Thanks to everyone who came out to Tuesday's general meeting! There were about 60 attendees, and lots of interest in the various TG projects that are underway or on the drawing board. We're excited about the upcoming Resilience 2012 Festival. Stay tuned for the festival website, coming soon. Also, there will be web pages and signup forms for folks interested in the Earthship project, the Treemobile, Urban Food Working Group film nights, the HRA, and much, much more!
Peak oil. Climate change. Economic instability. Environmental degradation. These are just a few of the most pressing issues of our time. The Transition movement, which is spreading quickly around the world, provides a foundation upon which to build a promising future together that is more fulfilling, creative and sustainable. Transition is a process for strengthening community resilience and building sustainability in a post-peak oil world that is uniquely designed by each community based on their local needs and resources.
Transition Guelph is proud to be Canada's second official Transition Initiative, joining Peterborough, Ontario, Canada's first, on May 14, 2009. The transition movement is gaining a strong foothold in Canada and around the world, with over 275 official Transition Initiatives worldwide and, as of December, 2011, twenty-two in Canada. Thousands more communities worldwide are in the initial organizing stages. (For a complete list, see www.transitionnetwork.org.)
What's a Permablitz? A community of volunteers who regularly congregate to implement Permaculture Design plans in backyards around Guelph, not-for-profit, and at cost. Based on reciprocity: in other words, you attend three blitzes, help out, gain knowledge (and have fun!) and you are then entitled to have a blitz at your place.
How resilient is your household to the possibility of unexpected shocks and disruption? The Household Resilience Assessment is a way of evaluating your present ability to adapt to a variety of natural and man-made shocks that could occur in the future. It allows you and your family to determine how prepared you are to survive through the effects of Peak Oil, Climate Change, Resource Depletion, and/or Damaged Ecosystems. Some of the effects of these shocks could be: declining economic conditions, intermittent loss of hydro, gas, or water, or possible disruptions in available food supplies.
What: A series of public conversations on environmental and economic crises
When: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 @ 7:00 pm
Where: 10 Carden (across from City Hall)
The opening conversation is: "Too Many People? Population, Immigration and the Environmental Crisis", with guest Ian Angus, author of Climate & Capitalism.
Co-sponsored by Transition Guelph, Guelph Campus Co-op and Guelph and District Labour Council.
Event Poster (PDF)
What: Classes, Workshops, & Hands-on Experiential Work
When: Sunday, February 26, 2012 to Monday, February 27, 2012
Where: The Living Centre, 5871 Bells Rd., London, Ontario, N6P 1P3
At its simplist, permaculture is an eco-logical approach to design. It can be described as a way of thinking, making decisions and designing things based on observing nature. Permaculture has a set of ethics and design principles which can be applied to all areas of our lives, including gardens, energy systems, business, economy and social structures.
In this special workshop workshop you will learn the basics of permaculture. Permaculture is a design science for creating regenerative human habitat. Whether you're heavy into gardening, want to learn about renewable energy, or determined to clean water is freely available, this introductory experience is for you! There's something in this presentation for everybody.
Whither the Windcatcher?. An interesting article in Conservation Magazine about an old passive ventilation technology that's getting some new attention due to its efficiency and zero-energy consumption, the windcatcher.
January 23, 2012
Boom and Doom: great (if disturbing) article from New Scientist. And reprinted in the Transition Initiatives Daily. New Scientist published an interesting article this month about the “Limits to Growth” study from he 70’s. Their studies showed that the current boom will be followed by a collapse of the economy. The reason that the model crashed was because its hypothetical people did not respond quickly enough to avoid problems. And what do we see in reality: we are not responding quick enough to combat global warming. We are not responding quick enough to deal with the economic crisis. So I think the report’s researchers were right in their assessment of human behavior! The other interesting observation they made is that the only way to avoid a collapse is to limit growth. I could not agree more.
For the full article, please click on the above link.
January 20, 2012
Why this is an amazing time to be alive. While I don't always find the articles in Transition Voice to be particularly compelling or inspiring, I must say this one really captures the vast possibilities of our time, and persuades us not to squander this unique historical opportunity to build something better. Inspiring.
The Transition Guelph Fruit Tree Project is a continuation of the great work that has been done over the past 10 years by Guelph's own Appleseed Collective. The project is threefold, to document and map the locations of all existing fruit and nut-bearing trees within Guelph so that we have a comprehensive list (trees on private property would be included with the permission of the owner.)
The project would also promote the further planting of fruit and nut trees in Guelph, in collaboration with the Treemobile Project (see below) to increase our community's food resilience and tree canopy, and finally, to help with harvesting when the fruit is ripe (again, with permission). Fruit is shared with the owner, with the volunteers, and with local community kitchens.
Movies, we got 'em! The Transition Guelph lending library has over 30 titles on the shelf, and you can borrow them, free of charge, for a period of two weeks. Hold a screening in your home for family and friends, discuss the movie afterwards. It's a great way to raise awareness around the key issues of our time, and to examine the possibilities for change. Here are a few random titles for you to check out:
The most recent forum post was titled: "Help create space for alternatives to coal and nuclear", posted in the Green Energy forum on Tue, Jan 17, 2012.
Previous forum post was titled: "Re: Fair Trade meeting on January 10, 2012", posted in the Let's make Guelph a Fair Trade Town forum on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
The most recent blog posting was titled: "2012 Environmental Sciences Symposium - Resilience and Community", posted on Mon, Jan 23, 2012:
by Ingrid Sorensen
“What makes agriculture and communities resilient?" Go ahead and write down a few ideas… How do those ideas look to someone who lived seven generati...
The first run of the Treemobile in April was a huge success! Our terrific team of volunteers planted over 30 fruit trees, and over a hundred fruit-bearing shrubs! We're planning another Treemobile run in the fall, so stay tuned. We'll give plenty of notice when our catalog is online.
Among the many enhancements will be the ability to pay for your order online via PayPal, and book an online web-chat consultation with one of our tree experts!
The Alternative Building and Retrofit group is dedicated to informing the community about design innovations that can be used in new building construction and strategies that can be employed when retrofitting existing homes and buildings to increase energy efficiency and reduce our community's ecological footprint.
LGBTTIQQ Positive Space