October 10, 2010 - International Work Day for Climate Awareness

Ellsworth “Climate Work Party” Joins Thousands of Events Across the Planet
10/10/10: World’s Largest Day of Practical Action to fight Climate Change

ELLSWORTH – On October 10, people across the planet will pick up hammers, shovels, and tools and join the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, the world’s largest day of practical action to gain awareness about the changing climate.
Organizers in Ellsworth expect people who are concerned about the changing climate and are looking for ways to become empowered in their community to join them to view two short films “The Story of Stuff “ and a local video produced by students in the Blue Hill area (Lucy Jakub, Imogene Page, Lorna Stephens and Max Hurvitt) called "Save my Polar Bear, Please." A visual awareness opportunity on the bridge in Ellsworth will immediately follow the film.

The 10/10/10 Global Work Party is being coordinated by the international climate campaign 350.org and 10:10 Global. Photos and video from thousands of simultaneous events across the planet will also be available for the media at 350.org/media.
Who: Hancock County Towns in Transition join Alliance for Democracy, League of Women Voters Downeast, Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth Adult Religious Education Committee and Peace and Social Action Committee in this important local effort.

What: With over 12 million on-line views, The Story of Stuff is one of the most widely viewed environmental-themed short films of all time. The Story of Stuff takes you on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture–from resource extraction to iPod incineration. This 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of production, consumption, and waste will teach you something, make you laugh and it just may change the way you look at all your stuff. A local video produced by students in the Blue Hill area (Lucy Jakub, Imogene Page, Lorna Stephens and Max Hurvitt) called "Save my Polar Bear, Please” will also be shown. Following the films, there will be a visual awareness opportunity on the bridge in Ellsworth.


Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, Bucksport Road, Ellsworth, ME

When: 11:45AM Films. 1:00 on the Bridge!

For more information on the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, please visit the 350.org media room: 350.org/media.

For more information on the local even contact Brenda Cartwright 207-667-9062

IMPORTANT NEWS YOU COULD USE!

The Defending Water for Life in Maine campaign is beginning the fall with a new organizer, Ryan Clark from Corinth. He'll be broadening the campaign to reach communities in the North Woods where powerful timber companies like Plum Creek own millions of acres of land, as well as the water below, thanks to state law granting "absolute dominion" over groundwater to landowners. This puts the timber companies in the position of being able to profit from exporting water once global water shortages make it profitable. A proposed East/West superhighway across Maine would make such exports profitable much sooner if this highway is actually built. Because the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, backed up by free trade agreements, makes it illegal to ban exports, getting rid of absolute dominion and replacing it with a robust law protecting groundwater as a public trust is critical to protecting Maine's water. While continuing to assist local communities in their fights against Nestlé/Poland Spring, the campaign will develop a longer-term campaign to end absolute dominion in Maine and to recognize the rights of nature as integral to the public trust. For More Information contact: www.defendingwaterinmaine.org

Peace. Something that most everyone says we want, yet it remains elusive -- in large part because we don't actively work for it. September 21 is the International Day of Peace, a campaign to bring awareness to the importance of peace, to encourage positive acts of peace, and to offer a day of ceasefire and non-violence worldwide.

It's terrific that the annual Day of Peace is inspiring more acts of compassion and non-violence worldwide. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, "We must make every effort for the promotion of peace and inner values." But, as journalist and peace teacher Colman McCarthy says, "Why are we violent, but not illiterate? Because we are taught to read." For more information: www.internationaldayofpeace.org

June Events!

PLEASE JOIN HANCOCK COUNTY TOWNS IN TRANSITION FOR THESE TWO EVENTS IN JUNE.

We are happy to advertise the film “Babies” for the Grand showing on June 19th. The film is a sweet and hopeful reminder of why we have to make a difference now.
The second date is June 24th. Please join us at the Ellsworth City Hall for our first monthly forum where we will show the film “The Story of Stuff,” a 20 min. documentary about where it all comes from and where it all ends up.
BABIES -THE FILM
THE GRAND, MAIN STREET, ELLSWORTH
Saturday, June 19
2 and 7 P.M.

Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.
Advertised by Hancock County Towns in Transition



THE STORY OF STUFF
ELLSWORTH CITY HALL ELLSWORTH, MAINE
Thursday, June 24
6:30 P.M.

Please join Hancock County Towns in Transition for our first monthly forum. These forums will be presented in an open dialogue format where attendants will be invited to participate so we can all learn from each other.

For more information, Brenda Cartwright 667-9062.


The Story of Stuff takes you on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture–from resource extraction to iPod incineration. Watch this 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of production, consumption, and waste. It’ll teach you something. It’ll make you laugh. And it just may change the way you look at all your stuff.
Learn more at www.storyofstuff.
Hancock County Towns in Transition 207-667-9062

John Whight will be on Mount Desert Island to offer a course called, “Organic Gardening Without Money.” On Saturday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. He will be in Southwest Harbor at Saint John Episcopal Church (next to Pemetic School. On Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., he’ll be at the Bar Harbor municipal building's (across from Hannaford) second-floor auditorium.

Check out On-line Course - The UnCrash Course
This comprehensive, six-week course will get you prepared in the following areas: transportation, health, finances and shelter, food production and storage, and post-peak skills. An excellent way to quickly prepare in all the key areas. To Register: Postpeakliving.org

For a little entertainment look at www.thefuntheory.com We have to find ways to "lighten up" and have fun with sustainable living. I think the fun theory is on to something!!

We've been blessed with an early Spring and things that are normally done much later in the Spring need to be done now. Pace yourself and watch our calendar for a multitude of opportunities to learn about back yard gardening.

We had a very successful Transition Town training in March 2010. 15 people from around Maine and Vermont were trained to go back to their communities and spread the good word of Transition Town work!
If you missed the training, check the website www.transitionus.org for information on future trainings.

Please take a few minutes to listen to this powerful and wonderful song by Kathryn Mostow, "I Give Thanks." We received permission from her to post her song here. If you love it like we did, please purchase it to support this great artist.

IMPORTANT TRANSITION TOWN TRAINING BEING OFFERED IN ELLSWORTH, MAINE - PLEASE READ AND CONTACT Brenda Cartwright for questions and answers!

Date:

Saturday, March 27, 2010 (All day) – Sunday, March 28, 2010 (All day)

This is a transition town training to better educate people about how to ease through the challenges facing communities today such as peak oil, climate change, and the economic crisis. It is a positive approach of focusing on solutions that lead to a more satisfying life.

This training will follow the transition model in paying attention to both the outer work and the inner work necessary for a successful transition process. This will be a participatory process, with participants invited to share their own experience and learn from the many different transition initiatives represented at the course.

At the end of the course, participants will:

• Have a clear understanding of the context for Transition Initiatives, the current global situation and the transformational possibilities that arise from climate change, peak oil prices and the economic crisis.
• Know what the Transition model is–including an in-depth look at the 12 steps, from inspiration, setting up the initiating group, all the way to having active and effective working groups.
• Have experienced a joint visioning process.
• Understand how to organize effective meetings such as public talks, open space days, and small theme working groups.
• Understand the purpose and principles of an Energy Descent Action Plan.
• Have the outline of an effective and inspiring talk on the Transition movement.
• Have formed useful contacts with other Transition initiatives and individuals interested in the Transition model.
• Have a plan of action for themselves and their locality.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Transition initiative leaders, steering group members, working group members and those considering Transition in their communities.

Required Reading: Transition Primer, free here.
Recommended Reading: The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience by Rob Hopkins

Schedule:
Saturday, March 27, 8:30AM registration; workshop runs 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM with a 1-hour lunch break
Sunday, March, 28, workshop runs 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with a 1-hour lunch break

Trainers:
Alastair Lough (Transition USA)
Michele Durand (Transition Canada)

Location:

Ellsworth, ME
(near Acadia National Park)

United States

Organizer:

Brenda Cartwright

Phone:

207-667-9062

email:

btc100@gmail.com

Cost:$150 per person by March 15, refreshments and materials included. Lodging not included (see below for options). Some partial scholarships may be available for people with low incomes. If you can give extra money for scholarships, your generosity will enable those with low incomes to attend.

Send a note and your registration fee ($150) or deposit ($50—with the remaining $100 due on the first day of the workshop), plus scholarship donations (if you can) to: Brenda Cartwright, 330 Bayside Road, Ellsworth, ME 04605 Email: btc100@gmail.com Phone: 207-667-9062

Location: Bryant E Moore Community Center, State Street, Ellsworth, Maine. Ellsworth is the gateway to Acadia National Park. In our opinion this is the best time to visit...there are NO crowds!

Sleeping Accommodations:
Some overnight accommodations are available. Local hotel information available by contacting Brenda Cartwright below.

Please contact Brenda Cartwright at btc100@gmail.com to request a monthly email calendar with local events concerning peak oil, our changing climate, building community, and sustainability and to learn more about how you can get involved with the amazing work of Transition Towns.

REMEMBER:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin

“People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their potential.”

John Porter quotes Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead "We're happy to announce that we have partnered with PostPeakLiving.com to let you know about the programs they offer. They have a growing list of online courses taught by some of the leading instructors in the Transition movement. Their courses range from Chickens 101 to Sustainable Post-Peak Livelihoods to their six-week, in-depth individual and family preparation program, The UnCrash Course. As their partner, we receive a portion of your registration fee to help fund our operations. If you intend to take a Post Peak Living course, we would greatly appreciate it if you were to click through the link above or the Post Peak Living image on this site."

Events Sponsored by Hancock County Towns in Transition

March 10 - The Future of Money or Financial Permaculture - 7:00 PM - Ellsworth Public Library, River View Room - Michael Anderson will present this important topic about Financial Permaculture, a systems approach using permaculture techniques and philosophy that create a zero waste economy that cares for the earth, it's inhabitants and distributes surplus material, currency and knowledge in a fair and equitable manner. It also seeks to create mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationships while healing the ecology. This talk will explain the parasitic nature of our current economic system and look at alternatives that include interest and inflation free money, local currencies, mutual credit clearing and green businesses. Money should be made to serve, not rule, to be used - rather than profit oriented - and to create abundance, stability and sustainability. Donations welcomed. Sponsored by Hancock County Towns in Transition. FMI: Brenda Cartwright, 667-9062.

March 17 - Organic Gardening Without Money - 6:00 PM - Ellsworth Public Library, River View Room. Experienced or new gardeners welcome. Come learn tried and true techniques in this informal and informative workshop led by John Whight. A self proclaimed "botanist at heart," John has 37+ years of energy and gardening knowledge. John has studied and observed oriental, European, and domestic gardening techniques. Take advantage of John's wealth of knowledge and unique and simple gardening techniques. Donations welcomed. Sponsored by Sustainable Earth Training Center and Hancock County Towns in Transition. For more information, call Brenda Cartwright, 667-9062.

March 10 - The Future of Money or Financial Permaculture, 7:00 PM - Ellsworth Public Library, Riverview Room - Michael Anderson will present this important topic about Financial Permaculture, a systems approach using permaculture techniques and philosophy that create a zero waste economy that cares for the earth, its inhabitants and distributes surplus material, currency and knowledge in a fair and equitable manner. It also seeks to create mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationships while healing the ecology. This talk will explain the parasitic nature of our current economic system and look at alternatives that include interest and inflation free money,local currencies, mutual credit clearing and green busienesses. money should be made to serve, not rule, to be used - rather htan profit oriented - and to create abundance, stability and sustainability. Sponsored by Hancock County Towns in Transition. FMI: Contact Brenda Cartwright, 667-9062

March 17 - Organic Gardening Without Money - 6:00 PM - Ellsworth Public Library, Riverview Room. Expereinced or new gardeners welcome. Come learn tried and true techniques in this informal and informative workshop led by John Whight. A self proclaimed "botanist at heart," John has 37+ years of energy and gardening knowledge. John has studied and observed oriental, European, and domestic gardeing techniques. Take advantage of John's wealth of knowledge and unique and simple gardening techniques. Sponsored by Sustaninable Earth Training Center and Hancock County Towns in Transition. For more information, call Brenda Cartwright, 667-9062.