• Global Habitat Festival - Vancouver, BC
• 4th Bay Area Region Permaculture Convergence

Relocalization Network News:

Janet Beazlie reports from BALLE Conference

"One of my favorite speakers, Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, spoke stirringly about relocalization as a way to build green communities and social equity at the same time. He pointed out that Hurricane Katrina showed us what a 'free market evacuation' looked like. He also challenged us to create local communities that include everyone and not to create a world of 'eco-apartheid' where only the wealthy could protect themselves from climate change and energy scarcity. Making green strategies include everyone is not just the right thing to do; he stressed that it is the only way we can make the huge changes in our communities that are needed."

Read more...

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Welcome to New Local Post Carbon Groups

Please join us in welcoming the following Group Coordinators and their Local Groups to the Relocalization Network. Take a moment to have a look at their websites:

• Michael Hurd, Transition Town Asheville – Asheville, North Carolina, United States
• Derek Tattersall and David Falconar, Post Carbon Montreal – Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Relocalize.net: Website upgrade & tools in the works

This month the tech team has been preparing to upgrade the website to the new Drupal 5 platform. The new platform will allow us to incorporate more powerful networking tools, including Google maps of groups in the Relocalization Network!

Post your comments
What do you think about the articles and interviews on Relocalize.net and Global Public Media? Register on any of Post Carbon's websites, and then start browsing. Click on the phrase "Add a Comment" (which appears at the bottom of every item) and share your ideas, questions, criticism, links to other articles or websites...it's up to you.

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Post Carbon Cities: new resources

Post Carbon Cities will be helping cities respond to the challenges posed by peak oil and climate change. The program provides technical assistance and resources to the people who work with and for local governments, from elected officials and staff to consultants and non-governmental organizations. Read the new feature article by Daniel Lerch that discusses how urban planners in the U.S. are changing their attitudes towards sustainability.

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New on Global Public Media

Global Public Media, an initiative of Post Carbon Institute, is an internet broadcasting station that streams long format audio and video interviews with world experts. Click on the links below for the latest additions on GPM.

     Jeremy Leggett comments on the Independent - 18 Jun 2007
     Chris Skrebowski comments on BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2007 - 16 Jun 2007
     The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating - 15 Jun 2007
     Richard Heinberg: The Energy Transition - Global Responses to Climate Change and Fossil Fuel Depletion - 19 Apr 2007

Other additions to Global Public Media during the last month include new audio recordings of Post Carbon Fellow Richard Heinberg’s recent Museletters, and the new Peak Moment TV episodes.

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Timebanks Pilot Project Update

In February, 2007, the Relocalization Network began sponsoring Project Port Lyttelton, a Local Group in New Zealand to test out TimebankUSA's Community Weaver software. Here's is an excerpt from PPL Timebroker Chris Twemlow's blog:

"Time Bank offers a model of exchange that promotes a lifestyle of building cohesive communities. When we invite a Time Bank member to help with an activity, trust is established and our understanding of our community increases. We discover who can share in taking our kids to school in the morning. We get to know a trustworthy person to collect our mail and keep an eye on our home when we go on holiday. We get to offer skills we want to provide. In building communities in this way we become more self sufficient, potentially taking pressure off tax subsidized services." Read more...

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Feature Article: Local groups push for energy consolidation by Ronica Shannon

This month's feature article is written by Ronica Shannon, News Writer for the Richmond Register in Richmond, Kentucky, and features the work of Sustainable Berea, a Relocalization Network group in Berea, Kentucky, United States. The following is an excerpt (click here to read the full article):

BEREA — Three local organizations will be giving a presentation June 5 to the Berea City Council in support of a long-term commitment to the net metering program that began as a trial at Berea College three years ago. The groups include Sustainable Berea, the League of Women Voters of Berea and Madison County and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

“Net metering” is a term to describe the situation in which residences or commercial buildings with solar or wind systems produce more electricity than needed at certain times of day, and put that energy back onto the electric grid for use by other consumers.

Read more...

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June Fund Raising Tip: Organizing 'Non-Events'

Californians for Alternatives to Toxics created a unique variation on the “non event” fund raising theme. It’s an idea for raising funds your Group might consider trying. They invited folks on their donor list to a tea party, and enclosed a tea bag from a local organic tea company. The invite read, “Don’t worry about parking or what to wear, stay home and enjoy a cup of tea.” The invite went on to list the organization’s successes and asked for a donation to continue supporting their efforts. You can tuck this idea away for fund raising in the winter months, or perhaps consider a summer ice tea theme.

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Upcoming Events

Have an event you would like to share with the Network? Please send an email to Shelby by the last week of the month and we will include it in the next issue of Relocalize.

Global Habitat Festival

July 7, 2007, Vancouver, BC, Canada
This event is a Friends of Live Earth outdoor music festival in Vancouver featuring live music, art, an eco-village and live coverage of the monumental global event Live Earth. Visit www.globalhabitatfestival.com for details.

4th Bay Area Region Permaculture Convergence

July 7-8, 2007, Oakland, California, USA
Visit www.urbanpermacultureguild.org/convergence or email convergence@urbanpermacultureguild.org for more information.

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If you have any comments about this Newsletter or suggestions for the next, please contact us.

Best,

The Relocalization Network Team

Post Carbon Institute
Tel. +1 707 827 3221
+1 800 590 7745 (N. America toll-free)
Email Us
327 Murphy Avenue
Sebastopol, California, 95472, USA
www.relocalize.net
www.postcarbon.org