It is only six days into the new year, but there is already a lot of activity on the Transition front! Here is a quick synopsis of events in the Houston region to mark on your calendar. Please especially note that we have confirmed that our January 10th Transition Houston meeting will be held at Urban Harvest.
Clear Lake Transition Initiative Monthly Meeting, Thursday, January 6
The Clear Lake Transition Initiative is holding their first meeting of the new year tonight! Meet and network with your fellow Clear Lake Transition group members and enjoy some delicious healthy organic food as we plan our upcoming Permablitzes, movie nights, and other upcoming events.
The event will be held at Nature’s Garden in Friendswood, with a reservation under “Amanda.” It should be easy to find the Transition meeting, since it is a very small restaurant!
Clear Lake Transition Initiative January Meeting
Thursday, January 6
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Nature’s Garden Organic Market and Cafe (http://www.nagamaca.com/ or (281) 996-9596)
400 W. Parkwood Ave., Friendswood, TX
For more info: Rob at 281.705.4307, Amanda at 832-405-9160, or email clearlaketransitioninitiative at gmail dot com
Transition Old Sixth Ward Monthly Meeting, Sunday, January 9
Transition Old Sixth Ward meets on the second Sunday of each month. This month’s meeting will be held on this Sunday, January 9. Among the topics of discussion are the Permablitz coming up on February 6 and how Transition OSW can invite lots of people from our neighborhood to the ‘Blitz to see how much can be accomplished when a group like this gets together.
Transition OSW Regular Meeting
Sunday, January 9
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
For meeting location and more info please contact Stephen at crawfgames at earthlink dot net
Transition Houston Monthly Meeting, Monday, January 10
Transition Houston will be holding our January meeting on Monday, January 10, at Urban Harvest (2311 Canal Street). Transition Houston’s first meeting of the year will have as its focus a discussion among its members to set the broad outlines of what we would like to achieve in 2011. This includes events, training, permablitzes, monthly meetings (day of month and venue), film series, guest speakers, and more. As always, we will close out the meeting with refreshments, conversation, and community!
We have confirmed that we will be meeting at Urban Harvest, in Room 124 (straight down the hall and on the right).
Transition Houston January Meeting
Monday, January 10
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Urban Harvest
2311 Canal St., Houston, TX 77003
For more information and RSVP: transitiontexas.ning.com/events/transition-houston-january
Urban Harvest Fruit Tree Sale, Saturday, January 15
Fruit trees offer a great opportunity for abundant food with minimal effort, and can be a core element of personal resilience. Fruit tree sale season is coming up early in the new year, with a number of organizations holding sale days. One of the sales coming up very soon is the Urban Harvest Fruit Tree Sale. This annual sale brings together far more types and varieties of fruit trees than can be found anywhere else in the greater Houston area This year the sale is going to be held at Robertson Football Stadium, on the University of Houston Main Campus (Scott Street at Holman Street).
Urban Harvest Fruit Tree Sale
Saturday, January 15
9:00 am – 1:00 pm or until sold out
Robertson Football Stadium on the University of Houston campus Scott Street at Holman Street
For more information:
www.urbanharvest.org/events/fruittreesales.html
Movie Screening: Climate Refugees, Wednesday, January 26
As we mentioned in our mid-December newsletter, Transition Houston, the USGBC Emerging Professionals (EP), and the Rice Environmental Club are presenting the next film in our green film series on Wednesday, January 26. The movie is Climate Refugees, a documentary film about “the human face of climate change.” Information about the movie can be found at www.climaterefugees.com, including film trailers.
Climate Refugees film screening
Wednesday, January 26
6:30 pm
Rice University Media Center, corner of University Blvd and Stockton, entrance #8 on the Rice University Campus
Transition Houston Permablitz #5, Sunday, February 6
As mentioned above, our next Permablitz is scheduled for Sunday, February 6, in the Old Sixth Ward historic neighborhood. We will have the scope of work and activities soon (planning is now underway), but for now please save the date!
Soil Carbon Panel Discussion, Monday, February 14
Houston Urban Gardeners (HUG), Houston Food Policy Workgroup, Houston Climate Protection Alliance, and Transition Houston are cosponsoring a panel discussion regarding the role of healthy soils in sequestering carbon. Among the topics of discussion will be building soil carbon through use of compost and biochar. More details to come, but for now also mark this date on your calendar!
Soil Carbon Panel Discussion
Monday, February 14
6:30 pm
Houston Garden Center (Hermann Park by the Rose Garden)
1500 Hermann Dr., Houston, TX
Training for Transition course, February 19-20 (tentative)
As we’ve discussed during the latter part of 2010, we would like to hold our second Training for Transition course in Houston early in 2011. We are now tentatively planning to host the training on the weekend of February 19 and 20, although this will depend on venue and trainer availability. We are also working to keep the cost as low as possible so that everyone who has an interest will be able to attend, and will be requesting volunteer help to make it both valuable and affordable. Several of the people now actively involved in Transition Houston attended the course when we had it here in November 2009, and found it very useful and powerful.
This is a part of the class description, found on the Transition US Training page:
The T4T course is designed to give a detailed introduction to the most important skills necessary to successfully set up, develop, and run a Transition project in your locality. It is designed for people who are already in a group working to achieve this, or are thinking of creating such a group. The full curriculum for the T4T can be found here.
At the end of the course participants will:
- Have a clear understanding of the context for Transition Initiatives, the current global situation and the transformational possibilities that arise from climate change, peak oil and the economic crisis.
- Know what the Transition model is – including an in-depth look at the 12 steps, from inspiration, setting up the initiating group, all the way to having active and effective working groups.
- Have experienced a joint visioning process.
- Understand how to organize effective meetings such as public talks, open space days, and small theme working groups.
- Understand the purpose and principles of an Energy Descent Action Plan.
- Have the outline of an effective and inspiring talk on the Transition movement.
- Have formed useful contacts with other Transition Initiatives and individuals interested in the Transition model.
- Have a plan of action for themselves and their locality.
If you have not previously indicated an interest in the training (or are not sure if you have), or if you would like to be a part of the planning and logistics for the class, please let Mark know at mjuedeman at gmail dot com.
We trust that these events will help your new year to start out right, finding the antidote to anxiety and despair over the challenges of transition in our shared good work and good community.
Transition Houston 