What a fabulous Share Faire March 15 at Lucie Stern Community Center. Beautiful day in the courtyard, with kids corner, knife skills, shoe making, bike repair, gardening, biochar, conversation circle, and more – plus oodles of stuff to share.

As many people and organizations explore how to “step things up” – to get more active in working for climate and environmental justice – March Fourth Friday will take a look at where we’ve come from.

A FIERCE GREEN FIRE: The Battle for a Living Planet explores fifty years of grassroots and global environmental activism – from conservation to climate change. The film premiered at Sundance in 2012 and has won acclaim at festivals around the world. Narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende and Meryl Streep, the film explores major fights and accomplishments of the environmental movement, and offers a deeper view of environmentalism as civilizational change, working to bring our industrial society into sustainable balance with nature.

Inspired by the book of the same name, A Fierce Green Fire brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds.

Friday March 27
7:15 for social time – Film starts promptly at 7:30 – discussion to follow
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Fireside Room
505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA
All ages welcome
$5 recommended donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

It’s the Spring Share Faire!

Lucie Stern Community Center, Fireside Room and Patio, Sunday, March 15,  11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Bring stuff to share – garden produce, books, clothes, crafts, toys, etc., AND learn new skills.

Plus fun activities for kids!

We’re excited to be holding our first Share Faire at Lucie Stern Community Center.  The Fireside Room will give us some wonderful indoor space (and a place to hide from the rain, if only!).  The Patio will allow us to spread out, holding many skill shares and sharing lots of goods, as usual.

We’ve had quite a few teachers approach us, some who’ve shared skills before and who have new things to offer, others who are first timers.  You’ll want to spend a little time visiting them all.  And there’s certainly room for a couple more:  if you have a skill to share, let us know and we’ll see if we can fit you in.  Send an e-mail to Peter Ruddock at PeterRuddock@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Confirmed skill shares so far:

• Cecile Andrews, author of Living Room Revolution, will stir up a little Patio Revolution.  She will lead a Conversation Circle about Conversation and Community!
• Tom Kabat will help with bike maintenance, chain oil and adjustment etc.  Bring any parts you want to install (e.g. new brake cable, brake pads, inner-tube etc.)  Experienced bike fixer / ergonomic adjuster available to work with you.
• Emily  Rosen CMT, will facilitate massage, working with people in pairs. Sooooothe and connect.. Partner up with a friend and learn some great techniques for 10 minute seated massage.    We could all use some TLC! 
• Amanda Kovattana will demo simple shoe making skills using readily available hand tools and instructions. As a student shoe maker in her second year, she will speak to her successes and failures and show shoe samples of both.
• Nick Turner of deep nature gardens will offer pre-sprouted “eco-packs” – small pots containing a variety of interesting plants, many of them not available in nurseries, and he will demonstrate how to create them using planting mix, a pot, and the special “eco-mix” seed mixture. People can make up an eco-pack of their own and take it home for sprouting. There will also be eco-mix in small bottles, useful for boosting the diversity of any nature garden, plus more cool stuff as available.
• Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) will be providing some give-a-ways and sharing information about their programs that benefit the community. NHN has a Backyard Program for Gardeners-Beekeepers-Coopsters.
  Come see their backyard garden program display, receive seeds and more.

Transitioners from the South Bay joined thousands of other people from around California at the Anti-Fracking march and rally in Oakland February 7.  The weather cooperated, with just enough rain to put smiles on drought-weary faces,  but not too much to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.

The event could have been entitled “Jerry Brown, listen up!” It was a personal message to the governor, who has positioned himself as a leader on climate policy, but has so far resisted efforts to ban the practice of hydraulic fracking in California. Major concerns about the process include contamination of groundwater from the chemicals involved and the amount of water involved in the extraction process.

Here are some pix from the march. And there are plenty of ways to get involved. Check out the Sierra Club and 350.org.

Pix from the march:

This month we’re delighted to bring back one of our all time favorite Films of Vision and Hope. A Convenient Truth shows how creative and forward-looking urban leaders in Curitiba, Brazil transformed their city, fashioning innovative solutions from major problems. And the work in Curitiba continues to influence urban planners around the world. It’s a good time to take a new look at the film, because one of the major innovations it highlights is bus rapid transit (BRT),  which is now a hot topic on the Peninsula. Learn what Curtiba did to make a difference, including why dedicated BRT buses and lanes are so important for increasing ridership and better serving the community. We’ll also hear from folks active in pushing for BRT locally.

Don’t miss it!

Friday February 27
7:30pm (come at 7:15 for social time)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Fireside Room
505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA 

All ages welcome
$5 recommended donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Craft nights for 2015 kicked off on January 27. Plenty of visiting, plus painting and collages made from old magazines and other almost-discarded stuff. Craft nights will be held roughly once a month – check your Transition Palo Alto email for details.

When have you felt true belonging—or the opposite—in this country or in your community? Have you had an experience that showed you something new or important about the state of our union? Is there a time you stood together with people in your community? These questions were answered with tears and laughter at the State of the Union story circle hosted by Fools Mission and Transition Palo Alto on Sunday Jan 25 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City.

The group included both recent immigrants and native born Americans. Each person shared a brief personal story that reflected on one of the questions. A common thread among the immigrants was coming to this country for a better life for themselves and their children. One woman spoke of her young daughter, recently diagnosed with diabetes, and how it is much easier for her to care for her daughter in the US. Another young woman spoke of her struggles to get an education in Mexico, and how blessed she feels to be in this country, where she has a better chance of getting an education. Others spoke of the violence in Ferguson and elsewhere, and the need for each of us to examine our own complicated feeling and actions.

More than 150 events nationwide contributed stories to a diverse group of 20 poets at the USDAC, who integrated them into a collective poem that went out on a live webcast on February 1. Check out this Fools Mission page with a link to the performance, as well as to the stories that were submitted: http://www.foolsmission.org/story-circles-peoples-state-of-the-union/

A second story circle was held on January 28 in Los Altos, with young people emerging as a common theme. One person expressed sorrow about the recent suicide of a Gunn high school student. Another spoke of his work as a teacher and the joys of connecting with groups of middle school and high school students. And another, a former English teacher, spoke about the memoirs that her students wrote and how moving they could be.

The stories circles were sponsored by the US Department of Art and Culture, an independent organization that promotes art and culture as a way to promote social change. For more information, go to http://peoplesstateoftheunion.usdac.us/.

On January 23, Fourth Friday/Films of Vision and Hope hosted the official West Coast premiere of Worse than Poop, a wonderful animated short video about CO2 pollution and climate change. Filmmaker Vanessa Warheit and the learned and loquacious Professor Elliot described the making of the film and fielded questions from the audience. The Professor was forthcoming on all topics related to the film, electric vehicles, and climate change, though he did sidestep the question of his possible secret life as a superhero. For more information about the video, go to worsethanpoop.com.

A second short film “London: the Price of Traffic,” got everyone thinking about green transportation solutions, and a spirited conversation followed with observations ranging from the need for more charging stations to the problem of helmet hair when you’re commuting to work by bicycle.

All in all, a much better-than-poop evening.

As the Peninsula grapples with how to address traffic congestion and rising carbon emissions from transportation, these two short films shed light on the problems posed by car traffic in an increasingly congested urban world. From an animated universe in which cars ‘poop out’ their CO2, to the mega-city of London where planners challenge the notion that cities should be designed for cars – these films will provide a fun and inspiring way to look at our traffic problems, and consider some radical solutions. Discussion to follow.

Worse Than Poop! (starring UUCPA’s very own Professor Elliot), with filmmaker Vanessa Warheit
plus
e2 transport – London: the Price of Traffic

Friday January 23
7:30pm (come at 7:15 for social time)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Fireside Room
505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA 

All ages welcome
$5 recommended donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Glimpse of a Transition Cafe…

What is Privilege?  Who has it?  Who does not?  Is it solely economic, or are there other factors?  Is it inherently a bad thing, or can it be used for the benefit of all?  Is “using it for the benefit of all” just a rationalization of those who have it?  Is pointing to someone else’s Privilege, however you define it, a rationalization for inaction? Transition is often painted with that same “Privileged” brush.  Does that mean we are working to solve the problem, or that we are not?  Or both?

Many perspectives shared, and much food for thought!

Thanks to William Mutch who hosts the Transition Cafe and has done a masterful job selecting a different topic each week.