Transition Albany

The full title of this 2011 documentary, showing in Albany on Sunday afternoon, February 12th, 2012, is Growthbusters – Hooked on Growth?  The synopsis begins, “Everything we thought we knew is wrong!”

When you challenge such a firmly held paradigm as the one that says economic growth is essential for our heath and happiness, you can bet you’ll meet with opposition. The creator of this film, Dave Gardner (“will direct to save planet”), ran for office in his home town in Colorado on the platform of zero growth after meeting with progressively more open ridicule every time he addressed the city council. After a nail-biting campaign against the incumbent, he won over 40% of the votes. In today’s political climate, that’s quite an achievement! His passion and sense of humor come through in the film and make very palatable the hard task he presents to us of contemplating a completely new way of thinking about progress.

The final piece of the movie consists of local Transition leaders, including Bay Localize’s Dave Broom, demonstrating what can be done.

The screening will be followed by discussion led by instructor in Human Evolution, Mark Mason PhD, who also volunteers with Occupy Oakland.

That’s Sunday, February 12, 1:30 pm at the Albany Library, Edith Stone Room, 1247 Marin Avenue at Masonic, Albany, CA. The documentary is 100 minutes long and the whole event should be over by 4:30 pm.

There is no charge for this event, but we will be collecting donations to help cover the cost of the screening. If you want to guarantee seats for yourself or your party, please email transitionalbanyca@gmail.com or call 510-528-2261, then arrive before 1:15 pm. Thank you!

Did you know that the average home loses 40% of its energy though leaks??? You can save a lot of money by ensuring your home is energy efficient while you conserve precious resources for our low energy future.

Another factoid: indoor air quality is two to five times worse than outdoor air quality, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and can often be the cause of asthma.

Now you can learn how to  save up to $4,000 on energy upgrades by coming to a free informational evening for Albany and Alameda County homeowners.

SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT YOUR HOME ENERGY USE – AN ALBANY CASE STUDY

Wednesday January 25th, 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Avenue at Solano. Snacks and coffee will be provided.

Participating contractors, trained and ready to work on your home, will be there to answer your questions.

***If you decide on an energy upgrade for your house, $100 will go to the local school of your choice. Now that’s nice!***

For more information, please contact Lou Riordan at 510-891-6553 or info(at)upgradeca.org

This event is co-sponsored by City of Albany, Carbon Neutral Albany and Transition Albany

Resilience Circle Coming to Albany, by Gary Horvitz

We are in the midst of multiple unfolding crises: the ongoing effects of the financial meltdown that started three years ago, climate change, the sunset of the fossil fuel era, pollution, and a political process corrupted by money that can’t seem to address any of it properly.  I don’t truly believe any of it can be addressed without looking at the system of exchange that got us here: the debt-based money economy that has to keep growing to survive.

Regardless of our individual circumstances, this economy is challenging all of us in different ways; some surely more than others. Can we begin to break the taboos against sharing our personal issues? Can we grow a living community in which gifts move freely? Can we design a world that includes our authentic participation as conscious caring human beings? We can and we must. This is what Resilience Circles are  about. They are a step toward sharing, (re) building and addressing our deeply held habits and views about money and wealth and at the same time realizing our yearnings for a different way of living.

The Resilience Circle Network (also called the Common Security Club Network) is a pilot project of the Institute for Policy Studies Program on Inequality and the Common Good.

Circles of 15-20 people are appearing all over the country now. The program includes seven meetings with a wide-ranging curriculum that provides a starting point for learning and exploring creative mutual aid in these challenging times.

Everyone I talk to lately is saying and wanting the same thing. They want community, a sense of connection with their neighbors and they want to a lifestyle of mutual sharing and reliance. The opportunity we have at this moment is to create that world.

I have been an East Bay resident for almost 40 years. The past few years in particular have been a profound awakening for me to the urgency and imperatives of our time. I’ve been active with Awakening The Dreamer Symposiums produced by the Pachamama Alliance, the FourYearsGo initiative of the Alliance and most recently as a founding steward of OccupyCafe.org. I am growing my experience as a facilitator of conversations that matter, through the use of World Café, Open Space Technology and Appreciative Inquiry.

What I would enjoy most about a Resilience Circle is to participate in a process that is fun, deeply enriching, creative, real and, frankly, revolutionary. Convening this Resilience Circle with Catherine Sutton is my next step toward the world we want. I look forward to co-creating a warm and safe space of inquiry, learning and sharing truth with a group of like-minded pioneers. Are you in?

Gary Horvitz

OccupyCafe.org

The TRANSITION LIBRARY consists of books and DVDs (listed below) loaned mostly from our own collections. If you would like to add a title, your name can be firmly attached to your contribution for easy retrieval when you want it back. Please contact <transitionalbanyca [at] gmail.com> if you’d like to contribute a book or a DVD.

Borrowers have items for one month, from one Potluck to the next (see post on Potlucks with Purpose). (Yes, to borrow an item, you have to come to one of our Potlucks!)

At the moment there is no membership fee, but any borrower who loses or damages a book or DVD will need to replace it. If you borrow one of the DVDs, we strongly recommend you invite friends and neighbors over to watch it with you, and leave time for a good discussion afterwards.

Please note that many of the documentaries are also freely available on the web.

DOCUMENTARIES

White Water, Black Gold, 2011

The Economics of Happiness, 2011

What A Way To Go, Life at the End of Empire, 2010 (?)

Living Without Money, 2010

The Money Fix, 2010 (?)

Slow the Flow, 2010?

One Peace at a Time, 2009

The Tapping Solution, 2009

Capitalism – A Love Story, 2009

Homegrown, 2009

Dirt! The Movie, 2009

The Age of Stupid, 2009

Collapse, 2009

Dying to Have Known, 2008

Consume This Movie, 2008

What Would Jesus Buy?, 2007

The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, 2006

A Convenient Truth, Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil, 2006

The Global Brain/The White Hole in Time, 2006

The Future of Food, 2005

In Grave Danger of Falling Food, 2003

Ancient Futures – Learning from Ladakh, 1993

Global Gardener, Permaculture, with Bill Mollison, 1991

BOOKS

The Transition Handbook  -  Rob Hopkins

Transition Timeline  -  Shaun Chamberlin

The Transition Companion  -  Rob Hopkins

The New Good Life  -  John Robbins

Local Food, How to Make it Happen in Your Community   –  Tamzin Pinkerton & Rob Hopkins

City Chicks  -  Patricia Foreman

Chicken Tractor  -  Andy Lee & Patricia Foreman

Storye’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds

How to Grow More Vegetables (than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine)  -  John Jeavons

The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping  -  Rosalind Creasy

Urban Homesteading  -  Kaplan & Blume

Gaia’s Garden – Toby Hemenway

The Chicken Chronicles  -  Alice Walker

The Humanure Handbook  -  Joseph Jenkins

MycoMedicinals, an informational treatise on mushrooms  -  Paul Stametz

The Cob Builders Handbook  -  Becky Bee

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Vols 1 & 2  -  Brad Lancaster

Post Carbon Reader  -  Heinberg & Leach

Navigating the Coming Chaos, A Handbook for Inner Transition  -  Carolyn Baker

When Technology Fails, A Manual for Self Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency  -  Matthew Stein

Reinventing Collapse  -  Dmitry Orlov

Hope Beneath Our Feet  -  ed. Martin Keogh

Sharing Solutions  -  Orsi & Doskow

As The World Burns (a comic book)  -  Derek Jensen & Stephanie McMillan

End Game Volume 1, The Problem with Civilization  -  Derek Jensen

Ecology – A Pocket Guide  -  Ernest Callenbach

Timeless Simplicity – Creative Living in a Consumer Society  -  John Lang

What Comes After Money?  -  Daniel Pinchbeck & Ken Jordan

Sacred Economics  -  Charles Eisenstein

We invite you to join engaged neighbors from surrounding communities – over delicious food – to network, eat, have fun, and exchange ideas and inspiration at our First Tuesday of the Month Potluck with Purpose.

The idea is for local people from El Cerrito, Kensington, Albany, Berkeley and beyond, who identify with Permaculture, or their local Transition town, or Neighborhood Preparedness, or a Church group, or Zeitgeist, or simply as a neighbor, to share their vision for and commitment to creating a localized, positive future.

Each month a different small group decides on a focus for discussion, but the evening always includes great food (bring something you love to make, preferably from local sources), drink (the church is OK with alcohol in moderation, but if that’s your choice, please bring a non-alcoholic drink as well), good company, sharing (there’s a “free table” where you can offer items that someone else might find more useful than you), celebrations, announcements and a Transition Library (details here).

This all happens at St Albans Parish Hall, on Washington Street at Curtis, right on the Albany/North Berkeley border. St Albans Church is very active in the community and gives us the space at a reduced rent, which we cover with donations ($3-5 per person). They provide real flatware and silverware and have an active recycling program so we can keep our waste to a minimum.

The potluck starts at 6:30 pm through the winter months (7:30 pm from May through October to avoid conflicting with Albany’s Garden Swap) and finishes around 8:30 (9:30) pm. Families are very welcome although we are still developing facilities for children and request your help with bringing a quiet activity that will entertain your child(ren).

Please contact Transition Albany (transitionalbanyca [at] gmail.com) if you have an idea for a particular focus or would like to be in on the planning of one of these events. Live music is always welcome, as is any help with involving the children.

Our numbers grow every month and we would love to see you at the next Potluck with Purpose!