Monthly Archives: April 2011

Happiness Circle April 26 (Conversation/Community group)

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One of Transition PA’s regular workshop groups is the Conversation, Community and Calling which meets every other Tuesday at World Centric from 6:45 – 8:45.

Here are our upcoming events and minutes to give you an idea of what we do. Admission is open and newcomers are welcome.


April 26 – Happiness Circles

Cecile Andrews, who developed the idea of Simplicity Circles, will give a preview of her new project: Happiness Circles. (It turns out that Happiness is a hot topic these days! See Happiness movement hits the UK

The Community Happiness Circle:
Discover how a small group of committed citizens can come together to support each other in the pursuit of happiness and social change — pursuing both personal and social wellbeing. Learn about the new research on happiness and change. Explore the three keys to happiness: connection, calling, and celebration: how to form a caring culture by building community, discovering our particular passion, and living with joie de vivre. The community happiness circle is part of a long tradition of people coming together to change their own lives and create a culture concerned about the common good.

May 10 – Bullying

William led a session on April 12, which we will be continuing with lots of discussion on May 10. We are covering:

* Interpersonal dynamics
* Latest research
* In the workplace
* Problems for activists
* Tactics
* Solutions

Possible Topics for the Future

How to use Facebook
For friendship, networking and activism

How to work with corporations – promises and pitfalls
Greenwashing and Class-B corporations
http://www.bcorporation.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing

What Inspired Us

We talked about bringing something creative that inspires us in our activism/engagement. In the April 12 meeting, Eitan, Barbara and Bart brought something. We may make this a regular part of our meetings. Here are the contributions for last week:

Eitan’s picks
Lova and Anarchy by Lina Wertmüller
a movie set in Mussolini’s Italy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070061/

The entire film is online

What is Life?
by physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life%3F

Bart’s picks

Vienen Los Pajaros (music Mikis Theodorakis, text Pablo Neruda)
Greek rhythms, surrealist imagery, a myth for Latin America

The Spanish and English for “The Coming of the Birds” appears in
https://files.nyu.edu/emf202/public/mt/CantoGeneralEN.html .

Barbara’s picks

Three Cups of Tea and the sequel, Stones Into Schools:
two books by Greg Mortenson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_the_King

For more schedule information, see the Transition Palo Alto calendar:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transitionpaloalto/cal///group/transitionpaloalto/?v=2&t=1302249600

Rethinking Cities: Film and Discussion Series

Posted on by Paul Heft
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A look at how sprawl replaced traditional neighborhoods and what can be done to bring back community and sustainability to our cities and towns.  Group discussion follows (each evening).
 
Films start at 7 PM (Friday evenings), Laurel Room,  Sunnyvale Community Center, 550 East Remington.  Doors open at 6:45.  FREE. 

May 6–Save Our Land,  Save Our Towns. (One hour) Small town newsman Tom Hylton explores why America’s towns have declined and what we can do to revive them.  “Development and zoning issues normally make the eyes glaze…  Tom Hylton makes them downright fascinating.” Philadelphia Daily News

May  13–Creating Places We Want to Live

  • Portland: A Sense of Place. (Design e2) (30 minutes) 2008 Thanks to a  progressive public transportation portfolio that includes train, streetcar, bus and aerial tram, Portland has become one of the most livable cities in the US.
  • Community by Design. (26  minutes) 1997 Learn about the key role that design plays in building community, from some leading progressive thinkers on the subject.

May 20–Welcoming Pedestrians and Cyclists to the City (selected from Streetfilms)

  • Copenhagen’s Car-Free Streets and Slow Speed Zones. (5:08)  2010
  • An Alfresco Talk with Jan Gehl. (9:48) 2008
  • Moving Beyond the Automobile:  Bicycling.  (3:36) 2011
  • Ciclovia Bogota.   (9:41) 2007
  • San Jose Hosts Inaugural Via Velo.  (4:25) 2010

June 3–Developing Sustainable Transportation:  Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Bicycle Infrastructure

  • Curitiba’s BRT Inspired BRT Around the World.  (Streetfilms)  (8:03) 2009
  • Guangzhou, China’s Winning the Future with BRT. (Streetfilms) (5:18)  2011
  • BRT:  LA’s Orange Line:  Bus Rapid Transit (Plus Bike Path). (Streetfilms) (4:56) 2009
  • Bike Sharing Paris:  Velo Liberte.  (Design e2) (30 minutes) 2008 The public-private Velib bike initiative encourages Parisians to forgo cars for bikes and public transportation, fostering a unique popular culture in the city.
  • Cycling Copenhagen Through North American Eyes. (Streetfilms) (10:45) 2010

This film and discussion series is co-sponsored by Sunnyvale Cool, Transition Silicon Valley, and Sierra Club (Loma Prieta Chapter).  Made possible in part by a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Take the Drive Less Challenge! Get your bike a free tune-up.

Posted on by promiserani
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Take the 2011 Drive Less Challenge! April 22 – May 5th, 2011

The Drive Less Challenge is a fun way to try alternatives to driving your car to work, school, shopping and other local places. Walking, biking and taking transit instead of driving are great ways to live healthy and reduce car traffic, the largest source of CO2 emissions in the Bay Area!

Sign up at drivelesschallenge.com to use a game-like trip log, share your stories, and to join the Transition Palo Alto group. You can join and also form your own additional groups – friends, co-workers, neighbors, and others – to compete for fun and for prize gift certificates from local shops.

The Drive Less Challenge is an innovative, grassroots movement that encourages people to use alternatives to solo driving as a way to live healthier, do more local shopping, and reduce car traffic and CO2 emissions. To volunteer or sponsor please contact drivelesschallenge at gmail dot com

See you out there walking, biking, on the bus or train!

If you do any biking (or want to), get your bike a free tune-up at Mike’s Bikes! More info …

Free Maintenance Clinics

Mike’s Bikes is here to teach you how to fix, maintain, and improve your bike – every Wednesday night, for free! All you need to bring is your bike and your questions. Our expert mechanics will provide you with hands-on instruction on just about anything you want to know.

Wednesdays at 6pm
Mike’s Bikes
3001 El Camino Real @ Olive Ave.

Learning how to fix your own bike will not only save you money, but will also empower you to tune and troubleshoot your bike out on the road or trail.

Every Wednesday night, we’ll provide participant-determined, hands-on instruction on common maintenance topics such as:

  • Fix a flat
  • Tune your shifters, derailleurs, and brakes
  • Fix a broken chain
  • Install accessories
  • Adjust your bike to better fit your body
  • Swap out worn components

And more (participant-determined)

Building Backyard Gardens

Posted on by Paul Heft
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On Saturday, May 14th, volunteers and community members in East Palo Alto will come together to deliver and install up to ten backyard gardens for eager beginning gardeners. Many of these gardeners have completed a twelve week course of cooking, nutrition, and gardening with Collective Roots, and are excited to launch new lifestyles full of healthier, more environmentally sustainable, home-grown food.

Come help install raised beds and plant spring gardens to make these new lifestyles a reality!

To register for this event, or if you have any questions, please e-mail:  nicole at collectiveroots dot org.