Working together to rebuild resilience in Bellingham and all of Whatcom County.
Started by Dick McManus in Peak Oil Feb 26. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Michael Weaver in Climate Change. Last reply by David MacLeod Oct 23, 2018. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Started by Travis Tennessen in Supporting Links and Opportunities. Last reply by David MacLeod Jun 9, 2018. 1 Reply 2 Likes
Posted by Rick Dubrow on September 22, 2017 at 4:07pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
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…
ContinuePosted by David Culver on November 22, 2016 at 6:54pm 1 Comment 0 Likes
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…
ContinuePosted by Rick Dubrow on November 3, 2016 at 11:51am 0 Comments 1 Like
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…
ContinuePosted by Rick Dubrow on September 12, 2016 at 6:10pm 1 Comment 1 Like
Injuries usually happen upon descent. So it was on Sunday, 9/4/16 at the 4,420 foot level of Mt. Pilchuck. Five of us, all co-workers at A-1 Builders and Adaptations Design Studio, on a company dayhike, heard someone screaming in pain from above; close by. In moments we reached Patricia, a fit 59 year old Peruvian child…
Posted by Rick Dubrow on June 29, 2016 at 9:24am 0 Comments 0 Likes
On January 15th, 2016 I went back to work for A-1 Builders after an interim period of 10 years of lucrative employment in the oil industry.
ContinueI turned my back on the oil industry for a number of reasons, but ultimately it was for my health, both physical and mental. But my journey goes deeper than being just about me; my journey sheds light upon our culture’s ‘jobs versus the environment’ debate; upon this region’s challenge to manage the explosive nature of oil by rail;…
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.
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You can find other TW members in your neighborhood by typing your neighborhood into the search box on the Members page.
Help with existing projects of the Transition Whatcom Organizing Group or suggest projects you are willing to help with! Join the discussion.
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 peak oil);
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.
(Why Transition, Peak Oil, Climate Change, Economy, Peak Everything)
Our Achilles Heel as a species may have come at a fork along our evolutionary biology pathway many millions of years ago. Relatively few others of our fellow creatures decided to follow our lead, and for good reason. We decided to sweat.
It’s telling that our four Uncertain Future Forum authors—though asked broadly about how to respond to collapse—each ended up with the same focus: tending to and working at the individual and community scales.
The prosperity, resilience and self-determination of a community is greatly dependent on its having an adequate supply of payment media to connect available supplies with basic needs, so the usual scarcity of conventional money needs to be overcome.
We won’t build a more diverse food system until we help people develop more diverse preferences. At the moment, our food system is suffering from lack of diversity both at the level of supply and of demand.
Do what you can and as much as you can, even as you factor in your own limits.. Those of us who are awake must find our way to work on what has been unleashed. What we choose to do must become effective participation in the longest relay race we’ve ever been forced to run. Don’t drop the baton, and do pass it on.
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