Local chefs cook meals with produce from local gardens at a fundraiser
for Kim Fox’s travels from 4 to 6:30 p.m., Sunday, May 23. $25 to $75.
Mercado San Agustin 100 S. Avenida del Convento. Call 461-1106, or
visit theoriginalhoe.blogspot.com for more information.

Sara Jones of Tucson CSA will make dessert, and Amy Schwemm of Mano Y
Metate will make mole. Rachel Yaseen of The Organic Kitchen and
Justin Dixon of Mercado Sunday Dinners will also be cooking.

TUCSON’S LOCAL FOOD AMBASSADOR

Kim Fox, a Tucson micro-urban farmer and food activist dedicated to
community education and local food production, is embarking on a new
adventure! Up until now, Kim has been busy designing urban sites for
food production and distribution. Her community education programs
focus on local food production, soil science, food security and
health. Now that summer is here, she’s hitting the road with her bike,
and an open plate and mind!

Kim is an observer of and participant in local and international food
ways. She has traveled to 25 countries working on small farms and
urban gardens, visiting farmers’ markets, participating in food
culture and customs, and observing local food production and
distribution methods. Beginning in June 2010, Kim will travel by
bicycle across Europe engaging with people who manage urban and rural
farms, gardens, farmers’ markets, food banks, seed banks, and public
and private agencies in order to exchange perspectives and information
on local sustainable agriculture. In particular, Kim will study and report on
seed saving, climate change consequences, GMO issues, sustainable farming
and urban gardening techniques, and seek to collect recipes straight from the kitchen.

Her community in Tucson and beyond can learn with her, via internet updates
on her blog, at www.theoriginalhoe.blogspot.com or on Facebook “Kim Fox Food Trek 2010.” Your donations or in-kind support will ensure that fresh and enriching ideas, beyond the American perspective, will benefit our community’s local-sustainable food system.

To contribute to her trip or for more information, visit her blog or
contact her at theoriginalhoe@live.com or 520-622-1917. Become a food
trekkie!

by Michael Brownlee

Description:

As part of his current book tour, author and climate activist Bill McKibben spoke at the First United Methodist Church in Boulder, CO on April 27, co-sponsored by Boulder Book Store and Transition Colorado. The video of his presentation is below, following the introduction that was given by Michael Brownlee, co-founder of Transition Colorado.

Many of us know Bill McKibben as the inspirational force behind Step It Up and more recently 350.org, which has taken the lead globally in raising awareness about the urgency of meeting the challenge of global warming, coordinating last October what CNN called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.”

Others of us have known Bill as the author of The End of Nature in 1989, the very first book for a general audience to sound the alarm about global warming.

Still others of us remember when Bill published Deep Economy three years ago, and he was here in this very room then to tell us about the need to relocalize our economies. That was the same year our organization launched what we envisioned as a ten-year campaign to relocalize Boulder County.

Few here may know that Bill is also a member of a strategically significant think tank called Post Carbon Institute, which in 2003 was the first organization to sound the call for relocalization as a crucial response to climate change and peak oil. At Post Carbon, Bill joins nearly 30 of the most important thinkers and researchers on these issues—including such luminaries as Richard Heinberg, Michael Shuman, Rob Hopkins, Majora Carter, Gloria Flora, Wes Jackson, Stephanie Mills, Chris Martenson, David Orr, and Bill Reese.

With these Fellows, Post Carbon Institute is “leading the transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world,” and is a key strategic partner in the visionary efforts of the Transition Movement, which we’re now a part of. We find it very inspiring that these leaders are joining together to help discover the way forward.

Nearly four years ago, James Hansen said, “We have at most ten years. Not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to fundamentally alter the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions.” But we still have not yet begun to do this.

Bill helps us realize that the fiasco at Copenhagen last December gave us two clear signals: First, the scientific consensus is that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are already having a devastating impact on the ecosphere that supports all life, and this will get very much worse in the future. The clear implication of this, along with the peaking of global oil production, is that our current way of life cannot and will not continue. We are entering an unavoidable period of energy descent.

Secondly, Copenhagen demonstrated that our governments are simply not going to be able to rise to the occasion in time to mitigate the impacts of global warming. We’re going to have to learn how to adapt to the consequences.

Because of Bill McKibben, the numbers 3-5-0 are indelibly embedded in our collective consciousness as a threshold we should never have crossed and now to which we must work our way back down. Bill has helped build awareness of our predicament around the globe, and he has helped us realize that we now must urgently move from awareness-raising to commitment, followed by rigorous action—beginning locally.

As Bill suggests, it takes a community to respond to global warming. And if we take what he is saying seriously, starting right here in Boulder, we must now unequivocally commit together to quickly transitioning off of fossil fuel dependence, to learning how to feed ourselves locally again, and to learning how to make our communities resilient and self-reliant for our most essential needs.

To put it bluntly, if we follow Bill’s arguments, the inescapable conclusion we will come to is that we must commit as communities to simply ending our contribution to global warming. Could that begin here in Boulder? Could we inspire other communities to do the same?

Well, it’s going to take far more than “two techs and a truck” here in Boulder to do this. It’s probably going to take more like ten thousand neighbors and whole fleets of bicycles! And it’s going to take a real revolution in local food and local farming, something we’re helping to catalyze with our county-wide EAT LOCAL! Campaign and 10% Local Food Shift Challenge and Pledge.

Let’s not leave here tonight without making a commitment to Bill and to ourselves that we will rise to the occasion here in Boulder and Boulder County—that we will quickly end our contribution to global warming. And meanwhile, let’s give Bill McKibben the hero’s welcome that he deserves!

WATCH VIDEO HERE.

To read more, visit the New York Times here.

Catalina State Park, 11570 N. Oracle Road.

Citizens for Solar invites everyone to come and join in the fun of the 28th Annual Tucson Solar Potluck and Exhibition. This is the longest continuously running solar potluck in the world. See practical, innovative solar energy in useful action. People will be cooking food in dozens of types of solar ovens. Enjoy solar powered music during the afternoon and into the evening. Taste solar cooked food, see photovoltaic solar electricity generated, feel solar cooling, and see solar powered technology.

Although solar cooked snacks will be provided all day, the solar potluck feast begins around 5:00 p.m. Either bring your solar oven and cook with us or bring a dish to share and join in the fun.

The first print edition of the Green Pueblo Map showcasing our community’s favorite “green” places and spaces will be available later this year.  If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to “make your mark” on the map by nominating your favorite sustainable sites at www.greenpueblomap.org . Please also encourage your friends and colleagues to participate.

Nominations are being accepted in more than 30 categories, including community gardens, solar sites, recycling centers, re-use shops, public parks, scenic vistas, rainwater harvesting locations, and historical sites.  It takes only a minute to nominate a site and you do not have to provide any personal information other than a zip code.  Once a site is nominated, it will typically appear on the website within a month.  A selection of sites will also appear on a printed version of the map.  If you want your site(s) to be considered for the printed map, please submit your nomination(s) by April 1, 2010.

The Green Pueblo Map is a free, community-based mapping effort.  The on-line map is constantly evolving and reflects the community we are all creating together.  Residents are encouraged to visit www.greenpueblomap.org at anytime to help identify and explore the features that promote sustainable living and which makes our region such a special place to live.

Pima County, the City of Tucson, and The Inner Connection are organizing the Green Pueblo mapping effort.  However, the project is part of a much broader, international green mapping initiative that began in New York City in 1995, and has since spread to 55 countries.  For more information, please visit www.greenmap.org .

A Community Celebration of Sharing, Reusing, and Recycling. Bring something to share: useful items, a vegetarian snack, music or poetry, skills (haircuts, painting, knitting, etc.), or just your smile. Take home what you need or want.

3rd Saturday of every month at Himmel Park. Meet east of the tennis courts at 1st Street and Tucson Blvd.

No money. No barter. No trade. Everything is free. Really.

Share the Wealth. Save the Earth.

Tucson\’s 16th Annual Earth Day Festival and Parade will be held on Saturday, April 17, 2010 at Reid Park. The theme for the 2010 Festival is “All Species Deserve a Place on Earth!”  All species great and small – insects, plants and animals – the Earth needs them all!

Exhibits related to the environment will include \”hands-on\” activities for children and provide information on environmental products, water conservation/water quality, household hazardous waste, wildlife, nature preserves and much more!

At 10:00 the unique and colorful parade will include participants dressed up as plants, animals, and insects, and environmentally themed floats. Batucaxe, high energy drum and dance group will lead the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade!

After the parade, watch as local middle school students test their design and construction skills in a model solar electric race car competition.  Then change gears from model cars to full-size vehicles at the Alternate Fuel Vehicle Show.  Check out vehicles that run on alternate fuels such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane and even waste vegetable oil.  Ask the experts how you can start using an alternate fuel in your vehicle to keep the air clean for all species.

Animals love the earth and deserve a place on earth too! So, ride your bike to the Earth Day Festival and for those riding their bikes (with a helmet) get free admission to the Reid Park Zoo by showing your safety helmet.

For more information about the 16th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival please visit www.tucsonearthday.org, call (520) 206-8814 or email tucsonearthday@yahoo.com.Earth Day

The Arizona Water Atlas
Speakers:
Linda Stitzer, ADWR, Resource Assessment Planning Manager

Kelly Mott Lacroix, ADWR, Community Water System Planning

The Arizona Water Atlas is a compilation of water resource information for the state composed of nine volumes. Initially released as drafts, the six volumes that cover the non-AMA portions of the state are now final and posted on the Department’s web site in an interactive format. The presentation will include process, purpose and content of the Atlas, efforts to develop data access on the web, and plans for the final volume of the Atlas, an evaluation of water sustainability for the state.
All seminars and events are held at the Sol Resnick Conference Room: Water Resources Research Center, 350 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson. Parking is available.