Participatory budgeting at the local Government level

Participatory budgeting at the local Government level is a new idea being tried in the 49th ward of Chicago with excellent results. 

The local constituents decided how they would spend their Ward's budget allocation whether it was on bike paths, footpaths, community gardens- a whole range of ideas. 

Here is the link to see how it worked in the community  http://www.linktv.org/onechicago/films/view/699

Could this happen in the Pullenvale Ward?

Awaken the Dreamer, Changing the Dream environmental symposium invitation‏

Later this year, Transition Kenmore will be helping run one of these locally but for anyone who can't wait here are the details of the next symposium this weekend.

"Many of us are likely to experience the effects of global climate disruption during our lifetime as well as be impacted by the economic consequences of dwindling resources consumed by our current way of life. What can we do? Well, there is exciting, grass roots, social/political/ecological movement gaining momentum around the world that you can participate in.

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium aims to help create an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on the planet by helping people learn more about the world, to come to grips with the very assumptions that underlie the way we see the world and what each of us can do, individually and cooperatively – to move the world in a new direction. It connects us into a global group of people who are informed and optimistic about creating a new possibility for our modern world and who are galvanised to take action for healthy and sustainable future. We do this not only for ourselves; we do it for present and future generations—for the benefit of all children, of all species."

The Symposium will be held on:
SUNDAY MAY 30th
From 10am to 4.30pm
At the Brisbane Bridge Centre, 104 Frederick St, Annerley
(the old Annerley Bowls club in the Yeronga Memorial Park)

+/- More info, directions etc click to expand

"Using video clips from some of the world’s most respected thinkers, captivating short films, and dynamic group interactions, the Symposium guides participants in gaining new insights into the challenges we face and the opportunities we have to impact the direction of our future with our everyday choices and action.

I encourage you to come, to invite your family and friends, your co-workers. Come to be inspired and moved to action, come to be part of a community of deeply committed individuals worldwide who are actively engaged in helping people wake up and begin changing the dream of our modern industrial culture, or come to simply find out what its about.

There is plenty of free parking and it is also very convenient to public transport – either by bus along Ipswich road (there are several express buses from the city that stop about 400m away), or by train on the Beenleigh-Ferny Grove line, stopping at the Yeronga station about 700m away."

The cost is $20 per person, half price for full time students, unemployed and pensioners – and no one will be turned away – we simply ask that you make a small donation. Maximum cost per family is $50.

**** Please bring some food to share for lunch and morning and afternoon tea will be provided.

*** NOTE: We would appreciate if you could email either
Fiona – peacetrainps@iinet.net.au or
James – james@brisbaneuu.org.au and advise how many are coming so we have an idea of numbers.
For more information, please see http://awakeningthedreamer.org

The Symposium is run by Be the Change Australia.

Food Inc, The Movie in Brisbane

The movie Food Inc is in limited release in Australia and was not scheduled to be shown in Brisbane.
However, many folks from the local transition movement have successfully lobbied to have it shown.
This movie received 4 1/2 stars from Margaret Pomeranz and 4 stars from David Stratton on ABC's At The Movies.
It would be wonderful to have a full house on the opening night, so put June 24th in your diary to be at the Palace Centro.

There is a growing concern in the general population about the quality of our food and the viability of our farmers. This movie provides a firm basis for those concerns.

Says Margaret Pomeranz in her review
"It's a shocking indictment of an industry which has been taken over by greedy, litigious, multi-national corporations who not only want to put small farmers and food suppliers out of business, they want to keep quiet about the dangerous practices they use in the slaughtering of animals for food and other farming practices"

You can read the rest of her review here

See you at the movies....

Book review blogging - David Archer - The Long Thaw

There are a lot of books written about climate change but this is surely one of the best.

I have just finished reading "The Long Thaw - How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate" by David Archer, Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago.


Concise (at under 200 pages), compelling and understandable to a non scientist, Archer lays out how our release of fossil fuel C02 today will affect the climate for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years.

Most discussion of climate change (and indeed IPCC predictions) tend to go only until 2100. Archer seeks to remedy this and in doing so takes us on a journey back through time to see how past climate changes played out, before showing how this knowledge allows us to predict what will happen in the future.

I've linked to the book on Amazon but you can also get it out from a BCC library. For those who are really keen David has put a whole course of lectures on youtube.

Note: Being a short focused book it doesn't cover all AWG topics. If you want to learn about the basics of the greenhouse effect, read in depth about climate change and the biosphere or about potential solutions then check out David Archer's - Understanding the Forecast, The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery and Our Choice - A plan to solve the climate crisis by Al Gore respectively.

Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean

Another great TED talk, this time from Coral Reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson. A professor at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Jackson "lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse"

To many of us oceans seem huge, mysterious and immune to human activities, but like any other ecosystem or natural resource it can be depleted and is currently facing a "perfect storm" of overfishing, pollution, warming and ocean acidification.

We can try protecting parts of it, fixing up certain areas, but the thing we really need to fix says Jackson "is ourselves"

Compelling viewing

Hat tip: Hot Topic

Note: One of the problems facing the oceans is excessive nutrient run off and pollution with toxic chemicals, both problems that can be at least partially tackled by solutions such as those provided by our last TTKD speaker Kevin Venville from H20 Pure Plus.
So it's not as though we don't have solutions, what we require is a change in mindset.

TTKD May Meeting: Water recycling with Kevin Venville from H20 Pure Plus

This month our speaker will be Kevin Venville, Managing Director and Founder of H2O Pure Plus.

"H2O PurePlus® is a unique non-chemical water treatment and reuse system that has worldwide domestic, community, commercial, agricultural and industrial applications".

This system achieves dramatic water savings by naturally cleaning both grey and black water for completely safe reuse inside and outside the home and work place and is approved by the Australian Governing bodies (see here for example).

To find out more and talk to this Brisbane innovator join us on:

Wednesday May 19th

7:30pm

Uniting Church Hall

982 Moggill Rd Kenmore

Support Climate Crock of the Week

Climate Crock of the Week is currently leading (by a small margin) in votes for a $5000 grant. This is a great series of YouTubes, entertaining and a good response to the anti-science propaganda.



You can vote directly (sign-up required) and even better, after doing that, find my announcement at Twitter  and retweet. But hurry, there's only a few hours left. Voting closes at 11:59pm Saturday 15 May (US time zone).

Here’s an example in case you aren’t familiar with Peter Sinclair’s sterling work:


He also has a series Renewable Energy Solution of the Month, of which here is an example:

Follow-up

I don’t know how many readers of this article voted but someone must have because this project won. I wonder if we can get green-oriented business to sponsor a similar project fund?