In the back parking lot of Common Ground, as people perused plants, melodious music mingled with green garden goods and a cornucopia of crafts, with the whirring of bicycles in the background. The garden share gathered with seedlings and herbs and plenty of lemons. The craft table was laden with cloth and papers aplenty. Tom [...]

Looking for a good read that’s also eco-friendly? Find a Green Shelf near you. A project of the Midtown Palo Alto Green Team, Green Shelves are just that – a bookshelf lined with green paper and stocked with environmentally-friendly reading material for all to borrow and read. Working together with local schools, businesses and public [...]

Interested in gardening in the Palo Alto area? Get timely hints from the TPA Garden Notes compiled by Master Gardener Romola Georgia.   To get the newsletter and join the Garden Group contact transitionpaloalto AT gmail DOT com . Below is the latest Garden Notes from Romola.    -Bart Transition Palo Alto Garden Notes for May I’ve [...]

MOTHER’S DAY GARDEN-CRAFT-BIKE-MUSIC SHARE Neighbors sharing food, exchanging crafts, repairing bikes, and making music Sunday, May 13 11am – noon FREE ! Common Ground Organic Garden Supply & Education Center 559 College Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Hop on your bikes with your favorite mother for this 4 Event Mother’s Day Share. Join us to [...]

The Palo Alto Weekly ran a nice article about garden circles in its latest issue (May 4) on the front page of the Home & Real Estate section, page 45. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=25237 Several Transition people are mentioned, including Paul Heft, Debbie Mytels and Annette Isaacson. Several other Transitioners are past members of the circle. Garden Circles [...]

Super Films of Vision and Hope film night last Friday (5/4)! Everyone loved the Urban Farming Guys videos. To see the ones we saw and some more, go to http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/. Next Friday, May 11, 7:30pm, we’ll be showing YERT, Your Environmental Road Trip. Don’t miss this award winning adventure. Called to action by a planet [...]

The first Global Spirits hike, sponsored by Globalicious and Transition Palo Alto, was held 4/22 at Russian Ridge. The hike featured magnificent views, some “tree yoga,” and even a reptilian friend. A grand time was had by all! The next hike will be at Hidden Villa May 12. Global Spirits hikes are for people who [...]

MOTHER’S DAY GARDEN-CRAFT-BIKE-MUSIC SHARE Neighbors sharing food, exchanging crafts, repairing bikes, and making music Sunday,  May 13 11am – noon      FREE ! Common Ground Organic Garden Supply & Education Center 559 College Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306    Hop on your bikes with your favorite mother for this 4 Event Mother’s Day Share. Join us to [...]

How are folks coping with today’s economic and environmental crises? It’s easy to lose hope when faced with a mountain of tough economic problems on top of climate change and other environmental woes In this film series, we’ll take a look at how people are living creatively, finding ways to be resilient and thrive as [...]

The Cool Cities challenge is an exciting effort to achieve dramatic carbon reduction by working at the community level. Thanks to the efforts of Transitioners David Coale, Annette Issacson, and Annette Puskarich, Palo Alto is included in the list of target cities for the challenge, along with Davis, Sonoma CA, and three cities in Brazil. [...]

Transition is all  about local resilience. That’s why each Transition initiative is different,  adapting to the local environment, needs, and energy level. But cross  pollination is also important. With that end in mind, more than a dozen  Transitioners from around the Bay Area and beyond gathered at Victoria  Armigo’s house in Sunnyvale on March 17 [...]

Sunday, March 18th at Opal’z in Midtown Palo Alto, a record (approximately) 50 people converged on the upstairs room, normally reserved for birthday parties and soap-making. Instead, these locals were armed with bags of fabrics, paints, papers, ornaments and all sorts of arts and craft supplies. The attendees were eager to swap and jumped in [...]

Are you a crafter? An artist? A teacher? A parent? Bring your paints, pens, fabrics, yarn, stickers, patterns, craft books, paper goods, stickers, and more to the next Craft Swap. Then take home what you need for your artwork, your lesson plans, your projects. While you’re there, learn a new skill, get to know other [...]

Living beneath your means – for fun and profit By Barbara Weinstein and Eitan Fenson, Transition Palo Alto How are you making ends meet during these tough economic times? Local Transitioners shared their ideas at the March 9 Transition Palo Alto 100 Mile Potluck. Cecile Andrews kicked off the discussion by asking folks to consider what they’re doing [...]

Local newspapers cover Transition This month, the San Jose Mercury News and the Palo Alto Weekly both published nice articles on Transition. See excerpts from the articles below. Trash or Treasure?   Carol Blitzer, Palo Alto Weekly March 2, 2012 People reuse, repurpose, recycle while sharing unwanted supplies at Craft Swap. — Who doesn’t have [...]

Events  – Transition Palo Alto – March 7 Palo Alto Weekly article on Transtion Palo Alto and the Craft Swap (March 2) http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story_print.php?story_id=16464 Group buys: Slow Money book by Woody Tasch is available at a discount from Peter Ruddock http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/inquiries_into_the_nature_of_slow_money:paperback Group Facilitation cards should be available in a week for about $21 http://groupworksdeck.org/deck From previous [...]

Events  – Transition Palo Alto – February 24 To keep this email short,  I have concentrated on Events.  Later, I’ll send something out on Groups.  If you have questions, look at the TPA website   and calendar.  Send items for newsletter to  transitionpaloalto@gmail.com.  Group buys: We are planning group buys of the Slow Money book by [...]

Transition Palo Alto offers a downloadable coloring book “What is Peak Oil and Why Should I Care? In an easy to understand storyline and through great illustrations,  it describes where oil comes from, how dependent we have become on oil, how oil has gotten more and more difficult to collect, what exactly peak oil is, [...]

The craft swap continues, a chance to share your arts and crafts supplies, get some new-to-you goodies, and get to know other people in the area while keeping stuff out of the landfill! This time we have a special set of demos and show-and-tell of fun arts and crafts by experienced crafters. Estelle will show [...]