Events

Local Agriculture • Local Economies • Neighborhood Revival • Social Justice • Green Jobs

Training for Transition

download a printable flyer here

The Transition movement is a set of inspiring ideas for creating an attractive and enticing vision of how our communities could be. The converging crises of climate change and oil depletion cannot be solved separately, and they cannot be solved with technological miracles, but only by lessening our dependence on fossil fuels.
This doesn’t mean a bleaker future. The heart of transition is the belief that if we engage with enough imagination and ingenuity to unlock the collective genius of our communities, we can choose a future that is more satisfying, just and sustainable than what we have now.

Participants in the training will:
•    explore the opportunities for personal and social transformation presented by the challenges of peak oil, climate change and economic instability
•    learn the key concepts of the Transition model, including how to set up and foster successful Transition groups
•    understand how to raise awareness of the need for transition through public talks and events
•    form contacts with other change leaders in your local area
•    establish a plan of action for yourself and your community

Trainers:
Kat Steele is a permaculture activist, designer, educator and founder of the Urban Permaculture Guild in Oakland, CA. She facilitates workshops on ecological design, sustainability and permaculture as well as publicly speaks about eco-social design, city repair and the power of placemaking.

Scott McKeown is the initiator and current chairperson of Transition Sebastopol, which is the 9th official Transition initiative in the US. Scott has been a community organizer for over 30 years, a Marketing Director of three high tech companies, and from 2003 to 2007 was the Executive Director of the thirty-thousand person attended Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California.

Bill Aal has been a trainer and organizer for the past 20 years, helping communities with diverse populations transform to be more just and sustainable. He has been involved with social and environmental justice movements for more than 20 years, with particular focus both on agricultural sustainability and social healing.

Location:
@ The Humanist Hall
390 27th Street
Oakland, CA 94612

Cost:
$215 before May 15th
$235 after May 15th

To register, please visit: http://www.regonline.com/transitiontowntraining

This 4-mile circular route will take walkers from the Plaza through flower-filled neighorhoods, including a chance to walk through some of the lovely, private backyard gardens along the way.

Leaders: Kathy Oetinger & Nick Kishmirian.

Download the full 2009 Sebastopol Walks schedule here.

Like to excercise & create community at the same time? The Sebastopol Walks series is a great way of doing both!

You can also visit the iWALK site which lists other scheduled Sonoma County walks and allows you to add to the calendar, too!

Join the West County Community Seed Library project for the first Seed and Plant exchange. Please bring clean seed or plants you want to share. Sara McCamant will teach an "Introduction to Seed Saving" class from 10:30-11:30, which will review the basic protocol for growing out clean seed to share. Seed and Plant exchange and Local Food potluck will follow class. (read more about the Sonoma County Community Seed Library below)

What you could bring:
… Plants or seeds to share
… Coin envelopes
… Books or resources for sharing with others
… Local food potluck item!

Location:
Salmon Creek School Garden
1935 Bohemian HWY
Occidental

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About the West County Community Seed Library

Vision:
To create a grassroots community seed bank that supports Sonoma County gardeners with locally grown, open pollinated, pesticide and GMO free seeds. Anyone can become a member of the West County Seed Library, we ask for a donation of $5.00-$20.00 and a commitment to grow out and donate back seed following the library's protocol for growing clean seeds.  No on is turned away for lack of funds.   The West County Seed Library will be housed at the Salmon Creek School Garden and will be open to the public monthly for classes, resource sharing and a seed and plant exchange. The West County Seed Library will have resources available to members on growing and processing seeds.
 
Why save seed and why a local seed bank?
Our rapidly changing world gives us all the more reason to strengthen our local resources and our ability to be self-sufficient.  Local seed saving allows us to cultivate plants that do well in our region, with each generation adapting more to the local environment.   It also lets us preserve heirloom seeds that are being lost as the seed industry is being concentrated into fewer and fewer large corporations.  Seed banks are a great investment; with some plants one seed can return up to 40.000.  The abundance seed savers experience should be shared with the community and helps to model a different economic system.    We hope to cultivate a network of seed savers in the region to support each other and the seed library, which will be a resource for the expanding community of gardeners and help strengthen our local food system.

For more information contact Sara McCamant 829-5234 or saramc@emeraldearth.org