Craft swap Sunday March 18th 1-2pm at Opal’z

Are you a crafter? An artist? A teacher? A parent? Bring your paints, pens, fabrics, yarn, stickers, patterns, craft books, paper goods, stickers, and more to the next Craft Swap. Then take home what you need for your artwork, your lesson plans, your projects. While you’re there, learn a new skill, get to know other people in the neighborhood with similar interests, and score some artsy craftsy loot!  It’s free and fun.

New Demos on paper and rose beads, making lip balm, things to make with a tshirt.
Sunday, March 18th, 1pm-2pm
Opalz, 719 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto (behind Starbucks, at the corner of Middlefield) – upstairs
opalzoap.com (Please note, this upstairs location is not handicapped-accessible and may have aromas for those who are sensitive)

How does it work? Bring whatever supplies you have (no one will be turned away for being empty-handed) and come watch the demos (light snacks will be provided). At 1:15, grab a bag and start shopping for free. At the end, take home whatever’s left of what you brought (if anything!).

A caveat: you may need multiple bags!

More info at www.transitionpaloalto.org/projects/craft-swap

Living beneath your means – for fun and profit

Living beneath your means – for fun and profit

By Barbara Weinstein and Eitan Fenson, Transition Palo Alto

How are you making ends meet during these tough economic times?

Local Transitioners shared their ideas at the March 9 Transition Palo Alto 100 Mile Potluck. Cecile Andrews kicked off the discussion by asking folks to consider what they’re doing in three different areas:

  1. Transportation, travel,  food, and leisure
  2. Housing, furniture, clothing, cleaning, maintenance
  3. Kids, education, health and work

We then split into smaller groups to discuss each area in term, mixing up the groups each time before returning to the full group to share ideas that came up in the small group discussions.

So many creative ideas! Here are some of them. Continue reading →

EVENTS for March

Events  – Transition Palo Alto – March 7


Palo Alto Weekly article on Transtion Palo Alto and the Craft Swap (March 2)
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story_print.php?story_id=16464


Group buys:
Slow Money book by Woody Tasch is available at a discount from Peter Ruddock
http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/inquiries_into_the_nature_of_slow_money:paperback

Group Facilitation cards should be available in a week for about $21
http://groupworksdeck.org/deck

From previous bulk buys, we have a few copies of “Transition Companion,” “Local Food,” and “Local Housing”.(all from Transition)

Contact:  transitionpaloalto@gmail.com.


Questions?  See the TPA website http://transitionpaloalto.org  and calendar https://transitionpaloalto.org/events-2/

Send items for newsletter to  transitionpaloalto@gmail.com.

– Bart and Marina


Events



March  9 – Friday  – Transition potluck dinner

Living beneath your means.  At our next 100 mile potluck, we’ll share good food and hear stories about what folks are doing to get the most out of life while living within tight budgets. Bring a dish to share, if possible, with some local ingredients – that’s where the 100 mile comes in!

7-9 pm
World Centric
2121 Staunton Ct, Palo Alto CA 94306


March 10-11  weekend  – Low Carbon Diet for families – STARTING THIS WEEKEND!

Open to all families with children
Four sessions in March
Exact dates to be determined
Location: Rani’s house in Midtown Palo Alto.
Contact Rani or transitionpaloalto@gmail.com if interested.

Using David Gershon’s book Low Carbon Diet, a “30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds”, you will learn how to significantly reduce your annual household CO2 output, while having fun sharing ideas with others.


March 11 – Sunday – Garden and produce share (Palo Alto)

Join us to share garden bounty. Bring what you have to share; take home something you don’t.  Think of it as a “free” backyard farmers’ market. Bring your homegrown fruit, vegetables, eggs, herbs, honey, and flowers!

11 am- noon
Common Ground, 559 College Ave, Palo Alto

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


March 13 – Tuesday afternoon – Global Spirit Hikes Planning Meeting

Are you a global spirit?  Do you feel a deep connection with peoples of the world?

We are organizing a series of ‘global spirit hikes’ with Transition Palo Alto in which you can connect with fellow globally-oriented community members, ideally through a walk with a group particularly affected by a global issue.  Just as Transition is focused on local resilience, this focus is on building local multicultural partnerships/resilience in support of positive global partnerships.  A secondary hope is that it will cultivate our ‘global spirits’ in ways that encourage positive global participation as a complement to our local work.

For instance, we could invite people from island nations to walk with us as we discuss climate change, families from Michuachan, Mexico to be in solidarity with them and the horrible violence befalling their communities, or with Syrian-Americans whose relatives are under siege by Assad.   The goal is to help us stay connected in positive and heartfelt ways with the world and how we want to participate, and to strengthen community.
This effort was initiated by an initiative I have started called Globalicious, a series of efforts to encourage heartfelt participation in the world among people in the Bay Area.

Planning meeting:

March 13th, Le Boulanger
301 Main St  Los Altos
4:15 pm – 5:30 pm (it’s ok to come late)
We will carpool together to Community Conversation and Calling after the meeting for those who are interested.

– Mary Jane Marcus, Conversation Group, TPA; founder Globalicious


March 18 – Sunday – Craft swap (Palo Alto)

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!

1 – 2 pm
Opalz
719 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto
(at the corner of Middlefield and Colorado, behind 711 Colorado),

Wonderful article on the Craft Swap in the March 2 issue of the Palo Alto Weekly (page 53 in the paper copy):
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story_print.php?story_id=16464


March 20 – Tuesday Evenings – Mindful Interactions (10-week class)

Would you enjoy: being heard to your satisfaction, communicating without blame or judgment, deepening your important relationships, handling conflict with more confidence, transforming anger into energy for positive change, having a greater sense of inclusions and connection in your life?

If so, join us for Mindful Interactions!  This is a 10 week introductory class that meets Tuesday evenings from 7:00-9:00 pm  starting March 20.  We will explore the basics of nonviolent communication, founded by Marshall Rosenberg.  If you already have NVC experience, you may want to join us for the NVC practice group that meets Monday evenings 7:00-9:00 starting March 19.

Please contact Bob Niederman, 650-857-0772, or bobniederman@comcast.net to find out more information!

Suggested by Karen S. of Transition PA


March 21 – Wednesday – Talk – The Causes of Climate Change: Separating Fact from Fiction

Nobel Prize winning climate scientist, Dr. Benjamin Santer, will discuss the true causes of climate change. Dr. Santer’s early research on the climatic effects of combined changes in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and sulfate aerosols contributed to the historic “discernible human influence” conclusion of the 1995 Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Wednesday, March 21
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, Main Hall
505 East Charleston Road
Cost: Free

For more information about this event and to register, please email eventsignup@uucpa.org or call 650-494-0541. This event is co-sponsored by Acterra.


March 23-25 – Economics of Happiness conference – Berkeley

David Brower Center, Berkeley
$300

Three day conference with many well known presenters, such as Vandana Shiva, Charles Eisenstein, Annie Leonard (“The Story of Stuff”), Richard Heinberg (“The Party’s Over”), Rob Hopkins (remote),

http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/conference

 


March through April – “Creating a Sustainable Enterprise” class

Acterra is teaming up with UC Santa Cruz Extension/Silicon Valley to offer a certificate program in Executive Leadership: “Creating a Sustainable Enterprise.”

Starting from the premise that successful executives in the 21st Century need to know how to operate in an era of resource limits, this course will integrate traditional themes about leadership training with a thorough understanding of the principles of sustainability (people, planet and prosperity).

The course starts Thursday, March 29 and run weekly until June 7, 2012.
Classes meet in Santa Clara at the UCSC Extension building from 1:00 until 8:00 pm, dinner included.
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=n8xccleab&v=001uhMSa17EQAeOIqpw0yKcOzqL_POWNFk4DxAcOmVwBLSIlMyB1M3m2CaiFOxT4J9R5CB6288oxavtl-GpP9CLzayTPVsI_iiP41P680NeWmbvbTOQGM9C9xyu0fG5cSEw

*** End ***

TPA’s homegrown “Peak Oil Coloring Book”

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).

Jan 26 – Films of Vision and Hope presents “The Last Crop”

Films of Vision and Hope Presents

The Last Crop

Join Transition Silicon Valley and World Centric for a special showing of a new film about agriculture in the Bay Area.

Filmmaker Chuck Schultz will be present for a showing of his film, The Last Crop. This is his story of farmers Jeff and Annie Main, their Good Humus Farm and how they are planning to preserve it as a working, organic farm for future generations. After the film, Chuck will lead a discussion about issues farmers encounter in staying on the land and what we can help them do about them.

THURSDAY, January 26, 2012
6:30 Meet and Greet
7:00 – 9:00 Film and Discussion
World Centric, 2121 Staunton Ct, Palo Alto CA 94306

“Sustainability is the big new catch phrase but what does that mean? Does it mean that we take care of our soil? Does it mean we take care of our water sources and our air? The true issue to me is sustaining farmers” – Annie Main, Good Humus Farm

Suggested Donation to help defray travel and film costs: $5.00 – $10.00

Trailer for film
Film website

Ute’s Stilts-Walk for Democracy (Jan 20 and 21)

By Ute Engelke (Transition Palo Alto)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In an effort to restore democracy in this country I am excited to walk on stilts on Friday in San Jose and on Saturday in Palo Alto at the “Move to Amend” event (for details see below).

I would love to see you at the event, but if this is not in your locality I hope you will participate in a “Move to Amend” event in your town. Please go to http://movetoamend.org/ and join this fast growing movement for a constitutional amendment to firmly establish that human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not
speech.

Friday Jan 20
“Occupy the Courts,” sponsored by Santa Clara County Move to Amend in coordination with many other events around the country
St. James Park, San Jose
Noon – 2pm (includes a march to the Federal court and City Hall)

Saturday Jan 21
Help commemorate the second anniversary of the Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates to unlimited political spending by corporations
El Camino and Embarcadero, Palo Alto
11:30am – 1pm

Here’s a link to more information about Occupy the Courts:
http://scc-mta.org/jan20

and here’s a link to learn much more about Move to Amend:
http://scc-mta.org/start/

Getting to San Jose:

You can get to St. James Park easily by taking the 522 VTA bus down El
Camino to the Santa Clara and 1st stop. Here’s the schedule: http://www.vta.org/schedules/SC_522EA_WK.html. Caltrain and light rail also have service to downtown San Jose.

You may also want to watch http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/ and see why I am so excited to be part of this movement.

Image of stiltwalker is from Image from Rdikeman via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stiltwalker_parade_2004.jpg