystem unto itself – providing habitat for beneficial insects who in turn break the organic matter down into “garden gold” providing nutrients back to the soil. What we call “leaf litter” provides a wealth of overwintering habitat for invertebrates including slugs and snails, worms, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, beetles (and much much more!) If you have children, this can be a great opportunity to engage them in a little Citizen Science – a great way you can both enjoy the fall leaves!</p>
<p>This eastern black swallowtail pupae does a great job blending in with the landscape, looking like a dried leaf or bit of plant material to the casual observer. Photo by Mary Anne Borge, The Natural Web<br/> This eastern black swallowtail pupae does a great job blending in with the landscape, looking like a dried leaf or bit of plant material to the casual observer. Photo by Mary Anne Borge, The Natural Web<br/>
<strong><strong><br/>
Hidden in Plain Sight: Butterflies and Moths</strong></strong></p>
<p>For butterflies and moths, overwintering is even more complex. Lepidoptera overwinter in all manner of life stages depending on the species. Fritillary butterflies who host on violets spend the late days of summer “sniffing out” violets with their antennae and laying eggs. The emerging larvae hide out in leaf litter, waiting for the plants to emerge the following spring.</p>
<p>The eastern black swallowtail (Papilo polyxenes) spends the winter as a pupa, hidden to all but the most scrupulous of observers camouflaged as a dried leaf or a broken off twig. It would be quite easy to miss when clearing canes and dried plant material from your garden.</p>
<p>We all know that monarchs migrate, spending their winter days as adults in Mexico and along the California coast, but did you know the resilient mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) stays home, toughing out the winter between bark, in piles of dead wood, or in your garden shed?</p>
<p>We hope you’ll see, far from a dead and desiccated landscape, the fall and winter garden is teeming with life.</p>
<p><strong>Fall Cleanup Do’s and Don’ts:</strong><br/> Put your feet up, the pruners down, and grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Don’t cut canes, stalks, or other standing plant material which may house nesting bees or be providing anchors for overwintering pupae.</p>
<p>Where possible, leave leaves alone. If you must clear them from lawns and other areas, do not bag them and send them to the landfill – try to find ways to put them to work!</p>
<p>Do not till soil where there might be ground nesting insects.</p>
<p>Provide safe havens by setting aside undisturbed patches of habitat allowing leaf litter, standing dead twigs/stems, or other ground cover to remain. “Wild”, unmanicured locations will provide the protected nooks and crannies that pollinators and other animals need for survival.</p>
<p>If you must clean up your yard to comply with Homeowners Association rules or other local ordinances, consider sharing this blog, starting a conversation, and putting up a Pollinator Friendly Habitat sign to advertise to the world that your “messy” garden is intentional habitat (pardon the shameless plug).</p>Micro-Videos with Rob Hopkins, Sophy Banks and Beyondtag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-10-21:4670368:BlogPost:1249832016-10-21T22:30:00.000ZDelvin Solkinsonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DelvinSolkinson
<p>Locally produced video clips featuring leaders from Transition and Permaculture</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/gaiacraft" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/gaiacraft</a></p>
<p>Locally produced video clips featuring leaders from Transition and Permaculture</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/gaiacraft" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/gaiacraft</a></p>Reasons NOT to clean up the garden this falltag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-10-17:4670368:BlogPost:1249702016-10-17T01:30:00.000ZBeth Carruthershttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/BethCarruthers
<p>by Jessica Walliser: Twenty-some years ago, fresh out of college with a horticulture degree in-hand, I started teaching adult education classes at a local botanic garden. For many years, I taught a class called Preparing Your Garden for the Winter. I would show slides (remember those?) of how well-kept gardens should look in January. In the images, every plant was cut to the nub, except for the ornamental grasses and butterfly bushes, and the whole garden was snug under a thick layer of…</p>
<p>by Jessica Walliser: Twenty-some years ago, fresh out of college with a horticulture degree in-hand, I started teaching adult education classes at a local botanic garden. For many years, I taught a class called Preparing Your Garden for the Winter. I would show slides (remember those?) of how well-kept gardens should look in January. In the images, every plant was cut to the nub, except for the ornamental grasses and butterfly bushes, and the whole garden was snug under a thick layer of mushroom soil mulch. The roses were neatly trimmed to two feet and wrapped in a blanket of burlap, folded and stapled closed to keep them protected from freezing winds. There was nary a fallen leaf in sight; everything was raked up and hauled off.</p>
<p>You see, that’s how we gardeners used to roll in the early ’90s, before we knew better. Before we knew all the reasons NOT to clean up the garden. We’d cut everything down and “clean up” the garden until there was no shred of nature left behind. We’d turn the place into a tidied, controlled, and only slightly dirtier version of our living room. Everything was tucked and trimmed and in its place. Most of us weren’t interested in supporting wildlife much beyond hanging up a bird feeder, and the phrase “wildlife habitat” was only used in places like zoos and national parks.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many gardeners still think of this kind of hack-it-all-down and rake-it-all-up fall clean up as good gardening, but in case you haven’t already noticed, I’m here to tell you times have changed. Preparing Your Garden for the Winter is a completely different class these days. We now understand how our yards can become havens for creatures, large and small, depending on what we plant in them and how we tend to our cultivated spaces. Thanks to books like Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home, we now know how important native plants are for insects, birds, amphibians, and even people. Our gardens play an important role in supporting wildlife and what we do in them every autumn can either enhance or inhibit that role.</p>
<p>To that end, I offer you these six very important reasons NOT to clean up the garden in the fall.<br/> 1. The Native Bees: Many of North America’s 3500-plus species of native bees need a place to spend the winter that’s protected from cold and predators. They may hunker down under a piece of peeling tree bark, or they may stay tucked away in the hollow stem of a bee balm plant or an ornamental grass. Some spend the winter as an egg or larvae in a burrow in the ground. All native bees are important pollinators, and when we remove every last overwintering site by cutting everything down, we’re doing ourselves no favor. We need these bees, and our gardens can provide them with much-needed winter habitat.</p>
<p>Related post: Supporting native bees</p>
<p>2. The Butterflies: While the monarch flies south to overwinter in Mexico, most other butterflies stay put and take shelter somewhere dry and safe until spring. Some butterflies, like the mourning cloak, comma, question mark, and Milbert’s tortoise shell, overwinter as adults. They nestle into rock fissures, under tree bark, or in leaf litter until the days grow longer again and spring arrives. Butterflies that overwinter in a chrysalis include the swallowtail family, the cabbage whites and the sulphurs. Many of these chrysalises can be found either hanging from dead plant stems or tucked into the soil or leaf litter. And still other butterfly species, such as the red-spotted purple, the viceroy, and the meadow fritillary, spend the winter as a caterpillar rolled into a fallen leaf or inside the seed pod of a host plant. If we cut down and clean up our gardens, we are quite possibly eliminating overwintering sites for many of these beautiful pollinators (and perhaps even eliminating the insects themselves!). Declining butterfly populations are one of the best reasons not to clean up the garden.</p>
<p>Related post: Plant extra dill for the swallowtail butterflies</p>
<p>3. The Ladybugs: North America is home to over 400 different ladybug species, many of which are not red with black polka-dots. While the introduced Asian multicolored ladybug comes into our homes for the winter and becomes quite a nuisance, none of our native ladybug species have any interest in spending the winter inside of your house. Most of them enter the insect world’s version of hibernation soon after the temperatures drop and spend the colder months tucked under a pile of leaves, nestled at the base of a plant, or hidden under a rock. Most overwinter in groups of anywhere from a few individuals to thousands of adults. Ladybugs are notorious pest eaters, each one consuming dozens of soft-bodied pest insects and insect eggs every day. Leaving the garden intact for the winter means you’ll get a jump start on controlling pests in the spring.</p>
<p>Related post: Lost ladybugs</p>
<p>4. The Birds: Insect-eating birds, like chickadees, wrens, titmice, nuthatches, pheobes, and bluebirds, are very welcome in the garden because they consume thousands of caterpillars and other pest insects as they raise their young every gardening season. Leaving the garden intact through the winter months means there will be more protein-rich insects available to them during the coldest part of the year – yet another of the great reasons not to clean up the garden! These birds are quite good at gleaning “hibernating” insects off of dead plant stems and branches, and out of leaf litter. The more insect-nurturing habitat you have, the greater the bird population will be. Your feathered friends will also appreciate feasting on the seeds and berries they can collect from intact perennial, annual, and shrub stems.</p>
<p>Related post: Berries for the birds</p>
<p>5. The Predatory Insects: Ladybugs aren’t the only predatory insects who spend the winter in an intact garden. Assassin bugs, lacewings, big-eyed bugs, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs, ground beetles, and scores of other pest-munching predatory insects spend the winter “sleeping” in your garden as either adults, eggs, or pupae. They’re one of the best reasons not to clean up the garden in the fall because they help you control pests. To have a balanced population of these predatory insects, you have to have winter habitat; when spring arrives, they’ll be better able to keep early-emerging pests in check if they’ve spent the winter on-site, instead of over in the neighbor’s yard.</p>
<p>Related post: Lacewings</p>
<p>6. The People: If the previous five reasons aren’t enough to inspire you to hold off on cleaning up the garden, I’ll add one final reason to the list: You. There is so much beauty to be found in a winter garden. Snow resting on dried seed pods, berries clinging to bare branches, goldfinches flitting around spent sunflowers, juncos hopping beneath old goldenrod fronds, frost kissing the autumn leaves collected at the base of a plant, and ice collected on blades of ornamental grasses. At first, you might not consider yourself to be one of the reasons not to clean up the garden, but winter is a lovely time out there, if you let it be so.</p>
<p>Delaying your garden’s clean up until the spring is a boon for all the creatures living there. Instead of heading out to the garden with a pair of pruning shears and a rake this fall, wait until next April. By then, all the critters living there will be emerging from their long winter nap. And even if they haven’t managed to get out of bed by the time you head out to the garden, most of them will still manage to find their way out of a loosely layered compost pile before it begins to decompose.<a href="http://savvygardening.com/6-reasons-not-to-clean-up-your-garden-this-fall/" target="_blank">Reasons NOT to clean up the garden this fall</a></p>Heart Gardens Map and Designtag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-08-21:4670368:BlogPost:1253432016-08-21T22:30:00.000ZDelvin Solkinsonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DelvinSolkinson
<p>The map and design for a permaculture design site in Roberts Creek, BC.</p>
<p><a href="http://gaiacraft.com/heart-gardens-campus/">http://gaiacraft.com/heart-gardens-campus/</a></p>
<p>The map and design for a permaculture design site in Roberts Creek, BC.</p>
<p><a href="http://gaiacraft.com/heart-gardens-campus/">http://gaiacraft.com/heart-gardens-campus/</a></p>Free Permaculture Principles Design Decktag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-07-21:4670368:BlogPost:927382016-07-21T16:30:00.000ZDelvin Solkinsonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DelvinSolkinson
<p>Gaiacraft<br/> Permaculture Principles Design Deck</p>
<br/>
Free Open Source Learning and Teaching Tool<br/>
Made in Greater Vancouver<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://gaiacraft.com/permaculture-principles-design-deck/" target="_blank">http://gaiacraft.com/permaculture-principles-design-deck/</a>
<p>Gaiacraft<br/> Permaculture Principles Design Deck</p>
<br/>
Free Open Source Learning and Teaching Tool<br/>
Made in Greater Vancouver<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://gaiacraft.com/permaculture-principles-design-deck/" target="_blank">http://gaiacraft.com/permaculture-principles-design-deck/</a>Free Open Source Permaculture Workbooktag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2016-04-22:4670368:BlogPost:928452016-04-22T04:30:00.000ZDelvin Solkinsonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DelvinSolkinson
<p>"Permaculture gives us a toolkit for moving from a culture of fear and scarcity to one of love and abundance" </p>
<p>- Toby Hemenway</p>
<p>As an offering to the Transition, our visionary permaculture Gaiacraft team has created a Workbook of Permaculture Worksheets. </p>
<p>Download free printable files <br/> or purchase hard copy from an on demand printer here :<br/>
<a href="http://www.gaiacraft.com/gaiacraft-workbook/">http://www.gaiacraft.com/gaiacraft-workbook/</a></p>
<p>"Permaculture gives us a toolkit for moving from a culture of fear and scarcity to one of love and abundance" </p>
<p>- Toby Hemenway</p>
<p>As an offering to the Transition, our visionary permaculture Gaiacraft team has created a Workbook of Permaculture Worksheets. </p>
<p>Download free printable files <br/> or purchase hard copy from an on demand printer here :<br/>
<a href="http://www.gaiacraft.com/gaiacraft-workbook/">http://www.gaiacraft.com/gaiacraft-workbook/</a></p>Kefir grains for milk availabletag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-12-01:4670368:BlogPost:1213352015-12-01T22:50:41.000ZBiljka Knezevichttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/BiljkaKnezevic
<p>I have kefir grains to give away. You will need organic milk, plastic strainer and a plastic spoon. Call 604 685 4945</p>
<p>I have kefir grains to give away. You will need organic milk, plastic strainer and a plastic spoon. Call 604 685 4945</p>Unprecedented Challenges Ahead—November, 2015tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-11-10:4670368:BlogPost:1210732015-11-10T17:02:08.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p>Key quote: “We are far from having the kind of widespread public discourse we will need to fully understand the implications of the challenges ahead—and to plan accordingly so our collaborative problem solving and community education efforts do not fall short at this critical time.”</p>
<p>Do we fully understand the implications of the challenges ahead?<br></br> The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts,…</p>
<p>Key quote: “We are far from having the kind of widespread public discourse we will need to fully understand the implications of the challenges ahead—and to plan accordingly so our collaborative problem solving and community education efforts do not fall short at this critical time.”</p>
<p>Do we fully understand the implications of the challenges ahead?<br/> The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>Critical challenges assessments done by the founder of The CPCS Initiative (Stefan Pasti)--</p>
<p>“IPCR Critical Challenge Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report” (444 pages; January, 2012)<br/> “Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors” (589 pages; November, 2013)<br/>
"An Assessment of the Most Critical Challenges of Our Times" (36 pages; May, 2015)</p>
<p>--suggest that we are far from having the kind of widespread public discourse we will need to fully undersand the implications of the challenges ahead—and to plan accordingly so our collaborative problem solving and community education efforts do not fall short at this critical time.</p>
<p>Are variations in human morality fully accounted for in our critical challenge assessments?</p>
<p>The list of ten critical challenges (with representative evidence) below does identify “global warming, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions” as the most critical challenge to resolve. However, the CPCS Initiative recognizes “A Marginalization of the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions” as a significant factor affecting every one of the ten challenges identified—with implications which are far from being fully appreciated [see especially point #2, p. 22-25, and further on to p. 29, in the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper "Recalibrating Our 'Moral Compasses': to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny" (82 pages; June, 2015)].</p>
<p>Two examples of the “marginalization of wisdom” the CPCS Initiative is referring to:</p>
<p>1) Most of us seem to be much more familiar with what is meant by cultures of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgence, than what is meant by the wisdom which has been accumulated over the many centuries of human experience, and which has been confirmed again and again by the saints, sages, spiritual leaders, and sincere practitioners of all religious, spiritual, and moral traditions.<br/> 2) For the purposes of this brief discussion (and keeping in mind that any five points are far from representative of the spiritual wisdom of 5,000 years of human experience), the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper offers a five point list as examples of the wisdom which is being marginalized. The five points include:</p>
<p>a) Teachings from religious, spiritual, and moral traditions which encourage and inspire people to</p>
<p>i) sacrifice personal desires for the greater good of the whole <br/> ii) find contentment and quality of life while consuming less material goods and ecological services. <br/>
iii) prefer peacebuilding which supports and actualizes mutually beneficial understandings, forgiveness, and reconciliation—and which abstains from violent conflict resolution— as a way of bringing cycles of violence to an end</p>
<p>And yet… if readers carefully explore the following critical challenge assessments and solution guides (which are offered here as representative and well-known examples from the past 50 years)--</p>
<p>1) “The Limits to Growth” report (1972; updated 2004) (and “2052 - A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years”, published in 2012 by one of the original authors)<br/> 2) “Gaia: An Atlas of Planetary Management” (1984; updated 2005)<br/>
3) Worldwatch Institute—annual “State of the World” Reports, and “Worldwatch Reports” (formerly<br/>
“Worldwatch Papers”)<br/>
4) UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlement Programme)—“State of the World’s Cities” Reports and (formerly annual) “Global Reports on Human Settlements”<br/>
5) UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)—annual “Human Development” Reports<br/>
6) United Nations—Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Progress Reports, and Sustainable<br/>
Development Goals (SDGs) Updates<br/>
7) IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)—ongoing reports<br/>
8) International Monetary Fund—bi-annual “World Economic Outlook” Reports<br/>
9) World Bank—“World Development Reports”<br/>
10) World Economic Forum—annual “Outlook on the Global Agenda” Reports<br/>
11) International Energy Agency—annual “World Energy Outlook” Reports<br/>
12) Earth Policy Institute—including “Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization”, “World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse”, “Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity”<br/>
13) “Pathways to Deep Decarbonization” [Published by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), September 2014 (and presented at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, 2014)]</p>
<p>--they will find that these critical challenge assessments and solution guides do not give serious attention to variations in human morality as a significant factor affecting the nature of the challenges of our times (from p. 24 of the CPCS Summary Paper).</p>
<p>Special Notes:</p>
<p>a) This writer believes that human morality is not a constant—it is not something which is the same throughout the centuries of human existence; and thus it is something which can become degraded or raised up, depending on the leanings of human aspirations. <br/> b) Since the above observation (“do not give serious attention”) points to content which is NOT a significant part of any of the reports (etc.), the omissions can be easily verified.</p>
<p>Four Key Points</p>
<p>Four key points which can lead to a comprehensive re-evaluation of the kind of collaborative problem solving and community education necessary at this critical time:</p>
<p>1) We must be careful—at this critical time—that our collective efforts are not tragically flawed by significant blind spots, as such efforts could contribute more to cynicism than confidence about our capacity to manage the most critical cultural turning point since the dawn of civilization.</p>
<p>2) In this time of unprecedented challenges—and especially in the context of collaborative problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before—there are going to be countless opportunities for reconciliation. There are going to be countless opportunities for arriving at a new appreciation of the personal qualities, skills, and beliefs of our neighbors and fellow citizens. And there are going to be countless opportunities for our neighbors and fellow citizens to become part of a system of mutual support and encouragement in our local communities, as we respond to multiple, unprecedented challenges.</p>
<p>3) If there is more recognition of the many unprecedented challenges we face, there will be more sympathy for how much we are going to need all the resources, knowledge, and skills each one of us has, how much we all need to be learning to so that we can be part of the solutions, and how much we really need to be on the same side, helping each other, if we are going to succeed at resolving the challenges ahead of us.</p>
<p>4) Once the need for unprecedented forms of collaborative problem solving and community education become more commonly accepted—and the natural creativity and capacity for innovation which we human beings have shown ourselves capable of becomes more focused on designing collaborative problem solving and community education models—we may discover that we can work towards goals which we have never thought possible before.</p>
<p>Unprecedented Challenges Ahead--November, 2015 (a ten point list)</p>
<p>[Note: The supporting evidence included below is only a representative fraction of the evidence accumulated in longer documents compiled by this writer. Three examples: “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report” (444 pages; Jan., 2012); “Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors” (589 pages; Nov., 2013); and “An Assessment of the Critical Challenges of Our Times” (36 pages; May, 2015)]. Source references for quoted passages (below) can be found in the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper “Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses”: to resolve unprecedented challenges, and discover our collective spiritual destiny” (82p. July, 2015)]</p>
<p>1. Global warming and reducing carbon emissions--“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the industrial revolution. That will not happen overnight and it will not happen at a single conference on climate change, be it COP 15, 21, 40 - you choose the number. It just does not occur like that. It is a process, because of the depth of the transformation."</p>
<p>2. A marginalization of the treasured wisdom associated with religious, spiritual, and moral traditions—treasured wisdom which includes many teachings relating to sacrificing personal desires for the greater good of the whole, and finding contentment and quality of life while consuming less material goods and ecological services--a) “The global drugs trade and the global arms trade are integral to violence in both developing and industrialized countries. Even modest progress on either front will contribute to reducing the amount and degree of violence suffered by millions of people. To date, however—and despite their high profile in the world arena—no solutions seem to be in sight for these problems.” b) Unfortunately, there are many people in our communities who—regardless of the difficulties and urgencies associated with resolving multiple crises—choose to focus their attention on trying to make money by preying of people’s fears, manipulating people’s trust, and/or encouraging people to abandon hope in higher aspirations, and indulge in unhealthy, or immoral behavior.</p>
<p>3. “Cultures” of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgence—which have become so common that many of us accept such as inevitable; which are a significant part of the current crises of confidence in financial markets; and which are in many ways slowing the restructuring of investment priorities needed to respond to an increasing number of other critical challenges</p>
<p>4. The end of the Fossil Fuel Era--“Our industrial societies and our financial systems were built on the assumption of continual growth—growth based on ever more readily available cheap fossil fuels”. However, “limiting global warming to an agreed U.N. ceiling ‘means that three quarters of the fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground….” And yet: lifestyles and habitats are still very much dependent on high fossil fuel input infrastructures, and almost all megacities (cities with populations over 1 million) are running massive “ecological deficits” (“resource consumption and waste discharge…in excess of locally/regionally sustainable natural production and assimilative capacity”)</p>
<p>5. The increasing world population and its implications relating to widespread resource depletion— with special focus on the increasing number of people who are consuming material goods and ecological resources indiscriminately--a) "It would be foolish to underestimate the challenge of checking the consumption juggernaut…." b) “… every article in the bazaar has moral and spiritual values attached to it….” c) “More than half the world’s people live in countries where water tables are falling as aquifers are being depleted….“ d) “…since 70 percent of world water use is for irrigation, water shortages can quickly translate into food shortages.”</p>
<p>6. Current trends indicate that we are creating more and more “urban agglomerations”--(cities with a population of more than 1 million people—more than 400), which require more and more complex and energy intensive infrastructures, where it is more and more difficult to trace the consequences of our individual investments of time, energy, and money—and which are the least appropriate models when it comes to implementing resolutions to many of the other challenges in this ten point assessment</p>
<p>7. Global inequities and the tragic cycles of malnutrition, disease, and death--a) “Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide—greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.” b) “65 percent of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight and malnutrition.” c) “…the bottom half of the global population own less than 1 percent of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest 10 percent hold 86 percent of the world’s wealth, and the top 1 percent alone account for 46 percent of global assets.” d) “12 percent of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water, and none of the 12 percent lives in developing countries.”</p>
<p>8. Significant progress towards positive tipping points for the other challenges cited in this list will almost certainly make it impossible for the U.S., and many other countries, to resolve unprecedented public debt--a) Unfortunately, too much of “economic growth” is debt-based, and too much of such debt-based “economic growth” requires the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resources b) All megacities (cities with populations over 1 million) are running massive “ecological deficits” (“resource consumption and waste discharge…in excess of locally/regionally sustainable natural production and assimilative capacity”) c) “Some might assume that bond markets are shielded from the effects of climate change, ecosystem degradation, and water scarcity. With more than $40 trillion of sovereign debt in global markets at any given time, that is a very high-risk game.”</p>
<p>9. Deterioration of trust/confidence in institutions responsible for guiding public discourse—and the related loss of social and spiritual cohesion--a) “Most economic development and growth strategies encouraged rapid accumulation of physical, financial and human capital, but at the expense of… depleting the world’s stock of natural wealth – often irreversibly ….. Existing policies and market incentives have contributed to this problem of capital misallocation because they allow businesses to run up significant, largely unaccounted for, and unchecked social and environmental externalities.” <br/> b) Confidence (not just confidence in financial markets, but confidence in our viability as a species) will be dimmed by a lack of clarity until there is widespread public discourse on the full dimensions of the critical challenges ahead.</p>
<p>10. Sorting out what are real challenges and what are sound and practical solutions is becoming more and more difficult—as there are now, in most communities of the world, a multitude of ideas of all kinds coming to the fore in personal, family, community, and cultural life—all at the same time. Thus, even analysis supported by much credible evidence—that there are many danger signs flashing now (involving significant threats to ecological stability and social cohesion)—can be easily lost amidst a swirl of misinformation, other more trivial information, and the “siren song” of multiple entertainment venues--People who are not sufficiently informed about critical issues are everywhere, and they are investing their time, energy, and money—voting—all the time.</p>
<p>Additional Notes:</p>
<p>The current focus of The CPCS Initiative is outreach associated with the 82 page paper "Recalibrating Our 'Moral Compasses': to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny", which summarizes the work of The CPCS Initiative.</p>
<p>Most of the outreach being done for the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper is being done on the Twitter platform, through tweets to specific organizations, individuals, and related hashtags—and by way of creating the #CPbCSus hashtag (see “Launching the Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative Hashtag (#CPbCSus)” (5 pages; Nov., 2015)</p>World at a Turning Point: UN, Red Cross: unprecedented joint warning--impact of conflicts on civilianstag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-11-04:4670368:BlogPost:1212412015-11-04T18:30:00.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Introduction</span></p>
<p>On October 30, 2015, a joint news conference was held by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer on the subject of the unprecedented impacts of conflicts on civilians.</p>
<p>Below are some of the tweets I’ve made to highlight some of their comments—and links to three sources of those comments.</p>
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural…</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Introduction</span></p>
<p>On October 30, 2015, a joint news conference was held by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer on the subject of the unprecedented impacts of conflicts on civilians.</p>
<p>Below are some of the tweets I’ve made to highlight some of their comments—and links to three sources of those comments.</p>
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative believes there are unprecedented challenges ahead which will require unprecedented solutions. If there is more recognition of the many unprecedented challenges we face, there will be more sympathy for how much we are going to need all the resources, knowledge, and skills each one of us has, how much we all need to be learning to so that we can be part of the solutions, and how much we really need to be on the same side, helping each other, if we are going to succeed at resolving the challenges ahead of us.</p>
<p>At the end of the tweets related to the joint warnings from the UN and the Red Cross, I have included tweets about the work of the CPCS Initiative. I believe insight and analysis from CPCS Initiative resources can contribute to the kind of unprecedented collaborative problem solving and community education which are needed at this time.</p>
<p>I would urge readers to give special attention to the <a href="http://bit.ly/1RUgpzA" target="_blank">"List of Ten Critical Challenges"</a> (analysis), and the 5 page <a href="http://bit.ly/1jyZLdC" target="_blank">"Launching the Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative # (#CPbCSus)”</a>(which provides an introduction to 4 approaches to unprecedented collaborative problem solving).</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tweets about the unprecedented joint warning from UN, Red Cross</span></p>
<p>UN, Red Cross: unprecedented joint warning--impact of conflicts on civilians/appealed for urgent and concrete action <a href="http://bit.ly/1SjN16h">http://bit.ly/1SjN16h</a></p>
<p>World at turning point: UN,RedCross "Rarely before have we witnessed…so much instability, so much suffering," Maurer <a href="http://bit.ly/1SjN16h">http://bit.ly/1SjN16h</a></p>
<p>UN, Red Cross: “grave concern over the brazen and brutal erosion of respect for international humanitarian law” <a href="http://bit.ly/1MtD1ST">http://bit.ly/1MtD1ST</a></p>
<p>World at a turning point: UN, Red Cross: “60 million displaced from their homes because of conflict and violence” <a href="http://bit.ly/1SjN16h">http://bit.ly/1SjN16h</a></p>
<p>UN, Red Cross--"blatant inhumanity, (and) the world has responded with disturbing paralysis," Sec-General <a href="http://bit.ly/1SjN16h">http://bit.ly/1SjN16h</a></p>
<p>World at a turning point: UN, Red Cross "This flouts the very raison d'être of the United Nations” Sec-General <a href="http://bit.ly/1SjN16h">http://bit.ly/1SjN16h</a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tweets about the work of The CPCS Initiative</span></p>
<p>2p “List of 10 Critical Challenges” <a href="http://bit.ly/1RUgpzA">http://bit.ly/1RUgpzA</a> more connecting thedots moments p8-19 Summary Paper #CPbCSus</p>
<p>Marginalization WisdomofAges--serious blind spot, w/ implications far from being fully appreciated p20-29 Summary Paper #CPbCSus</p>
<p>Descriptions of 4 approaches to unprecedented collaborative problem solving/CPCS Summary Paper p34-44 #CPbCSus</p>
<p>CPCS Initiative: recalib moral compasses surveys/visioning/neighborhood learning centers/max citizen participation #CPbCSus</p>
<p>Colleges,Universities assisting w/ recalib moral compasses surveys, visioning initiatives=acceleration to positive tipping points #CPbCSus </p>
<p>CPCS Initiative: Colleges,Universities could launch Recalib Our Moral Compasses Survey Project; assist w/ unprecedented transition #CPbCSus</p>
<p>Maximize citizen participation to positive tipping points/Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability #CPbCSus</p>
<p>“Launching Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative # (#CPbCSus)” 5 p <a href="http://bit.ly/1jyZLdC">http://bit.ly/1jyZLdC</a></p>Launching the Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative Hashtag (#CPbCSus) (on the Twitter Platform)tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-10-23:4670368:BlogPost:1211202015-10-23T15:00:00.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p>Introduction</p>
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative has identified ten critical challenges [see “A List of Ten Critical Challenges” (Oct., 2015)] which will require problem solving…</p>
<p>Introduction</p>
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative has identified ten critical challenges [see “A List of Ten Critical Challenges” (Oct., 2015)] which will require problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before.</p>
<p>[Related tweets”: “2 p. version “List of 10 Critical Challenges” Oct,2015 <a href="http://bit.ly/1RUgpzA">http://bit.ly/1RUgpzA</a> more connecting thedots moments p8-19 #CPbCSus Summary Paper”; “#CPbCSus Unprecedented challenges ahead/arrangement of quotes, evidence provides “connecting the dots” moments p 8-19 Summary Paper”].</p>
<p>The evidence provided in the two page “List of Ten Critical Challenges” document is only a representative fraction of the evidence accumulated in longer documents compiled by this writer. Three examples: “IPCR Critical Challenge Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report” (444 pages; January, 2012); “Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors” (589 pages; November, 2013); and “An Assessment of the Most Critical Challenges of Our Times” (36 pages; May, 2015).</p>
<p>The current focus of The CPCS Initiative is outreach associated with the 82 page paper "Recalibrating Our 'Moral Compasses': to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny", which summarizes the work of The CPCS Initiative.</p>
<p>[Related tweet: “Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability Initiative features 82 p paper/summarizes work of CPCS founder since 2001 #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative hashtag (#CPbCSus on the Twitter platform) has been created to help minimize disconnect and support maximum clarity on both the nature of the challenges ahead, and what collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives will make best use of the knowledge, skills, and resources each one of us has to contribute at this critical time.<br/> <br/> [Related Tweet: “Launching Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative # (#CPbCSus)”/5 p <a href="http://bit.ly/1jyZLdC">http://bit.ly/1jyZLdC</a> ]<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>Discussion<br/><br/></p>
<p>Global warming is the most critical challenge in the “List of Ten Critical Challenges” identified by The CPCS Initiative [“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the industrial revolution”--from article “Figueres: First time the world economy is transformed intentionally” (UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres)].</p>
<p>However, the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper (see especially point #2, p. 22-25, and further on to p. 29) recognizes “A Marginalization of the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions” as a significant factor affecting every one of the ten challenges identified—with implications which are far from being fully appreciated [from p. 23: “Looking at the assessment as a whole, it should be clear to most readers that the negative outcomes associated with every one of the challenges identified would be noticeably remedied if (the working definitions of “treasured wisdom” provided on p. 22-23) were more fully integrated into the everyday circumstances of community life.”]</p>
<p>[Related tweets: “Marginalization Wisdom of Ages--serious blind spot, w/ implications which are far from being fully appreciated p20-29 Summary Paper #CPbCSus”; “15 highly regarded critical challenge assessments donot consider variations in human morality as significant factor p24SummaryPaper #CPbCSus”; “Confidence will be dimmed by lack of clarity until widespread public discourse on full dimensions of critical challenges ahead #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative also recognizes the difficulties of reversing such a critical deficit (the marginalization of treasured wisdom…)—as most of us seem to be much more familiar with what is meant by cultures of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgence, than what is meant by the wisdom which has been accumulated over the many centuries of human experience, and which has been confirmed again and again by the saints, sages, spiritual leaders, and sincere practitioners of all religious, spiritual, and moral traditions. Thus, to give due diligence to reaching positive tipping points on all ten of the critical challenges identified (in “A List of Ten Critical Challenges”), the CPCS Initiative advocates for a “constellation” of collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives.</p>
<p>[Related tweets: “CPCS Initiative: we cannot afford serious concerns about nature and reliability of our ‘moral compasses’ at this critical time #CPbCSus”;“26 point list of recommendations for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives p30-33 Summary Paper #CPbCSus”; “Detailed descriptions of 4 approaches to unprecedented collaborative problem solving in CPCS Summary Paper p. 34-44 #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>Of the 4 collaborative problem solving and community education approaches given the highest priority by the CPCS Initiative, the most important is the Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Survey Project. The ROMC Survey Project advocates for many surveys of 300 (different) people from around the world who are well known in fields of activity associated with creating a peaceful and sustainable world.</p>
<p>[Related tweets: “CPCS Initiative: Recalib Moral Compasses Survey Project = survey leaders in peace, sustainability fields on challenges, solutions #CPbCSus”; “CPCS Initiative: Colleges,Universities could launch Recalib Our Moral Compasses Survey Project; assist w/ unprecedented transition #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>Currently, the 9 Question Categories for a Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC)Survey are:</p>
<p>1) Critical Challenge Assessment <br/> 2) Solution Recommendations [specific to your field(s) of activity] <br/> 3) Recommendations for Collaborative Problem Solving Design<br/> 4) Degree of Collaborative Problem Solving Needed <br/> 5) Towards Working Definitions of “Right Livelihood” <br/> 6) Towards Working Definitions of “Moral Compasses” <br/> 7) Features Which Define Advanced Societies <br/> 8) Recommendations for Other People Who Would be Appropriate as Survey Participants <br/> 9) Comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc not brought forward by Questions 1-8</p>
<p>[For how specific questions are framed, see “The 9 Questions Being Asked in The ROMC Survey” (p. 8-12) in “The Recalibrating our ‘Moral Compasses’ (ROMC) Survey Project Prospectus” (74 pages; Nov., 2014)]</p>
<p>[Related tweet: “9 questions proposed for Recalib Our Moral Compasses (ROMC) Survey p8-12 in 74 page ROMC Prospectus <a href="http://bit.ly/1GeMxwG">http://bit.ly/1GeMxwG</a> #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative believes we cannot afford to have serious concerns about the nature and reliability of our “moral compasses” at this critical time.</p>
<p>[Related tweet: “CPCS Initiative: we cannot afford serious concerns about nature and reliability of our ‘moral compasses’ at this critical time #CPbCSus”)</p>
<p>On pages 45-54 in the CPCS Summary Paper, 5 recommendations are offered for how to scale up the Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Survey Project. Potential partnerships and collaborations are suggested, with details provided for 19 organizations, and mention made of 38 other organizations. There is much along the lines of collaborative problem solving and community education which could maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>[Related Tweets: “5 recommendations: scaling up Recalib Our Moral Compasses Survey Project/partnership opportune w/ 19 organiz p45-54 Summary Paper #CPbCSus”; “CPCS Initiative: Recalib Our Moral Compasses Survey/ 5p ”Project Summary and Invitation to Participate” <a href="http://bit.ly/1Rkx8eJ">http://bit.ly/1Rkx8eJ</a> #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative’s “constellation of initiatives” approach to collaborative problem solving and community education also includes:</p>
<p>● Community Visioning Initiatives [One example of a Community Visioning Initiative which inspired this writer: the 13 minute video “Chattanooga: A Community with a Vision” (accessible at Vimeo). This video includes many interviews and how-to details, and documents two very successful Community Visioning Initiatives organized by the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture (Chattanooga, Tennessee USA)—one in 1984, and a follow-up in 1993. The 1984 Chattanooga Community Visioning Project (“Vision 2000”) attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goals—which resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars.]<br/> ● Neighborhood Learning Centers [Neighborhood Learning Centers can be: a) multi-purpose support centers for implementing Community Visioning Initiatives b) neighborhood meeting places and workshop centers c) a critical part of a low cost lifelong learning education system (which would include questionnaires and surveys, Community Visioning Initiatives, Neighborhood Learning Centers and neighborhood learning networks, local newspapers primarily focused on community service, etc)]<br/> ● the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project (which advocates for a new section in local newspapers for reader contributions which identify helpful people and valuable resources, and reinforce important community goals)</p>
<p>[Related tweets include: “CPCS: we need collaborative problem solving approaches which make bestuse of knowledge/skills/resources each of us can contribute #CPbCSus”; “1000CommunityVisioningInitiatives=exponential increase solutionoriented investment/exponential increase solutionoriented employment #CPbCSus”; “Colleges,Universities assisting w/ recalib moral compasses surveys, visioning initiatives=acceleration to positive tipping points #CPbCSus”; “Maximizing citizen participation to positive tipping points/Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative #CPbCSus”]</p>
<p>Internationally focused Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Surveys, free Ebooks summarizing survey results, and locally based ROMC Surveys can help local community residents appreciate the need for local Community Visioning Initiatives (or other collaborative problem solving/stakeholder engagement processes)—and many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers—and provide key starting points for topics to cover in workshops at Neighborhood Learning Centers.<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>Concluding Comments<br/><br/></p>
<p>We must be careful—at this critical time—that our collective efforts are not tragically flawed by significant blind spots, as such efforts could contribute more to cynicism than confidence about our capacity to manage the most critical cultural turning point since the dawn of civilization.</p>
<p>The #CPbCSus Initiative hashtag (on the Twitter platform) has been created to help minimize disconnect and support maximum clarity on both the nature of the challenges ahead, and what collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives will make best use of the knowledge, skills, and resources each one of us has to contribute at this critical time.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative is offering its model of 4 collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives as one example of how we can achieve the necessary degree of problem solving to be confident of minimizing suffering and maximizing constructive citizen participation during this time of unprecedented cultural change.</p>
<p>In this time of unprecedented challenges—and especially in the context of collaborative problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before—there are going to be countless opportunities for reconciliation. There are going to be countless opportunities for arriving at a new appreciation of the personal qualities, skills, and beliefs of our neighbors and fellow citizens. And there are going to be countless opportunities for our neighbors and fellow citizens to become part of a system of mutual support and encouragement in our local communities, as we respond to multiple, unprecedented challenges.</p>
<p>If there is more recognition of the many unprecedented challenges we face, there will be more sympathy for how much we are going to need all the resources, knowledge, and skills each one of us has, how much we all need to be learning to so that we can be part of the solutions, and how much we really need to be on the same side, helping each other, if we are going to succeed at resolving the challenges ahead of us.</p>
<p>And, once the need for unprecedented forms of collaborative problem solving and community education become more commonly accepted—and the natural creativity and capacity for innovation which we human beings have shown ourselves capable of becomes more focused on designing collaborative problem solving and community education models—we may discover that we can work towards goals which we have never thought possible before.<br/> <br/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">________________________</p>
<p><br/> <br/> <br/> The current focus of The CPCS Initiative is outreach associated with the 82 page paper "Recalibrating Our 'Moral Compasses': to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny", which summarizes the work of The CPCS Initiative.</p>
<p>Most of the outreach being done for the CPCS Initiative Summary Paper is being done on the Twitter platform, through tweets to specific organizations, individuals, and related hashtags—and by way of creating the #CPbCSus hashtag. CPCS Initiative tweets are from founder and resource coordinator <br/> Stefan Pasti (@StefanPasti); and, whenever possible (and relevant), those tweets will include the CPCS Initiative hashtag (#CPbCSus). Key outreach documents include:</p>
<p>1) “A List of Ten Critical Challenges” (2 pages; Oct., 2015)<br/> 2) “Launching the Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (#CPCS) Initiative Hashtag” (5 page summary of the CPCS Initiative) (Oct., 2015) (this document)<br/> 3) “6 Series of Tweets-as Support for Launching the #CPbCSus (hashtag) at Twitter” (8 pages.; Oct., 2015)<br/> 4) A local community newsletter (created by CPCS Initiative founder Stefan Pasti) which introduces the 82 page CPCS Initiative summary paper. There are two links for the local community newsletter because of how the newsletter was formatted [Page 1 of the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Journal (July, 2015 issue) and Pages 2-8 of the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Journal (July, 2015 issue)] (8 pages; July, 2015).</p>
<p>Note: All of the documents mentioned in this post are accessible from the CPCS Initiative homepage, at <a href="http://www.cpcsi.org">www.cpcsi.org</a></p>Free Permaculture Learning Toolstag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-10-21:4670368:BlogPost:1253472015-10-21T22:30:00.000ZDelvin Solkinsonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/DelvinSolkinson
<p>Printable posters, cards games, and permaculture learning and teaching tools. Free.</p>
<p><a href="http://gaiacraft.com/free-tools/" target="_blank">http://gaiacraft.com/free-tools/</a></p>
<p>Printable posters, cards games, and permaculture learning and teaching tools. Free.</p>
<p><a href="http://gaiacraft.com/free-tools/" target="_blank">http://gaiacraft.com/free-tools/</a></p>CPCS Initiative Summary paper: “Recalibrating Our ‘Moral Compasses’: to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny” (82 pages; June, 2015)tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-07-02:4670368:BlogPost:1198052015-07-02T00:16:00.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research for critical challenge alerts, and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative is now making accessible an 82 page paper which summarizes work by its predecessor [The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (from…</p>
<p>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research for critical challenge alerts, and support for collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity.</p>
<p>The CPCS Initiative is now making accessible an 82 page paper which summarizes work by its predecessor [The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (from 2001-2013)]—and work by The CPCS Initiative since its inception in 2013.</p>
<p>The paper is titled "Recalibrating Our 'Moral Compasses': to resolve unprecedented challenges and discover our collective spiritual destiny”. The 82 page summary paper is accessible at the homepage of The CPCS Initiative (at <a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a> ).</p>
<p>Unprecedented Challenges Ahead</p>
<p>Significant evidence is provided in this paper to support the following critical challenge assessment:</p>
<p>1) there are many unprecedented challenges which are now on dangerous trajectories (many danger signs flashing red)<br/> 2) there is a high likelihood of significant, already occurring, and ongoing damage to ecological stability and social cohesion<br/>
3) there is an urgent need to reach positive tipping points on many of the challenges as soon as possible</p>
<p>Supporting evidence for such an assessment includes:</p>
<p>a) an 11 page arrangement of quoted passages in Section II (72 quoted passages which are drawn from the longer CPCS Initiative critical challenge assessments)<br/> b) a 6 point discussion and commentary of the Section II assessment (in Section III) which provides evidence for viewing the #2 challenge identified in Section II (the Marginalization of the Treasured wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions) as a serious blind spot with implications which are far from being fully appreciated</p>
<p>Recommendations for Collaborative Problem Solving and Community Education Initiatives</p>
<p>Section IV includes a 26 Point List of Recommendations for Collaborative Problem Solving and Community Education Initiatives (Part A), and descriptions of 4 key collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives, which are examples of a “constellation of initiatives” which meets the 26 point criteria.</p>
<p>Those 4 collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives are:</p>
<p>1) the Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Project<br/> 2) Community Visioning Initiatives<br/>
3) Neighborhood Learning Centers<br/>
4) the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project (which advocates for a new section in local newspapers for reader contributions which identify helpful people and valuable resources, and reinforce important community goals)</p>
<p>The 4 point “constellation of initiatives” described in Section IV are one way people at the local community level can learn how to make wise choices about how they use their time, energy, and money… so that all the “little events” in the circumstance of everyday community life have a positive and cumulative effect on the challenges they have identified as priority challenges.</p>
<p>A Key “Building Block” for Establishing the Need for Unprecedented Forms of Collaborative Problem Solving and Community Education</p>
<p>The Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Survey Project advocates for surveys (as in many) of carefully selected people from around the world who are well known in fields of activity associated with creating a peaceful and sustainable world.</p>
<p>The 9 Question Categories are:</p>
<p>1) Critical Challenge Assessment<br/> 2) Solution Recommendations [specific to your field(s) of activity]<br/>
3) Recommendations for Collaborative Problem Solving Design<br/>
4) Degree of Collaborative Problem Solving Needed<br/>
5) Towards Working Definitions of “Right Livelihood”<br/>
6) Towards Working Definitions of “Moral Compasses”<br/>
7) Features Which Define Advanced Societies<br/>
8) Recommendations for Other People Who Would be Appropriate as Survey Participants<br/>
9) Other comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc not brought forward by Questions 1-8</p>
<p>Here in this introductory post, it is helpful to bring forward details about the Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” Survey because much of this 80 page summary paper can be understood as example responses to four of the proposed survey questions: question category 1) by Section II; question categories 2) and 3) by Section IV; and the following part of question category 6) “How might a ‘moral compass’ for a local community—and/or religious, spiritual, or moral tradition—be created and maintained, so that it remains relevant even during times of unprecedented change?”—by Section IV.</p>
<p>One of the many potential positive outcomes of both internationally focused, and local community, ROMC Surveys are the clearinghouse websites, which could be continuously aggregating responses to ROMC Surveys in the areas of critical challenge assessments, field specific solution guides, preferences for collaborative problem solving models, and input on such questions as “How might a ‘moral compass’ for a local community—and/or religious, spiritual, or moral tradition—be created and maintained, so that it remains relevant even during times of unprecedented change?”</p>
<p>Internationally focused ROMC Surveys, the resulting free Ebooks, and locally based ROMC Surveys can help local community residents appreciate the need for local Community Visioning Initiatives (or other collaborative problem solving/stakeholder engagement processes)—and many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers—and provide key starting points for topics to cover in workshops at Neighborhood Learning Centers.</p>
<p>Project Development Recommendations</p>
<p>Section V in this paper provides five recommendations for the kind of project development necessary to arrive at the most effective ROMC surveys—which this writer believes is the most useful starting point for leading into the “constellations of initiatives” approach described in Section IV.</p>
<p>There are many organizations and initiatives which have made critical contributions, over many decades, in fields associated with creating a peaceful and sustainable world (43 are listed in Section V)—and such organizations and initiatives could be a starting point for seeking out appropriate survey respondents for internationally focused ROMC Surveys… and assist with the development of relevant educational resources and teacher training.</p>
<p>Here is the list of 43 organizations:</p>
<p>Alliance for Peacebuilding; Calvert Foundation; Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Centre for Alternative Technology; Community Indicators Consortium; Coolplanet; Doctors Without Borders; Earth Institute (Columbia University); Earth Policy Institute; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; Gates Foundation; Gaia Education; Global Ecovillage Network; Global Footprint Network; Global Fund for Women; Global Threats Fund (Skoll Foundation); Green Schools Alliance; Heifer International; The Hunger Project; International Energy Agency; Institute of International Education; International Energy Agency; International Food Policy Research Institute; Investor Network on Climate Risk; Local Governments for Sustainability (formerly ICLEI); Mercy Corps; Save the Children International; Sister Cities International; Teachers Without Borders; Tck Tck Tck; Tides Foundation; UN Environment Programme; UN Habitat; UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; UN Water; Women’s Funding Network; World Health Organization (WHO); World Learning; World Permaculture Network; Zero Carbon Britain</p>
<p>Educational institutions, and other organizations, could increase their existing efforts, or take up the call, to develop related curriculum and offer classes, workshops, and teacher training, to support the development of Neighborhood Learning Centers. If many colleges and universities assisted with carrying out local Community Visioning Initiatives—with many supporting Neighborhood Learning Centers—the positive multiplier effects would be visible around the world.</p>
<p>Advances may be made in Collaborative Problem Solving and Community Education which make even the Most Profound Goals Achievable</p>
<p>Re-discovering, and re-integrating, the treasured wisdom which has been marginalized (and which is much more far-reaching and profound than any five point description can hope to encompass) into the everyday circumstances of community life, has the potential to accelerate us towards so many positive tipping points that there is a need to give special attention to identifying the kind of workshops which can do the most to--</p>
<p>--contribute to the building of close-knit communities… communities with a healthy appreciation for each other’s strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges— and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings.</p>
<p>In Section V, this writer provides three suggestions for what kind of workshops—in Neighborhood Learning Centers associated with ongoing Community Visioning Initiatives—can do the most to contribute to building the kind of close-knit communities described above. [Note: If there is sufficient interest in this question, it could also be a question to include in Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) surveys, and thus could also result in a clearinghouse website to aggregate survey responses, and other additional input.]</p>
<p>It is in Sections IV and Section V that this writer believes readers will begin to feel something of the “inner current” which has been inspiring this writer’s work. There is much we can do to move beyond “us vs. them” narratives, and to even move beyond reconciliation narratives, to discovery narratives, that has not yet been done.</p>
<p>Discovery narratives will be defined here as collaborative problem solving and community education initiatives which inspire us to discover what we can learn and achieve when we are all on the same side, helping each other. The organizations which are highlighted in Section V only represent a tiny fraction of the collective efforts being made to create a peaceful and sustainable world. And yet… if partnerships and collaboration like those suggested in Section V went forward, there would surely be such accelerated movement towards positive tipping points on unprecedented challenges that many of us could find ourselves feeling that we cannot easily set aside the opportunity to know—one way or the other—whether we can achieve goals which, for the longest time, many of us have dismissed as far beyond our levels of experience—and the leanings of our aspirations… goals like world peace.</p>
<p>Opportunities for Reconciliation</p>
<p>There are many people who have had experiences of reconciliation with people who they once cared about very deeply, but then became separated by beliefs and livelihoods which seemed too different to ever resolve. Most readers will agree that one of the most powerful insights which can come from such reconciliations is that “beneath the multitudes of identities, (and) the differences in culture, language, ritual, and beliefs, we all desire contact that comes in forms of love, community, respect, dignity, recognition, and acknowledgment.”</p>
<p>In this time of unprecedented challenges—and especially in the context of collaborative problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before—there are going to be countless opportunities for reconciliation. There are going to be countless opportunities for arriving at a new appreciation of the personal qualities, skills, and beliefs of our neighbors and fellow citizens—personal qualities, skills, and beliefs which we once might have thought was only be directed towards outcomes with serious negative consequences for many people. And there are going to be countless opportunities for our neighbors and fellow citizens to become part of a system of mutual support and encouragement in our local communities, as we respond to multiple, unprecedented challenges. Many of us have already seen that these opportunities arise during the cooperative efforts needed to recover from massive natural disasters. And yet… many of us could miss out on this potential for reconciliation if the collaborative problem solving processes we are invited to participate in do not try to foster the powerful insight described in the previous paragraph.</p>
<p>Organizers of collaborative problem solving processes who believe that the exponential increase in compassion which needs to happen will happen, and the unprecedented level of problem solving that needs to happen will happen, will be focusing more on building a collaborative problem solving approach which people from every variety of circumstances can trust and believe in… trust and believe will make best use of the knowledge, skills, and resources each one of us has to contribute.</p>Chickens for freetag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-05-21:4670368:BlogPost:1192172015-05-21T18:33:26.000Zlolahttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/lola
<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I have 3 laying chickens and their coop that I need to find a new home for. We're moving and unfortunately were not able to find another landlord that would allow us to keep our chickens. Sadly, the house we are in is going to be demolished in a few months, so we find ourselves in this situation.</p>
<p>The coop is large, so would probably need to be dissassembled, but anyone with a truck who is handy could do it. And it's free - also wired for a light in the winter. This is a…</p>
<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I have 3 laying chickens and their coop that I need to find a new home for. We're moving and unfortunately were not able to find another landlord that would allow us to keep our chickens. Sadly, the house we are in is going to be demolished in a few months, so we find ourselves in this situation.</p>
<p>The coop is large, so would probably need to be dissassembled, but anyone with a truck who is handy could do it. And it's free - also wired for a light in the winter. This is a really cute set up, and I would prefer it not go to a landfill.</p>
<p>The chickens are about a year old, and consist of an easter egger, a light brahma and a cuckoo maran. Please email me, cytoplasm AT gmail.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>Proposal for new section in small to mid-sized town newspapers: the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Projecttag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-05-16:4670368:BlogPost:1192052015-05-16T16:41:35.000ZStefan Pastihttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/StefanPasti
<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br></br>(Press Release in “Letter to the Editor” format)<br></br>May 16, 2015<br></br>Contact: Stefan Pasti<br></br>Cell: (703) 209-2093 (US)<br></br>stefanpasti@gmx.com<br></br>(511 words)<br></br><br></br></p>
<p>Proposal for new section in small to mid-sized town newspapers: the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project<br></br><br></br><br></br></p>
<p>I am writing to share information and resources with you about a proposal for a new section in local newspapers, especially newspapers…</p>
<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br/>(Press Release in “Letter to the Editor” format)<br/>May 16, 2015<br/>Contact: Stefan Pasti<br/>Cell: (703) 209-2093 (US)<br/>stefanpasti@gmx.com<br/>(511 words)<br/><br/></p>
<p>Proposal for new section in small to mid-sized town newspapers: the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>I am writing to share information and resources with you about a proposal for a new section in local newspapers, especially newspapers associated with small and mid-sized towns.</p>
<p>The new section (the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education section) would be used to highlight and accumulate stories, personal experiences, and other forms of reader contributions which identify helpful people and valuable resources, and reinforce important community goals.<br/><br/></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Form of Community Service Work</span></p>
<p>The Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project is an example of community service work which can be done by local newspapers, which:</p>
<p>a) highlights what is valuable and important in everyday community life <br/>b) encourages positive neighbor to neighbor relations<br/>c) provides records of community life which can be used by future historians<br/>d) helps increase consensus for a local specific, commonly agreed upon definition of “the greater good”.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br/>Why is this Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project Needed?</span></p>
<p>We now live in the most complex cultural landscapes ever created on Planet Earth.</p>
<p>Access the search engines on the Internet; Wikipedia; YouTube; Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.); professional networks, etc. on Ning Platforms; iPhones and iPads; television networks; cable networks; newspapers; and radios mean that however carefully schools—and other educational institutions—attend to their social responsibilities, there are countless ways in which unworthy features of our complex world can counteract, rather than reinforce, important educational goals.</p>
<p>It is in such a context—in the most complex cultural landscapes ever created—that the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project suggests there is a profound need for not just schools (and other educational institutions)—but all citizens—to recognize their social responsibilities to identify and reinforce only those cultural “building blocks” which help create and support commonly agreed upon definitions of “the greater good”.</p>
<p>Thus, rather than confining our definition of civic duty to voting in elections, or to contributing to the service work of one organization (important as such civic duty and community service work is), many people may—as a result of the NTNCE Project—come to the realization that even the smallest events in everyday community life can be positive contributions to:</p>
<p>1) the education goals of the local public school system<br/>2) increasing consensus on a local specific, commonly agreed upon, and revitalized “moral compass”<br/>3) the greater good of all residents in the local community and region<br/><br/></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Supporting Documents for NTNCE Project</span></p>
<p>There are currently 3 supporting documents for the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project:</p>
<p>1) the above message (presented as a Press Release in a Letter to the Editor format) (511 words)<br/>2) a 6 page Project Overview (1,916 words)<br/>3) a 16 page Project Proposal</p>
<p>These NTNCE supporting documents can be accessed at the Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project webpage, at the website for The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at <a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a> ).<br/><br/></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Seeking Pioneers</span></p>
<p>The NTNCE Project is hoping to find managing editors, publishers, and whole communities who would like to be among the pioneers experimenting with this new approach to the community service role of newspapers.<br/><br/></p>
<p>For a Greater Common Good,</p>
<p>Stefan Pasti, Founder and Resource Coordinator<br/>The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (<a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a>)<br/>stefanpasti@gmx.com<br/><br/></p>
<p>________________________________<br/><br/><br/></p>
<p>The Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project is a part of The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at <a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a> ). The CPCS Initiative provides research for critical challenges alerts, and support for collaborative problem solving initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation.</p>
<p>Stefan Pasti is the founder and resource coordinator for The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (at <a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a> ).</p>
<p>Mr. Pasti’s most recent critical challenge assessment/solution guides include: “IPCR Critical Challenge Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report” (444 pages; January, 2012); “Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors” (589 pages; November, 2013); and “An Assessment of the Most Critical Challenges of Our Times” (36 pages; May, 2015)[Note: the source references in this document are the recently confirmed, and all in one place (in this shorter document)]</p>
<p>During November-December, 2014, Mr. Pasti created key documents for The Recalilbrating Our “Moral Compasses” Survey Project, which include a 74 page prospectus, a 13 page overview, and a 5 page “Project Overview and Invitation to Collaborate”. Those key documents are accessible at the ROMC Survey Project webpage, on The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative website (at <a href="http://www.cpcs.co">www.cpcs.co</a> ).</p>Village Vancouver Permaculture Blitz @ Aberthau Garden Projecttag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-04-20:4670368:BlogPost:1184542015-04-20T02:30:00.000ZMichel Boninhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/MichelBonin
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979050800?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979050800?profile=original" width="320"></img></a> " <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052526?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052526?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="240"></img></a> On 18 April 2015, I was privileged to be one of the participants to the first event of the 2015-2017 <a href="http://http//www.villagevancouver.ca/group/permaculture-village" target="_blank">Village Vancouver Permaculture</a> Garden Project taking place at…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979050800?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979050800?profile=original" width="320" class="align-left"/></a>" <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052526?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="240" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1979052526?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="240" class="align-right"/></a>On 18 April 2015, I was privileged to be one of the participants to the first event of the 2015-2017 <a href="http://http//www.villagevancouver.ca/group/permaculture-village" target="_blank">Village Vancouver Permaculture</a> Garden Project taking place at <a href="http://www.westpointgrey.org/program-facility/aberthau-mansion/" target="_blank">Aberthau Mansion</a>. This also happens to be where I spent one of the happiest summers in my life back in 1968, living in what was then a Canadian Forces' officers residence. Nowadays, its gardens, with their micro-system in a world-class urban recreational setting, could offer international visibility and easy accessibility to showcase future permaculture design and demonstration projects for sustainable habitat.<br/> While lots of knowledge, questions and answers were shared with and between participants, it turned out a quite unique way for perhaps fifteen of us to apply the techniques while starting to build a hugelkultur and an herb spiral. In the photo herewith explaining the latter in the background is <a href="http://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/GrantWatson" target="_blank">Grant Watson</a>. A BC-based leading expert in permaculture design, Grant (also seen here in close-up wearing sun glasses next to me) was able to convey and lead patiently and succinctly all through the five hours this 'educational work party'.<br/>
A neophyte of permaculture gardening, I was able to learn the basics through an entertaining workout of both the mind and muscles, therefore for me avoiding what otherwise could have inspired a repetitive technical discourse to vent one's constant political pet peeve.<br/>
For the anecdotal history buff, I should mention that this new permaculture-inspired garden is located on what used to be among the original single tennis courts on ciment surface in Vancouver."<br/>
/Michel Bonin</p>Need a greenhouse?tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-01-26:4670368:BlogPost:1164002015-01-26T04:47:53.000ZBrennan Wautershttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/BrennanWauters
<p>I now have a service to offer Vancouver and Greater Vancouver: custom made Greenhouse/Solarium Fabrication and Installation. These greenhouses are locally made and installed.</p>
<p>Want to reduce carbon emissions? The highest energy return on energy invested of any human endeavour is the greenhouse where you can assist nature in growing food. Whether you rent or own your yard and would like to have a greenhouse to grow food or want a solarium for your hot tub? We offer installed…</p>
<p>I now have a service to offer Vancouver and Greater Vancouver: custom made Greenhouse/Solarium Fabrication and Installation. These greenhouses are locally made and installed.</p>
<p>Want to reduce carbon emissions? The highest energy return on energy invested of any human endeavour is the greenhouse where you can assist nature in growing food. Whether you rent or own your yard and would like to have a greenhouse to grow food or want a solarium for your hot tub? We offer installed greenhouses. They are temporary structures with no maintenance, and can be removed with ease. They store compact and I’m willing to buy-back your greenhouse when you no longer need it.</p>
<p>No work or assembly necessary; we assemble the greenhouse for you. All you have to do is maintain your plants or enjoy your hot tub while reducing the amount of energy you expend for heating your tub while offering privacy without compromising outdoor air and sun.</p>
<p>Standard Sizes: <br/> 10 x 10 - $780 + taxes<br/>
10 x 14 – $850 + taxes<br/>
10 x 20 – $910 + taxes<br/>
12 x 20 – $1170 + taxes <br/>
12 x 27 – $1340 + taxes<br/>
12 x 30 –$1490 + taxes</p>
<p>Custom Sizes built to your specifications (extra charges apply). These prices are basic prices; addition options available at extra cost.</p>
<p>Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested. Message me through Facebook or contact me at waub@hotmail.com, or call 604-727-4694.</p>
<p>Brennan.</p>How about a Fossil Fuel Divestment Day event? Feb 13 & 14?tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2014-12-30:4670368:BlogPost:1157492014-12-30T16:49:34.000ZJonathan Riderhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/JonathanRider
<p>Anyone interested in getting together on this in Burnaby?</p>
<p>Anyone interested in getting together on this in Burnaby?</p>