From movies to pickling to dealing with stress - some gems for everyone in this week's newsletter
Transition KW
Hello Transitioners!
Last Tuesday, a few of us Transitioners made it down to KWartzlab to check out their space. After getting a tour of their space (they have open houses every Tuesday - check ‘em out!), we sat down on the grass out front to discuss how we might use this awesome space in the future. Lots of great brainstorming happened, and we look forward to holding activities in this space in the future. A few of the ideas we had were involve cooking and preserving, but also tailoring as Kwartzlab is fully equipped with a sewing machine! Another idea that got tossed around was to hold a small appliance repair workshop or fix-in.
If participating in this kind of re-skilling program interests you, or if you have a skill that you would like to share with others, we would love to work with you to make that happen!
Scroll down to peep the great community events happening in KW this week as well as a round-up of notable enviro news and writing.
Enjoy your civic holiday!
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Nick Belanger
Facilitator, TransitionKW
Facebook | Twitter | Blog | www.transitionkw.ca
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Community Notes
Movie in the park - Grab a blanket and the family and catch a movie and some music in the park this Thursday all while helping out the Waterloo Region Foodbank.
When: Thursday, August 8, 7-9pm
Where: Waterloo Park
Pickling bee - Have you seen ‘em? Little cucumbers are available at the market! Step 1) get some little cucumbers. Step 2) learn how to make pickles! The Working Centre’s got your back on this front. Check out their Pickling 101 short-course this Saturday - just 10 bucks! For more info and to RSVP, email meg...@theworkingcentre.org
When: Sat, August 10, 9:30am – 3:30pm
Where: Salvation Army Community Church, 75 Tillsley Drive, Kitchener
Building personal resilience - At TransitionKW, we talk a lot about resilience, which means the ability to bounce back from stress. While the environment and the economy are certainly undergoing huge amounts of stress, we sometimes neglect to consider the stress that affects us personally - either psychologically or emotionally. The good folks at Queen Street Yoga are holding a workshop to help identify and deal with these stresses so as to prevent burn-out and build personal resilience. For more info and to register, click this link.
When: Sunday, August 11, 2-4pm
Where: Queen Street Yoga (map)
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Green News Roundup
Climate change and conflict: linked? - A study published in the journal Science found that climate change is strongly linked to human violence around the world. Read what the Guardian takes a critical look at the study here.
As the author points out, correlation is not causation. Meaning that violence is a reaction to climate change, but the not necessarily the only (and certainly not the preferred) reaction to this global challenge.
At TransitionKW we talk a lot about community because we believe that strong, resilient communities will be well equipped to collectively deal with the looming challenges wrought by a changing climate. For a refresher on what is meant by community (lets not let it become an empty buzzword!), check out this article.
Lastly, the folks over at the Extraenvironmentalist put out a great podcast this week, featuring an interview with Morris Berman. This lively discussion centres on the question of whether a we can foster a new spiritual understanding of the world to address the problems created by the ‘world as machine’ worldview.
If you have views on any of the above, post them to our Facebook wall!
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Volunteer Corner
Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit: Lots of skills are needed! The positions available now include:
Workshops: We have the opportunity to host re-skilling workshops at the KWArtzLab space in Kitchener. We are looking for volunteers who are interested in coordinating and/or hosting a re-skilling workshop. Are you good at canning, sewing, repairing, woodworking, or just generally making - or know someone who is? Have them Contact us at resilientc...@transitionkw.ca!
Outreach: Do you like chatting with people about resilience, or like helping kids make crafts out of recycled products? Join our outreach team! We will be running booths at Day in the Park (July 13), and we’re looking for volunteers to help design our booth, activities for kids (of which we have a few already), and staff the booth. If interested, contact resilientc...@transitionkw.ca.
Casual: Right now we are looking for very low commitment volunteers who can be our “ambassadors”. These volunteers would help us connect with organizations that we don’t know yet (in the social justice, community or environmental fields), or would help us learn about events throughout the community and contribute to our community calendar. If you could contribute a few hours per year (that’s right - nothing more than making a few phone calls or sending out a few emails every year), and are connected with other organizations that can make us better, then please contact us a resilientc...@transitionkw.ca.