Transition Town Powell River: planning for Peak Oil, Climate Change and economic instability on the local level

Present: Kevin, Liz, Susan, Julie, Owen

Management

We set a tentative date for a visit to the Credit Union to complete the process of opening and account. Kevin will contact Maggie at the CU to confirm. Julie can come pretty much any time we need her to.

Kevin has set up a new email list for us, and will make a start on moving people over to it.

Tax status – Kevin dug around on the CCRA website and found that we don’t have to bother about taxes until we have over $200,000 in assets (!) or more than $10K/yr in income from assets. Not something we need worry about yet. The relevant tax info is filed for future reference.

Official Transition Status – we have filled out the form and will send it in even though we haven’t yet got anyone with a permaculture design course, and only one of us has done the Transition training. We’ll see what they say.

Treasurer’s report: no change since last meeting. We’re waiting to get the last few Silent Auction bits and pieces from Graham.

Event Schedule

Nov: End of Suburbia

2pm Sun Nov 22 at the U Hall. Publicity is ongoing. Wendy sent in a press release to the Peak and they  say they will print it. Still working out where to send it to at Shaw cable. Posters have started to go up: no point doing them too early. Julie needs more, Kevin will email her the PDF of the poster. Around Town and Shaw community ticker have been sent in, Around Town listing is already showing up. We should have an Around Town listing for TTPR as a group, too, as well as event listings: Julie will send one in.

Dec: Holiday party at Owen’s B&B

Draft invitation was discussed and edited. Kevin will send it out soon, and a reminder about 2 weeks before the party. We agreed to tell people to bring a “powerdown” decoration to decorate the house, and finger food / appetizers rather than sit-down food. Gift for the gift exchange can be no cost. Owen will send a suitable picture to include on the invitation email. RSVP by Nov 28th. Party starts 6pm for meal/eats at 6:30pm.

Jan: “Home energy conservation” workshop

Jan 24th at U Hall. Kevin will follow up with Corey who was going to ask Valley about donating materials. We wil charge $5 for the workshop, age 12 and under get in free. We will talk to the U Hall about what they would like to have done – Brownie is back Nov 12th.

Feb: Multi-group convention

Date proposed to be in the first half of Feb. Susan suggested that VIU might be interested in hosting this: she will talk to Arlette. Kevin has started developing a list of groups which could be invited. We will begin putting out feelers as to when might be most appropriate. This event might be good run as an Open Space. We should talk to the Victoria transition group about their event like this once it has taken place: how they organised it, what it consisted of, and how it went.

Mar: Participation in Seedy Saturday, Mar 13th.

Apr: Movie screening?

Possibly Power of Community.

May: Eco Action Fair.

New date May 2nd 2010, letter sent to other possible co-sponsors. Emma and CaroleAnn of GreenStep replied, they are not able to take it on at the moment. Kim Miller replied, will present it to the Chamber board and see if anyone is interested. No reply yet from Ryan Barfoot. Kevin will ask the Farmers Institute. Susan suggested Manzanita restaurant, and we’ll keep them in mind: would rather have co-sponsoring groups than businesses.

Connecting with Other Groups

Kevin will do a Peak Oil presentation at teh GreenStep coffeehouse at Breakwater Books on Tuesday 10th Nov, 7pm. Others from our group are encouraged to attend.

Susan told us that there is another Council feedback meeting scheduled for the end of November, and all are encouraged to attend. It may be especially relevant to transport issues.

Other business

Transition Training in Victoria – Kevin reported back, will write up his notes more completely later on. One important point is that our group should be called the “Initiating Group” not steering group. He gave others a CD of all the materials handed out at the training. Lots of useful stuff. We agreed to workk through the group and personal evaluation sheets that Kevin had emailed to everyone, and share the information at the next meeting.

Possible T Training in Courtenay: in Jan 2010 there may be Transition Training coming to Courtenay at a more affordable price. More info to follow. Several people are interested.

Transition webinar 29 Oct was felt to be useful. Kevin to send link to the recording to Susan.

Info leaflet has been updated by Liz and Kevin. Kevin will send to Corey to get copies printed.

Silent auction outstanding bids – no further information.

Age of Stupid potential screening– Kevin approached Gianni about Film Festival inclusion, Susan will talk to Ann re Patricia showing.

Present:  Kevin, Liz, Wendy, Corey, Julie, Owen, Susan, Dolores

Group Structure

Directors

Kevin has approached the Credit Union to open a bank account and arrange for signing authorities, and needs two “sponsors” who are CU members as Directors of our group.

Motion:      to elect Julie and Susan as Directors at Large.
Moved:    Owen Gaskell
Seconded:    Elizabeth Milward

Motion carried.  All in favor.  No abstentions, none against.
Julie Thorne and Susan Jersak were assigned to be Directors at Large.

There was a question about whether or not taxes were owed on donations received.  Kevin will look into the matter.

Kevin will e-mail Dolores a list of Transition Town requirements to become an official part of their organization.

Mailing List

Kevin will set up a Yahoo Groups list to replace the current personal email mailing list. This will allow the mailing list to be managed by more than one person, and to be owned by the group rather than an individual.

Awareness-Raising Event Schedule

Celebration of Local Food (CoLF) event debrief

Liz reported that we will have received approximately $300 of income once all Silent Auction bids have been paid.

Motion:      to donate $50 to the Unitarian Hall and $50 to the Sliammon Community garden
Moved:    Julie Thorne
Seconded:    Owen Gaskell
Carried.

David, by e-mail prior to this meeting, had commented that the CoLF had been a great event, and TTPR should consider making it an annual event.  He felt that the balance between “unstructured meet-n-greet time” and structured time was ideal.

The group noted that the great turnout suggested that, in the future, we might need to have a larger hall, such as the Union Hall or the French Club, for such an event.

The silent auction was considered a great success.  It was suggested that, next round, it have its own director, that it be announced in advance in the advertising, that it be larger, the attendees be reminded to bid, and alerted to the imminent closing of bids. We could also ask vendors and other local businesses for donations, similar to those provided by Springtime – several offered “after the fact” for next time.

The two-part name tags were considered a partial success.  It was recommended that they be collected at the end, so that we could re-use the information provided on them in the continuing effort to get needs matched with offers.  It might be useful to collate the information (from a “carbon” copy?) onto a wall at the event, for people to look at.  It might be helpful for the emcee to announce offers and needs to the crowd.

It was thought that the Free Food worked well, and acknowledged that it had been important we had informed vendors of it in advance.  It was suggested that we consider doing a Potluck Meal, before, after, or instead of the Free Food.

It was suggested that we add to the poster locations, including the Westview Ferry Terminal, Saltery Bay Ferry, Texada Ferry bulletin board, Chamber of Commerce Info Centre,  Cranberry Liquor store, Cranberry Nursery, Springtime Nursery, and Thunder Bay Store.

Kevin brought up that it was important to invite the business & organization participants sooner, and to have more TTPR members doing the inviting of participants, next time.  It was suggested that we split up the list among us.

(Post meeting addendum: we should consider not asking for door donations, and instead expand the silent auction and ask vendors for 10% of their sales, as the market normally does).

November End of Suburbia screening

Sun November 22, 2pm, Unitarian Hall

Posters are available and were distributed to be posted.
It was suggested that we create a press release for the Peak, which Wendy will write. Julie will send email notifications to the Peak “Around Town” and Shaw public announcements.

December “Holiday Party”

Sat Dec 5th, 5:30pm
It was decided that a Potluck Dinner would be set for Saturday, December 5th, 5:30 pm (dinner at 6:30 pm) at Owen’s Adventure Bed & Breakfast, 7439 Nootka Street, Powell River.  Participants will be invited to bring their musical instruments and their preferred beverages. Everyone on our email list will be invited. All participants must RSVP to Owen at (604) 485-7097, or info@adventureb-b.com.

January Home Energy Conservation Workshop

Sun Jan 24th, Unitarian Hall
Kevin will check for scheduling conflicts, however the date is tentatively set for January 24th, with January 17th as a fall back.  Corey will talk to Valley Building Supplies regarding donations.  Then, Rona, then Canadian Tire will be approached.

All members will consider whether there might be an appropriate video to show that day.  Check CMHC.

Corey will talk to Brooke at Shaw TV about the possibility of coverage.

February Multi-Group Convention

It was suggested that this might be a good month to pull together the many groups in the area, in addition to Food Groups, who have a stake in the Transition Process.

March Participation in “Seedy Saturday”

TTPR could provide more extensive displays, e.g. add in a table of interactive displays, and could make a presentation to the larger crowd.

April Film Presentation

Wendy supplied some ideas for possible films, which she will e-mail around to steering group members, who will seek out additional possibilities.

May Eco Action Fair

Kevin will edit a letter to invite interested business & organization participants.  The committee chose the name, “Eco Action Fair” for this event.

Possible Future Events

The Victoria Transition Town newsletter suggested some intriguing possibilities, the most appealing of which was getting other groups in the region together as a possible February event.  It was agree to think about whom to invite and how to make it work, to be discussed further at next meeting.

Kevin agreed to consider whether our current google list of business & organization participants was sufficient for the above gathering, or whether a different one needed to be created.

Committees

Publicity Committee

The list of poster locations was divvied up among those present, and posters generously provided by Core Media Group (Corey Matsumoto) were distributed.

We will give Julie extra brochures & posters to distribute at the Winter Farmer’s Market.

Julie will e-mail EoS announcements to “Around Town” at the Peak and “the ticker” at Shaw TV.

We should add to the back of the smaller event handout a list of upcoming events.

Liz offered to update the TTPR leaflet.  Kevin will send her the text.  Corey will print it.

Other Business

Other Related Film Venues

It was suggested that we find out what was involved in getting a high-cost movie, e.g. “The Age of Stupid.” screened at either the Powell River Film Festival or at the Patricia Theater.

Sustainability Stakeholders project

Corey announced and explained a Transition-related project that Immanence Magazine is providing businesses and individuals, in order to promote sustainability among businesses.  He shared printed material about it.

Present: Kevin, Liz, Julie, Wendy, Graham.
Apologies: Susan, Owen.

Group Structure

Constitution and Purposes

The Constitution and Purposes document had been circulated and was examined again. A few small changes were made:

Name of the group to be “Transition Town Powell River” rather than “Transition Powell River”. This was felt to make it easier to distinguish us from women’s transition/shelter groups, while still keeping the Transition Initiative brand.

Wording tweak to purpose b: “To educate about, and to carry out practical research into, the effects of resource depletion and climate change”.

Bylaws are to be the standard bylaws as set out in the BC Societies Act.

Motion: to accept the Constitution and Purposes document as amended.
Moved: Kevin Wilson
Seconded: Julie Thorne

Motion Carried.

Executive positions were assigned by acclamation to the following people:

President: Kevin Wilson
Treasurer: Elizabeth Milward
Vice President: Wendy Pelton

Kevin and Liz will approach the Credit Union to open a bank account and arrange for signing authorities.

Awareness-Raising Event Schedule

Fall Fair debrief

Info table was very successful: lots of people stopped to talk (including a few deniers, but that’s OK!) we handed out lots of info. We liked the idea of adding an interactive aspect to the display, something for people to do: we’ll think about it and report back.

Oct 18 Celebration of Local Food

Keep inviting as many people as possible. Specifically invite food producers, support businesses, and food-related groups and projects to display their info at the event.

Note: post meeting email discussion agreed that we should remove the “no selling” restriction and allow displayers to sell, while focusing on making connections and providing information.

Volunteer signup sheet is online – please volunteer for a role!

November End of Suburbia screening

Kevin still needs to contact VIU re venue and date. Will do.

December “Powerdown Party”

Talk to Owen and set a date.  Not to be a Saturday.

Eco-Fair: Move from Jan/Feb to April?

Our proposed Jan/Feb date is now too close to reasonably organize something this big. An April date near Earth Day (Apr 22) is proposed, either the weekend before or after. Kevin will check for conflicts and see if the Complex venue is available.

We brainstormed ideas for the fair so when we form a working group with others, we’ll know what it is we’re trying to do!

Focus:

• “Transition to the next stage of civilisation”
• resilience-building
• CO2 reduction
• energy conservation and local production

Raise awareness of:

• what the problems are (why we need to act)
• what’s already been/being done
• practical things that people can do
• future possibilities (preferably positive!)

Include:

• interactive displays
• demonstrations
• explanations of new concepts, especially big picture
• sales: especially local, but anything that contributes to energy reduction or CO2 reduction

Make Connections:

• group displays by topic (eg part of the fair is a Bike Fair, part a Food Fair, etc) to encourage cross-pollination
• include a social event to encourage networking
• have a keynote speech and/or workshops (in a separate room)

Name of event:

• Eco Fair
• Green Fair
• Eco Action Fair
• Green Action Fair
• Sustainability Action Fair
• Climate Action Fair
• words other than “Fair”

These ideas have been added to those suggested previously and are published here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuNCBorbdmixdGZ6Vmk4MDNJUVJkVF9zN3gxdk91Z3c&hl=en

Anyone interested in participating in a working group to organize this event should contact Kevin.

Connecting with other groups in town

Malaspina Land Conservancy AGM is Mon Oct 19th, 7pm at VIU
Green Step coffeehouse on Youth and Schools is Oct 15th at Breakwater Books
Seedy Saturday is March 13th 2010 – there will be a Transition presentation.

Other Business

Kevin is going to Transition Training in Victoria Oct 24-26
Corey and Nola are interested in being part of a publicity committee. Wendy and Julie volunteered to serve also. Kevin will put people in touch.
Ryan Barfoot wants a Peak Oil talk for the sustainability students similar to the one in the summer. Date, time, place to be determined.
Julie is planning to take a Permaculture course

present: Kevin, Liz, Owen, Graham

Group Structure

Constitution and bylaws

Not enough people present to discuss. Tabled until next meeting.

Subgroup Reports

Transportation: Owen reported on contacts with Frank at Suncoast Cycles and Nicholas Simons MLA, about the SprockKids program to teach kids about bike maintenance and mountain biking. He also plans to contact/join the new mountain bike club in town. Frank is swamped with work and short of a bike mechanic, suggesting that there’s room for training if we can find a way to do it. Kevin to send email addresses so that the rest of the new Transportation group can keep in touch.

Awareness-Raising Event Schedule

Sep 9 transport meeting: debrief

We’re not getting much in the way of donations for refreshments, though organic fair trade coffee and sugar ain’t cheap! Kevin suggested simply charging for coffee – maybe $1 a cup?

Sep 12 Community Info Fair – debrief

Lizzie suggested using summer 2008’s high gas prices as a lead-in for talking to people about Peak Oil.

Sep 16th Food Inc showing at the Patricia

Wendy reported multiple good contacts and came back with about half a dozen email addresses to add to our list. She also reported:

Sep 26-27 Fall Fair table

We arranged for enough people to cover all shifts with 2 people per shift, so that no one person carries too much of the load.

Friday setup 5-6pm: Julie, Kevin
Sat 11:30am – 3pm: Julie, Wendy
Sat 3-5pm: Owen, Wendy
Sun 11:30 – 3: Julie, Liz
Sun 3-6: Graham, Liz

It would be great to add some kind of participation thing to our display, something like a “what’s your carbon footprint” game. Probably too late for Fall Fair, but good to do for future displays.

Oct 18 “Celebration of Local Food”

Unitarian Hall is booked. 4 groups have already asked for display space.Posters are produced (Kevin distributed) and some have been posted. Handbills were distributed at Food Inc showings.

We discussed including commercial people/groups like the Feed Store, Carol Engram’s worm castings business etc, and decided that yes we should: after all, farmers and market gardeners sell their products, that’s the whole point, so support business are part of what we need to recognise and encourage too.

Can we connect with people from Texada? Kevin will contact one farmer he knows through the Farmers Institute. Owen’s wife knows people too and will contact.

What do we do about local food makers who don’t use locally-produced ingredients, eg bakers, Periwinkle Granary? Ask David what he thinks from the Food Security Project point of view.

List of people to invite: Owen will send his list to Kevin, Kevin will add his and circulate to steering group, David, farmer friends.

November End of Suburbia showing

If we want to do this at a time when non-car-drivers can attend, it has to be Thursday, Friday or Saturday evenings, or weekend daytimes. Unitarian Hall is not available Thursday or Friday evenings. Friday and Sat evenings are usually full of social events and not a good night to pick. Kevin will talk to VIU about holding it there on a Thursday evening now they are back in session.

December “Powerdown Party”

Make this a transition “member” party, not a publicly advertised and promoted event, and hold it in a private home. Owen volunteered his place at the top of Nootka. Anyone interested in Transition can come.

Jan/Feb Eco-Fair

Chamber of Commerce is interested in principle, want to know what we’re planning in more detail. Emma and CaroleAnn of Greenstep are interested but our proposed dates mean CaroleAnn can’t be involved due to other commitments. Emma might though.

Kevin discussed with the Complex and the possible dates in Jan/Feb have narrowed to Sat Feb 6th or Sun Feb 7th. We have a tentative 10am-3pm booking for those two dates of the Arbutus and Cedar rooms, which includes the kitchen.

We need to get a working group organised ASAP, and pin down our objectives and vision for this so that we can give the CofC more information and know exactly what we’re trying to do.

Other Business

Transition Training is happening in Victoria, weekend of 23-25 October. Kevin plans to attend. Owen and Graham also expressed interest. Kevin will send the info out again. There is a possibility of training coming to the mid-Island, but not until spring 2010, if then. A group has to arrange it.

Nola Poirier is interested in helping with press releases. Kevin suggested a publicity committee to design and produce posters, notify calendars, send out press releases, etc. Anyone interested please speak up! You don’t have to be a “transition expert”.

Kevin reported on the money situation. After donations received, and venue and food payments expended, we have about $55. Liz was nominated and accepted the position of Treasurer (hurrah!) and Kevin will hand over the paperwork and money to her.

General discussion ensued on how to talk to people, how to get them interested and committed to action, and how we should come up with practical, do-able projects that people could get involved in. Graham pointed out the two big barriers to action, capital (the expense of doing something big like installing solar panels) and technology (difficulty in understanding and choosing complicated tech options, and lack of availability locally).

Next meeting: Tues 6th October, Kevin’s house, 7pm.

Corrections and additions gratefully received!

Present: Kevin, Lizzie, Julie, David Parkinson, Susan, Owen, Wendy

Group Structure

Tabled to next meeting

Awareness-Raising Event Schedule

Sep 9th Transport Evening

• Objectives for the evening: create interest group(s) such as TPR Transportation group, bicycling or other special interest groups.
• Timetable – watch videos, then split out into discussion groups for Cycling, Public Transportation, Walking, Better use of Cars, How to Give Up Your Car.
• Setup at 6pm.
• Kevin will send out call for participants

Sep 12th Community Info Fair table

Julie, Liz, Kevin, David from 11-12 only. Setup at 8am. Kev call the complex about getting a table against the wall so we can have our display behind us.

Sep 16th: Food Inc movie at the Patricia

David will talk to Ann Nelson and let us know how this is to be organised.

Sep 26-27: Fall Fair

Owen, Liz, Susan and Julie volunteered: we need more. Kevin is working on teh Fair fulltime and is unavailable.

October Food Event

Change date to 17/18 weekend, Sunday preferred.

Ideas for focus:

• Celebration of local food people and organisations.
• Thanksgiving
• Bring food plants and swap
• food plant door prizes
• make the connection between food activities and Transition

Possible titles / event names:

• Thought for Food
• A Celebration of Local Food
• Local Food Thanksgiving
• Thanks to Local Food Growers
• (Local) Food for the Future
• Future Food Now
• Food in Transition

Ideas for content / displays / etc

• get Wendy Brown to donate food/transition-related cartoons (as door prizes? Silent auction?)
• Have a display of food produced here
• Food movies running continuously on a laptop
• bring garden samples, collect and pass on to teh food bank
• Have small displays from groups involved in local food
• transition display – how local food relates to Transition
• Honor people and groups: certificate of appreciation, municipal button, CU hearts (Susan J will investigate)

Announce event at Sep 9th meeting, and give out handbills, don’t worry about a poster yet.

November

• Endof Suburbia screening
• proposed date Thursday 19 Nov, or a weekend daytime (Sun 8/15/22)
• Susan J will talk to Ann about showing at the Patricia

December “Powerdown Party”

• After dinner
• need a mass of interested people
• could be a private TPR party rather than public
• lots of competition for time and attention in December
• check possible dates

Jan/Feb Eco-Fair

• Possible joint working group with Chamber of COmmerce
• Keynote speaker? Hard to do in a “fair” context, too much distraction and noise
• Include Comox businesses? Comox non-profit groups? (non competing)
• Coincide with Sustainability Charter coming out – announce charter at event? Susan will talk to Charter people.
• Workshops? Maybe next time – focus on Fair aspect this year.

Connecting with other groups in town

Pebble in the Pond AGM Sep 17th

Malaspina Land Conservancy AGM coming up – Oct 15th? – David to check

Other Business

Transition Training in Victoria, Oct 23-25

At the next meeting – brainstorm a list of people and groups to honor at the Celebration Oct 18th.

Present: Liz, Kevin, Julie

Group Structure

Possible workaround for elections vs “rep from each interest group”: have groups nominate candidates, elect 5-member (minimum) board from candidates, other nominees become directors-at-large.  Constitution should allow for varying number of DaL’s (eg “up to 5″ or “at least 3″).

Bring the proposed structure to the next Steering Group meeting for voting so that we can take the papers to the Credit Union and open an account.

Let everyone know that this will be addressed at the next meeting.

Awareness-Raising Event Schedule

Blackberry day and street party presence – debrief

We need to be out on the street, not tucked away where no-one knows we’re there! Even people looking for us couldn’t find us.

Sep 9th transportation evening

Posters are out in Cranberry and S of town, and at the library. Julie and Liz will give me a list of where they have posted them. Kevin will print and post more.

Kevin will post notices to Shaw Cable and the Peak “Around Town”.

Ask David P re: notice in the next 50-mile-challenge emailing

Check with Wendy re: technology all ready to go, and she can bring?

Kevin – transfer videos onto DVD for playing.

Pin down exactly what will happen at this event apart from “videos and discussion”.

isn’t there a ferry users group of some kind? We should invite them.

Sep 12th Community Fair

Kevin has tentatively booked a table but not yet paid: approved to pay $15 out of the donations from the EoS screening. Ask if we can be against a wall, so we can move the table back against the wall for our display. Kevin, Julie, Liz, possibly David can attend. Setup starts officially 7am Saturday, must be ready by 8:45 – we can start setup at 8am.

Sep 16th movie at the Patricia

The Patricia is putting on the movie “Fiid Inc” and we’re invited to share an information table with the 50 Mile Challenge in the lobby. Need to bring a table, only need 2-3 people at most as there will be limited space.

Sep 26-27 Fall Fair

This is a high profile event with lots of people attending. At two days we’ll need enough people to cover the table without anyone burning out. Kevin is not available at all, as he’s volunteering for Fall Fair itself.

October food event

How should we differentiate this from previous food discussions in teh community? David is concerned that we’ll just be repeating the same old talk-talk and not getting anything practical done – would like to see practical project(s) arising out of it. Kevin would like to see it trigger a food interest group for TPR. We probably need to meet with David and hash this out more specifically. We could move it to a later date in October to give us more time. Ideally we should have it pinned down by Sep 9th event. Possibly make this a “housing” event (focused on energy conservation for the oncoming winter?) instead of food, or show EoS again.

November:

Show EoS or move October event to Nov.

December

Powerdown holiday party?

Jan-Feb

Possible Eco-fair. Kevin will get rental details from the Complex, and contact Kim Miller at the Chamber re possibly co-sponsoring.

Fundraising

Suggestions:

Have a donation jar at every info table
Admissions and table fees at eco-fair
Donations from screenings etc
Memberships

Continue to think more about this.

Next steering group meeting Tues Sep 8th at Kevin’s house.