Snapshot as of late March 2009

[originally posted 3/27/09]

Just a small part of all that Transition Los Angeles has been up to ...

Our Harvest Westchester got on the 6pm news in Los Angeles. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Group_Shares_Unharvested_Fruit_Los_Angeles.html The Harvest Westchester idea is a "physical manifestation" of Transition that came about when some of our group members heard about Rob Hopkins' nut trees campaign. Nut trees don't grow well in Southern California (insufficient chill), but fruit trees surely do! Of course the news media edits heavily and only focuses on a small part of the big picture of what is going on -- they focused on the donation-to-charity concept, when it was originally conceived as a way to share local produce between community members with the excess going to the food bank. The Environmental Change-Makers group mentioned in the piece is the initiating group for Transition ideas for many areas of Los Angeles.

Transition Los Angeles city hub http://TransitionLA.blogspot.com
Environmental Change-Makers (initating group) www.EnviroChangeMakers.org
Harvest Westchester fruit harvest project www.HarvestWestchester.org

That evening, our Westchester pod held a Reskilling class - a breadbaking workshop. Over 60 people attended, plus many children. Everyone had a chance to knead bread and learn what it feels like. We made sure everyone got flour on their hands and their clothes! Then we had a community gathering/party during the dough's first rise.

photos available later today - they'll appear at http://www.flickr.com/photos/31378610%40N06/

Meanwhile, in addition to maintaining the 2 community gardens which were part of Transition initiating actions within the city hub, TLA group members are now helping 4 other community gardens break ground. One of our local pods is planning a massive Gardens of Gratitude unleashing project for May 16 & 17, as well as working on the idea of an urban CSA which raises food spaces which used to be front lawns.

The Learning Garden, Venice, CA http://www.thelearninggarden.org/
Community Garden at Holy Nativity, Westchester, CA http://holynativityparish.org/wordpress/
Urban CSA projects: Westside Permies, Santa Monica & West LA http://westsidepermies.ning.com
Gardens of Gratitude project (by Westside Permies, Santa Monica & West LA) http://www.gardensofgratitude.com/

Not to leave out our Heart & Soul committees, we have a full-day retreat/workshop in the style of Joanna Macy scheduled for tomorrow. It will be given by Marilyn Stoner, a student of Joanna Macy.

We have many Awareness Raising talks scheduled at venues around the greater Los Angeles area, so many that we had to establish a speaker's bureau to handle the demand. We're working with existing organizations within the area -- both environmental organizations and non-enviro ones. These Transition Talks often give rise to new "pods" (our Los Angeles term for local spots of Transition activity within the massive geography of the city).

Our "Transition Cities" page which tells about how we're organizing Transition in a city the scale of Los Angeles http://envirochangemakers.org/TLA/TransitionCities.htm

[as reported to Transition US]

Join the Transition Los Angeles announcements list at http://groups.google.com/group/transition-los-angeles

Join the Transition in Los Angeles discussion list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TTLA