Events will be taking place around the country during the week of January 16-21 to bring people together and express support for values and policies that may be threatened by the new regime in Washington. Many Transitioners have expressed interest in local events, so we want to share the some with you. Thanks to Debbie Mytels for the information.

Women’s March

On January 21, the day after the Presidential Inauguration, women from all over the country (and men and children, too!) will join in a “March on Washington” to show their support for human rights, civil liberties and social justice for all. “Sister” marches are also being organized in dozens of American cities, including three in the Bay Area:  San Jose (10 am to 3 pm), Oakland (10 am to 3 pm) and San Francisco (rally from 4-6 pm and a march down Market Street, 6 to 9 pm.)  For details about where to meet, click here. If you’re planning to go to one of the Bay Area events, the organizers request that you sign up, so they will know how many to plan for.

Here’s a statement of purpose from the national organizing group:  The Women’s March is a national movement to unify and empower everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, and social justice for all. We gather in community to find healing and strength through tolerance, civility, and compassion. We welcome all people to join us as we unite locally and nationally.  Singer Harry Belafonte and women’s rights advocate Gloria Steinem have been named the national co-chairs of this event.

Other Events

Events are being held locally to stand in support of human rights, social justice and environmental protection:

Thursday, January 19, 7 – 8:30 pm — Multifaith Service of Concern and Commitment offered by Multifaith Voices of Peace at the Palo Alto Unitarian Universalist Church,505 E. Charleston, PA.  The website invitation states: We will come together to voice our concerns about the coming four years in our country, to pray for strength and wisdom, and to commit together to act for justice, compassion and equality for the American society and the world. We will share music, readings, prayers, silence and insights to offer guidance, inspiration and courage, and to strengthen the bonds of our beautiful diverse community.

Friday, January 20, 5 to 7 pm — “Not Our President” vigil organized by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center. At the corner of El Camino Real and Embarcadero in Palo Alto. Bring your signs and flashlights.  More info:  http://www.peaceandjustice.org/inauguration-day-protest/

Enjoy this January issue of Green Kids Mag, prepared by Rani Jayakumar and her kids. january-2017-green-kids-mag

And go here to see the Green Kids Mag archives and sign up to receive new issues when they come out.

The holiday party was a great opportunity to visit with friends and to share how we’re living our lives during these difficult times.

But the holidays are also for celebration. This year the TPA steering committee wanted to celebrate all fabulous volunteers who have helped with TPA events, and to learn about other work that people are doing in our community. We asked attendees to write down what they, or others, have been doing and share with the group.

What an inspiration to hear all the fine work that Transitioners have been doing! celebratingvolunteers–2016. And let us know if you have more people or activities to add (transition-palo-alto@gmail.com).

We forgot to take photos this time, but Herb Moore did grab a couple of shots of people helping during clean-up, which seems appropriate for an event that celebrated volunteers!

Come celebrate the holidays at our annual Holiday Party Friday December 16!  Bring a potluck dish and any friends and family to join the fun.

This year we’d like to show appreciation for all the wonderful volunteers who have helped with Transition activities and those who are working in our community at large.

• Are you doing work in our community that you’d like to tell others about?
• Is someone else doing good work that you’d like let people know about?

We’d also like to exchange ideas about what each of us can do in the new year.

Friday December 16
7-9pm
Fireside Room, Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto

December 11, 2016, 1:00 – 3:00 PM, Cubberley Community Center, Room D1, 4000 Middlefield, Palo Alto

Make sharing a part of your holiday season!

This time we are asking for you to keep the Goods Share to ONLY seasonal decorations and garden (and related) items.  Our Goods Sharing has gotten a little bit out of control, with many things just left.  We do bring them to Goodwill or FOPAL, but it is a lot of work for our volunteers to find new homes for things.  We prefer to share things with a story with people we know, so that we can use the process to build community.  (This is not to say that we won’t hold a “Freecycle”-style Goods Share in the future – we will, but not every time.)

From 1:15 to 2:15 we will hold a Storytelling Circle.  We ask you to bring a story of the holidays – and there are many holidays clustered around the change of the year! – and share them with your community.  We’re looking for as much diversity as we can find – if you have something from your family’s culture, that would be particularly fine.  We’ll film the storytelling for possible inclusion on our web-site (for all of those who are willing).

From 2:30 to 3:00 we will have a seasonal food Skill Share.  Something easy to make from the produce that’s available here and now.  Stay tuned for details.

Volunteer  We would happy for you to join us. There are many opportunities:  greeting, promotion, organizing, set-up, clean-up and more?  Please send email to  transitionpaloalto@gmail.com and let us know if you can help.

Looking forward to seeing you!

People came with anxiety, fear, and a craving to be with others. At a special Third Friday heart and soul session, attendees got a chance to speak of their feelings, what’s been hardest since the election, what they’re doing for personal care and the care of others, and what each of us can do to as a positive step (personally, for others, in our community, and beyond).

At the end, I read excerpts from “We were made for these times,” an essay by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, as an inspiration to move forward. Click to read a version of the essay.
–Barbara Weinstein

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NOTE THE LOCATION AND DATE CHANGE FOR THIS MONTH

If you feel shaken, discouraged, frustrated, angry, or despairing about the election, you’re not alone. Many in our community feel that the ground has shifted out from under our feet, and there’s no safe place left to stand.

At a time like this, it’s essential that we come together – to grieve, reflect, commiserate, and figure out how to move on. Because we must – that’s how we affirm our humanity, our love for each other, and our love for life on this exquisite planet.

Please join us for a special THIRD Friday heart and soul session. Let’s draw strength from each other and find ways to foster hope. As Victoria Armigo wrote to me this morning, “Let’s find a way to not choose the path of cynicism. Just one small step in the loving compassionate direction,  just might light our way…”

Friday November 18, 7:30pm
Los Altos Public Library
13 S. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos 

The election’s over, and now the work begins (should begin!). A few years ago, Joe Simitian, then a California State senator, started ‘There oughta be a law,’ a contest to encourage California citizens to propose legislation to improve quality of life in California. Current State Senator Jerry Hill now sponsors the program. Senator Hill writes:

The contest is open to all constituents of the 13th Senate District and allows residents to submit their ideas for improving the quality of life in our community and/or the state of California. Ideas can vary from local community improvements to statewide reforms. Applicants can create new laws or repeal / revise laws already on the books. I will select a winner in February and work toward implementing the reform during the legislative session. Applications can be submitted online and are due by January 15, 2016.

Do you have an idea for a law?   The TPA steering committee would love to work with you on a proposal. Please share your idea by sending a message to transitionpaloalto@gmail.com. We’ll get in touch with you to follow up. We’ll also be announcing the contest at TPA events in November and December.

To learn more about the contest, go to http://sd13.senate.ca.gov/submit-bill-idea. To help inspire you, the page includes a description past contest winners.

Submitted proposals:

• Darshana Maya Greenfield:
  • So much of U.S. legislation / propositions cover more than one thing.  Usually one part is a good idea, and another part is not so useful.  Or the idea is good, but the implementation is not.I think our laws should (by law!) just cover one thing, so that people / legislators can vote for what is good, and not have a bunch of bad stuff come along with it.
• Peter Ruddock:
  • Imbalance of jobs and housing is the leading cause of traffic, which releases Greenhouse gases and other pollution, and wastes vast amounts of commuters’ time, among other things.  Palo Alto has approximately 60,000 residents and approximately 200,000 jobs, and so is the center of predictable traffic jams every weekday.  The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) tries to address this problem by setting housing and business targets in areas that are out of balance, but with limited success.  The state can add teeth to this effort, by mandating balance for each city, with penalties for those jurisdictions which do not show progress in addressing the issue.
• rani’s son:
  • All poor people should get at least a tiny house or some kind of shelter.
• rani’s daughter:
  • People should say only friendly things to each other except to bad guys.
• Paul Higgins
  • There oughta be a law regulating homeless encampments. It is obvious that shelters and indoor living are not a solution for every homeless person, given the diversity of mental illnesses, and the safety issues with many shelters. There seems to be a ‘war on the homeless’ currently. Many recent laws criminalize homelessness, and every time a encampment springs up, police wait until it is well established and then tear it all down and clear it out- and to what end? Where are these people supposed to go?

    We should enact a law that legalizes a regulated homeless encampment. This could use vacant/blighted parcels, and designated camping spots, and be monitored by community police or liasons. It would also include facilities such as trash cans/ compost piles, portapotties/compost toilets, potable water fountains, showers, and sheet-mulched areas for camping. The area could be re-mulched every so often. This could fall under the purview of parks/public works/sherrif/health system, or more sensibly be a combined effort with some capacity/staff time given by each department.

• Tom Kabat
  • To meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets we to need to transition from gas water heating to new electric Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWH) that efficiently use electricity to capture ambient heat to for water heating.  HPWHs also allow the deployment of additional renewable energy to the grid since they are a controllable load that can charge up a tank of water when the grid has excess electricity and can coast across the electric tight periods.  Installing the HPWH in retrofit cases currently requires licenses in two areas (an electrical license and a plumbing license or a full general contractors license.)  To meet the need for jobs and a low cost installations a new simple license should be created.  HPWH installer license ( trained and tested to remove gas water heaters, cap gas lines, install electric conduit and a simple 240 volt circuit and install the HPWH and the associated condensate drain line.  The licenses could be called “Electrification License” since a subset of the skills needed would also allow the installation of home Electric Vehicle chargers ( level 2 or level 1 ).
    Also a law should encourage local building departments to develop a simple conforming building permit category (not separate full electrical and plumbing permits) for HPWH with a single inspection of the installation.  The permit should be available online and in a post installation mode as many water heaters need to be replaced as they fail before offices open.

Thanks to all who brought excellent questions and thoughtful answers to the Fourth Friday election roundtable October 28.

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Thanks to the October Share Faire and Costume Swap, local kids of all ages are now ready for Halloween. It’s the sharing community at its best – kids who want to look their best (or scariest) on Halloween matched up with grandparents cleaning out their old stashes of costumes and families with kids who’ve outgrown their garb from previous years.

Kids also got a chance to exercise their creative spirit by making masks at the craft table.

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