Transition Whatcom

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Working together to rebuild resilience in Bellingham and all of Whatcom County.

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Community Resience starts with Seeds

Posted by Terri Wilde on March 21, 2022 at 3:03pm 0 Comments

Salish Seeds .....Local Community Seed Project

The Salish Seed Guild has started a remarkable project toward local food security. We are collectively growing out useful seed for home gardeners that are selected for and adapting to Whatcom County.  We knew at the beginning of the pandemic that it was well time to take our community's sustainability seriously. While we had been organizing Bellingham's community seed swap for years, much of the seed shared was last year's left overs from…

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Interview with Larry Korn, Author of One Straw Revolutionary - May 2016

Posted by David Pike on January 18, 2020 at 5:18pm 0 Comments



An Interview with Larry Korn, Author of One-Straw Revolutionary

May 4th 2016

By: David Pike



Since The One-Straw Revolution was published in 1978 it has been translated into more than 25 languages and sold over one million copies worldwide. In “One-Straw” as the book has been dubbed, Mr. Masanobu Fukuoka presented an entirely new approach to agriculture which he called “natural farming.” After 25 years of research and trials he demonstrated he could achieve yields…

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Ten Weeks In

Posted by Rick Dubrow on September 22, 2017 at 4:07pm 0 Comments

Succession came to pass on July 1st, ten weeks ago. A-1 Builders, Inc. is now A-1 Builders, A Design/Build, Worker-Owned Cooperative!  My former employees are now my bosses! For the time being I’m helping the new team deal with marketing on a part time basis; my hours worked per week since July 1st has been on the order of working 1/4 hour a week!  Can’t really call this ‘part time’; I think I’ll call it ‘microscopic time’.

Perhaps in other…

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Slow Sand Fresh Water Filter

Posted by David Culver on November 22, 2016 at 6:54pm 1 Comment

I live in an all-electric home and when the power grid is out we have nothing. No water, no sewer, lights, cooking or anything else. I will have a generator to run sparingly to keep the freezer and the refrigerator going. Our home is a passive solar home with great insulation.

If the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake happens, the grid could be out for a year. During that time, with the well pump not working, we will need a source of clean fresh water.

A slow sand filter, made…

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Second Aid: Lessons Learned From Past Adventures

Posted by Rick Dubrow on November 3, 2016 at 11:51am 0 Comments

All too often I’ll run into another hiker and the following conversation ensues:

“How many nights are you staying out?”

“None… I hope. We’re on a day hike.”

“Then why are you carrying so large a pack?

Allow me to unpack my answer… an answer that addresses situations well beyond wilderness travel. An answer that extends into my settled, civilized life as well.  Why, at home, are Cindi and I prepared for a major natural or…

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Welcome to Transition Whatcom's Community Networking Site!

This is a community networking site for those interested in helping us achieve our vision of resilient and more self-reliant communities throughout Whatcom County with a local food supply, sustainable energy sources, a healthy local economy, and a growing sense of vitality and community well-being.

About Transition Whatcom

See Transition Whatcom sponsored events here

Did you know??

You can find other TW members in your neighborhood by typing your neighborhood into the search box on the Members page.

To learn more about Transition Whatcom, Start Here


We aim to unleash the collective genius of our community to find the answers to this momentous question:

For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we...

Dramatically reduce carbon emissions (in response to climate change);
Significantly increase resilience (in response to resource scarcity);
Greatly strengthen our local economy (in response to economic instability)?

Transition Initiatives make no claim to have all the answers, but by building on the wisdom of the past and accessing the pool of ingenuity, skills and determination in our communities, the solutions can readily emerge. Now is the time for us to take stock and to start re-creating our future in ways that are not based on cheap, plentiful and polluting oil but on localized food, sustainable energy sources, resilient local economies and an enlivened sense of community well-being.

 

To learn more about the issues, start here

(Why Transition, Peak Oil, Climate Change, Economy, Peak Everything)

Latest Activity

David MacLeod updated an event
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Permaculture Tour and Regenerate Whatcom Meet-Up at TBD

August 29, 2025 from 4pm to 7pm
A Whatcom Permaculture event, and in support of Regenerate Whatcom. A Free gathering time for People interested in Permaculture and Integrated Land Management to come together and discuss…See More
yesterday
David MacLeod posted an event
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StoryWalk Along Taylor Dock at Boulevard Park and Taylor Dock

September 12, 2025 to September 21, 2025
StoryWalk Read AloudSeptember 12, 10:30am-12:00pm/BellinghamEarly Event for Kids!For children ages 3 – 8. Celebrate Water Week with a read aloud of the StoryWalk® along Taylor Dock! This special collaboration with Public Works will feature a story, songs, and end with nature inspired crafts. Meet at the play structure at Boulevard Park.Location: Boulevard Park in BellinghamEvent Organizer: City of Bellingham Whatcom Water Week Events - More…See More
yesterday
David MacLeod updated an event
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Whatcom County Planning Commision and County Council at Various - see website

August 14, 2025 from 3pm to 6pm
Comments from Citizens Encouraged The Whatcom County Planning Commission and County Council tentatively plan to hold a series of meetings and hearings to review the following chapters of the Comprehensive Plan update in July and August. For up to the minute info go here.The meeting will take place at 5280 Northwest Dr. Bellingham, 98226, in the portable conference room. To participate in the…See More
yesterday
David MacLeod updated an event
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Protect the Upper Rutsatz Forest at Online

August 11, 2025 to August 22, 2025
In 2021, the Center for Responsible Forestry (CRF) raised the alarm on the plans to auction a state timber sale known as Upper Rutsatz Sorts. The sale consisted of two units totalling 99 acres, with roughly 90 acres including naturally regenerated 130 year-old forest, old growth forest remnants, and hundreds of trees over four feet in diameter— some reaching eight feet in diameter! Sitting high on the steep slopes above the confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork Nooksack Rivers, the Upper…See More
yesterday
David MacLeod commented on David MacLeod's event Protect the Upper Rutsatz Forest
"Thank you for the comment Paul. Revenue for the Mount Baker School District is important, as well as jobs for local residents.  According to the extensive information provided on the RE Sources website, this is an opportunity for a…"
Aug 5
Paul Campbell commented on David MacLeod's event Protect the Upper Rutsatz Forest
"Approximately 250 acres were considered for this proposal; this has been reduced to 88.9 net acres of VRH; due to riparianmanagement zones, sensitive slopes above typed waters and public resources, adjacent WDFW listed eagle habitat, andpatches of…"
Aug 5
Paul Campbell might attend David MacLeod's event
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Protect the Upper Rutsatz Forest at Online

August 5, 2025 to August 22, 2025
In 2021, the Center for Responsible Forestry (CRF) raised the alarm on the plans to auction a state timber sale known as Upper Rutsatz Sorts. The sale consisted of two units totalling 99 acres, with roughly 90 acres including naturally regenerated 130 year-old forest, old growth forest remnants, and hundreds of trees over four feet in diameter— some reaching eight feet in diameter! Sitting high on the steep slopes above the confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork Nooksack Rivers, the Upper…See More
Aug 5
David MacLeod updated an event
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Regenerative By Design (Whatcom Water Week) at Inspiration Farm

September 14, 2025 from 3pm to 6pm
Regenerative by Design: How Water, Soil, and Carbon Cycles Shape Our Hope for the FutureThis is the 2nd event in the Regenerate Whatcom series, "Walking Whatcom Waters." Step into the living Water integrated landscape designed at Inspiration Farm. Join Brian Kerkvliet, regenerative farmer, educator, and co-steward of this permaculture demonstration site, for a grounded…See More
Aug 5
 
 
 

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The Worst Inventions

The real question is whether all future modes of human living are fundamentally incompatible with ecological sustainability, and I very much doubt we can make such a strongly definitive statement.

Spelling It Out

Yet if the value of the commons remains always partly mysterious to systems which can only deal with the legible, so too does their capacity for endurance and the strength which they give to those who live and work with them, and the process of enclosure is never quite as total as its promoters would like us to believe.

Missing Words

How can we discuss and respond to our culture’s biggest challenges if we don’t even have the words to describe them?

The real meaning of the “elements”

The elements are handy symbols that our symbolical languages can latch on to and use to word the world, to translate reality into abstract thinking, so that we can talk about our practical experiences.

The Hidden Cost of Integrity: Environmental Commitment in the Global South

Let us build communities where the silence of exhaustion is not celebrated, but heard. Where emotional resilience is not individual, but collective. Let us make space — for tears as well as for treaties. We are not broken. Just tired. And still standing.

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