3 Folded and stapled

Transition Palo Alto offers a downloadable coloring book “What is Peak Oil and Why Should I Care?

In an easy to understand storyline and through great illustrations,  it describes where oil comes from, how dependent we have become on oil, how oil has gotten more and more difficult to collect, what exactly peak oil is, and what we can do to use less oil.

Annette Isaacson, member of Transition Palo Alto’s original steering committee, and her sister-in-law, Mimi Heft, wrote and illustrated the book based on Annette’s  travels up and down California between 1957 and 2010.

The book was  inspired by Rob Hopkins’ Transition Handbook.  It was written for 305.org’s 10/10/10 celebration.

The book is free for downloading (printing instructions).

The craft swap continues, a chance to share your arts and crafts supplies, get some new-to-you goodies, and get to know other people in the area while keeping stuff out of the landfill!
Continue reading →

Time to come out of winter hibernation!
Events at Transition Palo Alto are starting up again.

Below are the events for the coming week(s) that I know about.

If you have questions, look at the TPA website http://transitionpaloalto.org and calendar https://transitionpaloalto.org/events-2/
or contact transitionpaloalto@gmail.com

Jan 3 – Tuesday – Conversation, community & calling group – open

7 – 9:00 pm Cecile’s place in midtown Palo Alto
(please note 7 pm starting time!)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_conversation/

Jan 4 – Wednesday – Transition book group beginning in Redwood City
7-9 pm
Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 2124 Brewster Ave., RWC

A Resilience Circle will start reading Transition Handbook / Companion
If interested contact: thomas@THoMASATWOOD.NET

Jan 4 – Wednesday – How to Design an EcoCity (talk/dinner)
6-9 pm
Bay Cafe, Palo Alto Golf Course, 1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo Alto

An Interactive Dinner Presentation with Dr. James Caldwell
Dr. James Caldwell has spent the past year consulting to city of Nansha, China on exactly this topic. At this dinner he’ll share the story of working with the policy makers and urban planners of Nansha to develop a Green Specification System for the city.

He will compare Nansha with several other eco-city developments in China where he consults and reveal the insights gained from co-organizing and co-hosting a Chinese Mayoral Delegation that came to the Bay Area to compare Eco-City development efforts here with their own in China.
http://www.meetup.com/SVIISociety/events/44403832/

– Mari Pearman (Transition Mountain View, Transition Palo Alto)

(Not a TPA event. Sponsered by Sustainovation and Silicon Valley Innovation Institute (SVII)

Jan 4 – Wednesday – Book groups 2 & 6
6:30 – 9:00 pm
Barbara and Eitan’s house, Los Altos

Now reading Transition Companion (to page 88)
There was a desire for more discussion on Relocalization.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_book2/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_book6/

Jan 5 – Thursday – Book group 7
11 am -1 pm
Bart’s place near California Ave., Palo Alto

Now reading Transition Companion (pages 196-233)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_book7/

Jan 5 – Thursday – Occupy book group
7 – 8:30 pm Cecile’s place in midtown Palo Alto

Now reading This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement (YES! Magazine)
Read the first chapter. More copies available from Bart.

If you are new, please rsvp? – Cecile ( cecile@cecileandrews.com )

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_occupy/

Jan 5 – Thursday – Time Bank start-up meeting
7 pm start
Acterra, 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto

Debbie Mytels will be facilitating a start-up meeting to establish a local time-bank to enable the sharing of services. They are investigating softtware from the Bay Area Community Exchange (BACE) .

Jan 9 – Monday – Slow Money group – open
7:15 – 9:?? pm
Acterra

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_slow_money/

Jan 12 – Thursday – Book group 7
11 am -1 pm
Anna’s place?

Now reading Transition Companion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tpa_book7/

Jan 19 – Thursday – Project Happiness movie

6 am – 8 pm
Clark Center Auditorium, Stanford University

Project Happiness, a feature length documentary film, follows a senior high school class from Mount Madonna School near Watsonville, California, on a journey to discover the true nature of human happiness. Joining them on this quest are students from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, and students from the Dominion Heritage Academy in Jos, Nigeria.
http://events.stanford.edu/byCategory/4/
-Sarah Ramirez, TPA

(Not a TPA event)

Jan 20 – Friday – Occupy the Courts!
noon
St. James Park, San Jose

On Friday, January 20th at noon, Santa Clara County Move To Amend (MTA) will join with MTA chapters across the US in a national day of resistance to corporate personhood and the negative impact corporate power has on our democracy
http://occupysj.org/?p=482
– Mary Klein of TPA

(Not a TPA event)

Jan 28 – Saturday – Non-hierarchical leadership workshop
8:30 – 5
San Jose Peace & Justice Center

http://www.facebook.com/events/187421914686308/?ref=nf

As we move away from the domination and exploitation worldview that is so dysfunctional, we will manifest new ways of relating to people and to Nature, and new leadership roles. Come explore how we can more effectively and enjoyably use listening and leadership to craft the world our hearts know is possible.
led by Derek Tennant of TPA
derek@derekjoetennant.net

(Not a TPA event)

Feb 1- 4 EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove (Asilomar)

If you are interested in food and farming, this conference of the Ecological Farming Association is the one to attend.
http://www.ecofarmconference.org/
– Bart of TPA

(Not a TPA event)

During last Friday’s Transition film night, we showed videos about the Occupy movement, which was followed by animated discussions. A contingent from Occupy San Jose came, and gave us reports of their on-the-ground experience.

The discussion about Occupy will continue this Friday, December 9, at a potluck starting at 7 pm at World Centric.

Among the people from Occupy San Jose was a modest young man, John Patrick Absalon, who revealed that he was an artist-photographer. He does restaurant work to earn a living, but his passion is photography.

Recently when John Patrick was walking past Occupy San Jose on his way to work, he stopped to talk and got hooked. Since then, he’s been taking photos of Occupy events, traveling by bus and mass transit to other sites in the San Francisco Bay Area.

On this page, you can see some of the gorgeous photographs he has taken. There are more at his Flickr page, though he has many more that he has not posted.

John Patrick says that he sells prints of his work and takes fine portraits. His business email is johnpatrickabsalon@gmail.com [NOTE: the Yahoo address given previously was incorrect].

I asked John Patrick to give some of his background, and the text below is what he wrote.

-BA

I’m John Patrick Absalon, I’ve spent more than half of my life living in the Philippines. The first time I became curious about photography was when I was still a small child. I often would watch my father cleaning his camera and lenses, but he never actually taught me or mentioned anything regarding photography, I just saw some photos.

It was when I was about 6 or 7 when one of my uncles showed me the mechanics on how to use the camera. If I can remember it correctly it was an old Nikon camera. We would often drive around the provinces and make several stops just to take a couple of photos along the way and then move on. During those times, my uncle would often tell me to hold a “light meter” at some place, then he would try to explain to me how it indicated what the correct settings of the camera should be, e.g. shutter speeds, aperture, focal lengths, etc.

I was always excited to see what the photos might look like once the film rolls were processed and developed. Often he would buy ice cream. After dinner we would gather around his family’s living room and have a little slide show with the photos we took during the last week, or two. I was astounded by the images that I saw during those times — birds that seemed to stop flying in midair, cars that seem to halt during rush hour, people with emotions on their faces that were frozen in time. I was really fascinated by the way the camera enabled you to take a slice out of a particular moment, and preserve it as it was.

When I got older (elementary days), I had a box-type point-and-shoot film camera. I often took it out with me during events at school, family gatherings and so forth. I was frustrated because I couldn’t get the background blur that I want because the camera had a fixed lens. Eventually I put the camera aside because film was expensive, and developing/processing of the film rolls was costly. At that time, I only was given 30php (less than $1) for my allowance, so I figured, why not be a kid for now?

In 2001, a year after the infamous Y2K, began invading Philippine households due to western influences: laptops, video game consoles, fancy mobile phones (well, not really fancy by today’s standards) and flat screen TVs.

This was the time when digital cameras were in their early stages. In high school I got a crude digital camera, a Kodak . It had 1megapixel resolution, no zoom, no fancy features. Back then, it was a big deal for me because I didn’t have to buy film. I was still frustrated because I wasn’t getting the crisp image that you could get from a film SLR, like the one that my uncle and I used before.

I would use my Kodak digital camera so much that it would have low power by the end of the day. The camera had no zoom so I had to walk towards the thing that I wanted to photograph. It didn’t have auto-focus, so I couldn’t be too close to my subject, or I would end up with a blurred image

I was still frustrated because no matter how I took a photo, it still ended up being pale. It didn’t have that “umff” kick to it. Then I heard from one of my friends that there was a computer program that you could use to make digital pictures. I surfed the internet and stumbled upon Photoshop CS. I didn’t know how to use it at first, but then I started to ask people who were into digital arts, and the rest was history. I was starting to get the effects that I wanted on my photos.

The program was still in its very early stages though — really early stages. After a couple of years, I started to get bored looking at my pixelated images when I compared it with my cousin’s photos. I often asked my cousin if I could use his equipment because during that time, he had more high-end photographic equipment than I had.

In 2008 I was able to get my own mid-low level photographic equipment, which enabled me to get images that were closer to what I wanted.

I joined PaPhoC, a local camera club back in my hometown in the Philippines, and
met a lot of people who seemed to be masters of photography right. Members of the group vastly broadened my knowledge about the world of photography. They shared tips and tricks which I incorporated into my style.

It was early 2010 when I started to treat photography as a fine art rather than just a hobby. I focused on street photography because I felt it be more challenging than the other branches of photography. I often try to combine street photography and fine portraiture with a touch of an eerie documentary feel to it. I believe I’m NOT quite there yet. I believe that I still have a very long way to go. The photographers who have influenced me the most are Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Robert Capa, and of course, Manuel Libres Librodo.

Films of Vision and Hope – December 2 and 9
Occupy Wall Street — What’s Happened? What’s Next?

Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination of millions and brought a level social activism not seen in the U.S. for decades. How did it start? What’s happened so far? What are the implications, and what can we do locally to get involved?

We’ll explore all of this at this Films of Vision and Hope mini-series.

Friday, December 2 – The Best of Occupy Videos
There’s a rich video record of the Occupy movement, with fascinating footage and interviews. We’ll see a selection of Occupy videos and discuss the movement — what we think about it and what the implications are for meaningful economic and social change.

Friday, December 9 – 100 Mile Potluck\
Bring a dish to share (with local ingredients, if possible). We’ll continue the conversation, sharing what people are doing locally and what others can do to get involved.

World Centric 2121 Staunton Ct., Palo Alto
(behind JJ&F Market)

Meet and greet (and Dec. 9 potluck) 7 PM
Films and discussion 7:30 – 9:30 PM

Sponsored by Transition Silicon Valley, Transition Palo Alto, Silicon Valley Action Network and World Centric

Concerned about the environment, sustainability and social justice? Looking for ways to make a positive, sustainable change for people and the planet? Films of Vision and Hope focuses on hopeful and positive solutions to environmental and social problems affecting our world. Provocative films, great discussion, and opportunities to connect with others who want to make a difference.

PDF version of this brochure – with graphics!

On Wednesday evening more than 150 sympathizers with the Occupy Wall Street movement had a good natured demonstration in Palo Alto. About a dozen members of Transitioners.

The demonstrators stood on the sidewalk in front of a Bank of America branch at 2600 El Camino near Page Mill road. Demonstrators held signs, chatted and occasionally sang. Passing motorists regularly honked to show support.

The event was covered by Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Post and Palo Alto News (re-printed by the Mercury News).

The Palo Alto Weekly article had a quotes from some regular attendees at TPA events:

Gerry Gras, a laid-off Palo Alto software engineer, said he lost his job two years ago because of the economy. But “if I had a job I’d want to be here,” he said, noting he would probably be working long hours that would prevent him from protesting.

… Gras waved an American flag. It’s stars were replaced with corporate logos: General Electric, Coca Cola and major news networks.

“I think things are not going to be the same afterwards,” he said of the growing movement. “I don’t know where they are going, but they’re not going to be the same.”

Barbara Weinstein and Vikki Velkoff said the protest was a way to connect with other people and to give voice to the difficulties people are facing.

“It’s really important for people who felt isolated in the face of all the miserable stuff going on to come together,” Weinstein said.

Velkoff, an early-phase drug-development researcher, was laid off in December along with hundreds of others when Roche in Palo Alto closed its facility. She will start a new job next week, she said.

“It’s good to know there are others thinking along the same lines,” she said.

Transition typically does not take political positions as an organization, Many members, however, are politically active. The Transition Movement, especially in the UK, has been having a long discussion on its relationship to political actions.

Occupy events are occurring in Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland. For local Meet-ups, see Occupy Together

Curious about what all the excitement is about Transition?

The best way to find out more is through a book group reading “The Transition Handbook.” A group of about 6-12 people reads and discusses the book chapter-by-chapter in a friendly, no-pressure way. Many people like the connections they make in the group. Several book groups have continued to meet for many months after they finished the book, becoming friends and working on projects together. This is the sixth book group we’ve had in Palo Alto.

Book groups are free and there’s no obligation.

Book group leader Barbara Weinstein writes:

Transition Handbook Book Group 6 will be starting Wednesday September 14 and run every other Wednesday over the next few months (meet and greet at 6:30pm, meeting 7-9pm).

William Mutch, Eitan Fenson, and I will be facilitiating, and the first meeting will be held at my house in Los Altos.

There’s more general information about Transition book groups here:
https://transitionpaloalto.org/learn/learning-together/

Please pass the word along to anyone who might be interested! For more information and directions, people can contact William (permifree AT yahoo DOT com), Eitan (eitan AT fenson DOT com), or me (barbara AT ontrk DOT com)

[UPDATE Sept 12: William Mutch writes: “The dates are 9/14, 9/28, 10/12, 10/26, 11/9, 11/16, 11/30. So, every other week for two months, then an odd schedule in November, to avoid the holidays.”]