[ Saturday, October 16, 2010; 8:00 am to 12:30 pm. ] Tucson is emerging as a regional and national leader in the implementation of green infrastructure strategies. Green infrastructure uses natural processes to provide environmental services. Many local examples use small basins to capture, clean, and infiltrate stormwater from streets and parking lots, while providing passive irrigation to gardens of native plants.

Join Watershed Management Group’s Green [...]

The Teaching & Helping Program of Empowering Local Communities, Inc. is organizing a project to reduce the energy use of as many Tucson homes as possible on the Day of Climate Action, October 10, 2010 (10-10-10). We are looking for Tucson homeowners who want to participate in doing energy conservation projects on their homes on [...]

ENERGY EFFICIENCY RETROFITS FOR HOMEOWNERS
Are you interested in improving the energy efficiency
of your home?
Approximately 300 homes located within the City of Tucson will be selected to receive energy efficiency upgrades to reduce the home’s energy use by 15-20%.
Residential energy efficiency retrofit work may include things like substituting compact fluorescent light bulbs for [...]

Tom’s of Maine is asking for the public’s vote to determine five non-profit organizations that will each receive $20,000 through its “50 States for Good” initiative. This year, the “50 States for Good” program drew submissions from every state with a special focus on non-profits that need volunteers to help get important projects started in [...]

All political parties including independents are accountable to the emerging challenges of sustainability. The G.O.P. in Arizona is particularly accountable for the state’s catastrophic condition both now and going forward.
Despite voters’ May approval of Prop 100 to tax ourselves to solve some of the current deficiencies, the G.O.P. and its Tea Party affiliates continue to [...]

The Pima Association of Governments just approved the Second Tucson Region Indicators Report. It provides a snapshot of the region with data on key measures that characterize its current health from an environmental and community perspective.
Five theme areas are: Natural Resources, Air Quality, Water, Transportation and Energy, and
Community and Economy, to represent the essence of [...]

Transition United States is passing on the word about the great success enjoyed by the first Cyclovia Tucson. You can follow these stories here.

Pima Connects is asking that you complete a survey to help identify the connectors in our community. Identifying Connectors and bringing them together is a powerful way to encourage different and dynamic voices to be part of community conversations about issues that affect us all. It’s also a great way to link people and resources [...]

Find out about an exciting opportunity to work with your neighbors and save both money and water! Download the flyer here .

Sustainable Tucson is republishing the following call to the community which we originally presented in February 2008. The message is not only more relevant today but portends some of the events which have already happened since then. As we prepare to participate in the upcoming Imagine Greater Tucson process this coming Fall, let’s focus on [...]

Bill McKibben on “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough Planet” (video)
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 [...]

[ Tuesday, June 22, 2010; ] The US SOCIAL FORUM will take place in Detroit, Michigan.

The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build [...]

[ Wednesday, April 21, 2010; 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. ] The Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona cordially invites you to join us as we celebrate the contribution that volunteers make in Southern Arizona and the role that the Volunteer Center plays in building capacity for volunteer service throughout our communities.

There will be light refreshments, a scavenger hunt, a Wish Tree, and a raffle. The [...]

[ Wednesday, April 21, 2010; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Join members of the community as proposed changes to the city charter are discussed. According to the hosts, Tucson Young Professionals, these proposals could have a major impact on how our city is run. The meeting will be held in the Tucson Association of Realtor Conference Room, 2445 North Tucson Boulevard. All Members and Guests [...]

By Guy R. McPherson
Published at Energy Bulletin and Guy’s blog: Nature Bats Last
(Guy, a former UA professor, has inspired Sustainable Tucson with his writings and appearances at ST General Meetings during the past four years)
As we continue into the decades-old, but only recently acknowledged era of destruction and extinction, it’s apparent the current model [...]

By Dan Allen
Published by the Energy Bulletin, (www.energybulletin.net)  March 30, 2010

SUMMARY: Bound by the tangled cord of its own sins, Industrial Civilization sits immobilized — with the gun of reality pressed to its temple. Monumental changes are imminent – probably (hopefully) a swirling mix of both bad and good. [...]

[ Saturday, April 17, 2010 2:00 pm to Saturday, April 24, 2010 2:00 pm. ] Join The Watershed Management Group in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.  Earth Month events include:

April 10th: Green Streets Block Party, 4pm to 7pm
April 10th: Street Painting Event, 10am to 1pm
April 17th: Samos Neighborhood Green Streets Workshop, 8am to 1pm
April 18th: Green [...]

[ Sunday, April 18, 2010; 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] Cyclovia will give Tucson folks the chance to enjoy our great weather, see neighbors, friends and people from throughout Tucson, and get a little exercise – all on city streets that will be closed to car traffic and open to walkers, joggers, cyclists, skaters and all other forms of natural movement.

Motor vehicles are detoured from [...]

Dear Community Friends and Partners:

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 [...]

[ Friday, March 19, 2010; 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. ] The Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce invites you to their Launch and Luncheon at the Tucson Assoc. of Realtors Meeting Room 2445 N. Tucson Blvd.

Enjoy our luncheon speaker, MC Gina Murphy-Darling: “Mrs Green Goes Mainstream”

Learn how you can benefit through:

Green Education
Green Business Development
Collaboration and Networking
Green Advocacy

Visit www.SAGCC.org

RSVP to: info@SAGCC.org or (520) 306-6475

[ Friday, March 26, 2010 12:00 pm to Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:00 pm. ] Celebrate our most precious and endangered resource -WATER -with the The Water Project: Tucson’s Synergistic Water Festival on March 26-28, 2010. This event combines the energy of Tucson’s sustainability community with the vibrant arts community to provide an opportunity for the public to experience a festive collaboration, learn about water issues and have some fun!

This [...]

[ Saturday, January 16, 2010; 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] 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 [...]

[ Thursday, January 14, 2010; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] Come help plan the Water Festival! Come to the Brainstorming Gathering.

Doors open / Sign in: 6pm
Discussion / Activities: 6:30-8:30pm
Armory Park Center
220 S. 5th Avenue, Tucson AZ
(On 5th Avenue, South of 12th St)

At the Community Brainstorm Gathering you will have the opportunity to:

Learn more about the festival
Collaboratively map ideas about water issues
Sign up for preferred levels [...]

[ Saturday, December 5, 2009; 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] What’s Working: A roundtable of resident experts
Many of the problems neighborhoods face have found a
successful solution somewhere in Tucson. This workshop will
touch on crime, the environment, streets and transportation
projects,development/redevelopment and infill, tracking
proposals before the Mayor & Council, and finding grant
opportunities or other funding sources.
Date: Saturday, December 5, 9AM – Noon
Place: Ward I Conference Rm, 940 [...]

In what is surely one of the more interesting convergences of economics
and design in recent memory, the multiethnic, small-business-dominated
London neighborhood of Brixton recently started printing its own
currency. For more information see the NY Times blog.

[ Monday, February 8, 2010; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] The focus of the Sustainable Tucson General Meeting will be Food Sustainability. On February 8, your view of food sustainability in Tucson ’s future may change forever. The Sustainable Tucson Working Group on Food & Agriculture will engage your mind and your tastebuds in thinking about the sources of food in Tucson, Pima County and [...]

[ Saturday, April 10, 2010; 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. ] Tucson-based nonprofit Watershed Management Group and the Rincon Heights Neighborhood Association are hosting a block party and cookout to celebrate and share their successful model program installing \”green infrastructure\” in the neighborhood. Green infrastructure is vegetated infrastructure that uses natural processes to provide services like flood and pollution reduction, traffic calming, wildlife habitat and [...]

[ Tuesday, October 27, 2009 to Thursday, October 29, 2009. ] Tucson’s 2nd annual bicycle count needs volunteers. The count is important
to the region to better understand the trends in cycling, the behavior of
cyclists, and to identify locations needing improvements. The more cyclists
we can get on the roads safely, the better our community and our
environment. Last year we counted over 50 locations and this year we [...]

[ Thursday, September 24, 2009; 8:30 pm; Sunday, September 27, 2009; 6:30 pm; ] What kind of innovative approaches are scientists taking to help mankind protect the planet and live more sustainably? WaveLengths: Sustainability — the season premiere of the science program from Arizona Public Media – explores some of the cutting edge research scientists are using to look for solutions for more responsible use of the planet’s natural [...]

Van Jones’s Ousting: A Wake-Up Call for Green Economy Advocates
Published 09/07/2009 on Energy Bulletin (http://www.energybulletin.net)
by Aaron G. Lehmer
A dear friend of the earth, a staunch defender of justice, and a bold champion for a solar-powered America has just been forced out of the Obama Administration through a clever campaign of deceit, malice, and fear. [...]

[ Saturday, September 26, 2009; 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Everyone is welcome to come enjoy the ever-growing display of Artisans! Taking place in the outer-space surrounding \’4th & 4th\’- right
in the Heart of Tucson. Hosting Musical/Performance Acts on our main-shaded porch. A variety of local arts and crafts vendors will be present, as well with their works up for purchase- a great place to [...]

[ Wednesday, September 9, 2009; 5:45 pm to 8:00 pm. ] This special meeting will focus on efforts being made at the city and county level to move our region toward sustainability. We will hear from Tedra Fox, Pima County Sustainability Manager, and David Schaller, Administrator of Tucson’s Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development. This is sure to be a timely and informative discussion. Please come [...]

[ Friday, July 31, 2009; ] Special event at the Village of Civano, Tucson
Colors are names, each given to a specific spectrum of visible light. Visible wavelengths are measured in nanometers (nm). Green just so happens to live in the spectrum between approximately 520 and 565 nm. Building performance is also measured using specific, scientific language. We hope to give you [...]

[ Monday, November 9, 2009; ] These are the emerging plans for the release of the Transition Movement’s first major film, “In Transition.”  Some of you watched an online screening of the unfinished version June 12-14th.

Stage 2. Indie Screenings.

We’re planning then to make the film available via the Age of Stupid’s Indie Screenings website (although this is still being finalised).  The [...]

TRANSITION TOWN TRAINING
April 4 and 5, 2009 ~ La Placita Village, Tucson

Click here for Registration Form
Workshop Description: This two-day workshop is designed to provide a detailed introduction to the most important skills necessary to successfully set up, develop, and run a Transition project in Tucson or any other locality. It is designed for people who [...]

Urban Food Growing in Havana Cuba: >>See Video
How Cuba Survived Peak Oil: >> See Video
The whole movie:

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships [...]

Tucson’s problems are increasing. After two years, we continue to have a glut of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 empty, unsold houses. Home prices are plummeting. Families are abandoning their foreclosed houses, especially in the suburbs. Builders are going bankrupt. Skilled workers are losing their jobs and leaving the state. Net population growth in Tucson has [...]

[ Friday, February 13, 2009; 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] Arizona Planning Association February 19 Breakfast Presentation – RSVP by this February 13th, noon

You don’t want to miss this event!  Hurry and save your seat! RSVP no later than noon on February 13, 2009.
Please RSVP to: southernsectionboard@gmail.com

AZPA Southern Section Board is proud to offer a Breakfast presentation on “Form Based Codes ˆ Worth a Try [...]

February 10, 2009
Honorable Tucson Mayor and Council Members,
Sustainable Tucson acknowledges the dire economic conditions facing the City of Tucson as well as the people and organizations in our community.
While we hope for the best, we also recognize that this emerging situation is unprecedented and may be worse and more long-lasting than we think.
Our core intention [...]

One response to the global crisis that is gaining enthusiastic momentum in Tucson and around the world is the Transition Towns movement. Sustainable Tucson is taking advantage of many Transition Resources to support our Sustainability Planning Initiative.
Jennifer Gray, a pioneer in the Transition Initiative in the UK and cofounder of Transition US, describes it as [...]

JANUARY General meeting – Organizing Questions:
Policy issues – what can be done? What can be done to speed progress – change of policy & zoning? Education and marketing(?) from government. Why is this not utilized in Tucson, Pima Co.? effective tool.
Sustain. Public Participation – full engagement. Vision for region. [...]

JANUARY General Meeting — Organizing Questions:
Historic Preservation, beauty, eliminate more mcMansions, shelter to be elegant, simple, beautiful, sustainable. Vegetable Gardening in schools. Food production water(?). Block parties – getting to know your neighbors.
How can we get zoning changes to allow neighborhood shops in residential areas. More bikeways. More pedestrian walkways. [...]

“Water and Sustainability In a Time of Uncertainty: Lessons for Tucson” was presented by Colette Altaffer, Neighborhood Infill Coalition to the Joint City/County Water Study Committee on October 22nd. It’s a very clear summary of what we should be aware of as we move forward. What is at stake? What are the risks? Are there [...]

Tucson is ideal locale for a ‘Green New Deal’
By David Schaller, published November 6, 2008
SPECIAL TO THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson has not been immune to the great economic turmoil of the past year. In recent weeks, the crisis hit home as retail and home sales plunged, financial institutions were shaken, budgets cut and jobs lost.
The [...]

Faith communities of the greater Tucson area are coming together to fight global warming. On this coming Earth Day, April 22, 2008, leaders from various faith groups will be offering a workshop for Tucson faith communities to reduce our carbon footprint.
This all-day workshop at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church (3809 East 3rd Street) will focus [...]

Mobility & Urban Villages – The new Face of Tucson
Actions on Transportation
The Grant Road Improvement Plan process is developing a vision and plan for major changes to Grant Road. This project is part of the recently adopted Regional Transportation Authority plan (RTA), funded by a 1/2¢ Sales Tax. Voters have already approved $160 million [...]

[ Sunday, March 30, 2008; ] Seventeen (17) Clean Air Days and Bike Fest activities are scheduled from Sunday, March 30 through Wednesday, April 30 at various locations around town. The Clean Air/Bike Fest Contest kicks off on April 1 and runs through April 24th. If an individual takes action to reduce air pollution, and a Contest entry form is completed [...]

[ Saturday, April 12, 2008; 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. ] “Wild in the City” Garden Tour
Save the date: Saturday, April 12, 2008

Do you want to recreate your yard as native wildlife habitat in the city? Learn to grow native! Attend the Arizona Native Plant Society’s tour of six gardens, including:

• Gardens for butterfly, moth and other pollinators
• [...]

What’s So Beautiful About Small
by Peter Rossett
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=353
Are small farms as bountiful as they are beautiful? Can they really compete with large farms in the agriculture of the future? The answer is yes on both counts. Here’s why.
. Small farms are far more productive, producing from 200 to 1,000 percent more per acre than large farms. [...]