Spring Newsletter 2010

 Spring is in the air, the gardens are overflowing with winter greens and the spring crops are not far off. We hope lots of good stuff is happening with you, and here are a few extra offerings from us – if there is space in what I know are often overloaded lives. However, whatever the outcome of present political manoeuvrings, there will be plenty to be done as we each move towards more sustainable, connected and resilient lives, and we aim to support each other in happily making more and more of our own changes.

^{_{T  uesday 31st August - Ride the Talk on Climate Change}}

He has the passion. He has the knowledge. He has the bike! See website http://www.ridethetalk.com.au/ John Knox, who is cycling around Australia for action on climate change, will give his entertaining and engaging presentation on the practical steps that ordinary people can take to reduce their energy consumption, save money AND reduce their carbon footprint in Newcastle this Tuesday (31 August).

The event -  Newcastle Room at Newcastle City Hall, from 7:00pm (for 7:15) to approximately 9pm. Entry is by donation. Funds will go toward venue costs and to John Knox's Ride the Talk project. (The presentation will immediately follow the Hunter Valley Research Foundation's lecture by Bernard Salt on the very important Population question (from 6pm to 7pm at City Hall).

Saturday 4th September - Bee-keeping in your backyard? Ideas Café

 This is part of our monthly Ideas Café gathering, and this time the delightful Gina Cranson is giving a talk on the wonders and value of having your own beehive, with the sweet outflowings of this easy backyard addition. 2:30 to 4pm at Dimitri’s café in Hamilton down the lane from the Euro Bar (child friendly and coffee has improved).

Sunday 12th September - Sustainable House Day 2010

 I know we are preaching to the converted, but some of these houses do have some great ideas and quirky solutions to tricky problems, so if you are not there yet, you may find this informative and encouraging – see our website for more details and flyer.

Sunday 12th September - Lake Macquarie Living Smart Festival

 The inaugural Living Smart Festival in Lake Macquarie, Speers Point Park, Speers Point, from 9:30am - 5pm

About the Festival:  an inspirational and educational celebration of sustainable living in Lake Macquarie. The Living Smart Festival aims to engage people on relevant sustainability topics in creative ways such as through interactive workshops, music, dance, art, performance and food. Transition Newcastle will have a stall there.

 Website: further general information about the festival is available at LMCC website, follow links to 'environment' - 'Living Smart Festival'.  A sustainable community is an involved community.

Tuesday 28th September - Open Space

Weird name, effective meeting space for getting things moving, the Hamilton Baptist Church Hall, Lindsay Street Opposite Gregson Park, Hamilton  ( 7:15PM till 9:15PM)

Our monthly Open Space meetings are for people interested in helping to move Newcastle towards sustainability and resilience. Come and propose your own ideas, issues or projects and see if you can inspire others to help you, or contribute your ideas, time and/or skills to others.

Progress on existing projects will be briefly discussed, and then the meeting will be opened to new ideas, issues or projects, with time and space made available for groups of people interested in proposed topics to discuss them.

Open Space is an approach for hosting meetings and conferences focused on a specific and important purpose or task - but beginning without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme. In a Transition Newcastle Open Space meeting the overarching purpose is "moving Newcastle towards sustainability and resilience".

You can read more about Open Space, and see a video about it, here. An old Indian saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” Come along and get your toes in the water.

Fri. 22^nd and Sat.  23^nd October - Fair Share festival and School of Social Justice

The Fair Share Festival is organised to go from Friday 22^nd 4pm-8.30pm, then Saturday 23^rd 9am-4.30pm and will be held at Hamilton Public School, Tudor St, Newcastle. It an Eco-Social Expo and School, (10-12 workshops) aimed to educate and inspire the public towards achieving sustainable and caring society, so it includes a holistic focus on all 3 of economic, social and ecological sectors, as being all inter-dependent (as also now taught in Permaculture meaning "Permanently sustainable culture"). We'll focus on... equitable, sustainable, community-strengthening financial/economic and eco-social systems.... as ethical, enduring alternatives to the "greed is good" system which have produced not only boom-and-bust disasters like the GFC -Global Financial Crisis - but great costs to communities (the poor in particular), culture, the environment and health.

The still-unravelling disasters of both the GFC- Global Financial Crisis - and the eco-system crisis of species extinction and climate change, necessitate changes to business practices and structures, economic policies, attitudes and life-styles....from excessive individualism, greed and materialism, to a new basis of co-operation, respect for the community of all species, and the strengthening of human communities.

FSF is also a Festival, with exhibitors, displays and "edutainment" breaks of relevant issue-highlighting drama, comedy/satire, songs and even a magician with a sustainability-teaching show.

See our website for more info. www.transitionnewcastle.org.au

It may be chilly out there but so much is happening in the next few weeks that it's really worth making the effort....

Wednesday 21st: The Garden at the End of the World

Don't forget this confronting documentary on Afghanistan is screening this Wednesday night only at 6.30pm.

The film, by award winning Australian filmmaker Gary Caganoff, portrays the lives of the hardest hit, the widows and orphans, who number in tens of thousands, following two remarkable Australian women; humanitarian, Mahboba Rawi, and internationally recognised permaculturalist Rosemary Morrow, who offer alternatives to the ‘reconstruction’ efforts that have not worked.Through these two remarkable women Caganoff elicits stories and images of Afghanistan rarely seen before. Neither sentimental nor sensational, the film is remarkable, reaching into the depths and complexities of war torn Afghanistan. Gary Caganoff will speak after the screening.

The film screens at the Elderly Citizens Centre, Laing Street, Newcastle East (behind Hunter St. Mall) Entry fee is $10  (PHR members and low-income) $15 non-members with all proceeds donated to Mahboba’s Promise. The film is rated ‘M’ for mature audiences. Enquiries to lizapezzano@hotmail.com

Sunday 25th: Heart and Soul Workshop - the work that reconnects

You are invited to attend a day-long workshop based on experiential processes developed by Joanna Macy. By participating together in meditation, rituals, and creative processes we have the opportunity to honour our pain for the world and be enlivened and empowered to contribute to creating a sustainable future.

 Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to permanent war, none is so great as the deadening of our response… psychic numbing impedes our capacity to process and respond. In letting go of old defences we find truer community, and in community we learn to trust our inner responses to our world and find our power-Joanna Macy

Facilitator,  Clare Power, from the Blue Mountains trained with Joanna Macy in August 2008.

The workshop runs from 9.15am to 5pm at the Family Action Centre – Newcastle University. The fee is $30 (concessions available)

Bring some lunch and a cushion.  Morning & afternoon tea will be provided .

For information and bookings contact transitionnc@optusnet.com.au  or phone Maureen on 4967 3231 (there are four spaces remaining).

Tuesday 27th: The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

This inspiring film focuses on the oil supply crisis that the collapse of the Soviet Union brought upon Cuba. This Cuban experience of the 1990s offers lessons to help prepare other nations with petroleum-based economies—such as our own—for a future in which oil will become more more expensive and could eventually be unavailable.

The Power of Community is a project of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, a non-profit organization that designs and teaches low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel based, industrialized, and centralized way of living. Far from being depressing, the people of Cuba show  resilience and hope, not to mention innovative solutions, which are thought-provoking and inspiring.

This free film is showing in Transition Newcastle's July public meeting (normally Open Space)  at the Hamilton Baptist Church, Lindsay Street, Hamilton (opposite Gregson Park) commencing at 7.15pm. There will be space for discussion and project creation.

Wednesday 4th August: Beyond Coal - 100% renewables for the Hunter

Climate Action Newcastle is holding a forum for the community to learn about the potential of renewable energy, and start talking about a future where we don’t need to burn dirty coal to produce electricity anymore.The panellists will speak on a range of related issues, including the technical challenges and solutions, how communities can take action to create the future they want to see, and how the transition will affect jobs.

A representative from Beyond Zero Emissions will be attending to launch their recently released Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan. This plan shows how we could provide 100% Renewable energy for Australia by 2020, including how much it would cost. Via skype, we will hear from Scott Kinear about how a community have set up their own wind farm in Victoria, and from Dr Luis Crespo about how  Concentrating Solar Thermal technology is providing baseload power in Spain. There will be lots of questions and answers so please come along to listen, learn and participate.

The forum starts at 6.30pm at Newcastle City Hall. Entry is by a gold coin donation. For more info or media enquiries please contact John L Hayes on 0400 171 602, or jlhayes@bigpond.com.

 Saturday August 14th: Hunter Organics 30th Anniversary

Featuring Andrew Dempster from Slow Food Hunter Valley as the guest speaker, the afternoon will celebrate  30 years of continuing passion for sustainable agriculture. As a group, HOGS encourages its members through field days and a newsletter, to grow food organically without artificial fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides and without polluting the environment. The group promotes the sustainable use of the earth in all aspects of everyday life and has grown from a handful of enthusiasts to over 150 members.

The afternoon commences at 1.30pm at The Wetlands at Shortland. RSVP to Angela by phoning 4959 9525 or e-mailing angela.finney@harboursat.com.au before August 7th.

See more info on these upcoming events by following the Upcoming events links on our homepage: transitionnewcastle.org.au

Tuesday 25th May, 7:15 to 8:45pm, Hamilton. Open Space on current projects. This is an open meeting for people interested in the Transition Model and who are interested in practical projects. Bring your own and start a group, or see whether you can find one of the existing groups to bounce off ideas with, and get active. Currently this may involve the Food group, Built Environment, Transition Space project, Arts and Film (e.g. Film Festival), Schools Project, Awareness Raising, or Web design. All this to provide structure, but with no set demands or committments - as well being open to your own passion and interests.

 Saturday 5th June, 9:00am to 3.00pm. Hunter Wetlands Centre's 25th Anniversary/ World Environment  Day Carnival.  Transition Newcastle is holding a stall, as are Climate Action Newcastle and Permaculture Hunter Region, along with many other organisations interested and concerned with the environment. For more info see Wetlands.

June "Ideas cafe" (Saturday 5th) will be held at the Hunter Wetlands Centre following a power point presentation on the Transition Model and the Twin Drivers (time to be announced).

Saturday 5th June, 2pm to 3.30pm. Waste As Art Opening & Awards,  at Maitland Town Hall.  The exhibition will run from June 7th tto 24th.  There is currently a whacky "Memorial to Oil" being created as Transition Newcastle's entry to the competition, so come along and check it out.

Sunday 19th June, 11:00am to 4.00pm.  Movie Marathon at the Lake - The Coal Point Transition Initiative (Lake Macquarie) is holding another movie marathon at the Progress Association Hall as part of its awareness raising over the next four months.  The coming films are: In Transition - The Movie; the classic - An Inconvenient Truth; and The Power of Community. Catch one, or catch them all.

All the film sessions will also have Conversation Café forums to gather ideas and issues that arise from the films, and there’ll be food available.

The local Transition group meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at 4pm at Progress Hall, to plan the events and activities and think about how to make the Transition Town process work.  Email cppatransition@gmail.com or talk to Luke 4959 9401

Survey please. We are conducting a survey to see what our members and supporters would like to get out of a Transition Town Movement, things that you would like to see happening in areas like sustainable living and energy descent planning. We would appreciate your ideas and/or skills to help promote this rapidly growing community of people to build a more sustainable society. You can fill out the survey here (thanks!).

Transition Maitland is up and running!!!!!! After being s trong supporters of our work, Mark and Kate from Purple Pear have been inspired by the proactive and positive nature of the Transition model to start a local Initative in the Maitland area. Please phone them on 4932 0443 or email info@purplepear.net.au

Sustainable House Day is an event you may like to be involved in this year (September?), opening your house up to people in the local community who may be inspired to follow your lead and lower their carbon footprint at home - you don't have to have completed the tasks, just be well on the way. Please email us at info@ transitionnewcastle.org.au.

Fig Tree Community Garden is hosting a series of workshops including Medicine for the Mind; Grow a lot in a small space; and Kids workshop - Pizza from scratch (in school holidays), along with a ongoing Community Kitchen and working bees (connecting and therapeutic). See www.figtree.org.au

Finally, thanks to all those who came to the Gifts of the Furies and made it such a success. This professional and complex song-story about the Climate emergency stood up to its excellent reviews, and Glenda and Johanna performed the work powerfully. Thanks again.

• April 13^th - Public meeting of folk interested in adding value to the steering committee: How might you be a part of Transition Newcastle or contribute and where might you fit?

• May 1^st - Next Ideas Café at Cultural Stomp in Civic Park.

• May 6^th and 7^th - Gifts of the Furies  at the Maritime Centre; only just over 4 weeks away.

• April/May - Community Calendar to be launched.

The Transition Newcastle “steering group” goes public – 13th April

              7.15 – 8.45 pm Tuesday 13 April at the Hamilton Baptist Church Hall, Lindsay Street,   Hamilton (opposite Gregson Park).

Following the Open space last month, Tuesday the 13th of April sees the opening up of the core group that has been meeting for nearly two years, to the wider community.  Various people have asked what is happening, and expressed interest in being involved in the growing transition movement in Newcastle.  As we have gained recognition as an organisation with valuable things to contribute, developed a useful and engaging website, as we've got runs on the board running both community and special interest events, as we have started collaborating with other groups that share our values, as the need for an exciting, new and positive vision for the future becomes more obvious, our desire and need for people with a variety of skills has grown.  Transition Newcastle is inviting people inspired by the model and interested and ready to contribute more, or just contemplating it, to join us.

At the meeting we will explore how we want to be involved in Transition Newcastle, how we can motivate people to become involved in transitioning and to help them to take action, and brainstorm potential activities in preparation for a strategic planning meeting on 27 April (to which you are all invited). We will also have updates and deal with a few other business items (e.g. planning the 6 week Intro to Transitioning Course).

We really hope you can take the leap and we'll see you there.

Next Ideas Café – May 1st at Cultural Stomp in Civic Park

We are holding the Ideas Café as a part of the Cultural Stomp Festival this year. This will include an introduction to the Transition Model for those interested, and an open space type discussion around “The wheel of Change”, to explore our own personal journey to Transition. There will also be soapbox opportunities. Around 2:30pm at Civic Park. See you at the Stomp.

"The Gifts of the Furies" is coming – May 7th and 8th.  Flyer

Transition Newcastle is hosting "The Gifts of the Furies” performance by Glenda Cloughley and Johanna McBride, at Newcastle’s Maritime Centre on the 7^th & 8th of May. This is a powerful and beautiful production, and is the first Australian art work to recognise the mythic scale of the climate crisis. It is previously been performed in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney to critical acclaim. Our venue was chosen for its sense of history and atmosphere, to complement the nature of this extraordinary work. 

We hope to engage many from the arts community with their capacity to generate energy and support for the message of hope for our future. We also know that many people involved in Transition Newcastle and others will want to support this production and our efforts to extend awareness of the great challenge of our age, and build a capacity to respond positively in proactive ways. Please book early for these performances, as the venue does have limited capacity - for bookings, go to  www.trybooking.com/EAS.

A free singing workshop will be held on Sunday morning 9th May with Glenda and Johanna for those interested in a performance of the "Big Furies" with a citizen's chorus later in the year.

The Community Calendar to be launched soon.

Our new online database and calendar, which will feature local organisations and events that promote sustainable practices and a transition to a low energy future, is currently being trialled and will be released after Easter.

Wishing all our supporters a heartfelt rest over Easter.