On the other hand, you might be an avid gardener struggling to satisfy your passion with a container garden or in a tiny space with inadequate sunlight. Or perhaps you’ve done as much as you can in your own yard and you’re itching to transform another patch of ground.

Whichever person you are, think about this: as cheap oil gets scarcer, so will cheap food, given that the average item on the US plate has traveled 1,500 miles to get there. Consensus among geologists has it that we’ll reach a Global Peak in oil production somewhere between 2008 and 2012, and, because it’s hard to tell until after you’ve got there, we may be at that point already. (Why are the oil giants now drilling for oil several miles under the seabed, for instance? The days of striking oil just beneath the surface and abundant “gushers” are long gone, and we’re reduced to risky operations like the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. As this environmental disaster develops, my own oil “habit” is coming under severe scrutiny.)

So, if food starts getting too expensive at the store, let’s learn to grow our own! Small mixed vegetable plots – with flowers for the pollinators – are more productive than large commercial fields by a large margin, and we can grow exactly what we like and only have to walk out into the yard to get it. How about that for reducing your carbon footprint!

Hyperlocavore

Albany now has its own garden sharing website on the new Hyperlocavore social network. Sign up, then find someone or some few who can work your plot and transform it into a beautiful haven – where you can sit and enjoy the peace of a well-nurtured garden, serviced by the bees and butterflies – while providing you both with delicious produce.

Throwing a gardening party is the best of all. Neighbors donate their good hard work in the morning (tear up that front lawn and put in beds?), then share a potluck meal and camaraderie afterwards.

Albany Food Map

Put yourself on the map! This google map was started to visually track all of the abundant food growing or growing potential. Use the color key to navigate the dots, and place your own gardens or available garden space. To add a dot, you have to log into a google account.

City Garden Swap

If we have too many carrots, peas, potatoes, onions, beans, beets, turnips, leafy greens, lettuce, radishes, plums, apples, pears, lemons, kiwis, oranges  …  we can give them to our neighbors or trade them at the Albany Garden Swap Garden Swap (Tuesday nights 6:30 pm at the Albany Community Center, May through October). What a lovely community event that is! Here’s a description from Eva Wise:

“On Tuesday we arrived at Marin Ave. and Masonic a little before 6:30 pm bearing a basket full of our latest extra garden yield–potatoes, some herbs and parsley tied in small bunches, sorrel. But the sign I’d seen earlier was gone and there was no-one else in sight. Too good to be true, I thought. But as we returned to our car I saw someone setting up an awning and table next to the Ohlone Path across from the library – promising! We grabbed our basket and walked over. In a few minutes others arrived bearing baskets and bags of food–Meyer lemons, giant cauliflowers, salad greens, pea pods, bunches of herbs. I immediately eyed the cauliflowers. Our yellow Yukon potatoes, the only ones there, were instant eyecatchers. Now the table, surrounded by a dozen eager gardeners, was full of fresh vegies. The bartering was hot and heavy. How about two big potatoes for a bunch of snow peas? I scored one-quarter of the giant cauliflower; it made two meals for us.

“The swap lasted only 30 minutes or so. At some point I looked around at the bright, animated faces of the gardeners; a 10-year old girl giving away lemons from her tree without even wanting an exchange. It turned out that the library sign had been stolen, but this hadn’t stopped the gardeners. We are already planning our next barter basket for this coming Tuesday. IMPORTANT: get there a few minutes early; the bartering begins promptly at 6:30. As the summer wears on there may be more gardeners and more food, with bartering harkening back to earlier times when money was not part of the experience of acquiring food. It’s a great way to meet your neighbor gardeners. Or to get encouragement to start your own garden!”

Starting now, SmartSolar offers its free services to Albany residents!

Are you interested in making your home more energy efficient and self-sufficient? Would you like more information about solar technologies before talking to a contractor?

Free classes for Albany residents start on May 6th!

“ I love helping people discover their emissions/energy impact and take simple steps toward living more sustainably. Doing this in small groups is fun and empowering. It’s really like opening a door to a new way of living. Taken collectively, these personal and household actions will have a big impact on our U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. My own family has been able to cut our emissions in half and we are saving a lot of money too!

~ Linda Currie, Instructor

For more information, contact Linda Currie

510-851-2552  |   Lcurriedesign@aol.com

The 10:10 project is an international campaign for individuals, businesses, schools, and organizations to publicly commit to taking responsibility for their person contribution to global warming by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions 10% in 2010.

If all of Albany participated, we would get well on our way to the City-wide greenhouse gas reduction goal of 25% by 2020!

Transition Albany is supporting this campaign by spreading the word and encouraging people to do the same. Here are 4 easy steps to participate!

1. Commit. Sign onto 10:10 online and tell Transition Albany that you’re committing, so that we can add you to the list in Albany.
2. Count. Measure your baseline greenhouse gas emissions with one of the many online carbon footprint calculators. We recommend the one at coolclimate.berkeley.edu because it is more comprehensive than some others out there. Note: Click “click here to continue” after entering California as your state.
3. Act. Start reducing! Find a helpful and fun list of tips on the 1010uk.org site. Join the Low Carbon Diet. Read Albany’s Climate Action Plan to get some ideas.
4. Share. Spread the word about the 10:10 campaign to others in Albany. Volunteer to contact and sign up 20 friends. Or pick a business or block of businesses to sign up. Or go after your school or your child’s school. Let us know through the comments below. The more we talk about it, the more people will be aware of 10:10!

Join the list of those participating in Albany!

(in alphabetical order)

Individuals & Families

Arkin Tilt family, Marge Atkinson, Dorothy Bevard, Gerhard Brostrom, Marge Brostrom, Allen Cain, Christopher Carter, Hortensia Chang, Patty Chin, Jess Cosby, Heather Cunningham, Linda Currie, Len Edmondson, Edward Fields, Andrew Frankle, Evan Frisch, Tree Gelb Stuber, Chester Godfry, Clara-Rae Jenson, Miya Kitahara, Robert Lieber, Dan Lieberman, Ly / Williams family, Allan Maris, Peggy McQuaid, Nierlich/Abbott Family, Claire Norris, Caryl O’Keefe, Brian Parsley, Nick Pilch, Beth Pollard, Suzanne Schrift, Janet Smith-Heimer, Amy Smolens, Catherine Sutton, Carol Swan, Karina Tindol, Ellen Toomey, the Utedskis, Meera Valdez, Wynette Weaver, Buddy Williams, Tony Wolcott, Florence Wahl…

Businesses

Gathering Tribes

Organizations

Albany Unified School District

This list is updated every week or two. Please alert us if you see a misspelled name.

Get on the list by filling out this quick form or by commenting on this post!

Read more about each step…

Transition Albany has prepared a statement of commitment, to recognize the importance of individuals participating in the 10:10 campaign.

To get plugged into the global movement, sign up on www.1010global.org and www.1010uk.org.

Below is the statement signed by many of those appearing on the list of participants in Albany:

WE THE UNDERSIGNED, citizens of the City of Albany

CELEBRATING the beautiful and intelligent balance of nature as a complex, interconnected system,

RECOGNIZING that the natural balance is being severely and dangerously disrupted, with the potential result of irreversible and catastrophic climate change,

ACCEPTING that the actions of humans are jeopardizing the balance through emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases,

REGRETTING that governmental leadership has failed to alleviate the impact of human societies,

APPEALING to the wisdom of all the people that enrich us as a community and recognizing our diverse interests and abilities,

UNDERSTANDING that individual action can collectively influence the impact of the whole,

HEREBY COMMIT to taking accountability for our individual impacts on the environment by

MEASURING our direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases, and

REDUCING the amount we emit by at least 10% during the year 2010 as compared to previous years.

There are many “carbon calculators” out there. Some measure just your energy use and car trips. Others include emissions for the goods and services you consume. Some are based on broad averages (like what state you live in) and others take specific data input (like how many kWh of electricity you use).

Transition Albany recommends the Cool Climate Calculator from the Berkeley Institute of the Environment. It includes energy, transportation, food, goods and services. It provides defaults based on your local averages, and allows you to input your own data if you have it. Much of it is based on how many dollars you spend in each area, and converts this using average per-dollar emissions. They are currently working on making this more nuanced.

Go to the calculator website.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions / your carbon footprint can be done in many ways!

It can be done by reducing what you consume (energy, stuff), reusing and sharing what you consume, and rethinking what you do or how you do it. The Transition Town movement focuses on those things that enhance life and community that also reduce greenhouse gases and the use of fossil fuels. Look around this website to get some ideas, and to get involved!

The 1010uk.org website offers 10 ways to cut 10%.

Join the Low Carbon Diet.

Now that you’ve signed on to the commitment and started working toward the 10% goal, spread the word and get the rest of Albany to participate! The more people, businesses, and groups participating, the more of an overall reduction we’ll achieve!

Here’s are some ideas of who should also sign up for 10:10. Have any other ideas? Or sign up to be the one to encourage one of these to participate!

• Albany schools (each school, or AUSD as a whole)
• City of Albany
• Your block! Make it a goal to sign up your whole block.
• Local businesses, or through an organization like the Chamber of Commerce or the Solano Avenue Association
• Large businesses and entities, like the USDA, Target, or Golden Gate Fields
• Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops
• Preschools
• Community organizations, like the Lion’s Club, Rotary, and Soroptimist

“THE WORK THAT RECONNECTS”

www.joannamacy.net

Joanna Macy is a Buddhist teacher, writer, activist, and scholar who has been developing teaching tools to help us respond to the perils and suffering of our world for three decades.  She is giving a one-day workshop on The Work That Reconnects on February 14th at Common Circle, Berkeley, from 10 to 6pm. This is a very special opportunity to spend time with one of the elders of our age, someone whose life has been dedicated to helping people feel connected to the world they live in, fully in touch with their own emotions, and warmly connected to one other.

A group of 15 of us, mostly from Transition Albany and Transition Richmond (the Richmond Rivets), had a touching day experiencing some of Joanna’s tools on January 24th, courtesy of Pam and Tatyana at Sarana Community Acupuncture Center, 968 San Pablo Avenue, Albany. Anne Symens-Bucher, an accomplished workshop leader in her own right and assistant to Joanna Macy for four years, introduced deep and inclusive exercises designed by Joanna to put us in touch with the power, liberation, and solidarity that come with owning our collective grief.

Joanna’s work has been embraced by the Transition community, which is well aware that, as we let in the information coming our way about climate change and the end of cheap oil, we can be sideswiped by fear, grief, anger, helplessness – the whole gamut of emotions. If we have no place to air these feelings we are likely to stuff them and gradually deaden our response instead of letting our creativity and resilience come up with solutions.

Joanna is leading a day-long workshop in Berkeley on February 14th, 2010 – sign up at http://commoncircle.com/wtrevent. The cost is $95 before Feb 10th, and $145 thereafter. I attended a weekend workshop on The Work that Reconnects in Bolinas with Joanna in December 2009. I was thoroughly impressed with the potency of the simple exercises we did. I’m usually rather skeptical of workshops but I “warmed up” in the room of mostly people I hadn’t met before very quickly.

Every Transition Town has a “heart and soul” element, and we are starting our own group for airing feelings and lending mutual support during challenging times, on Thursday, February 18th at 943 Madison Street, Albany. Come for a potluck at 6:30 pm if you would like, and please RSVP to transitionalbanyca@gmail.com or call 510-528-2261.

“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world – we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other”. Joanna Macy