Some fall Transition events to get you excited!
Transition KW
Greetings Transitioners,
“Back to school” is being talked about everywhere, and with kids heading back to school and adults heading back from vacation, we’ve started planning for what our fall will be like. So far, we know we want to host some more movie nights, make a clothing swap happen, and start up 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.
From the blog, we have our Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit August update up. We are still looking for a graphics designer, so if you know anyone, email us at transiti...@gmail.com. This has been a great month for getting to some fun events in the sun, and we have blog posts to sum up our experience at Open Streets Uptown Waterloo and Queen Street (Yoga) Conversations.
We had our monthly meeting last week, and minutes are up here. That’s it for our updates - please see community notes and our green news roundup below!
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Sylvie Spraakman
Facilitator, TransitionKW
Facebook | Twitter | Blog | www.transitionkw.ca
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Community Notes
1. Neighbourhood Market: Enjoy locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables,honey, bread and more all offered with a friendly smile. The Highland-Stirling Community Group’s Neighbourhood Market is a great way to meet your neighbours, learn about healthy foods and pick up some delicious recipes.
When: Every Wednesday, 2-4 p.m.
Where: Mill-Courtland Community Centre (Corner of Mill and Stirling)
Info: Pauline. Email: hsmcm...@gmail.com
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/
3. Diploma in Local Democracy -
The course has been running for six years at the Working Centre and seeks to give people in our region who are involved in serving the community an opportunity to learn about expressions of local democracy. People who participate will be in a cohort of 10-15 people who over the course of twelve weeks will explore together ideas and practices as they relate to democracy in everyday life.
The course will be participatory and democratic in format, drawing not only on abstract theory but each individual’s experience of democracy (or absence of it) in their personal and working lives, in Canada or wherever in the world they may come from. Instead of being lecture-based the Local Democracy gatherings will be a sharing of many ‘wisdoms’ through open conversation, projects, readings and guest speakers. On our end we will be sharing some of the experience, ideas and influences of the Working Centre and how these have helped shaped a democratic culture around our various projects.
The ultimate purpose of the course is to have participants appreciate and contribute to an understanding that democratic relations in everyday life form the roots of civil society. Democracy roots itself not in distant institutions but in the daily interactions, relationships and organizations of ordinary people at a local level. It grows from the bottom up.
Some of the things that will be in the course:
A Jane’s Walk – in order to acquaint ourselves with Queen St South, and how the place and its history shape its present and have uniquely contributed to its democratic traditions
Guest Speakers
Talks – introducing participants to Ivan Illich, E.F. Schumacher, Jane Addams, Wendell Berry and others who have influenced the Working Centre’s approach
Stories + Book Reports – participants tell of their own experiences with Local Democracy, what they have learned and what they can teach all of us
Collaborative Final Project on the meaning of local democracy
We hope to start another class this fall. If you are interested contact Isaiah at mat...@gmail.com or Kara at 519-743-1151 ext. 119 at the Working Centre.
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Green News Roundup
Ecuador Unable to “Leave it in the Ground”: In North America, we give rich oil companies huge grants and extensive tax write-offs and pay farmers not to produce certain foods in order to keep prices artificially high. But, we won’t help a poor country that wants to be environmentally responsible.
Ecuador, the first country in the world to include “the rights of nature” in it’s constitution, was willing to put it’s people and the planet before profits. But, no surprise, we sent not one penny of aid:
http://www.straight.com/news/414291/gwynne-dyer-another-defeat-environment
Why Aren’t We Doing More?: The environment’s future is clear and frightening, so why aren’t we all concerned? Well, because it’s the future which is never completely guaranteed and, so far, the consequences of doing what we’re doing have not affected us very much. It’s “other people’s” problem, so we’re good - for now:
Taking it to the Street: The good news is that more of us are doing more:
Food for Thought: When forest fires, like those now burning in the Southwestern U.S., are fueled by dry, hot, windy conditions (sounds like climate-effect to me) they are exponentially more dangerous. That’s exactly what’s happening with climate change.
http://transitionvoice.com/2013/08/19-ways-climate-change-is-now-feeding-itself/
Finally! Nobody Wants This Carbon Fuel Crap: It will stay in the ground if no one is willing to pay to get it out. Let’s hope this is only the start:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/powder-river-basin-coal_n_3794792.html
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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? 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.