What's New?

Provincial links

David — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:53:46 -0800

Coming soon...

Regional links

David — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:52:46 -0800

Coming soon...

Links

David — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:13:19 -0800

Local links

David — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:51:39 -0800

Powell River Legacy is a community group formed in response to the announcement by the local paper mill owned by Catalyst Corporation, of a proposal to apply for an application amendment to expand its industrial waste disposal site located in Powell River BC.

The Townsite blog is a place for residents to discuss issues concerning the Townsite. The current main focus of this blog is an open ditch sewage treatment facility proposed on the site of the old golf course. This property is some of the prettiest ocean view property around and is adjacent to many homes as well as the local high school.

Powell River Alternatives collects many links, videos, and news feeds relevant to the residents of the Upper Sunshine Coast and their struggle for open government and development that is consistent with the current and future realities of resource availability, climate change, and isolation. Powell River Alternatives intends to be a "clearinghouse" news-source for all community-based local websites.

Immanence Magazine is a monthly publication produced and printed in Powell River, BC with a community-minded focus. It provides a medium for the open sharing of ideas and knowledge for the betterment of the entire community of Powell River.

Powell River Farmers' Institute welcomes you to explore our website, receive a monthly newsletter, attend meetings and special events and network with us. In 1915, thirty-two farmers in the Powell River area, founded a Farmers' Institute 'to improve conditions of rural life so that settlement may be permanent and prosperous.' This remains our goal today.

The Powell River Food Security Project aims to increase the community's capacity to produce its own food and to increase people's ability to access to nutritious local food: fsp@prepsociety.org

About V8A

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:25:36 -0800

V8A is a group of citizens of BC's Upper Sunshine Coast. We have two main goals for our region: sustainable development and open government.

V8A is a member of the Relocalization Network, which is a program of the Post Carbon Institute. Eventually we hope to work towards the creation of a full Energy Descent Action Plan for our region. For now, we are focusing on three main areas:

Education and action about our regional food supply;
Education and action about transportation in our region;
Educating our neighbours about the challenges and opportunities posed by peak oil, climate change, and geographocal isolation.

BC's Upper Sunshine Coast is a remarkable part of the world, and V8A believes that we have good opportunities to create a strong regional economy, build community, and tackle some of the serious challenges ahead of us.

How can you get involved, you ask?

1. Join our electronic mailing list
V8A has a listserv for keeping people up-to-date on what is happening. Go here to sign up and start finding out what's going on.

2. Come out and play!
If you're interested in working on increasing our regional food supply, learning to grow some of your own food, or learning or teaching about canning, preserving, foraging, or any other aspects of food security, come out to the monthly Kale Force meetings.

3. Read about relocalization
If you're interested in learning about V8A's plan for a regional transition to sustainable prosperity, download and read this document.

4. Check out our wiki
Also: we have a primitive but functioning wiki. Check it out. It's a baby now, but soon it might start growing.

Our plan

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:13:53 -0800

Many experts in peak oil planning expect that, as fossil fuels become ever more expensive, local economies will become more important, since we will need to supply as many of our needs as possible from a smaller geographical area. This shift away from the globalized economy is known as relocalization. Obviously, it is an enormous challenge to create a plan for sustainable development that takes into account the massive challenges posed by climate change and peak oil. Luckily, we have some very good models to learn from: Transition Towns like Kinsale and Totnes in the UK, and the fast-growing Post Carbon Cities network in North America.

What is an Energy Descent Action Plan?
"An Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) is a local plan for dealing with peak oil. It goes well beyond issues of energy supply, to look at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of health, education, economy and much more. An EDAP is a way to think ahead, to plan in an integrated, multidisciplinary way, to provide direction to local government, decision makers, groups and individuals with an interest in making the place they live into a vibrant and viable community in a postcarbon era."
(From Eat the Suburbs)

The steps to producing an Energy Descent Action Plan:

Education, consultation and networking
Research
Community projects and having fun
Producing the plan
Gaining political support
Implementation

The EDAP for our region
In order to create a plan for the Upper Sunshine Coast, we need to create working groups whose task will be to study a number of areas of concern for sustainability. We need to know where we stand with respect to each area, where the existing advantages and challenges lie,and how we can start marshalling our available resources, human and otherwise, in order to move in the direction of greater resilience and self-sufficiency.

Among the areas of concern are:

Food supply
Water
Energy
Housing
Transportation
Economy and Livelihoods
Education
Health
Waste
Culture
Land use

Some useful background information
12 Key Steps to embarking on your transition journey

The 7 barriers that stand in the way of a Transition Initiative
Designing Energy Descent Pathways: Unleashing Abundance as a Community Response to Peak Oil
Wendell Berry's 17 Rules for a Sustainable Community

Would you like to know more?
Here are some links to other organizations and individuals working on sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by peal oil and climate change.

Our vision

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:38:46 -0800

Coming soon...

But for now,
Think Logo.

Here are more ideas: (mixing and matching) with David Counsell's ideas too.

From David Counsell:

From Nelle: 1 2 3

Michael D's submission below!

Waste

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:58:43 -0800

How will we reduce, reuse, and recycle?

Coming soon...

Housing

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:56:42 -0800

How will we provide shelter for ourselves?

Coming soon...

Energy

David — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:54:29 -0800

How will we heat our buildings and provide electrical power?

Coming soon...