OCCUPY THE FARM tells the story of 200 urban farmers who walk onto a publicly-owned research farm at UC Berkeley and plant two acres of crops in order to save the land from becoming a real-estate development. More info about the film…
Monday Oct 12, 6-9 PM. Sunnyvale Public Library
A new Green Kids Magazine is here, just in time for Halloween, thanks to Rani Jayakumar and her family for the ideas for kids of all ages. Click to download the whole magazine.
By David Herron
Our transportation system is one of the key culprits in climate change, environmental degradation, the global war to control access over oil supplies, the threat of peak oil, the manipulation of domestic politics, and more. The transportation system is dependent on fossil fuels, worsening all those issues and more. The inherent inefficiency of the car-dominated urban design we inhabit degrades our quality of life instead of the great boon we were promised. Unfortunately not enough people recognize these problems, and the powers-that-be make decisions which worsen the overall result.
I’ve thought about and worked on these issues for years, dating back to the mid-70’s between the two faux Arab Oil Crises. As a teenager, rather than studying which car was fastest, or coolest looking (1967 Mustang rocks), I looked for ones with the highest fuel efficiency and pondering a career in developing solar panel technology.
At college the computer room, instead, lured me into a software engineering career, while those issues remained in the back of my mind. By 2009 I could no longer contain myself, because the worry was too strong. In September 2008, attending the ASPO conference in Sacramento amplified my worries. By December 2008, there was an official training on starting Transition Towns initiatives. Taking that, and reading the Transition Handbook, was eye opening, and like a breath of fresh air. Within a few months Transition Silicon Valley was launched. In the meantime the global financial collapse erased Sun Microsystems, and my job, from the planet. With a hefty layoff package and the freedom to finally do some work to contribute to solutions, I took some time to study my options.
One thing led to another, and a career in citizen journalism / blogging was launched. The driving idea is to help enough people know the truth to make a positive difference. Today the vehicle for that work is my blog website, LongTailPipe.com. It’s not only a news blog about electric vehicles and related technology, but contains a large information/education section going over the issues below.
Reworking the transportation system is a multi-faceted problem, when looked at through the comprehensive thinking Transition encourages. It’s much more than replacing one kind of car with another kind of car, because that leaves a large number of unsolved problems.
Land use and grid lock: Individually owned cars are an inefficient way to move people around town. The current system wastes a large amount of land on highways and parking lots. One needs transportation and it’s possible to access transportation without owning a car. One should do what they can to ride bicycles and take mass transit. Through smart phone devices one can access services to ease transportation choices, from easier transit planning, to accessing car sharing services, to ride-sharing services like Uber/Lyft. You don’t have to park a car you don’t own.
Self Driving Cars: In the coming years “self driving cars” could drastically change all this. First, computerized control means they’ll be able to travel much more densely spaced than human-driven cars can, and therefore use road space more efficiently. Second, all the car companies are pondering what amounts to a self driving taxi that has no human driver that you beckon via a smart phone app. We can see prototypes of these cars on Silicon Valley’s streets today, and all the car companies have laboratories in Silicon Valley to research this technology.
Climate and Environment: Fossil fuels make a huge negative impact on the world around us. The sooner we stop using fossil fuels the better. Where natural gas and coal primarily are used to generate electricity, crude oil is the primary transportation fuel. Electric vehicles are a great alternative because they’re 100% clean at the tailpipe (no tailpipe), don’t drip oil on the highway, etc.
Clean Electricity: The source of one’s electricity is very important, so while an electric car is 100% clean the electricity may not be. California’s electricity is very clean, but still uses lots of natural gas (a fossil fuel) and therefore still contributes to climate change. It’s necessary to couple a switch to electric cars with a switch to renewable electricity.
Peak Oil: Of course we’re facing a bleak future of declining oil supplies. Fracking is currently giving us a glut of oil and natural gas, but research shows fracked oil fields have a short lifetime and quickly go into depletion. This gives us another reason to quickly get ourselves off fossil fuels.
Vehicle resource impact: Similar to peak oil is the depletion of every other resource, such as the metals used to build everything around us. Big vehicles use more resources to build, and therefore deplete the resources more quickly. Decreasing the number of vehicles owned per person should fix this problem, for example by using mass transit. Using smaller vehicles like motorcycles or bicycles also reduce resource requirements.
Wars in oil-rich areas: Almost every current war today is a fight over access to crude oil resources. Those “terrorists” we’re fighting in various places are really fighting against meddling from Western powers whose goal is manipulating whole countries into providing crude oil supplies. The best way to ease world tensions is to reduce or eliminate fossil fuel consumption.
Politics: The remaining oil in the ground is a huge economic incentive to the oil companies to extract that oil and sell us the oil products. There’s a trillion or so remaining barrels of oil, worth $100 trillion or more in economic activity. That’s fueling the manipulation of U.S. politics in order to ensure the oil companies can reap those rewards. Which means we have a huge problem to tackle in terms of negating that manipulation in order to stop fossil fuel consumption.
The Pope’s Encyclical book group kicked off 9/24, with 15 people from the Transition Palo Alto community, all interested in learning more about what Pope Francis has written in his recent Encyclical on climate change, “Laudato Si,” or “Care for Our Common Home.” With Francis’ visit and his address to Congress early in day fresh in the minds of many, it seemed a perfect time to start exploring this unique document by a world leader who is clearly trying to shake things up by speaking frankly and eloquently about climate change, the plight of the poor, the political and economic system, and corrupting influence of power, wealth, and greed.
The initial session focused on the introduction to the Encyclical, while the next six sessions will each deal with the main chapters in the document. There’s also a possibility of follow-on sessions to discuss actions that we can take, or to address some of the issues that were put in “storage” as important, but not directly related to the Encyclical document.
The book group is open to others who want to read the document and have a meaningful conversation about what it means and how it can motivate and inspire social action. If you’re interested, please send an email to barbara@ontrk.com. We’ll answer any questions and give you detail on how to participate.
Click to download the Encyclical document (free).
Pope Francis Encyclical book group guidelines.
And these are some topics we put on the “shelf” for possible future discussion:
Despite the beastly hot day, cool times reigned at the September Share Faire (at the Mitchell Park bowl). Kids of all ages played with the noise vibration machine, sampled tasty sourdough bread, browsed the garden, household, craft, and clothing items, and more. People had flocked to Mitchell Park to be outdoors, and lots of newcomers stopped by.
Laudato si’, or “Care for Our Common Home” (a.k.a. the Pope’s Encyclical), is an extraordinary document that speaks eloquently about the profound challenges facing the world today and calls for swift and dramatic action. The overriding issue is climate change, but not in isolation – the Pope describes how climate change is inextricably tied to social justice, the growing divide between rich and poor, and the economic institutions that perpetuate the status quo.
What does the Encyclical say? What is its potential impact? What does it mean for the Transition Town Community? How can Transition activists use it as a tool for awareness raising and action?
If you’re interested in reading, conversation, and ideas for action in response to this remarkable document, this book group is for you.
6-8 sessions, starting Thursday Sept 24. Locations will vary, so you must RSVP! Send email to barbara@ontrk.com to sign up, or if you have questions.
The encyclical is available for free – you can download it here.
Housing availability and cost are critical problems in the Bay Area, and Vikki Velkoff wants to change that. She’s intrigued by the tiny house movement – how tiny houses save money while reducing the housing footprint in a big way. She’s also become active in promoting accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which could help solve the housing problem locally without requiring large new developments.
Vikki writes:
Tiny houses have been in the news the past several years. Besides blogs to read about tiny house lifestyles, one can watch TV programs about going tiny. Tiny houses can be affordable, sustainable, and a way to build community. Some folks seem to think they are just a fad. Only time will tell. Recently, 40,000 people attended a tiny house jamboree in Colorado.
Accessory dwelling units (also known as granny flats or in-law units) have been around a long time. ADUs can be a way for seniors to “age in place” by supplementing their income with rent from the ADU or create housing for other family members. And, it’s a great way to create “in-fill’ housing in established neighborhoods.
In 1982, the state of California mandated that all municipalities allow single family homeowners to build an ADU on their property. Unfortunately, the law was amended in 1984 so that each city could decide on ADU zoning. As a consequence, some cities (such as Palo Alto) will not allow ADUs on lots smaller than 9000 sf. But, now that communities are feeling the pressure to build more affordable housing, some cities have revised zoning to favor ADUs for all homeowners. Palo Alto Forward has recently started to research ADU zoning and hopes to convince the city of Palo Alto to change zoning to allow more ADUs. Stay tuned! Learn more about ADUs: accessorydwellings.org
Mitchell Park – The Bowl
Sunday, September 20
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Plan to join us between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM on September 20.
Here are the confirmed teachers/skill-sharers:
We’re all affected profoundly by the money and banking system, but few of us have any clue what it’s about, why it seems to be so messed up, and what we can do.
But that’s changing!
Those fortunate to attend the first Essential Knowledge for Transition talk with Marco Vangelisti Sunday 9/13 got to get up close and personal with our money and banking system. Marco is a former investment manager and scholar with a dedication to Transition principles and constructive change – and a fabulous communicator. We learned about how money is created, why debt is inescapable in our system, how private institutions are doing work that should be public – and how the system can be reformed to to retain the positive elements of the current structure while fixing the dysfunctional and destructive aspects.
We’ll post a video of Marco’s talk when it’s available. Meanwhile, don’t miss the second and third talks in this outstanding series:
Sunday Oct 18 noon-2pm: Part 2: Our economic system
Why are most people working harder, but fewer are benefiting? How can we move beyond growth-at-all costs to a more compassionate and just society?
Sunday Oct 25: noon-2pm Part 3: Our financial system
Why is financial capital divorced from productive activity, and how can we fix it? Learn how communities are transforming investment to be local, democratic, and productive.
REGISTER in advance here (it will help us know who’s coming and how much to provide for refreshments): http://bit.ly/EK4Transition
Each session is separate and can stand alone, but come to all three for the full story. Child care provided. Donation: $10 per session (no one turned away for lack of funds).
Transition Palo Alto 