Community consequence of COVID

The COVID19 ripples are still resonating throughout daily community life, shaping the way we communicate and the availability of social activities…but it’s not all bad especially if you can master the video-conferencing technology that’s now available.

The local art group that was meeting at the hall moved their meeting to video conferencing very quickly. It turns out that the social glue that binds the group remained sticky with increased benefits of not having to pack up the art materials and no travel time. Unexpected benefits were more extensive sharing of skills and critiquing of art work with everyone being involved, more time for art and an extra art session was easily accommodated. The group continues to happily meet online.

Local yoga moved online, downward dog from the comfort of your private space. Some studios were providing recordings for whenever the mood and time allowed, creating new flexible opportunities. Yoga is now back with face to face options.

Some of the national events that CPPA has been involved with in the past have had to make the call to do things differently this year.

National Science Week, in August, is providing the Scinema Film Festival for free to anyone! You can stream a wide range of award-winning science films by signing up to get the films delivered to your inbox!.

National Tree Day this year may have been cancelled by Planet Ark, but this is not deterring landcarers from popping a few plants in the ground around this time of year…it’s a good time for planting.

We’ll have 80 plants at Burnage Reserve on Thursday 30th July between 8am and noon as part of the regular Landcare session. If you’d like to lend a hand whilst out on your morning constitutional feel free to drop by and help with planting. Everyone is welcome, there’ll be suitable spacing, and morning tea is at 10am, BYO beverage.(The image is from 2001...those plants have grown)

COVID-19 is also mobilising and connecting community groups that can see the possibilities of a seismic shift in the way society operates, a window of opportunity to change direction, and build on the changes COVID has inspired.

Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), an internationally recognised climate change think tank, has recently commenced the Hunter Diversification research and engagement project - which will run 2+ years. BZE has also released the Million Jobs Plan showing that 115,000 new jobs can be created across the Hunter over the next 10 years, with rapid start up in industries such as Hydrogen & Green Steel manufacturing, Home Retrofits, Fly Ash Reuse, Electric Buses and Land Regeneration.

With energy production and mining a core part of our community, alternative employment opportunities that will fill the gap after coal will be needed. The Hunter Case Study of the BZE Million jobs plan can be viewed online 

Raising Resilient Kids for a Better Future

http://www.transitionnewcastle.org.au/event/forum-raising-resilient-kids-better-world

How we can we protect our children from advertising, instant gratification, over-consumption and fear of the future?
 
How can we help them be contributors, not just consumers, who care for the environment and the wellbeing of others?
 
Transition Newcastle and the Family Action Centre are hosting a forum on Tuesday June 19th 7-8.30pm at Lambton Public School, Croudace St, Lambton.
 
Speaker: Anna Campbell Author of “Honeycomb Kids: Big picture parenting for a changing world... and to change the world”
 
Followed by a Q&A panel also including:

• Tricia Hogbin - Little Eco Footprints Blog
• Graeme Stuart - Transition Newcastle & Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle
• Natashja Treveton - Hunter Alliance for Childhood
• Moderated by: Phil Ashley-Brown - 1233 ABC Newcastle

After the forum join us for some supper.
 
Child care available (limited places). Booking of child care is essential: Lesley Asher (ph 4921 5758 or Contact Graeme Stuart, Transition Newcastle Ph: (02) 4921 7241 or 0400 347 186

 www.transitionnewcastle.org.au

Living Life Locally

The return of the Transition film festival in a less daunting format, a trip to Newcastle Transition Town’s Open Space meeting, a presence at the Living Smart Festival and an option for sale of excess locally grown vegetables are the activities for the group this month.

The movie Food Inc will be shown on Monday 13th at 7-9 pm at the Hall. The format is only one movie with a chance to discuss it over a cup of soup and damper. If you’re interested in what you eat, this movie is sure to get you thinking.

Rishi and Gunjan at the Lucky7 Convenience store at Carey Bay are happy to negotiate a price for locally food grown vegetables or fruit. This is a great opportunity to share your harvest excess with the local community and recoup a few dollars for the effort.

A trip to Transition Town Newcastle’s Open Space meeting is planned for Tuesday 28th September. We’ll be car-pooling, of course, leaving about 6.15pm. Contact Ian for pick up details on 4959 7517.

Future ‘Transition’ events will continue on the 2nd Monday of the month and include another film night on 11/10/10 and an end of year gathering on November 8th at 7pm.

The Arts & Craft Show planning is underway and shaping up to be a great social gathering. The Opening Night is Friday 26th November, with viewing and sales over the weekend 27-28th . If you’re interested in submitting work or assisting with making it happen contact Barbara on 4959 1259 or come to the Hall Friday 10th September at 2pm and meet the planning group.

Transition Film postponed

The Hall can get pretty cold in Winter so in the interests of warm feet and fingers the movie session has been postponed to Spring. 

The Transition Town group is looking for people who have an interest in localism. Local food and how to share it, local fun and how to have it or local transport and where to run it.  

If you would like to meet up with some like minded folk and be a part of the Transition movement get in touch. Email cppatransition@gmail.com or phone Ian 4959 7517 or Suzanne 4959 6741

Transition Town Movie Day for July postponed.

If you had already put aside July16th as your big night out for the month, you’ll have to seek out alternative entertainment as the film showing for Friday 16th 6-9pm has been postponed.

It was felt that a combination of a mid-winter night in a hall and school holidays may be deterrents to getting people out to the films.

There will be other screenings, and they will be notified in the Chronicle.

Transition Film Festival

The film festival continues with the June 20th Sunday session presenting a movie marathon of almost epic proportions.
 
The film that put Climate Change front and centre, An Inconvenient Truth, will be shown mid afternoon, if you’ve never seen it, now’s a good time. It provides a lot of really interesting information, some memorable graphs and a personal insight into what drives some people to take on the world.
 
In Transition -the movie starts the session and provides a good summary of what various localities are doing around the world to reconnect their communities so that they could survive with as least impact as possible should Peak Oil deliver the ‘shock to the system’ that was experienced in Cuba during ‘the special period ‘ of the 70’s when their oil supplies were stopped almost overnight.

The Power of Community wraps up the afternoon and goes in to some detail about how Cuba’s economy and social structure shifted to sustain the population by setting up local organic agriculture close to the population and  developing alternative transport systems to move the masses.

The films will run to the outlined programme so if you want to come to a specific film you can be assured of its start and end time.

In between the movies there is time to chat and get a cuppa and get acquainted.

What’s Happening             Start    Finish
Meet and greet, 
Beverages and bites          1100    1130
In Transition                    1130    1220
Lunch (Soup and/or BYO)   1220    1300
An Inconvenient Truth     1300    1430
Beverages & Bites
Discussion                         1430    1450
Power of Community       1450    1545
Beverages & Bites
Discussion                         1545    1615

Transition Film Festival

An uplifting trio of films are on the program for the second gripping installment of the Transition Film Festival screening at Progress Hall on Saturday afternoon the 8th May. There is the option of one, two or three movies available for your viewing pleasure throughout the afternoon session. 

                                                Start    Finish
Welcome
Beverages & Bites               1200    1230
In Transition                             1230    1320
Break                                        1320    1330
End Of Suburbia                        1330    1450
Beverages & Bites
Discussion                                 1450    1510
Power of Community               1510    1605
Beverages & Bites

Discussion                                 1605    1630

 The advertised program will be adhered to, to allow movie-goers to mosey on in for the film of their choice and sidle out when the time is right. Discussion and beverage breaks are included throughout the session to mingle and muse with like minded folk. Entry is by donation, the screen and sound setup have proved to be great for the Hall, if it is really chilly bring a lap rug.

In Transition-The Movie made its debut last year, showcasing the Transition Town movement. If you’re having trouble getting your head around what it is and why hundreds of communities around the world are going to such lengths to build local resilience, this 50 minute foray will have you feeling enlightened and excited about what a Transition initiative can do for your community.

End of Suburbia-Oil Depletion and the collapse of the American Dream
“With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia ?”
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/index.htm

The Power of Community-How Cuba Survived Peak Oil “When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.” 
http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php

Transition Film Festival on Track

The Transition Film Festival is about to roll out. Every month for the next six months some of the most inspiring and mind expanding films will be shown at Progress Hall, discussed by those present, ideas generated for our community and general lots of joi de vie to be had.

The first of the festival films is happening on Friday 16th April, it’s a local night in, catching up with the neighbours, stimulating discussion triggered by two mind expanding films with some light refreshments.
The more the merrier, so if you have some friends who want to find out a bit more about the ‘Transition thing’ they’re welcome to come along as well.

The awareness raising part of the Transition Town process is about sharing information and processes for gathering thoughts about the future as well as connecting like-minded people. There’s been a fair bit of discussion from the local steering group about how far a field to cast the Transition net, and there has been no limit put on the number of people in the process so come one and all.

The movie nights will be running to a reasonably structured timetable so that if you want to come to one film or both, or only the discussion, you can with confidence arrive when you want knowing what will be on.

The Transition town Steering Group meets once a month on the 2nd Monday of the month from 4-6pm at the Hall. The focus for the group over the next few months is on running the film festival and planning for a local festival in October. If you are interested in finding out more or lending a hand at one of the film nights contact Luke on 4959 9401 or email cppatransition@gmail.com.

The Movies
A Crude Awakening: Have you ever thought there was more to the oil economy than petrol at the pump? A Crude Awakening is a revelation, an amazing insight into the world of oil, how it impacts on every aspect of our modern day lives, who’s fighting over it and what the future may hold. Some have called it ‘the best exposition of the Peak Oil argument yet!” It’s well paced, well argued and a great summary of what Peak Oil
is. It is an inspiring film, not a doom ‘n’ gloomer but an insight into the power that greases the wheels of the modern economy and an enlightening 85 minutes of entertainment. http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/news.html

In Transition-The Movie debuted last year, showcasing the Transition Town movement. If you are having trouble getting your head around what it is and why hundreds of communities are going to such lengths to build local resilience, this 50 minute foray will have you feeling enlightened and excited about what a Transition initiative can do for your neighbourhood.

There’ll also be a loan library of movies that you can view at your leisure.

On Friday 16th April the program for the evening's entertainment will be
6.00pm     Welcome Beverages, Biscuits & Bits
6.15pm     Film: A Crude Awakening
7.40pm     Break &World Café- A meaningful discussion of some probing questions
8.10pm     Film: In Transition -The Movie
9.00pm      Beverages & Biscuits and some more quality conversation
9.30pm     The evening finishes

The program ahead

• May 8th- Saturday Noon-4.30pm
  In Transition-The Movie , End of Suburbia and The Power of Community
• June 20th Sunday 11am-4.00pm-
  In Transition-The Movie , An Inconvenient Truth, The Power of Community
• July 16th Friday 6-9pm
  In Transition-The Movie  and Power of Community
• August 14th Saturday Noon-5pm
  In Transition-The Movie , Escape from Suburbia and A Crude Awakening
• September 19th Sunday 11-4.30pm
  In Transition-The Movie , End of Suburbia and Escape from Suburbia

Transition Town Titbits

The Coal Point Transition Steering Group has been busy of late. The group hosted a 2-day training workshop recently in which 12 ‘transitioners’ came together to learn more about the Transition Town Movement and the tools and techniques that have made this international positive movement the success it is.

There were sessions on the various transition tools such as ‘Open Space Technology’- a way of gathering community input on various questions that the community wants answers to, Conversation Café- a process for gathering ideas and actions on a specific topic, Visioning-a way of defining how the community will look, feel, and build resilience to the twin challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change, and information sharing. activities that go way beyond a lecture format and are interactive, fun and empowering.

The other aspect to this weekend was meeting and catching up with others who have been working within their communities on Transition Initiatives. There were people from Foster and Taree who were thinking how to start the process, folk from Maitland about to mobilise the masses, Newcastle Transition Towners getting reinvigorated and six members from the Coal Point group who now have a greater understanding of the Transition model and how it all works.

Sincerest thanks to the Trainers Bob Thomas and Sandra Menteith who came from the Bowral Transition group-Climate Action Wingecarribee, recently famous for the Bundy On Tap triumph which has all the community supporting a no-bottled water policy within the town of Bundanoon.

Gracious thanks also to Chris & Libby Walters for hosting the event at their home.

The movies are coming

The past few Chronicles have made mention of a Transition Movie Festival that aims to share the current information about building community resilience to the twin challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change.
The movie program has been set, the Hall booked and the data projector and screen purchased, thanks to a Volunteers Small Equipment Grant from the Dept of Families, Housing, Community and Indigenous Affairs.

The movie marathon is running over several months, with multiple screenings over Friday, Saturday or Sunday so that as many people as possible can see the movies at a time that’s convenient for them.

All the film sessions will also have Conversation Café forums to gather ideas and issues that arise from the films.The format for the viewings will run to a pre-advertised schedule so that people can come along to any particular film that is showing, and not have to stay for all the films.

All the movies will be shown at Progress Hall, and there’ll be supper/food available.

• April 16th Friday- 6-9.30pm, In Transition- The Movie and A Crude Awakening
• May 8th- Saturday Noon-4.30pm In Transition-The Movie, End of Suburbia and The Power of Community
• June 19th Sunday 11am-4.00pm- In Transition- The Movie, An Inconvenient Truth, The Power of Community
• July 15th Friday 6-9pm In Transition- The Movie and Power of Community
• August 13th Saturday Noon-5pm In Transition- The Movie, Escape from Suburbia and A Crude Awakening
• September 18th Sunday 11-4.30pm In Transition- The Movie, End of Suburbia and Escape from Suburbia

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 the Transition Town process works. All interested people are welcome to come along. Email cppatransition@gmail.com or talk to Luke 4959 9401 about what the group is upto.

Transition Initiatives- What are they and how do you do one?

Have you been wondering what The Transition Movement is all about? The Steering group has as well and have come up with some goals for the group.

• To raise the awareness of people who live in the area about Peak Oil and Climate change,and
• to get some local initiatives happening and to increase the numbers in the steering group.

The way the group is going to go about this is through a series of film and discussion sessions.

The first film is ‘In Transition-the Movie’, 49 minutes of positive pleasure about how communities all around the world are taking on the challenge to move towards a more resilient community and happier lifestyle.

The discussion after the film will be a question and answer session with members of the local Steering Group about the Transition Town movement and what the local group gets up to.

In Transition-the movie will be shown on Saturday 7th  November at 7pm at Progress Hall, 197 Skye Point Road, Coal Point. Entry is free and supper will be available.

The next meeting of the Steering group will be on Monday 21st November where we discover the wonders of Permaculture at one of the member’s homes. If you’re interested in coming along contact Di on 49 705 695

Sensible Transport Forum

At the Sensible Transport Forum held September 24th by Transition Town Newcastle, a group of interested people decided to put together a discussion paper on Peak Oil for the Mayors of the five Lower Hunter Councils to highlight the issue of Peak Oil and the role local government can play. Two Councils in NSW, Coffs Harbour and Marrickville have already adopted Peak Oil Policies.

The premise behind the discussion paper is that ‘we must plan to leave oil before it leaves us’, that Council has a responsibility to respond to the concerns created by Peak Oil and demonstrate leadership by taking practical steps to address the issue.

The paper concludes that ‘the demand for oil is increasing at an unsustainable rate and already demand out-strips supply. Soon we will reach Peak Oil, if we have not already, when production will decline and the cost of petrol will rise perhaps dramatically”

The Sensible Transport Forum Working Group urges Council to consider a range of practical measures to manage a transition into the post oil era that include

• Reducing Council’s reliance on oil, minimising consumption and dependence and educating the community by demonstrating leadership in fuel economy and the search for alternatives.
• Promoting alternative fuels e.g hybrids for fleet cars and Compressed Natural Gas or biodisel for garbage trucks
• Downsizing council cars and reviewing usage
• Preparing oil vulnerability maps to assist in planning
• Promoting public transport through higher residential densities along public transport corridors and town centres
• Preserving and protecting disused rail corridors for future public transport options
• Promoting walkable neighbourhoods
• Exploring ways to promote community transport and investigating ways to better utilise the existing small buses serving local retirement villages and creating community carpooling schemes
• More bus shelters
• More cycleways
• Introducing bike racks on the front of local buses
• Promoting and encouraging community gardens and farmers markets
• Protecting good agricultural land
• Working towards integrated public transport ticketing in the Lower Hunter.

What changes would you make to your motoring if petrol was $8/L? What could we do within our community to help each other get around? Any bright ideas, new ways of doing things… this is the sort of thing the Transition group would like to look into locally.

Transition Times Film Festival

The News Year’s Resolution for the local Transition Steering Group is to hold a film festival during January showing a variety of films, 3-4 times a week, covering a variety of time slots each with a discussion theme. This is to enable as many people as possible to see the films and have a chat about what the ‘theme’ could mean to our community.

Some of the films that are being considered include Baraka, An Inconvenient Truth, The Age of Stupid and The End of Suburbia. These are all very powerful films with strong messages about Climate Change and Peak Oil and the effects upon our current lifestyle.

The discussion after the movie has the potential to be equally powerful as we start to create a vision for a more positive future and consider what the changes will mean. 

The Transition Town movement focuses on positive ways to address potential challenges, a great opportunity to create a resilient and community .

Transition Steering Group Update

The Transition Steering group has been meeting regularly and discussing the
process and making plans for the next few months. The group has met with
LMCC’s Sustainable Neighbourhoods Program and deliberated upon their
program and possibilities.
A movie ‘In Transition’ was purchased and reviewed and the logistics of having a
community viewing are being worked upon.
The group went to the Sensible Transport Forum held in Newcastle recently and
learnt that CSIRO projects petrol to be $8/L within the decade, Australia’s oil
production peaked in 2000-01 and since then it has been getting more expensive
to extract the oil, with only 40% of our oil currently supplied domestically.
Some other interesting bits of information were the uncertainty of the OPEC Oil
reserves as they have been overinflated to allow for increased production, OPEC
providing 40% of the world’s oil supply, and 60 of the 90 oil producing countries
already having peaked in their oil production.
The forum highlighted the impact increased oil costs will have on out-lying
suburbs that don’t have adequate public transport infrastructure or pedestrian
options, with the proposition that car travel will become the realm of the
exclusive and air travel very expensive once again.
One of the exciting options for the future was to revise the way we view roads,
not just as car places but also people spaces, where all modes of mobility are
accepted and accommodated, making it safer to ride bikes.
Another speaker provided a perspective on Council operations and how some
Councils have already started planning for oil depletion as an imminent threat, as
‘leaving oil before it leaves us will maximize resilience and liveability’. The
cost of service provision will affect the whole community, especially waste
services. Garbage trucks are big, heavy and do a lot of start and stopping which
uses a lot of fuel.
An option that could be easily adopted even here at Coal Point is to put your bin
out next to your neighbours. If your bins are next to each other the truck doesn’t
have to stop/start so much. It might seem like a small thing but it all adds up.
If your interested in thinking about how a community adapts to a changing world
and what it would have to do the Transition Steering Group meets monthly, 3rd 
Monday of the month. We are meeting in group member’s homes, the next
meeting is at 23 Whitelock St, 19th October 4pm-6pm. All are welcome. If you
can’t make a meeting but would like to follow the discussion there is an online
discussion group. Send an email to coalpointprogress@gmail.com and the details
can be forwarded.

Living Greener

Are you looking for ways to reduce your planetary impact, cut your energy costs
or retrofit your house for eco-efficiency but don’t know where to start and how
you’ll finance it?
There is an Australian Government program about at the moment called Green
Loans that can help you to assess your options and fund their implementation.
The three easy steps are 1.apply for a sustainability assessment, 2.get your
report, 3.apply for a Green Loan to fund the action that suit your needs and
budget. The Green loans can be upto $10,000 over four years.
The local Green Loans Sustainability Assessor is Russell Wilcox mob 0488 690
777. Ring for an appointment to start the process.

Feeling inspired to be more sustainable, but not sure where to start looking for
useful tips? The LivingGreener portal (http://livinggreener.gov.au) was
developed to provide a single starting point for Australians to find information
and inspiration on how to live greener. This government site is the perfect
stepping stone to sites detailing energy-saving programs, water and waste
reduction plans and hints on how to choose low-emission transport.
LivingGreener also includes information on the range of assistance and rebate
programs provided by the Government for things like insulation, solar hot water,
and rainwater and greywater tanks.
There are plans to progressively expand the scope of LivingGreener to include
state and territory government rebate information, local government initiatives
and information for schools and businesses.

Climate Code Red Emergency Planning

The Society for Sustainability & Environmental Engineering,
Lake Macquarie City Council and Newcastle City Council
invite you to a workshop on Climate Code Red Emergency Planning
If Australia declared ‘Code Red’ status on climate change and had to reduce
carbon emissions by 50% immediately and at all costs, what would we do? Come
and contribute your ideas in a national series of workshops, taking a fresh look
at options to combat climate change using a light-hearted approach to explore a
serious situation.
Keynote Address by Professor Ian Lowe
Professor Lowe will present a clear and balanced explanation of the current
scientific understanding of global warming, and its effects on Australia’s climate,
land use, energy and water consumption, and on our economy, industry,
agriculture and daily life.
Professor Lowe will also challenge us to address the changes brought by global
warming, and to accept responsibility for planning and creating a sustainable
future.
When: Wednesday, 14 October 2009
4.00pm – 7.00pm
Where: Newcastle Panthers
King Street, Newcastle West
RSVP: Essential by 10 October 2009
Katrina Baker Ph: 02 4926 4440
Email: kbaker@engineersaustralia.org.au
There is no charge to attend this workshop