For historical purposes, we’re going to start listing our older events, in the interest of transparency, dialogue and… well… fun!
The Transition SFV was formed at the urging of Bruce Woodside in September 2009 (after a few weeks of e-mailing back and forth). We met every couple of weeks, plotting and planning and laughing and getting to know each other before, slowly, things started to emerge…
JAN 12, 2010: A NIGHT IN THE C-REALM
7:30-ish to 11-ish
At a private home in North Hollywood
Type: SALON (affiliated event)
Topics: Economy, Ecology, Heart & Soul
Category: Head, Heart
For the past couple of years, Bruce Woodside (of the Transition Steering Committee) had been listening to a very eclectic set of podcasts having to do with peak oil, permaculture, entheogenic substances, Peruvian shamanism, the economic downturn, resource depletion, the technological singularity, crop circles . . . you name it, it had been covered in a wide-ranging series of conversations with some amazing authors and online bloggers (James Kunstler, Thomas Homer-Dixon, John Michael Greer, Charles Eisenstein, Joe Bageant, and many more), moderated by a genial guy named Kevin O’Connor, alias KMO, who still performs this miracle once a week using a cell phone, an ancient laptop computer, and borrowed wi-fi. His podcast is called The C-Realm Podcast (“The ‘C’ stands for consciousness”) and you can find links to the most recent episodes here: http://kmo.livejournal.com/ or, you can subscribe and have archived episodes downloaded to your iTunes for easy listening here: http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/
Kevin and a frequent guest (Neil Kramer, of http://thecleaver.blogspot.com/ ) were going to be traveling about and making an appearance here in Los Angeles. That (larger) appearance fell apart and Bruce decided, on a whim, to step in and try to salvage it. What formed organically was like one of those early 20 th century Parisian salon-type things, hosted by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. But without Gertude Stein or Alice. Or Paris. There was a little music, a bit of refreshment and a lot of fascinating conversation.
JAN 30, 2010: MEAD-MAKING
2:00pm-5:00pm
At a private home in North Hills
Type: WORKSHOP (affiliated event)
Topics: Food, Health
Category: Head, Hands
Botanist, guerilla gardener and wildcrafter Robert Gill taught a mead-making workshop to teach people how to make this fermented drink out of honey and various herbs. Participants brought an empty 1 gallon glass jug with a cap and 4 lbs. of honey to make one gallon of mead. To that, they added wildcrafted white sage until they brewed a drink that was as much medicinal as alcoholic.
FEB 6, 2010: THE FUTURE IS ABOUT RESILIENCE
2:00pm – 6:00pm
At the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society: 9550 Haskell Ave. North Hills, California 91343
Type: PUBLIC EVENT
Topics: Peak Oil, Climate Change, Valley History
Category: Head
This was Transition San Fernando Valley’s Launch Event. A grassroots group of local citizens and stakeholders explored ways in which to move Valley communities from our current high-energy, high-consumption lifestyles toward a lower-powered, less wasteful future. Our goal was to do this by encouraging practical strategies for growing local resilience, building sustainable community structures and enhancing our shared ability to adapt to change. “The Future is About Resilience” introduced people to the idea of resilience as a way to deal with the twin global challenges of global climate change and peak oil. After a short interactive slide show, we invited discussion and provided a framework for public and practical action. The amazing suggestions offered up by the groups were translated into our Wiki page.
The slide show used in this presentation was adapted from Asher Miller’s Sep 2009 presentation found here: http://www.postcarbon.org/article/40559-the-future-is-all-about-resilience
FEB 20, 2010: INTRO TO TRANSITION
2:00pm – 4:00pm
In the Ballou Room, at the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society: 9550 Haskell Ave. North Hills, California 91343
Type: WORKSHOP
Topics: Transition Tools
Category: Head
Transition Initiatives are unique in their approach to social and environmental change in that they propose a way to create both an inner and outer change. This workshop started an interactive discussion about the”toolbox” provided by the Transition movement worldwide and how it could change our relationship and the reality of the San Fernando Valley. Attendees learned a little about the 3 principles of change: Heads, Hearts and Hands, the Principles of Transition, working Groups, creating an Energy Descent Action Plan and Dragon Dreaming.
Some of these principles taught in the workshop can be found here — http://transitionus.org/transition-101 — and here — http://www.dragondreaming.info/english/12-steps/.
March 6, 2010: TRANSITIONING IN PLACE, PART 1: THE BACK PORCH GARDENER
2:00pm – 4:00pm
At a private home in North Hollywood
Type: WORKSHOP
Topics: Permaculture
Category: Hands
Master Gardener Bruce Woodside taught folks how to build self-watering pots, for growing herbs and vegetables anywhere. Participants learned the how, where and when of what to plant with some fine friends and neighbors in the permaculture movement.
Here’s an example of the self-watering container concept: http://www.homegrownevolution.com/2007/01/self-watering-containers.html
March 27, 2010: TRANSITIONING IN PLACE, PART 2: BIODYNAMIC COMPOSTING
2:00pm – 4:00pm
At a private home in Sherman Oaks
Type: WORKSHOP
Topics: Permaculture, Composting
Category: Hands
At our last workshop of this first Cycle, we were very happy to be able to present Jack McAndrew from BioDynamicCompost in Topanga who taught us how to make marvelous compost for our gardens. Jack used the same technique he uses to create compost for the Skyline Vineyards famous Cabernet Sauvignon.
http://www.biodynamiccompost.com/
And that, as they say, was that. Our first 3 month cycle, from January to March 2010.
