Swapalooza

The second-ever Transition Palo Alto Craft Swap took place in Palo Alto this time, upstairs at the lovely Opal’z store, filled with the fragrance of essential oils and soap. We arrived, arms full, and set up on the U-shaped tables. People arrived early, helped sort things into the categories. We found that there were lots of things that didn’t fit into the regular categories, and lots of things that already looked interesting.

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Grand Boulevard Initiative

Envisioning the Future of El Camino Real

Speakers from VTA, Strategic Economics, and ReConnecting America discuss:

  • Bus Rapid Transit along El Camino Real
  • Economic and environmental impacts of clustering jobs and homes on a transportation corridor
  • Successful corridor development

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
7- 8:30 PM
Sunnyvale City Hall: 
City Council Chambers
456 W. Olive Avenue
FREE

Sponsored by the American Planners Association of Northern California, Strategic Economics, VTA, ReConnecting America, Sunnyvale Cool, Urban Habitat, the City of Sunnyvale, Greenbelt Alliance and the Grand Boulevard Initiative El Camino Real.

Craft Swap March 27, 2011 1-3pm

Are you a crafter or artist with pack-rat tendencies? Now is the time to come clean, and clean up!

One person’s trash is another’s treasure, so help reduce waste and share with your neighbors at the 2nd ever Craft Swap.

Join the fun at:

Opal’z of Palo Alto

719 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94303

650-322-6500

Sunday, March 27
1-3pm

For details about what to bring and how it works, click here. Let us know what you’re bringing by emailing rani at b a c r a f t s w a p (at) g m a i l (dot) c o m.

Bring your friends! Share or post our flyer:

Craft swap March 27 1-3pm

Conversation, Community, and Calling workshop

Transition Palo Alto’s “Conversation, Community and Calling” workshop continues, welcoming new participants.  Admission is open and free.

Saving the planet means creating a caring culture.  Social ties are central to health, happiness, and civic life.  Yet our frantic, distracted culture makes it difficult to maintain and deepen social connections.  Trust and civil discourse are in decline.

Based on the practice of good, effective conversation, in this workshop we examine how you can use conversation and community to follow your calling and advance your vision of cultural change.

Join us alternate Tuesdays starting March 1:  6:45 – 9 PM.

World Centric, 2121 Staunton Court
Palo Alto, CA 94306

TPA Newsletter for Feb 26

Coming Events

CARBON NATION – FREE SCREENING – February 28
FREE GROUP WORKSHOPS: “Conversation, Community, and Calling” – March 1
FILM SERIES POTLUCK – March 4
TRANSITION TRAINING AT ESALEN – April 17-21
SHARING CONFERENCE – end of May

For details, see the latest Transition Palo Alto Newsletter — now posted on the website:
https://transitionpaloalto.org/events-2/newsletter-%E2%80%93-february-26-2011/

The newsletter is published about every two weeks. Click on the “Events” tab to see back issues .
(also at https://transitionpaloalto.org/events-2/

Join the Transition Palo Alto Yahoo group to get on the mailing list for the newsletter:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transitionpaloalto/

TEDxManhattan Streaming Party

Slow Food South Bay presents:

TEDxManhattan Streaming Party

Changing the Way We Eat

Saturday, February 12, 2011,  7:30 AM – 3:00 PM

World Centric Community Space,
2121 Staunton Ct, Palo Alto, CA

On February 12, The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming will host TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat, a one-day TEDx event on sustainable food and farming. It will explore our food system — from what happened, to where we are, to what we are doing to shift to a more sustainable way of eating and farming. In an effort to have as many people as possible participate, the event will be webcast live.

For those of you unfamiliar with TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), it is a small non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, using talks and performances. Thought leaders from around the world are invited to give presentations up to 18-minutes long that explore important topics to society. All of the talks are recorded and available in an archive at TED’s web-site. Some memorable talks include, Dan Barber’s How I Fell in Love With a Fish and Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Wish: Teach Every Child About Food. Check them out and get hooked.

Then plan to join us at World Centric on the 12th. The line-up is impressive, including Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, makers of King Corn, Brian Halweil of the Worldwatch Institute, Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA and many more. You can get the full list at the TEDxManhattan web-site. There is no schedule for individual speakers, but the event will be broken into sessions:

    7:30 AM – 9:15 AM : Session 1 – What Happened?
    9:15 AM – 10:30 AM : Break
    10:30 AM – 12:15 PM : Session 2 – Where are we?
    12:15 PM – 1:00 PM : Potluck Lunch Break
    1:00 PM – 3:00 PM : Session 3 – Where are we going?

Come for one session or stay all day. Those of us staying over lunch time will plan to share a potluck lunch together. Bring something simple, seasonal, local – something sustainable – to share with your neighbors.

(This event is brought to you by a number of partners: Collective Roots, Slow Food South Bay, Transition Palo Alto, Transition Silicon Valley, and World Centric.)

New calendar for Transition events

JUST ADDED – Events Calendar courtesy of Yahoo groups

See what Transition-related activities are coming to our area for 2011

—— JANUARY —— FEBRUARY —— MARCH —— APRIL —— MAY —— JUNE ——

After you’ve clicked one of the links, you are prompted to log on to Yahoo to access the calendar.

Anyone can see the calendar. Members of Transition Palo Alto Yahoo group can add events.

You can access these links by clicking on the Events tab on these pages.

We’re got plans in the works for a Newsletter too.

Free Film Series: Livable Cities

Films of Vision and Hope

We’ll look at what went wrong with our cities, how sprawl replaced neighborhoods, and what can be done to bring back community and sustainability to our cities and towns.

January 21 – End of Suburbia We’ll set the stage with this influential film, which shows how the American dream of suburbia has become unsustainable and gives an inkling of what might replace it.  

January 28 – Save our Land, Save our Towns  Small town newsman Tom Hylton explores  why America’s towns have declined and what we can do to revive them.
“Development and zoning issues normally make the eyes glaze…Tom Hylton makes them downright fascinating.” Philadelphia Daily News

February 4 – Community by Design   Learn about the key role that design plays in community from some leading progressive thinkers on the subject.

February 11 – Portland: Quest for the Livable City   Portlanders enjoy a thriving downtown, plus national recognition for alternative transportation, emissions reductions, and overall sustainability, thanks to a regional land use process established thirty years ago. Learn about the challenges of maintaining this land use vision and its implications for equity and fairness.

February 25 –  A Convenient Truth  In this inspirational film, you’ll learn why cities around the world look to Curitiba, Brazil as the model for creative and enlightened urban planning. The city of Curitiba has demonstrated for the past 40 years how to transform problems into cost effective solutions that can be applied in most cities around the world.

March 4 – Join us for our third 100 mile potluck. Connect with others and learn about opportunities to get involved.

Films of Vision and Hope focuses on hopeful and positive solutions to environmental
problems affecting our world. Provocative films, great discussion, and opportunities to connect with others who want to make a difference.
 

Where:  World Centric, 2121 Staunton Ct., Palo Alto  (behind JJ&F Market)
When:  Fridays 7:00 – 9:30 PM (7 PM cookies, 7:30 PM film) 

 Sponsored by Acterra, Common Ground, Mountain View Cohousing Community, Silicon Valley Action Network, Transition Silicon Valley, Transition Palo Alto, World Centric, and more