The Big Pineaple Growers' Markets - every Saturday morning from 6.30 am

Transition Town Conversation Table at the Big Pineapple

On Saturday 3rd December

At The Big Pineapple Growers' Markets

Old Bruce Highway Nambour

Mix & mingle with us and our friends

at the Transition Nambour Conversation Table

inside the Big Pineapple Building

each Saturday from 6.30 am to 12.00 noon

Join a table for conversations on the verandah

Bring along your information about Transition linked events

to distribute to the Growers’ Markets visitors.

Recapping Transition Nambour activities since April 2011

The screening of the film Economics of Happiness in June (by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick & John Page) for Transition Nambour attracted 60 people. It was a powerful and positive message on the value of localisation  and involved a strong critique of the damaging, often crazy, global economy and political merry-go-round.

We also hosted a stall at World Environment Day with much interest and discussion.

Strength and resilience comes first and foremost at the local level. In July we had a local ( Buderim) speaker - Mitch Laurie - with a powerful message about career and business  sustainability, illustrated by an excellent Powerpoint slide show – an incredible evening. The Powerpoint is available at the link below.

In August we heard about what it takes to be a good advocate for change, from Bob Lee whose work is as an advocate for differently abled populations .

The value that we as a Transition group gather from these talks, and even just the gathering together in a meeting to discuss the issues that are affecting us, is hard to quantify. The Transition Network is spreading worldwide a GRASSROOTS (PEOPLE’S) movement cutting through bureaucratic

complacency and empowering communities to make energy savings, to re-skill and to understand  the issues more thoroughly so they can take action steps.

Transition shows what people can do in a group over, above and beyond the involvement of government at any level and it has more influence to change things by being a community movement.

The organisation’s website is www.transitionnetwork.org

It reveals the work being done and discussions that are happening in active countries.

One example of our Nambour success is the almost operational Nambour Community Gardens, with a committee which sprang from TT Nambour meetings. For the latest on what is happening at the gardens see www.nambourcommunitygardens.com.au

In September John Isaacs-Young, through a series of photo slides gave an explanation of how you can

grow, process and roast your own coffee and when times get tough, trade it for essentials. It's not that

difficult. All steps explained will go up on this blog.
        

Nicole Foss visit to the Sunshiine Coast on 9th February 2011

Hi Transitioners of Nambour

We are planning to show a really interesting and pertinent DVD called

"A Century of Challenges" by Nicole Foss.

On    : Wednesday 26th October
At    :  CWA Hall, Short Street, Nambour
When : Wednesday 26th October at 7pm.
Gold coin donation, tea and coffee available.

Pertinent ? Why ?

 Nicole's message ( see her potted bio below)  is relevant to our understanding  of the brinkmanship economic conditions prevailing in the European and North American Economies at present ( particularly in Greece which is seeing a systemic break down). The question we all want to know is .... how will this  play out in the short to medium term overseas and in our own economy ? The debt level in many economies threatens the economic existence  we have become used to in the developed world. In economies where they propose to pay off these debts with more debt it seems it can only get worse. Nicole Foss is an expert on this type of calamitous decision making, having had experience in Russia during the transition from Communism, and having studied, first hand, the effects of a deflationary economy on how people live. We can learn how these events play out abroad and how they may effect us in Australia. Nicole  has "walked the talk" by fleeing the from the UK some years ago and in setting her family up on a small farm in a self sufficient manner, in Canada. Apart from her obvious CV qualifications this makes her a uniquely interesting communicator.

This evening is a prelude to a visit by  Nicole who is booked to come and speak to us, YES, US ! at L'il O'l Transition Nambour on 9th February 2012 , PLEASE BOOK THIS DATE IN YOUR DIARY. We feel it is important to know something of her message prior to her arrival so we can encourage others to come to what we hope will prove to be a big and successful presentation. This talk will be part of an Austalian tour that starts with us and goes on to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and WA.

Please come and join us. I include some links to her work which may be of interest as well.In particular her work for the the blog site THE AUTOMATIC EARTH.

Nicole Foss – Some biographical info.

Nicole’s academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

She is co-editor of The Automatic Earth <http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/> , where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament. The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and realpolitik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was previously editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.

Foss runs the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.

Nicole counts nuclear safety among her many areas of expertise, and although the Fukushima disaster has dropped out of the mainstream news cycle it is still very much an area of concern for her and other experts.  Nicole also earned her living in Ontario managing renewable energy policy, and she will explain why the green future that many people aspire to is very difficult to put into practice.

Series of 5 short videos -  Nicole Foss talks about Finance and Bubbles, Nuclear Power, Cheap Energy, Decoupling, and Alternative Energy.

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

Nicole Foss - How I Prepared My Home for Peak Oil and Economic Uncertainty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ESYAix1QD1E <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ESYAix1QD1E>

Q & A Session from A Century of Challenges talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMnBeZzLqk&feature=related <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMnBeZzLqk&feature=related>

September 2011 Transition Nambour meeting

For our September gathering we have persuaded the inimitable John Isaacs-Young to reveal some of  his secrets of living in a sustainable as well as a stylish way.  John's exposition is entitled :

"GOOD COFFEE - GROW YOUR OWN, PROCESS IT AND ROAST IT YOURSELF.

WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, TRADE IT FOR ESSENTIALS.

IT'S NOT DIFFICULT. ALL STEPS EXPLAINED IN DETAIL."

This needs no explanation except that if you value your coffee, as I do (in fact I regard it as  an essential so I don't know what I'd be prepared to trade for it) please come along next Wednesday.   We will all need a little stimulus in the tough times ahead and this is an opportunity to learn about being self sufficient in coffee. John's coffee is delicious by the way.

This is a good opportunity to reconnect with the whole group so  please come and enjoy a sociable and interesting evening. Usual gold coin donation with a get together at 7pm and the  talk starting from 7.30pm.

CWA HALL, SHORT STREET, NAMBOUR

If anyone else would like to show us an important life skill for sustainable living - it might be preserving food or how to seal and store such food we would love to know and arrange for you to talk to us either on the same night or on another night. It is important for these skills to shared and the tools used to create the produce to be shared as a community.

Guest speaker Bob Lee Advocating for Change

“Advocating for Change:  Tips and tricks of the trade"

Advocacy is essentially speaking, writing and acting in order to secure change in existing attitudes, policy and practice.

Those of us who want to initiate change in our local community can become more effective in our efforts by learning from the experiences of others who have been successful advocates for change. 

Learn more with special guest, 

Bob Lee from Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy

 at the Transition Nambour meeting

Wednesday 24th August from 7.00 pm.

The CWA Hall in Short Street Nambour

.

A FASCINATING INSIGHT BY OUR GUEST SPEAKER MITCH LAURIE

 


For those who missed the excellent presentation on Wednesday night on Career and Business Sustainability you can view much of the content here: www.TransitionWise.org 


At the top of the homepage you can download a PDF version of the presentation with much useful and practical advice.

Strength and resilience comes first and foremost at the local level.

Hi Transitoners of Nambour

The  commentators  on National and International events spend hours droning on about the  "Economy" or the "World Economy" and news programmes are crammed with financial news. News arrives so fast it can contradict itself within hours. We can only really deal with these big issues by looking at how they effect us and our neighbours first, and set our goals to be independent and resilient if dire changes occur outside of our control. We have to consider first and foremost,  the local and the achievable. Big government and big business care only for their own ( often mutual )interest and the small, local fry become unimportant except as a taxable commodity.  But we have the final advantage of being able to "think global but act local". We know that not everything in life distills itself into an economic parameter. Our evening with Robin Clayfield earlier in the year illustrated how we are all linked and interconnected even though we all have different passions and interests. The strength of this network of contacts is undefinable but broadly speaking it is summed up by the saying "united we stand, divided we fall".  Which Government can supply a community support network like this ?  

The showing of the Economics of Happiness for Transition Nambour attracted 60 people and was greatly enjoyed as its powerful and positive message was one of localisation  and involved a strong critique of the damaging, often crazy, global economy and political merry-go-round.

Strength and resilience comes first and foremost at the local level. This month we have a local ( Buderim) speaker - Mitch Laurie - who has a powerful message illustrated by an excellent powerpoint slide show. I know you will enjoy this so please make an effort to support us on this one and bring a friend or two three.Its only the usual gold coin donation so this is incredible value for an evening of mental stimulation.Mitch's take will be another interesting view on how people can deal with the world as it changes fast about us.

The knowledge that we as a Transition group gather from these talks, and even just the gathering together in a meeting to discuss the issues that are effecting us, are vitally important. Transition Network is spreading worldwide as people hold it up to be a key GRASSROOTS (PEOPLES) movement cutting through bureaucratic complacency  and empowering communities to make energy savings, to re skill through community gardens and to understand the issues more thoroughly so they can take steps. Transition shows what people can do in a group over, above and beyond the involvement of government at any level and it has more influence to change things by being a community movement. The organisations website is www.transitionnetwork.org <http://www.transitionnetwork.org>  and shows a lot of the work that is being done, and discussions that are happening, in active countries.

James MacDonald-Buchanan

Here is a picture of our table at the World Environment Day at the University of the Sunshine Coast. It was great fun and we met lots of new people to network with and support.

Movie Screening

DATE CLAIM:

As part of the Sunshine Coast Council's "GREEN JUNE"

we are joining them to put on a film evening

 at the Nambour Civic Centre Cinema on Wednesday 22nd June.

This will consist of 7 short films - the winners of the Eco flicks - and the main showing being the more substantial doco. by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick & John Page"THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS".

We will be given a short moment to relate this to our own work and that of Transition world wide at the end, and there will be drinks and a small expo in the foyer from 5.30pm with the films kicking off at 6pm

The film that argues that ‘Going local’ is a powerful strategy to help repair our fractured world – our ecosystems, our societies and ourselves. Far from the old institutions of power, people are starting to forge a very different future. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.


We hear from a chorus of voices from six continents including Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of Tibet's government in exile, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten and Zac Goldsmith. They tell us that climate change and peak oil give us little choice: we need to localize, to bring the economy home. The good news is that as we move in this direction we will begin not only to heal the earth but also to restore our own sense of well-being. The Economics of Happiness restores our faith in humanity and challenges us to believe that it is possible to build a better world.

Spponbill Street Peregian Beach

Neighbours building caring and resilient street communities

What can we learn from the residents of Spoonbill Street, Peregian

who are said to live in  the greenest street in Queensland?

Find out from resident, Lyn Bollen, how neighbours  in Spoonbill Street

are getting together to support local wildlife

and create a much greener, energy efficient and cheerful place to live.

WEDNESDAY 25TH MAY  ,  7PM

AT

CWA HALL, SHORT STREET , NAMBOUR.

There will be an opportunity to discuss the subject and throw about some ideas afterwards. We are also looking for some real "ideas" input for the event we want to host with Nambour Alliance in July or later on, following on from the Brisbane floods, on :  the effects of a major climate event on Nambour,  what that event might actually be and how would people react to it initially, and how could we cope with such an event..

ie we need ideas for speakers and discussion groups.

Its a subject that should interest all residents and business people of Nambour.

Bruce Morgan's permaculture garden in Nambour

Transition Nambour

Invites you to

“BUILDING RESILIENCE

THROUGH HEART & SOUL”

WITH

ROBIN CLAYFIELD

Robin will guide an exploration and experience of the 'Heart and Soul' of Transition. Through interactive group activities and fun processes she will support people to uncover and affirm the key elements of creating personal resilience so we are more able to support our world.

The evening will strengthen networks and connections on a deeper level than most meetings and pave the way for ongoing community bonding that can support when times are hard.

Robin is an experienced facilitator and we urge you to join us for a wonderful evening.

WEDNESDAY 27^TH APRIL 2011

CWA HALL, SHORT STREET , NAMBOUR

7.00 -9.00 pm.

ALL WELCOME. TEA & COFFEE ON ARRIVAL .  COIN DONATION (REC. $3.00)

 

TRANSITION NAMBOUR is a grass roots, sustainability group seeking to build community resilience in the face of ever rising  oil prices and escalating climate change - through education, discussion, action and social reconnection. Come to our meetings and meet like minded folk – no membership fee. www.transitionnambour.blogspot.com

James M-B: 0411 827133

Bruce Morgan's terraced garden