I love it when a title says it all.
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More tomorrow.
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I Am At The Green Fair At LLCC Today – So very little to say
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Category Archives: burn free generation
Recycling and Fall Gardening – Yes they have things in common
I was at a food meeting yesterday at LLCC and Wes King pointed out that composting and fall crop covers are actually recycling of the ultimate sort. Taking organic matter and letting it turn back into soil and crops that will turned under in the spring are so to speak, nature’s way and direct recycling. This as opposed to taking stuff to a center where they then ship it off to an actual reprocessing plant many miles away. Since it is October what better things to discuss. First up composting at work and yes it can be done.
http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/compost-work-2971.html
How to Compost at Work
by Jeannette Belliveau, Demand Media
If you’re already conserving energy, reusing and recycling paper and purchasing green office products at work, the next big step can be composting on the job and using it to green the surrounding landscape. If your office property permits use of the grounds in this manner, you can compost on site, and if it doesn’t, you can still pursue other avenues to keep the compostable food waste from going into the garbage. (See References 1)
Getting Started
Assemble a workplace “Green Team” with committed leaders managing your office compost program (see References 3). Kick things off by publicizing your switch to a three-stream waste system, whereby the office will provide separate receptacles for trash, recycling and compost (see References 1, p. 98). An educational poster or exhibit near the lunch room can explain the program (see References 5). Place sealable containers for compost in your office kitchen, food preparation area or snack room. These can be 13-gallon kitchen waste cans or smaller lidded buckets (see References 3). Employees can add coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetable wastes and eggshells to these bin (see References 1, p. 126). Avoid adding meat and diary waste.
Process
A designated member of the Green Team can collect the food waste daily from the snack room and other collection points and place it in the central container or directly into the composter. It’s better to assign this duty to a Green Team member rather than custodial staff to better keep an eye on what is going into the composter, recommends the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Your office may be able to switch to collecting food waste two to three times a week depending on how much volume you see. (See References 3)
Composter Types
Your composter set-up should match your needs and business aesthetics, recommends Trish Riley and Heather Gadonniex in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Greening Your Business (see References 1).” Options include a compost tumbler or plastic compost bins and digesters if you have access to garden space and want to avoid the tumbledown look of a loose or fenced compost bin. If you don’t have a yard or grassy area for the compost, you can use an electronic composter that dries and automatically stirs the compost or a worm bin. (See References 2, p. 20)
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Transition Community In Houston – One of hundreds around the US
I leave you this week in Houston. An oil ton if there ever was one. Got to love a group that is trying to do without hydrocarbons altogether. They claim they are moving to a new site BUT I couldn’t get there yet, so here is a sample of their old site.
http://transitionhouston.wordpress.com/
Movin’ on…
The website subgroup of the Outreach and Education Action Group has been working on an updated website for Transition Houston for some time, and all that effort is paying off! We are going to concentrate our information share and move content to the new site: www.transitionhouston.org. Please bookmark that location and check with us often for news about Transition in the Houston region, Neighborhood Initiative and Action Group updates, calendar, newsletter archive, and more!
Once again, the new Transition Houston website:
www.transitionhouston.org
There are several other options for connecting with us.
We are on Ning.
We are on Facebook.
We are on Twitter.
And you can subscribe to our Newsletter!
Filed under Uncategorized
Permaculture goes mainstream, hope rises
Sometimes little things give hope that progress is possible, and that maybe “if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time,” to quote the Cheerful Disclaimer. This last week the little thing for me was the discovery of permaculture by the New York Times. Now, I’m not so naive to believe that seeing permaculture in the mainstream press is going to make a lot of difference immediately, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see a surge of interest in permie classes across the country with long-term benefits to both participants and the environment (FYI, classes are offered here in Houston by the Permaculture Guild of Houston, through Urban Harvest).
I think the important point is that awareness is growing in our country: awareness of our ecosystem impacts, awareness of the lack of sustainability in our lifestyles and economy, and also awareness of that which is missing in our lives–community, connection, purpose. Permaculture is a positive response to that growing awareness, as is the permaculture-based Transition movement.
There are a couple of opportunities to join with others in our Transition Houston community this week and next. Please avail yourself of these options to increase your awareness and find connection with a community of folks working for a resilient Houston region.
Transition Houston Hub meeting, Tuesday, August 2, 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Green Film Series Presents Blue Gold: World Water Wars, Tuesday, August 9, 6:30pm to 9:00pm
Transition Houston Hub meeting, Tuesday, August 2, 7:00pm to 9:00pm
We hope to see you at Tuesday’s Transition Houston meeting, which will feature a guest speaker in addition to news from the Transition Neighborhoods and Action Groups.
We are very fortunate to have Peter Wang, League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor, as our guest speaker. Peter is considered a local biking expert. He’s everywhere as a go-to guy for media interviews about bikes, and has been involved in a lot of bicycle issues. He is risk-averse–exactly the kind of guy you would want to help you practice being safer!–and has taught a lot of these safety classes.
Peter will present a video screening followed by a discussion. The video is Enjoy The Ride, about essential bicycling skills.
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More whenever.
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Transition Communities Up North – Get going Canada
I love Brit speak. Some groups are not undecided they are mulling things over. Anyway there is a great list at the end of this article so go check it out.
http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/canadas-transition-communities/
Canada’s Transition Communities
23 Sep
No 67 Posted September 23, 2010
IMPORTANT UPDATE, Jan. 7, 2011: Ten *NEW* communities added to the List of Canadian Transition Communities (below).
What is a Transition Community?
The following text is excerpted and adapted from Ball’s research paper, Transition Towns: Local Networking for Global Sustainability?
The Transition Movement, promoting an action-based approach to (local) sustainability, has in the past four years grown to incorporate a large network of individual Transition Initiatives. Informed by ideas and values within environmental organizations, yet, in its practical organisation it is distinct from past models of sustainability by incorporating broad grassroots support in a diverse range of places within the framework of a coherent networking model.
Sustainability challenges the dominant, market-based capitalism of industrial society, on economic, social, environmental and ecological grounds, citing devastating ecological and environmental exploitation. Sustainability, in contrast, calls for production and consumption within long-term ecological limits.
While local sustainability has become a politically important goal, in practice neither top-down government nor grassroots community models have gained widespread uptake or success: the former have failed to connect with or involve a grassroots public; the latter generally have few resources and limited capacity.
The Transition Model, a non-governmental community-led model, advances an action-based approach. With its fast-growing network of Initiatives, the Transition Movement is akin to a non-profit franchise operation, combining the advantage of a centralized support base with the capacity and resources of a decentralized networking organization.
The Transition concept, co-founded by Rob Hopkins, who has a background in permaculture, builds upon a core thesis: that the modern industrial capitalist economic and social system, based upon cheap oil and resources, is unsustainable, making a major restructuring of economy and society imperative, and inevitable. Transition contends that citizens and communities need to act proactively and positively at the local scale, in a process of ‘Transition’ and ‘Powerdown’ to build localized and resilient communities in terms of food, energy, work and waste. The vision holds that decarbonized local communities will be resilient in their capacity to “hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shock from the outside.” Transition is modelled to be a self-organizing community-led model, for people to “act now and act collectively.”
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More tomorrow.
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Transition Communities – Live in the flesh
This is a pretty good discussion of the sustainability component of it. I apologize up front for just posting the video connection and not much more. I am terrible at posting videos.
More
See all Show me
nu project’s videos
5. Five minutes with Dave Hamilton
by nu project
12 days ago
2. Hackney City Farm
by nu project1 year ago
Dave Hamilton has a degree in Nutrition, is a professional foraging,food and gardening writer. He lives in Devon, where he grows and forages for most of his own food and teaches horticulture.
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But here is more about the guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Hamilton_%28author%29
Dave Hamilton (author)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David John Hamilton (born 1974) British author, Journalist, Gardener and Forager.[1][2] Born in Northampton he now lives in Totnes, Devon.
He attended Weston Favell School in Northampton where he slipped through the education system graduating with only three G.C.S.E’s above C grade including English language.
He has lived all over the UK and amongst other things has worked as a market trader in Camden Stables Market and in Anjuna India, a postman and a gardener in Oxford and a driver’s mate and factory worker in Northampton.[3]
He later returned to education and whilst studying a BSc in Nutrition and Food Science at Oxford Brookes he began growing his own food.[4] Realising there were still bills to and full self-sufficiency was very difficult he coined the term ‘Self-Sufficientish’ which later was adopted by the website he runs with his twin brother.[5]
The website led to the publishing of his first book, with Andy Hamilton, The Self Sufficient-ish Bible: An Eco-living Guide for the 21st Century (ISBN 978-0340951026) [6]
He now lives in Devon where he is following another of his passions, that of plants, by training to be a sustainable horticulturist at the Dutchy College run course at the Schumacher College in Dartington. Along with fellow students on the course Dave has started up a sustainable bee keeping group using methods championed by Phil Chandler.[7]
He occasionally appears on TV and radio and writes a regular column for Alan Moores underground magazine Dodgem Logic.[8] He also contributes to Grow It Magazine and Country Small Holder.
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Transition Culture – Flee hydrocarbon culture
I think the real questions here are, can enough of us flee in time and can the different technologies required to do it handle climate change. Unfortunately we shall see.
http://transitionculture.org/about/
About this site and me
For more about this website and what is all about take a look at the page Why Transition Culture?. This section is to tell you about myself. It is written in the third person not due to delusions of grandeur, but so that people who need biog pieces can cut and paste it from here.
“Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and of the Transition Network. He has many years experience in education, teaching permaculture and natural building, and set up the first 2 year full-time permaculture course in the world, at Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland, as well as co-ordinating the first eco-village development in Ireland to be granted planning permission.
He is author of ‘Woodlands for West Cork!’, ‘Energy Descent Pathways’ and most recently ‘The Transition Handbook: from oil dependence to local resilience’, which has been published in a number of other languages, and which was voted the 5th most popular book taken on holiday by MPs during the summer of 2008. He publishes www.transitionculture.org, recently voted ‘the 4th best green blog in the UK’(!).
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Permaculture And Transitional Communities – What Wiki says
Those fleeing a hydrocarbon existence use many different rationales. Like Thoreau, they want to lead a simpler life, while resisting the constant wars the US seems to be in. Like Schumacher they want to celebrate appropriate technology. Like the Amish they want to support earth conscious sustainable food production methods. What ever the reason, this is what WIKI says about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns
Transition Towns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transition Towns (also known as Transition network or Transition Movement) is a brand for environmental and social movements “founded (in part) upon the principles of permaculture” [1], based originally on Bill Mollison’s seminal Permaculture, a Designers Manual published in 1988. The Transition Towns brand of permaculture uses David Holmgren’s 2003 book, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. [2] These techniques were included in a student project overseen by permaculture teacher Rob Hopkins at the Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland. The term transition town was coined by Louise Rooney[3] and Catherine Dunne. Following its start in Kinsale, Ireland it then spread to Totnes, England where Rob Hopkins and Naresh Giangrande developed the concept during 2005 and 2006.[4] The aim of this community project is to equip communities for the dual challenges of climate change and peak oil. The Transition Towns movement is an example of socioeconomic localisation.
Contents
[hide]
- 1 History
- 2 Features of the project
- 3 Energy Descent Action Plans
- 4 Future of the project
- 5 International elements
- 6 Publications
- 7 See also
- 8 References
- 9 External links
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Out to weed the strawberry patch. More tomorrow.
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Transition Communities – Why I will spend hours today weeding strawberries
House cleaning: I will soon be on vacation and I think not posting. Or at least intermittently posting. Until then I want to post meditations on the transition community movement.
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These are conscious communities that try to wean themselves from hydrocarbon fuels. While they look to be like other commune movements such as the most recent “back to the land” movement of the 60s and 70s, they are purposeful in their reduction of greenhouse gas production. They are all around the world and have their own network of publications and even conferences. But as I was trying to dig my strawberry patch out of the grass attack that killed it this summer, I was thinking that I started “stoop” labor when I was a small child gleaning for corn and working in my great grandfathers truck patch. I thought then “when I grow up I will never do this again”. But look at me now. It can be a tough life. And if we had to get by on our strawberry crop this year we would be dead before winter even started. Still IF we had to depend on our strawberry crop we would have done a better job. So first up some of the bigger sites and some in odd places.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-08-31/august-round-whats-happening-transition
August round up of what’s happening in Transition
Published on August 31, 2011 by Ed Mitchell
We’ll start down under in Australia where Transition Eudlo (NSW) held a talk in the wonderfully named Mullumbimby which means ‘small round hill’ in Aboriginal. It was presented by Sonya Wallace, founder of Transition Town Eudlo and Transition Sunshine Coast. Also in Australia, MINTI, the Melbourne Inner Northwest Transition Initiative, held a local food forum and asked ‘What’s Eating Australia?’ 
Over in Balingup, Western Australia, following a successful speaker event by a sustainability lecturer and member of Bunbury TT, public screenings are being held around town to raise awareness of the Transition movement. Balingup locals plan to spread the word and help make Transition as thriving in the west of Australia as it is in the east. Read more about it here.
In Japan, this August update (to the TN website) from Paul Shepherd in Tokyo on the emergence of a Japanese national hub is well worth a read. The headline is that following the existing TT’s in Fujino, Hayama & Koganei, there are now about 20 to 25 emerging Transition Towns in Japan.
Sara and Emilio (www.nu-project.org) would like to share their latest short film which includes an interview with members of Transition Barcelona, some footage of the 15M protest movement across Spain and how it’s connected with Transition.
Transition Town Kinsale in Ireland have been busy this month with a butterfly walk, a sanctuary walk and talk in a restored limestone quarry with Ted Cooke of The Woodland League (to help mark National Heritage Week) and a Kinsale Hub BBQ fundraiser on the dock. Check out this great poster…:
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Go there to read much much more. More tomorrow.
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Sierra Dall And Her Municipal Webinar – This is thoroughly worthwhile
OK her work’s connection to this blog might seem tenuous at first glance. When not talking about the residential housing market, I am usually attacking the hydrocarbons industry or rapers of the environment. (By the way the Maconda well is leaking again) But she is a really nice lady who actually talks to me on the phone every once in awhile. If you think about it, if your municipality could get you cheap renewable energy wouldn’t you take it.
http://www.EnergyForefront.com/infowebinar
Hi,
Would you please put the following Free Webinar on your calendar, in your newsletter or pass it on to interested parties?
Thanks
Sierra Dall.
Municipal Financing Options for Renewable Energy
PLUS : How Fowler CO financed its energy projects with NO upfront costs
Date & Time
September 13, 2011 at Noon Eastern
Join us to hear three presenters discuss various methods by which municipalities could finance renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, either for the municipality or for their citizens & businesses. This webinar is hosted by Energy Forefront and sponsored by the firms listed below.
Topics include:
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Multiple Methods that Cities/Towns Could Use to Finance Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects including federal tax benefits, aggregation, securitization of smaller projects, 501c3 non-profit corporations & more presented by Baird Brown, Attorney at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
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How Various Cities & Towns Structured their Energy Financing presemted by Vincent DeVito, Attorney at Bowditch & Dewey LLP
-
Financing Municipal Renewable Energy Projects with No Upfront Costs: Wayne Snider describes how he procured financing for wind solar, biomass and several other Fowler Colorado projects . . . without any upfront costs for Fowler.
TO LEARN MORE or REGISTER
Click this link or copy and paste it into your browser
NO COST TO ATTEND
Thanks to Our Sponsors-
CleaResult, American Energy Assets, Bob Parkins Renewable Energy Consulting, Arbogast Energy Auditing, Distributed Energy Financial Group, Steffes Corporation – SkyBuilt Power – Bella Energy – Solar Tracking Tree
Who we are
Energy Forefront is a connecting point where cities, towns, counties, universities, facilities, consultants and industry professionals can meet via online events and find the latest resources on energy efficiency, renewable energy and green economic development.
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Go there and read. More next week.
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DYI Green Energy For Homes – Another link request
This guys don’t realize it but I have posted about them before. They know what they are talking about.
http://diygreenenergyforhomes.com/
DIY Green Energy | Home Made Energy
Are you sick and tired of having to pay huge energy bills? If you answer yes to this question, then DIY green energy is a sensible option for you. You can begin utilizing free, eco-friendly power and reduce your household power bill by more than 80% while doing your part in saving the Earth.
The most significant benefits of DIY green energy is the ability to make big savings in the long run. Bear in mind though that there are significant start up costs associated with the setting up of solar, magnetic or wind power, and it’ll require a bit of time before you start to enjoy the rewards.
Setting up green energy power is really an enjoyable task that can be done by yourself – there is no better satisfaction than the experience associated with getting this done yourself. The very first time I assembled a residential wind turbine involved a couple of weeks, however the thrill of seeing it working in motion is priceless.
There are numerous methods to construct your own homemade green energy generators online which depicts the procedure and show you which components are needed. Don’t ever doubt yourself and don’t forget that anyone can create a workable and effective machine by yourself.
If you wish to reduce your month-to-month electricity bill, become self sufficient or increase the value of your property, this is all merely an arm’s reach away using homemade energy. It is possible to construct DIY solar panels or wind power generator by using simple, straightforward, “any kid could understand it” instructions. We’ve placed together some terrific information on DIY solar panels and homemade wind turbines that will make a massive difference in saving energy if you put them into application.
Regardless of whether you’ve questions on home made green energy or don’t have the slightess idea what is green energy, we have answers for you here. Before you know it, your free electricity dreams will turn out to be a reality.
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