past events

 
Attend the first Community Kick-off for the County-wide 350 Home & Garden Challenge.
Grow Food, Conserve Water, Save Energy, Build Community!

The 350 Home & Garden Challenge is happening again this year May 14th & 15th, 2011.  Last year, we succeeded in mobilizing 628 gardens in a single weekend, 60% of which were new gardens! We have changed the name to the 350 Home and Garden Challenge to bring in an important element: home energy efficiency & energy use reduction. This specifically highlights the need for holistic and integrated solutions. Learn more about this, and other exciting information about this year's challenge by attending the Kick-off on March 15th!

When:  Tuesday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Where: Sonoma County Water Agency Meeting Room, 404 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa
 
Transition Sebastopol is the organizing group for the 350 Challenge in Sebastopol and hopes to build a strong team to do some great projects around the area.  If you are interested in getting involved and can't make the kick off meeting in Santa Rosa , contact Sara McCamant at outreach@350challenge.net

**Note Location Change!**

Theme of the Month:  Food Production

This weekend will focus on Food Production…The how, what and where we can grow food for ourselves! Whether you want to grow sprouts, a windowsill garden, or a food forest around your home, this class will cover the practical aspects and options for food production, teaching you how to assess your home, develop a plan and optimize your time involvement while implementing it. We will be looking at what can be grown at our home... like sprouts, mushrooms, bees for honey, chickens, fruits, veggies, etc. We will also cover the various necessary components of producing food, i.e. the garden plan, soil testing, soil amendments, irrigation, composting, worm bins, animal husbandry, insectaries, etc.

We have 3 wonderful guest speakers/instructors this month; Courtney Dellello, Robin Burton and Julia Valentine. Courtney Dellello designs beautiful and bountiful food gardens that provide for the exquisite cuisine of a well-known winery restaurant in Napa, and who also teaches a myriad of gardening and growing classes for the Santa Rosa Junior College at Shone Farm. She will help you design a garden that provides for the exquisite cuisine of your home dining. Robin Burton from Sonoma State University teaches Native Plants and Agroecology. She is also a certified organic grower who you may have seen at our local farmers market in Sebastopol. She will walk us through each element of producing food in our gardens. Julia Valentine teaches Permaculture, and is also on the initiating team for Transition Sebastopol. She will be hosting us at her home in the late afternoon, after we have toured a couple of gardens along the way. There she will talk about transitioning the land around a home, show you how she built her hoop house, the seasonal sowing therein, and give you hands on instruction of the different techniques for handling soil, planting and optimizing growth yields.

Free event/optional discussion following the screening.
 

A new film featuring acclaimed environmentalists, scholars and authors including, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Juliet Schor, Richard Heinberg, accomplished Bhutanese film director Khyentse Norbu, and the first Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile Samdhong Rinpoche among others.

The Economics of Happiness demonstrates that millions of people are already engaged in building a better world.  The film shows that countless small scale initiatives around the world are exploring potential solutions to the multiple crises we face—climate chaos, economic meltdown, and our own personal suffering such as stress, loneliness, and depression. These initiatives are united around a common cause: rebuilding more democratic, human scale, ecological and local economies – the foundation of an “economics of happiness”.

Join us for a workshop on Energy Efficiency sponsored by the Transition Sebastopol Energy Group.

This presentation by green builder and energy efficiency consultant Michael Heaviside will show you all you need to know to optimize the energy efficiency of your home!
 
Topics covered will include:
 
·          An overview of the future of home performance in California and what it means to you
·          Energy and the building shell
·          Air leakage control
·          Heating, cooling, and indoor air quality
·          A review of the tools used in doing an energy audit and why
·          What to look for when doing your own site inspection
·          A tour of a home through the eyes of a building analyst
·          Assessing what work you can do yourself

Location:
1764 Cooper Road, Sebastopol (at Laguna Farm)
Park on the side of the road or in the Laguna Farm parking lot. Walk over to the blue house. (There will be direction signs).

Cost:
Sliding scale, $5 - $20. No one turned away for lack of funds.
 
 

A day-long workshop with Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse and the newly released Navigating the Chaos, exploring the great unraveling of civilization, what it means in our lives and how to best navigate it.

In this workshop we will explore:
The power of myth, story, drumming, and ritual to move us beyond the head & hand aspects of Transition to the deeper story it calls us to enter.
Moments of community which erupt out of collective opening to the evolutionary threshold which lies at the core of Transition.
Who we truly want to be in the face of a collapsing fossil fuel-based civilization and what this collapse may be calling us to do.
An opportunity to begin the journey of emotional and spiritual preparation for Transition, the Great Turning and the next culture beyond industrial civilization.
 
In this workshop, we will descend into the territory of the soul where the deeper story of transition may be lived and utilized to give the gifts that the earth is now asking for.

Followed by Q&A with Doug from Bee Kind!

Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.

Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.

Vanishing of the Bees - Trailer from Bee The Change on Vimeo.

Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.

Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.

Location:
The French Garden Restaurant
8050 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol
Google map: http://tinyurl.com/frenchgardenmap

7:00 - 9:00pm
Please arrive on time!
Come early and enjoy dinner!
 

See the trailer at http://www.vanishingbees.com/

FREE EVENT
~donations appreciated~
Come early and enjoy dinner!
Location:
The French Garden Restaurant
8050 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol
Google map: http://tinyurl.com/frenchgardenmap

Transition Sebastopol’s movie night is always the last Wednesday of the month.

To all those with interest in Transition's Reskilling Work:

We wanted to share our enthusiasm and excitement from the successful Reskilling Fair we had a few weeks ago.  For those who didn't make it, we had 15 classes and over 120 people attending.  The weather turned beautiful and much was shared and learned.   We are so thankful to the instructors who offered to teach and share their skills with the community.   We were able to raise some money to help with future Reskilling work.   A big thanks goes to Laguna Farm for hosting us and to all the volunteers who helped us pull it together that day.

With such a great first event, it is clear that we should continue with our reskilling offerings.  We would like to invite you to get involved with the Reskill group and look at what we might do next. We will take the rest of the year off and the meet again in early January.  Hope you will come and get involved.  We are trying some different times to meet different people's needs.

Location:
St. Stephens Church
500 Robinson Way
Sebastopol

If you would like to get involved but cannot make that meeting let us know and we can keep you informed:
SaraMc@emeraldearth.org
 
Thanks!
The Reskilling Fair Team
Ariel, Ingrid, Blake, David and Sara

Join us for a FREE 2-hour introduction to the new Model of Transition for Sustainable Living (MTSL) program.
(Cost for subsequent classes will cover cost materials. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.)

Location:
St. Stephens Church
500 Robinson Way
Sebastopol

About the Model of Transition for Sustainable Living (MTSL) program

The Model of Transition for Sustainable Living (MTSL) program consists of twelve modules—one of which will be covered each month, from December 2010 through November, 2011.  Together they will provide an overall perspective on current thinking and technology, as well as practical skills for everyday sustainable living.  The MTSL program includes a Workbook/Planner, a Reader, a Resource Directory, a Journal, and a series of Visual Aides.

The program has been designed to work in concert with local participating businesses and organizations.  The mission of the program is to empower you to act; to transition you from wherever you are today, to a lifestyle that is highly sustainable, within the one-year time period of the course.  Therefore, the program consists of 20% theory and 80% practical application. 

Regular classes will begin on January 8 and 9. Through 2011, classes will be held the second weekend of every month (except December).

Overview of Module 1:

...that wasn't a typo--we are going Christmas Stopping. A covert operation! Think Rev. Billy gone Buddhist.

Join us in our crazy scheme to go meditating in the middle of the mall, in the midst of Christmas shopping.
Join us in spreading our nonverbal message of inner gifts--the real antidote to the holiday madness.
We both sit and walk, beaming this peace to all the folks scratching their heads and wondering what the heck we are doing.
No propaganda.
No religious belief other than maybe the one that we have been killing ourselves with consumerism.
Shop mindfully.

We are part of Transition Sebastopol and the Heart and Soul group.

Location and time:
Meet in front of the Santa Rosa Plaza (at the end of 4th street) at 2:30 PM

Sit in inner peace while people flurry about in their consumer craze. Be a beacon of true joy and a reminder that they too can stop and go within, even if just for a moment!

Please join us at Sizzling Tandor in Santa Rosa on Saturday, December 18th.  I hope to see all of you locals (and near locals) there with all of the guests you can bring. 
 
We have succeeded in breaking the 2/3 mark and have raised $67,000.  We have 31 days to go.  We have a great Challenge Grant Committee in place.  Join us in getting to the goal in whatever clever ways you can dream up!
 
Sizzling Tandor - Here’s how it will work:  Sizzling Tandoor will devote 3 hours of its restaurant to the Good Karma Kitchen, providing a gourmet Lunch Buffet and a live sitar performance.  Valued at $15 per person, when the check arrives at a guest’s table it will say, “Your lunch was paid by the previous guest.” 
 
With no obligation, the guest then pays whatever amount they are able or willing to give, with 100% of all proceeds over $10/person going to Transition US.
 
We hope you can join us for this special gourmet event that makes a difference:

Time:
Saturday, 18th December from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm

Location:
Sizzling Tandoor Restaurant
409 Mendocino Avenue (at 5th Street)
Santa Rosa
 
RSVP:  707-579-5999 or visit us at www.GoodKarmaKitchen.org

For more info contact:
Carolyne@transitionus.org or (707) 824-1554 and learn more about Transition US at www.transitionus.org