Transition Kaw Valley

Learn how to make the most of your space from those whoʼve done it. Learn the planting sequence and arrangement of various garden vegetables as they occur over the late winter to late fall period of the growing season. Experienced gardeners will teach you how, and direct you to good sources of seeds. For more info contact Amber at jajLehrman@yahoo.com.

(Download Flyer .pdf at this link: FoodPantryFlyerV.3 )

Transition Kaw Valley will hold a Stocking the Pantry Workshop as part of our ongoing workshop series. The class will begin with what foods to have on hand in case of an emergency, and expanding that into a robust food storage system to save money and provide extra security. Topics include what foods store well, what are the most nutritious foods to have on hand, how to cook from your pantry and how to build up a food reserve without breaking your budget. The class will conclude with a cooking-from- the-pantry demonstration and dinner. For more information contact Amber Lehrman at jajlehrman@yahoo.com.

When we think and act, in our home, occupation, affairs and community… do we act without regard to how our actions impact others?

“Right and wrong”… Living a “moral life.” Are these merely well worn religious ideas?  Or does what we do in our own lives matter in our neighborhoods and communities, in a tangible way?

What these things mean to ourselves and others, and how they are defined may be as disparate and unique as individuals occupying the planet. Yet in the wide variance of human experience and history, those who strive to set aside judgement and take sincere action for the benefit of others besides themselves… to “do for others” without thought of personal gain… make up the deepest and most affecting stories in human communities, and embody the best of what we recognize as “good” in ourselves.

Being “self-less” isn’t bound by race, creed or ideology. It is bound to the best of what we are all made of.  It is one of the ingredients in the cement that builds the structure of community. It puts us in touch with that part of our sight… our vision… that makes us grateful for others, for our own life, and our humanity and community.  Not that we would or should “think less of ourselves”, but maybe just think about ourselves a little less, and more about giving back to others, and the community of our fellows.

Occupy Wall Street:  If you live in the U.S., you can’t not know what OWS is.  Odds are, you’ve heard a wide range of opinions and ideas about the “who, what, when, where, and why” behind this spontaneous movement.  Opinions about it run the gamut… but isn’t it safe to say, that OWS came about in response to a deep sense of disparity in our nation, politics, social ordering, and our communities?

There is an overwhelming sense in the U.S. and the world, of what no longer works, yet the very structures and institutions that make up our societies continue to feverishly work to convince people to “…just trust us this time, and we’ll make it better… we promise.”

What Do People Really Want?  It’s pretty simple really.  People want to live in a safe place, where they feel like they matter… despite their individual differences… that they might live in a community that has respect and consideration of their value as a person, and also values their experience and contribution to the community.  For some of us, this may sound familiar… because we recognize that our parents or grandparents lived in a community much like that, in a time when despite differences, people came together to help their neighbors and community, and to solve problems that needed to be solved for the well being of the whole street, neighborhood and community.

The Transition Towns Movement.  The Sustainability Action Network and Transition Kaw Valley are made up of folks who feel there really is a solution to the systemic problems that have fomented and brought forth that sense of “it HAS to change now… we can’t take things as they are any more.”

The Transition Initiative is an effort to take the best of what has worked before, and build upon it to make a better now and better future for ourselves, our families, our neighborhoods and our community.

It’s time, now, for another promise.  A promise to ourselves and our friends, families and our future, to build the kind of community, we long for, and that would make our grandparents smile… an acknowledgment of our recognition of the blessing of community… a gift we can give to ourselves and each other.

WON’T YOU JOIN US?      

Some lovely comments by Gerald Celente.  (from “Wake Up America”, a yet to be released documentary)

ENERGY SAVING WEATHERIZATION WORKSHOP ¤ TRANSITION KAW VALLEY

Saturday, 12 November 2011, 1:00-5:00pm
location: 1510 East 13th Street, Lawrence KS 66044

Transition Kaw Valley will hold a Home Energy Conservation/Weatherization workshop as part of our ongoing series.  Danny Veerkamp, LEED AP, a state energy auditor, will demonstrate and discuss ways to make your home more energy efficient.  Hands on projects will be included along with classroom instruction.  Don’t miss a chance to save yourself money this winter!  For more information, contact Michael Almon at paradigm {at] ixks.com.

BE SURE AND CHECK OUT ALL OUR “LOCAL COMMUNITY RE-SKILLING” WORKSHOPS – UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

•  Home Energy Conservation/Weatherization – 12 November
•  Stocking the Pantry – 10 December
•  Cold Frame construction – 21 January
•  Garden Planning & Seed Order – 18 February
•  Raised Bed Gardening – 10 March
•  Rocket Stove – date TBA
•  Solar Food Dehydrator – date TBA
•  Permablitz – date TBA
•  Water Purification & Storage - date TBA

WANT TO STAY UP TO DATE?  Sign up for the S.A.N. Weekly Newsletter, just CLICK HERE

At 7pm April 27th, 2011… we had our first open invitation meeting to form the “Transition Kaw Valley Initiative”.  We had 13 1/4 (bambino) in attendance, and some very enthusiastic folks ready to make something HAPPEN.

We’re are going to have another showing of the movie “The Economics of Happiness” ASAP at the Delaware Street Commons… ALL are invited.  Stay tuned for more details in the SAN Weekly Sustainability Newsletter.

If you’d like to get up to speed, you can download THE TRANSITION PRIMER right HERE,

…and get the entire TRANSITION HANDBOOK right HERE

Are you subscribed to the SAN Sustainability Newsletter?  If not… you better hurry up and sign up.  Do it HERE.

TRANSITION KAW VALLEY ¤ TOWARDS AN ENERGY RESILIANT COMMUNITY

Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 7:00pm
700 Mississippi St., Lawrence KS 66044 (Michael’s office above garage)

The Kaw Valley Transition Initiative is addressing climate disruption and peak oil inflation at the local level, a relocalization effort similar to hundreds around the globe.  Wednesday’s meeting will be a round table sharing of people’s vision, resources, and skills that can contribute to furthering Transition Kaw Valley.

The Transition movement was begun by Rob Hopkins in Great Britain and in the U.S. is coordinated by Transition US based in Sebastapol CA.  They help local initiatives with resources and publications, and they have trainers available to conduct local training sessions.  For more info, or to get on the S.A.N. Transition Kaw Valley e-mail list, contact them at <morlinc@sunflower.com>.

The 7 Principles of Transition

1. Positive Visioning

Transition Initiatives are based on a dedication to the creation of tangible, clearly expressed and practical visions of the community in question beyond its present‐day dependence on fossil fuel. Our primary focus is not campaigning against things, but rather on creating positive, empowering possibilities and opportunities. The generation of new stories and myths are central to this visioning work.

2. Help People Access Good Information and Trust Them to Make Good Decisions

Transition initiatives dedicate themselves, through all aspects of their work, to raising awareness of peak oil and climate change and related issues such as critiquing economic growth. In doing so they recognize the responsibility to present this information in ways which are playful, articulate, accessible and engaging, and which enable people to feel enthused and empowered rather than powerless
Transition initiatives focus on telling people the closest version of the truth that we know in times when the information available is deeply contradictory. The messages are non‐directive, respecting each person’s ability to make a response that is appropriate to their situation.

3. Inclusion and Openness

Successful Transition Initiatives need an unprecedented coming together of the broad diversity of society. They dedicate themselves to ensuring that their decision making processes and their working groups embody principles of openness and inclusion. This principle also refers to the principle of each initiative reaching the community in its entirety, and endeavoring, from an early stage, to engage their local business community, the diversity of community groups and local government authorities. It makes explicit the principle that there is no room for ‘them and us’ thinking in the challenge of energy descent planning.

4. Enable Sharing and Networking

Transition Initiatives dedicate themselves to sharing their successes, failures, insights and connections at the various scales across the Transition network, so as to more widely build up a collective body of experience.

5. Build Resilience

This stresses the fundamental importance of building resilience i.e. the capacity of our businesses, communities and settlements to withstand shock. Transition initiatives commit to building resilience across a wide range of areas (food, economics, energy etc) and also on a range of scales (from the local to the national) as seems appropriate ‐ and to setting them within an overall context of the need to do everything we can to ensure environmental resilience.

6. Inner and Outer Transition

The challenges we face are not just caused by a mistake in our technologies but are a direct result of our world view and belief system. The impact of the information about the state of our planet can generate fear and grief ‐ which may underlie the state of denial that many people are caught in. Psychological models can help us understand what is really happening and avoid unconscious processes sabotaging change. E.g. addictions models, models for behavioral change. This principle also honors the fact that Transition thrives because it enables and supports people to do what they are passionate about, what they feel called to do.

7. Subsidiarity: self‐organization and decision making at the appropriate level

This final principle embodies the idea that the intention of the Transition model is not to centralize or control decision making, but rather to work with everyone so that it is practiced at the most appropriate, practical and empowering level, and in such a way that it models the ability of natural systems to self organize.