With humor, chutzpah and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America’s most popular plastic. From Long Island to Louisiana to Italy, they unearth the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment.

Back at the starter ranch, Helfand coaxes her terribly patient parents into replacing their vinyl siding on the condition that she can find a healthy, affordable alternative (and it has to look good!).

A detective story, an eco-activism doc, and a rollicking comedy, BLUE VINYL puts a human face on the dangers posed by PVC at every stage of its life cycle, from factory to incinerator. Consumer consciousness and the “precautionary principle” have never been this much fun.

(Summary from the Bulldog Films website).

7:00p – 7:15p:   Transition for Newcomers
7:30p:  Program

Friday March 22, World Centric, 2121 Staunton Ct, Palo Alto

It’s time for Multishare again, bringing gardeners, artists, bicyclists, musicians and more together to share stories, goods, and skills.

• Crafters, bring your arts and crafts supplies.
• Gardeners, bring your produce, fruit, seedlings, seeds, and garden tools.
• Ride your bike to get a tune-up with Tom Kabat.
• Bring an instrument to jam with Herb Moore.
• Sam Friedman will demonstrate and discuss how to start up your seeds this spring.

All this and more – Sunday, March 10, 11am-12:30pm at Common Ground on College Ave. in Palo Alto. All are welcome, and it’s free!

It’s clearly an idea who’s time has come. On a beautiful Sunday hundreds of people came to the Palo Alto Repair Cafe with items that needed fixing, from irons to lamps to radios to bicycles.  Dozens of people lined up before the doors opened, and many had to be turned away because the “fixers” were so busy helping others.

Transition Palo Alto co-sponsored this second cafe, and is looking forward to working with the organizers on future Repair Cafes.

Herb Moore lives music – and cares about water. To call attention to both, he’s organizing a “rain orchestra” that will create a simulated rainstorm to highlight the importance of water.

— What you can do as a single individual might seem insignificant to you (single drop), but drops together can fill a bucket or make a rain shower.

— A video of the simulated rainstorm will be a springboard to focus awareness on what we as individuals and community can do about challenges we currently face re water.

You’re invited to participate! You don’t need any musical training. Here’s a video snippet of the concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akx06oEOpkU

The final performance will be at lunch time on March 22 (World Water Day) at a park near downtown Palo Alto (park TBD).

There will be a couple of “rehearsals” beforehand World Water Day to show the concept. Next rehearsal: Next rehearsal time Friday March 8, 12:30pm, Heritage Park, Palo Alto (map)

Please let Herb know if you plan to participate, so he can bring enough ‘instruments.’ (herb@melosync.com)

On Sunday 2/17, Transitioners from all over Northern California joined thousands of others in San Francisco to push for action on climate change. Here’s a smattering of photos.

Don’t miss our next Fourth Friday. Marco Vangelisti, who’s been a major force in the Bay Area Slow Money movement, has been thinking a lot about money, banking, and what they mean for Transition. Here’s what Marco says:

In the face of increasing economic instability, building a resilient, enduring and equitable local economy is vital. To achieve this, we need to understand the current economic system, how it affects our communities and ways to transform it. We also need to understand how the monetary, banking and financial systems work and their central role in the functioning of the economy.

Only a fundamental shift in the design of the monetary and banking systems will make possible a shift towards a sustainable steady-state economy that works for everybody and is compatible with environmental stewardship.

The February Fourth Friday will be a special opportunity to learn and ask questions about our money and banking system and how we can they can be shifted to better serve the transition to a sustainable future. Marco’s a knowledgeable and engaging speaker – you’ll learn and enjoy doing so!

And click here for the event flyer: Fourth Friday – Essential Knowledge for Transition – Marco Vangelisti.

On January 25^th, Transition Palo Alto (TPA) kicked off a new tradition, Fourth Friday.  Fourth Friday, is now TPAs regularly scheduled monthly evening for an event. Everyone please make your calendars and join us on the fourth Friday of every month for something current and fun. 

This month we featured the film, BagIt, and a speaker from the City of Palo Alto, Julie Weiss. The movie, taking a humorous approach to a close-to-the-heart topic …our lifestyle, was about a regular guy that went on a mission to reduce his plastic bag use, but discovered so much more about plastics and their role in our lives, environment and our world. Plastics are ubiquitous, and due to that fact, the chemicals used in making plastics hard, soft, squeezable etc. have made their way into our bodies …our blood. One eye opening moment of the film was when he shared “before and after” blood tests performed to show the chemical change in his blood from consuming food contained in plastic and cans (they are plastic lined). The results were shocking. Another ah-ha moment came when he followed the plastic collected from our curbside recycling programs to China where adults and children, trying to earn a living, sorted the plastics in a less than sanitary and just manner.

Julie Weiss, Project Manager from the City of Palo Alto, addressed the group about the upcoming City Council action of banning plastic checkout bags from all retail, and instituting a fee on paper bags. She conducted an informative Q&A. Palo Alto already has a ban on plastic checkout bags at grocery stores. This next action will expand the plastic checkout bag ban to at ALL retailers (e.g., pharmacy, department, hardware, restaurants etc). There will also be a small fee if shoppers choose to take a paper checkout bag when they shop. According to Weiss, the ban on plastic checkout bags is a pollution issue, since all the plastic that ends up in our creeks, streams and Bay and eventually the ocean, originates on land. She showed a map, with over 300 pictures, of “plastic bag sitings” around Palo Alto. She also showed a compelling photo of a bird in flight, photographed in the Palo Alto Baylands, with a plastic bag around its neck. The plastic bag ban issue goes to the City Council, February 11^th, 2013. The issue is not a done deal, so if you have an opinion one way or the other, you can attend the Council meeting or email the Council at city.council@cityofpaloalto.org

It was a great first Fourth Friday event and we look forward to many more. I think seeing the film, BagIt , made quite the impression on us all and I feel many of us will go forward in ways to make our lives “less plastic”!

It was a sunny, mild, and beautiful day, with bluebirds playing in the field and a hawk soaring lazily overhead, as a handful of Transitioners plus other volunteers celebrated National Service day for Martin Luther King weekend at Full Circle Farm on Sunday 1/20. Volunteers replaced some cabbage and cauliflower plants that had been lost to the cold, installed some new raised garden beds, weeded the orchard, and stacked bricks to be available for future projects. For more on Full Circle Farm, including weekly volunteering opportunities, check out http://www.fullcirclesunnyvale.org/.