We are pleased to welcome Peninsula Open Space Trust as a co-sponsor for this special Fourth Friday screening of LOOK & SEE.

As I see, the farmer standing in his field, is not isolated as simply a component of a production machine. He stands where lots of lines cross – cultural lines. The traditional farmer, that is the farmer who was first independent, who first fed himself off his farm and then fed other people, who farmed with his family and who passed the land on down to people who knew it and had the best reasons to take care of it… that farmer stood at the convergence of traditional values… our values.”
— Wendell Berry, Author, Activist and Farmer

LOOK & SEE revolves around the divergent stories of several residents of Henry County, Kentucky who each face difficult choices that will dramatically reshape their relationship with the land and their community.

In 1965, Wendell Berry returned home to Henry County, where he bought a small farm house and began a life of farming, writing and teaching.  This lifelong relationship with the land and community would come to form the core of his prolific writings. A half century later Henry County, like many rural communities across America, has become a place of quiet ideological struggle. In the span of a generation, the agrarian virtues of simplicity, land stewardship, sustainable farming, local economies and rootedness to place have been replaced by a capital-intensive model of industrial agriculture characterized by machine labor, chemical fertilizers, soil erosion and debt – all of which have frayed the fabric of rural communities. Writing from a long wooden desk beneath a forty-paned window, Berry has watched this struggle unfold, becoming one of its most passionate and eloquent voices in defense of agrarian life.

Filmed across four seasons in the farming cycle, LOOK & SEE blends observational scenes of farming life, interviews with farmers and community members with evocative, carefully framed shots of the surrounding landscape.  Thus, in the spirit of Berry’s agrarian philosophy, Henry County itself emerges as a character in the film – a place and a landscape that is deeply interdependent with the people that inhabit it.

RSVPs via EventBrite are required. Click for the official announcement, where you can scroll down to register.

Friday February 23, 7:30-9:30pm
Main Hall, Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto
All ages welcome! FREE, Donations appreciated.

Sponsored by Transition Palo Alto, Green Sanctuary Committee of UUCPA, and Peninsula Open Space Trust.

Join us for a close look at permaculture, the transformative approach to agriculture, economics, society, and governance, that inspired the Transition movement and much more.

Inhabit introduces permaculture projects, concepts, and people to help everyone understand what permaculture is all about.

If you’re already familiar with permaculture, you’ll get a glimpse into what’s possible – what kind of projects and solutions are already underway and what actions you might want to take.

If you’re not familiar with permaculture, you’ll learn about this revolutionary way relating to the Earth.

For everyone, it will be a reminder that humans are capable of helping to heal our planet.

A fine time was had by all at the Holiday Squash Party, with folks digging into delicious food, drink, conversation, and dancing. If you missed the party, not to worry! We’ll plan to do it again next year.

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A fine time was had by all at the first ever TPA Games Night.  Folks showed up with games, snacks, and a spirit of humor and adventure. Although Pictionary enthusiasts had trouble illustrating ‘ban’ and ‘unconscious,’ no one minded. And the Forbidden Island team did manage to get off the island successfully.

If you missed the evening, not to worry, we’ll do it again in the new year!

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Barbara O’Reilly sent this message after seeing Wasted! at October Fourth Friday:

Thank you for the Transition PA movie/educational evening. I just wanted you to know that it inspired a couple of actions. 

I stopped to talk with the manager when I went to shop at Trader Joe’s the next day. Indeed, he knew about the importance of not just tossing less than perfect food.  (See photo below.  Perhaps a note to their HQ would encourage all their stores to update their signs or write a story about their efforts for their newsletter.

The other photos below result from my investigation of my own fridge. I rearranged and added a shoebox to house the items I need to use soon.  I removed the items that needed to be used ASAP and listed & weighed those that needed to be tossed.  The photo shows 2 1/2 lbs waste: tomato soup, moldy cheese chunks & spread, 1 cooked beet gone soft, 4 oz. dates – package dated 2002!  An unopened can of anchovies dated 2012 I dug into the garden where veggies will grow next spring. I then started a soup stock which used up the almost expired zucchini, crookneck and kale. 

Waste & Recycling have been a passion (obsession) or mine for many years.  A friend and I spent each Thursday at Los Altos Farmers Market sorting the aftermath of waste from the food vending booths.  Those vendors are required to buy compostable containers/plates but all was then being collected in the black/opaque trash bags that in our town go directly to landfill.

By setting up and “wo-maning” 3 three bin stations (big bins for recycling and compostables, small one for trash) we found significant improvement and with our added step of relocating items using our grab sticks we went from 35 black bags/week to 1/2 garbage bin; 3 compostable and 2 recycling bins filled each week.   

Now that theFarmer’s  Market is closed I am working on a better waste system at our Senior Center and then on to other public buildings and events in Los Altos.

Sarah from Zero Waste had a good display  at Fourth Friday for encouraging people to think before tossing and the audience certainly had plenty of questions for her…a good addition to the evening.

Time to take a break from work, other responsibilities, and the seemingly endless barrage of news about natural disasters and human-caused craziness.

Join us for the first ever Third Friday Games Night

Let’s celebrate what brings us all together, and have some fun!

Bring your favorite board game, card game, or other fun activity – or just show up and play along with what others have brought.

All ages are welcome. Please feel free to bring a light snack to share if you’d like.

Friday November 17, 2017   7:30-9:30pm
Fireside Room, Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto
All ages welcome! FREE

Do you know that 1/3 of all food that’s produced is wasted? That waste happens at every step of the food chain, from fields to supermarkets, to restaurants and home? That 90% of unused food in the US goes into landfills where it decomposes slowing, releasing methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2? That the ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ dates on packaged food are set with the goal of selling more, not keeping food safe? That ignoring the dates and using the your nose instead makes much more sense?That significantly reducing waste could help eliminate hunger and have a major impact on mitigating climate change?

Fourth Friday attendees learned all of this and more. And they got a glimpse at some creative solutions. Much waste in farms and fisheries occurs because people (enabled by supermarkets and restaurants) have an overly narrow view of what’s good to eat. People eat only the heads of broccoli and cauliflower although the stems and leaves are healthy and delicious. They stay steer clear of certain seafood just because they haven’t heard of it. And that’s only the start. The ‘good’ is harvested, and the rest is dumped.

The people in Wasted! want to change all that. The film featured chefs and others who are changing perceptions about what is good food. They’re renaming foods and creating delicious gourmet dishes from food that has been considered undesirable.

A common misunderstanding is that stores are restaurants aren’t allowed to donate unsold food. Not true! Good Samaritan laws in California and the US protect those who donate in good faith. This blurb from LA County gives some good guidelines on food donation as does this statement from the California Dept of Education. Also, check out this Huff Post article.

Because the waste problem happens at every stage in the food supply chain, everyone can have an impact. You can control how you interact with the businesses that sell you food, consider what you buy, plan your meals, and dispose of any unavoidable waste responsibly.

More ideas from the audience:

• Village Harvest volunteers harvest fruit from people’s backyards to help people in need.
• You can donate excess produce from your garden to your local food bank or soup kitchen.
• You can also list food you’d like to give away on NextDoor or other neighborhood lists.
• We can all help spread the word to others about food waste and each of us can have an impact.

Last but not least, a warm thank you to Zero Waste Palo Alto, which sponsored the film, and to Sarah Fitzgerald from Zero Waste, who brought a display on how to sort your waste and answered lots of questions from the crowd.

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Fun at the October Scare Faire! Everyone scored costumes and had a great time. About 100 costumes were exchanged, and we had halloween-decoration-making and a goods swap happening at the same time. The biggest draw for all the kids was cookie decorating. Yum!

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Submitted by William Mutch and Rani Jayakumar:

Some of us will be doing a sunset sit at the Baylands, on Thursday, October 12th.  We’ll be gathering at the picnic tables by the Ranger Station, then finding a comfortable spot (but not too comfortable), to sit and admire the sunset.  We’ll meet at 5:45-6:30pm to chat and meet each other, with a formal silent sitting meditation from 6:30-7ish, and a more formal chat and maybe walk afterwards, thinking about meditation and how it fits into the work we do, as well as some observations from our sit, until the park closes around 7:30pm.  Bring layers, as temperatures vary widely, something comfortable to sit on (but not too comfortable), and a flashlight if you need it, but use it sparingly, to respect the darkness and the folks who depend on it. 

To get there, take Embarcadero Road out to the Baylands. Turn left at the T and head towards the Ranger Station and Interpretive Center.  Park across from the Interpretive Center, and walk back across the bridge to the Ranger Station. RSVPs are appreciated, so we know how many to expect.

See you then!
William and Rani

Transition Palo Alto is pleased to join with Zero Waste Palo Alto for a special showing of WASTED! The Story of Food Waste.

WASTED! sheds a light on the pressing issue of food waste. Every year 80% of the world’s water, 40% of the world’s land, and 10% of the world’s energy is dedicated to growing the food we eat, yet each year 1.3 billion tons of food is thrown out. That’s a third of all food grown around the world.

Produced by author and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, WASTED! explores the problem and offers solutions like reorienting consumer perspectives on the food  normally cast aside, and changes we can make to our food production chain to create a more sustainable food system.

You’ll meet forward-thinking chefs and thought leaders like Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Danny Bowien, and Massimo Bottura, who offer creative, often mouth-watering solutions. Determined individuals and organizations are already influencing the future of food recovery and demonstrating how eating can empower people in the fight to solve one of the world’s most vexing dilemmas.

Friday October 27, 2017   7:30-9:30pm
Fireside Room, Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto
All ages welcome! FREE, donations enouraged

Sponsored by Transition Palo Alto, Green Sanctuary Committee of Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, and Zero Waste Palo Alto