Transition Towns: building community resilience in the face of emerging challenges, one joyful step at a time.

Transition Towns
Originating in 2004 in the UK and spreading rapidly around the world, the Transition Town movement seeks an integrated and community-based response to economic instability, climate change, peak oil, environmental degradation and the erosion of community. Movement leaders argue that successful transition to a low-carbon society requires grassroots action to build community resilience, while emphasizing opportunities for greater connectedness, equity, quality of life, and fun. Key movement mottos include “if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable”, and “let’s not let a good crisis go to waste!”. There are now over 20 official Transition Towns in Canada and another 60+ at earlier stages of development. Based on personal experience as a co-founder of Transition Oakville, anecdotal evidence from an extended network of transition founders across Canada, and preliminary findings of a national research study, this presentation will describe the emergence of the movement in Canada, the ways in which movement leaders have sought to build community resilience, some of the challenges the movement has faced and how they have sought to overcome these.

About Blake Poland
Blake Poland is Associate Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and Director of the Collaborative Program in Community Development. His areas of specialization include the settings approach to health promotion, critical social theory, qualitative health research methods, community development as an arena of practice for health professionals, community resilience, and social movement responses to emerging ecological threats to health equity. His latest project is a national study of the emergence of the Transition Town movement in Canada, a movement in which he is also an active participant as co-founder of Transition Oakville.

Membership renewals will take place ($20) for 2013. Bring a friend! It’s a great opportunity to introduce them to our organization and meet the friendly folks who make it all happen.

Cycle Transitions does two things: conducts skills training courses for cycling safely (Can-Bike Instruction), and operates a Do It Yourself workshop for bicycle repair. Our goal is to get as many people riding their bicycles, both safely and on bikes in good repair. We are a non-profit organization staffed completely by volunteers. Start-up funding has come in part from the Healthy Communities Fund of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

At our grand opening, we’ll do the “ribbon-cutting” to officially open the doors, share our project goals with you, and give you a tour of our new facilities. See our classroom (shared with Go Green Together) and our spacious, well-equipped workshop. Learn how you can sign up for courses and how you can become a member of Cycle Transitions.

Cycle Transitions is located at 739 D’Arcy St. across from the Cobourg Community Centre. Take the first driveway south of the north round-about, then turn right to access parking behind our building. See you there!” (Cycle Transitions Staff)

The project is a youth-focussed initiative that aims to increase cycling safety in Northumberland County. Cycle Transitions will deliver safe cycling education courses through a program called CAN-BIKE Instruction. As well, a permanent workshop will be set up and open to all cyclists but with a focus on instructing youth to repair and maintain bicycles. The workshop will also resources can be found for those who don’t have the skills, funds, or access to equipment to repair bikes themselves.

Help with this project has been requested! There will be four teams getting the operation up and running; the first focused on setting up the work (service) area, the second a storage area, the third an administrative area, and the fourth an educational component. We intend to create the teams at this organizational meeting.

Our start up target date is the first week in September.

If you are interested in hearing about the project and possibly helping out, details of the meeting are below:

Date: Monday, July 23, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Location: The NEW GoGreen Together facility – 739 D’Arcy St. (the old NuComm building)
Parking: accessed from the south running lane of D’Arcy just below the round-about at the Cobourg Community Centre. Turn right into the driveway there, then turn right to park behind the building.

Please bring a lawn chair to sit on. If you are unable to attend but wish to participate or know more, please contact one of the four team leaders:

Rick Nonnekes: rnonnekes@gmail.com
Paul Mills: pmills@sympatico.ca
Roy Martin: roym@cogeco.ca
Dave Singfield: davesingfield@cogeco.ca

First Prize (Brand new Opus Urbano Bicycle from Canyon Mountain Co.): Brian Bos, Millbrook
Second Prize ($50 Gift Certificate for Cobourg’s The Bike Shop): Gail Jenkinson, Clarington
Third Prize ($50 Gift Certificate for Cobourg’s The Bike Shop): Barbara Spencer, Cobourg
Fourth Prize (Bicycle Tune-up from Port Hope Bicycle): Minnie DeJong, Cobourg

On Monday January 9 the Health Hazards committee presented the book, “Cancer-101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic” to Mayor Brocanier and the Town council and planners. It is our hope that they will use the many ideas in this book to guide them in their decision-making for the health of the citizens of Cobourg.

As Senior Vice President for Research at EWG, I want to make it easy for you to prepare your holiday feasts with your family’s environmental health in mind. Just follow these simple tips as you shop, cook and eat together:

• Choose food low in added chemicals and pollutants
• Use non-toxic cookware
• Store and reheat leftovers safely

1. CHOOSE FOOD LOW IN ADDED CHEMICALS AND POLLUTANTS
   Food can contain ingredients we don’t want to eat — from pesticides to hormones to artificial additives to food packaging chemicals. Some simple tips to cut the chemicals:
   • Buy organic when you can. I make sure fresh fruits and vegetables are on the menu, and I go organic when I can. Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides (I prefer my dinner without, thanks!). Organic meat and dairy products also limit your family’s exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics.
   • It’s OK to choose non-organic from our “Clean 15″ list of less-contaminated conventional fruits and vegetables, too. EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce ranks popular fruits and vegetables based on the amount of pesticide residues found on them.
   • Cook with fresh foods, rather than packaged and canned, whenever you can. Food containers can leach packaging chemicals into food, including the synthetic estrogen bisphenol A that’s used to make the linings of food cans. Go for fresh food or prepared foods stored in glass containers. Pick recipes that call for fresh, not canned, foods.

   When I’m planning a grocery trip, I like to check in with EWG’s Healthy Home Tip: Go organic and eat fresh foods.

1. USE NON-TOXIC COOKWARE
   Using a great pan makes a huge difference when I cook. I skip the non-stick so that my kids (and our dog) don’t have to breathe toxic fumes that can off-gas from non-stick pans over high heat.

   Non-stick cookware is in most American kitchens. Is it in yours?

   

   • For safer cooking, we suggest cast iron, stainless steel and oven-safe glass. Yes, there are many new products on the market, but most companies won’t tell you exactly what’s in them. Even if they’re advertised as “green” or “not non-stick,” manufacturers do not have to release their safety data to the public.

     If you’re in the market for a new cast iron pan, purchase it through Amazon and a portion of your purchase total will go to EWG!

   • If you’re ‘stuck’ with non-stick, cook safer with it. You can reduce the possibility of toxic fumes by cooking smart with any non-stick cookware you happen to own: Never heat an empty pan, don’t put it in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F and use an exhaust fan over the stove.

   Learn more about cooking safely in our Healthy Home Tip: Skip the non-stick.

1. STORE AND REHEAT LEFTOVERS SAFELY
   Leftovers can extend the joy of a holiday — by giving you a break from the kitchen! But be sure to avoid plastic when storing and (especially) when heating them. Here’s why — and how:
   • Skip plastic food storage containers if you can. The chemical additives in plastic can migrate into food and liquids. Ceramic or glass food containers (such as Pyrex) are safer. Click here to get a 10-piece Pyrex set on Amazon (and a portion of your purchase will go towards helping EWG!).
   • Don’t microwave food or drinks in plastic containers, even if they claim to be “microwave safe.” Heat can release chemicals into your food and drink. Microwave ovens heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.
   • If you do use a plastic container, handle it carefully. Use it for cool liquids only; wash plastics by hand or on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element; use a paper towel instead of plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave. Also, avoid single-use plastic as much as possible — reusing it isn’t safe (it can harbor bacteria) and tossing it out fills up landfills (and pollutes the environment).

   Read more about heating and storing food safely in our Healthy Home Tip: Pick plastics carefully.

I hope these tips make having a green holiday easier. Happy Holidays!