(Initially posted on PittEnvironmental with a slightly more collegiate focus)

Stemming out of a long, excited discussion of the state of affairs in infrastructure and government, we got to that ephemeral topic of why people do/don’t vote, and the question of ‘How are people supposed to be knowledgable about these issues without investing…

5/3/12

Larimer Consensus Group Meeting

[Two immediate lessons learned: Really helps to have a point-person for each action team for people to ask questions of; really need to broadcast to Transition that anyone can take one of the 40 beds the Green Team has at their lot.]

Lessons Learned from this Meeting: 

1. When a force as formidable…

Been doing a lot of thinking about how to structure organizations such that stuff gets done. 

Bioneers and the All-Volunteer Vs. One-Paid-Position Choice [They…

(Some background: I’m going to visit at least two cities this summer for various events that have Transition initiatives, and I’m going to make an effort to say hi to them while I’m in the area. Currently on the list are Reno, NV, and the Lehigh Valley.) 

I like meeting people, for all that I am not very good at doing the initial introduction - I never know quite what to say, and I’m pretty poor at small talk. I’d rather jump straight to intense discussion of problems and…

[I walked in in the middle of it, thinking that I was in the room for the Economic Dev./Jobs group—they were meeting for the first time at the ECCO Center, actually. Poor dumb me. They're in the middle of their meeting when I get there, but I get a detailed & interesting look at what the planning process for really-developed Transition activities look like.]

Karriem: 2 hr meetings once a month seems reasonable

Andrea: …1hr is kinda pushing it

Tracy: Respecting…

Fight the violence with non-violence... What a powerful statement, but what if peaceful non-violent protests fail... what do we do then? What happens when range resources comes and builds a drilling platform in your backyard? Would you peacefully protest or would you want to grab that pig and get dirty? If your family had been living on the same farm for a hundred years and a gas well or strip mine rendered the groundwater useless...  What would you do?

I'm not suggesting violence is…

When I wake up in the morning I have a routine that starts by making a cup of coffee and breakfast, then I follow it up by doing laundry or maybe running the dishwasher. Somedays I even get into a car and drive to McDonalds to get my girlfriend and I breakfast. When the grass needs cut I fire up my super sweet lawnboy and mow the lawn, even this blog was written on one of these so called modern conveniences that we all treasure. What do all of these "so called" modern conveniences have in…

[Here Fred gave us a bit more context and knowledge about how Transition Larimer could function in the midst of the other stuff going on in Larimer--he seems to see it being a more grassroots and education-oriented structure in the community. Afterwards we established plans for the Awareness Raising Group--namely, to fold ourselves into what One Voice, the Larimer Consensus Group's mouthpiece, was doing already, and offer our help to…

[Left and top-left we've got some pictures from the gathering--above is an architectural concept for what Larimer could look like in the…

[More rough notes, just to give a sense of what goes on at these meetings:]

Barton Kirk's Talk:

• Larimer Vision Plan

  • He's impressed

    • liking that they're planning with these practical things in…

     Sometimes the fog around my head gets so thick I can't even see my own hands in front of my face. I get into these endless clouds of depression that if they lived in the sky they would surely produce rain. My body aches, my head hurts, I have absolutely no motivation to do anything and any positive thoughts are often abandoned for fear and nightmares. Often the answer is as simple as getting up and going out to work in my garden but often times I can't even work up the energy nesessary…

     Utility poles create garden opportunities in space that would otherwise just be filled with grass and weeds. My street has a "Hell-Strip" also known as the little strip of grass between…

At some point, I stopped talking about climate change as a major focus. It became an occasionally-stated problem which provided motivation for tackling many many things, but my focus turned to more immediately tangible items like peak oil, resource depletion, water, and food. Like President Obama, whether because of controversy or because other things were more pressing, it slipped from the center of my sustainability vocabulary. In the …

Walking through the local grocery store I am constantly mezmerized with the amount of food we as americans have available to us. Infinite varieties in every flavor you can imagine line the shelves full of every chemical you can think of. My head spins as I read the labels...  It reminds me of a doctor seuss book... 

Fat Free,

Gluten Free,

Salt Free

Fine French Brie...

1 Egg,

2 Eggs,

Free Range Eggs

And Chicken Legs?

Everyone…

I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, I was an avid sportsman and my family owned guns. We used to go to the local gun range for skeet and target practice. I took the hunters safety course when I was sixteen and know I could safely handle a gun if need be.  I do not personally own one or have any intention of ever owning one, but it is nice to know that if it came down to it I could hold my own.

I am sitting here writing and for the 4th time this week I heard a barage of gunfire…

Its March 15th and if you are like me and live in Pittsburgh then you realize that it is 70 degrees outside and the forcast for the next 10 days is 65 to 70 degrees every day! Needless to say the ground is thawed and some of the perennial plants have already started to break the suface of the soil. Normally I would say to wait a few weeks but my ass is itchy and there are plenty of vegetables that can be planted now and survive a few frosts or even a snowfall. Im going to try and cover a few…

3.4.12

Monthly To Do's

[Rough notes from Pittsburgh Garden Experiment discussion on to-do's for year. Helpful to a beginner like me--in-depth tips on particular plants and gardening strategies, too. More experienced gardeners may have found it less helpful.] 

Monthly To Do's

• January

  • Seed catalogs

    • - organic

    • you get what you pay…

2/19/12

Solar Salon (and Sing-a-long!)

[From Maren Cooke's “Solar Salon” at her place: now a monthly event. People coming around to see her solar setup (and getting it for themselves, potentially) + rooftop garden (very extensive, very awesome) and hAbout buying Solar in Pittsburgh—many good, very practical information sets on getting solar individually and in entire communities—creative financing, block buying. All below:]

Joani:…

2/18/12

[Started typing after the subject of community organizing and when it does and doesn't work—Lois hasn't had success in Swissvale so far.]

Lois: I've been trying to figure out how to get people interested in Transition, Transition Initiatives, urban gardens, etc, in Swissvale—difficult.

Justin: Eric Slagle you should talk to—and others, esp. about vacant lots & urban gardens—Guerilla Gardening opportunities?

[Now we talk…

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/jefferson/food_forest.htm

http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/02/21/its-not-fairytale-seattle-build-nations-first-food-forest