Potluck with a Purpose: Transition Town gathering (Albany)

http://transitionalbany.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/TransitionAlbanyLogo150.pngThis event, hosted by Transition Albany (http://transitionalbany.org/), is designed for everyone and anyone in the local area (El Cerrito to Berkeley and beyond) who is interested in lightening their footstep, living in harmony with the earth, building community resilience, preparing for emergencies, and finding inner resilience. [It's not a cohousing event as such, but a good place to find people with similar interests in sustainable community -- Raines]

We invite you to join engaged neighbors from surrounding communities – over delicious food – to network, eat, have fun, and exchange ideas and inspiration at our First Tuesday of the Month Potluck with Purpose.

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/2/5/e/event_4729758.jpegThe idea is for local people from El Cerrito, Kensington, Albany, Berkeley and beyond, who identify with Permaculture, or their local Transition town, or Neighborhood Preparedness, or a Church group, or Zeitgeist, or simply as a neighbor, to share their vision for and commitment to creating a localized, positive future.

Each month a different small group decides on a focus for discussion, but the evening always includes great food (bring something you love to make, preferably from local sources), drink (the church is OK with alcohol in moderation, but if that’s your choice, please bring a non-alcoholic drink as well), good company, sharing (there’s a “free table” where you can offer items that someone else might find more useful than you), celebrations, announcements and a Transition Library (details here (http://transitionalbany.org/?p=1096)).

This all happens at St Albans Parish Hall, on Washington Street at Curtis, right on the Albany/North Berkeley border. St Albans Church is very active in the community and gives us the space at a reduced rent, which we cover with donations ($3-5 per person). They provide real flatware and silverware and have an active recycling program so we can keep our waste to a minimum.

The potluck starts at 6:30 pm through the winter months (7:00 pm from May through October to avoid conflicting with Albany’s Garden Swap) and finishes around 8:30 (9:00) pm. Families are very welcome although we are still developing facilities for children and request your help with bringing a quiet activity that will entertain your child(ren).

Please contact Transition Albany (transitionalbanyca [at] gmail.com) if you have an idea for a particular focus or would like to be in on the planning of one of these events. Live music is always welcome, as is any help with involving the children.

Our numbers grow every month and we would love to see you at the next Potluck with Purpose!

About Transition Albany

Transition Albany was started by a group of Albany residents as part of a worldwide grassroots movement dedicated to getting local communities together to create a resilient future. The Transition movement recognizes that money is not the bottom line, that an economy based on endless growth is unnatural and bound to fail, and that the consumer culture that many of us have enjoyed at others’ expense for the last 50 years - completely dependent on the supply of cheap oil and the result of relentless media and corporate advertising – is unsustainable.

The Transition movement believes that the collective genius of the community can envision, design and promote a localized way of life that uses a lot less oil, coal and gas, produces zero waste, relies on renewable, local resources and fosters a lot more creativity, community building, and fun.

The Context

Peak oil is the point at which maximum global oil production is reached. Once the peak is reached, oil production will begin to decline, oil will become increasingly expensive and we will begin to go into a bumpy energy decline.

The impact on developed, oil-dependent societies will be huge. All the key elements of industrial societies – transportation, manufacturing, food production, home heating, construction – are totally reliant on oil.

No one is sure when the oil peak will be reached but a growing body of experts predicts that it will happen some time in the next 10-15 years. Some believe that it has already happened.

All the alternative energy sources combined come nowhere near the power of oil, and can replace only a fraction of it.

Climate change, an unprecedented global threat to wildlife and humanity, is being caused by global warming, a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) in the atmosphere.

Although greenhouse gas levels have been stable for thousands of years, they have risen steeply over the past century. Much of this is due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil which release carbon dioxide.

Climate change is already causing heatwaves, droughts, floods, famines, extreme weather events, changes in animal migration patterns, altered seasons and the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets.

How Transition Albany Is Organized

We have no hierarchy and anyone can get involved. We are just a bunch of active people who want to get things going. We have an initiating group that has been coordinating activities, organising events and basically sorting out the behind-the-scenes boring stuff.

We recognize that strong feelings can be aroused by thinking about all this, from fear to anger, from sadness to helplessness, from numbness to denial. Our Heart and Soul groups aim to provide safe spaces where people can come together to explore and move beyond the paralysis that such feelings can engender, and get to work in a positive frame of mind!

What else? Well …

We are an independent, non-political community group. We are working with other local community groups. Our funding comes from donations from individuals. We are not a pressure group – we are leaving lobbying and political campaigning to other groups. Instead we are concentrating on local, practical solutions that people can get involved with right now. And – this is an important one – we need your help! Please get involved and share your creative skills and ideas. Transition Albany is part of the Transition Towns Network (http://www.transitiontowns.org/) which already includes 278 (and counting) communities across the globe. It’s good to know you’re not alone.