Take action on Line 9 WR!
Transition KW
Greetings Transitioners,
A quiet newsletter this time around... Like repairing things? Want to find alternatives to landfill? Help us organize a Repair Cafe. If these ideas have peaked your interest, then send me an email at resilientc...@transitionkw.ca, and we’ll make sure you get involved! Or if you have other ideas to help make our community more resilient, email us again!
Have you heard about the Enbridge Line 9 proposal? This is a local issue, and we think you’d like to know about it. To learn more and to sign a petition against the proposal, go here. There is some more information about it in our community notes below.
----
Sylvie Spraakman
Facilitator, TransitionKW
Facebook | Twitter | Blog | www.transitionkw.ca
____________________________________
Community Notes
1. Summer in the Garden Workshop - Salsa and Tomato Workshop: Tomatoes are probably the most popular home canned food. Information will be shared on canning tomatoes and salsa. All participants will be provided with tomatoes for a delicious final product of salsa that they can take home and share with friends and family!
When: Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 9:30am - 2pm
Where: Salvation Army Community Church, 75 Tillsley Drive, Kitchener
Cost: $5 per person
2. Waterloo Region Line 9 Proposal: Line 9 is a 38-year-old pipeline that has been transporting light crude oil between Montreal, Quebec, and Sarnia, Ontario. The pipeline runs through hundreds of communities, the territories of many Indigenous nations, and dozens of watersheds, including the Grand River. Enbridge Inc. has applied to reverse the flow of the pipeline and send diluted bitumen (dilbit), a form of heavy crude from the tar sands, through Line 9. This will threaten life around and downstream from the pipeline.
Line 9 was not built to withstand the transport of diluted bitumen, a toxic compound that poses a particularly dire threat to communities and ecosystems. In 2010, a break in the nearly identical Enbridge pipeline in Kalamazoo, MI, caused the largest inland oil spill in American history, which the company is still struggling to clean up three years later. When Enbridge proposed essentially the same project as the Line 9 reversal in 2008, under the name Trailbreaker, it was successfully opposed based on safety concerns. Just because Enbridge is currently seeking approval for the project piece by piece—the reversal of the first half last year, and the second half plus the transport of bitumen this year—there is no reason for us to accept it now. The threats remain just as serious.
To get involved with this issue: Contact waterlooregio...@gmail.com
Website and petition: http://noline9wr.ca/
Next organizing meeting: Monday September 9, 6-8:30pm, Alternatives Journal office, located at the corner of King & Gaukel (195 King St W, 2nd floor)
3. Bicycle Festival for women and the ones that support them - A bicycle festival for women and the ones that support them.
When: Saturday, September 7, 10am-4pm
Where: Waterloo Town Square
Schedule of events here: http://clippedoutdoors.com/schedule-of-events-a-bicycle-festival/
____________________________________
Volunteer Corner
Repair Cafe: We have the opportunity to host a repair cafe at the KWArtzLab space in Kitchener. Anyone can bring in something broken from their home and have it looked at by some pro makers. We are looking for volunteers who are interested in coordinating logistics and advertising for this event. Contact us :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.