Friday, September 17, 2010

Carbon Neutral Neighborhoods: Getting Clear On Purpose

Seattle City Council asked some point people who were known to be thinking constructively about carbon and carbon neutrality, to reach out to their communities and garner citizen input on the following question:
"Given our commitment to be a carbon neutral city by 2030 (the first in the nation), which goals would be wise to set for within the next 1-3 years?"
On September 14th, 2010, citizens presented recommendations Seattle City Council, garnered from input and processing from over 400 citizens - a good beginning to ongoing collaborations.

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=2331058

At 37 minutes, the first citizens' group presents: Land Use advisory group
At 48 minutes, the second group (including me): Neighborhoods
At 59 minutes, the third group: Energy
At 72 minutes, the fourth group: Green Careers
At 83 minutes, the fifth group: Transportation
(explaining Peak Oil and pointing out that funding mega-projects for cars is taking money from where we need it to go, see minute 139 for THE controversial question regarding transportation, and the council's politically intelligent response.)
At 93 minutes, the sixth group: Food Systems
At 105 minutes, the seventh group: Zero Waste
At 114 minutes, the eighth group: Young People

Start listening at 142 minutes, for (IMHO) the most important response of the evening: how we move forward:
Mike O'Brien said
"There were a lot of ideas that were presented today. There are a lot more ideas which are in the whitepapers, which (...) are on the city council website right now (...) One of the next steps that I think needs to happen is: we need to have council members identify projects they want to take ownership of, and we need to have community members identify council members that they want to work with on this and bring those folks together. I know that some folks have already had conversations, and some of these are projects that people - council members - have been working on for a number of years, and it's just a continuation of that. (...) I encourage everyone who worked on it , and everyone in the audience, and everyone watching it on tv, to take part in that effort, to engage council members, leaders across the city, your neighbors and co-workers, and start to create public demand and start to collaborate so that we can really create the space so we can move quickly on a lot of these (ideas/projects) because we don't have a lot of time."

At 146 minutes, a request to keep in mind that there are professionals and organizations who can help integrate the stakeholders into the process in a meaningful way.

At 148 minutes, a great wrap-up by a council member, confirming that we're all on the same page, and there's collaboration ahead of us.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Carbon Neutral Seattle is a Neighborly Seattle

The event we've been working toward is here!

Hear short presentations by each of the sectors -- Energy, Transportation, Waste, Youth, Food Systems, Green Jobs, Land Use, and Neighborhoods -- to the full Council, with our respective recommendations for steps that can be taken in the next three years to move Seattle toward a carbon neutral future. This is the culmination of all of our recent contributions and efforts thus far, and the beginning of what we hope will be an exciting collaborative journey toward a carbon-neutral Seattle.

September 14, 6 - 8:30 p.m.

Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave.

Bertha Knight Landes Room (on the main floor)


Our Neighborhood recommendations hinge on 3 core themes: Livability & Resiliency in Neighborhoods; Building Community though Improved Communication and Collaboration; and Better Mobility Within and Between Neighborhoods.

We do hope you all can join us at City Hall at 6:00 pm on Sept 14th (see calendar below for details), when we present our recommendations. Or you can watch live on the Seattle Channel!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Skill Building

I just found out about Thriftcamp, September 19th 2010.

"ThriftCamp is a one-day unconference discussing how to live well while living cheap. Discussions may include how to repair your clothes, how to budget your money, how to make your own soap, how to cook great meals on a thin budget, how to fix your electronics, or how to brew your own beer. Because ThriftCamp is an unconference, its content will be determined by its participants."

Seems like a more social way to learn great skills than from internet or books alone, if your own neighbors seem to be too busy to teach you/do thrifty things with you. I lucked out and learned many of these skills from a thrifty neighbor, so I might attend with her (going as Neighbors, on purpose,) and share what we know! Her super-power is recognizing when do-it-yourself is NOT cheaper. A very important skill ...it can save more than just money!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Government As Conscience

A government is like the organ that reflects what the body (of citizens) is doing. A good government, one that keeps us happy and successful, is like an organ made to hold whatever creative tension lies between what is actually happening on the ground, and what is alive in the spirit of the people. A good government organ is able to align (not consolidate, hide, or justify, but align) where we currently ARE, with our goals, priorities, and visions. A healthy government affirms what seems to be working, reminds us of our goals of holistic functioning, and asks us, like a brain or a battery: what is the happiest way to wield the power of today's momentum, plus the potential energy generated by the tension between that, and what we know we desire?

I'm happy to say we have such a government in Seattle. At least, I reflect on the City of Seattle as having momentum in the direction of being an 'organ' in the Seattle 'body' aiming itself to be/become good, healthy, and able to hold a lot of healthy, creative tension... How do I help us see ourselves this way?

Keep on doing what I'm doing in my neighborhood...
and collaborate in this group seattleneighbors.org making a white paper and presenting it before City Council on tv Septemeber 14th. My 3 minutes of fame?