Lets Get Deep . . .

What is needed is a new paradigm shift towards "Econophysics"-the key to interfacing the global economic system with the ecological one that can act in the real-world, framework of physics:

"There is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and environmental protection, including conservation of biodiversity, clean air and water, and atmospheric stability. This conflict is due to the laws of thermodynamics. An economic translation of the first law of thermodynamics is that we cannot make something from nothing. All economic production must come from resources provided by nature. Also, any waste generated by the economy cannot simply disappear. At given levels of technology, therefore, economic growth entails increasing resource use and waste in the form of pollution. According to the second law of thermodynamics, although energy and materials remain constant in quantity, they degrade in quality or structure. This is the meaning of increasing entropy. In the context of the economy, whatever resources we transform into something useful must decay or otherwise fall apart to return as waste to the environment. The current model of the disposable economy operates as a system for transforming low-entropy raw materials and energy into high-entropy toxic waste and unavailable energy, while providing society with interim goods and services and the temporary satisfaction that most deliver. Any such transformations in the economy mean that there will be less low-entropy materials and energy available for natural ecosystems. Mounting evidence of this conflict demonstrates the limits to our global growth!"

http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/frameset.php?pageid=http%3A//www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/121209.php

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100511092406.htm

Many maintain the anthrocentric perspective that “man is the measure of all things” when, in reality, physics dictates the human world. In other words, ecological systems have largely conformed to the laws of physics and provide a ready-made template for the largely diverging trajectory of our global economic system. Most modern, mainstream green techies and environmentalists dream of and strive towards interfacing the synergy of the human economic system with the natural, ecological system in order to realize one seamless system that does not compromise the integrity of the other half. In terms of sheer physics, this overarching, integrated system approach towards sustainability should embrace two core strategies based in physics:


(1) Decrease the Otherwise Increasing Entropy of the Biosphere:

A. Decrease the amount of waste heat and heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the biosphere.

B. Prevent the informational/genetic losses of numerous species of plants and animals.


(2) Increase the Otherwise Decreasing Carrying Capacity of the Planet:

A. Promote responsible population growth through wise personal actions.

B. Restore and increase the terrestrial and oceanic photosynthetic productivity of the planet.


In terms of physics, striving towards these two goals will ultimately strengthen the synergy of our global economic/ecological system without compromising the integrity of the other half.

Thankyou for the Lesson Brennan Jorgensen.

events -

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of what Transition Laguna has going on in our community.

Rainwater Harvesting -

Rainwater Harvesting
From the Ocean Water Grp. ::: Michael Beanan
http://transitionlaguna.com/firesuppressiongroundwaterwells-1.ppt

How to Make a Rain Barrel (video below) ::: Chris Prelitz
compliments of the GreenBuildingAdvisor .com

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Here is a system designed for remote rainwater capture in our many canyons and arroyos sent to me by an engineer in Rancho Cucamonga. Capturing rainwater reduces urban stormwater runoff into the ocean and stores water at higher elevations to reduce pumping costs.

This system can increase local water reliability in the event of an emergency (fire, earthquake, etc.) and provide water for maintaining a healthy Greenbelt fuel modification zone per City Fire Code. Community gardens may also benefit from these large water capture "wells" with a small ground area footprint. The fire suppression system can broadcast water for over 3 hours during a firestorm.

There are a number of great candidate locations such as behind the Hospital in SoLaguna, Bluebird Canyon, etc. Let's see about creating one as a pilot test. I can organize a safe well digging program w/rappelling equipment for brave diggers based upon our work digging deep caissons for local remodels on steep terrain.....it's a good workout!

We can seek support form the water districts since LA is already doing something similar w/cisterns.

Any suggestions? We have shovels.
Ocean/Water Grp.

Transition Consciousness

Transition Laguna presents:

"The Unleashing of the Unleashing"
Part of the Transition Consciousness Monday night dance/growth programs

Monday, June 14 7:30 - 10:30pm
Women's Club of Laguna Beach
286 St. Ann's St.

Come hear what all the Transition Laguna Action groups are up to - their mission and plans, and join another group. Or get your friends to join. There will be brief presentation by Group leaders, followed by a Q & A. And then we will transition into an ecstatic dance program for the 2nd half of the evening.

Come for either, or stay for both
$10 suggested donation (though no one will be turned away for lack of funds)

Transition Consciousness is a Laguna Beach based group that stages Ecstatic Dance and Personal Growth events from 7:30-10:30pm every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month at The Women's Club of Laguna Beach, located at 286 St. Anne's Drive. We are a sub group of Transition Laguna Beach, itself a sub group of Transition Town, a universal non-profit movement dedicated to creating a sustainable world. Transition Consciousness is a non-profit. Our mission is "to cultivate personal and community transformation through education, inspiration and consciousness raising activities."

For more information, contact:
billy@lavidalaguna.com
Billy Fried

Slow Money & Complimentary Currency

In the light of an uncertain economic future, the TLB Complimentary Currency group is committed to creating a complimentary local currency with the intention of building local resilience and bolstering Laguna's local businesses, tradespeople and citizens.

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Waste / Recycle

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Hi welcome to the waste and recycling action group.

We are the wasters! However, we will redefine "wasters".

Presently we are a small group but very passionate, focused and with big plans. We welcome you all to join our group. We anticipate becoming a huge action group capable if moving mountains, mountains of trash and recycling that is! If you have an interest in reducing litter around town, on the beaches, the use of plastic bags, encouraging and educating about recycling and composting and working towards a city wide residential and commercial composting program then JOIN US.

After all we all generate waste and we all MUST recycle.
Max

add a comment below and continue the dialog.

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TLB Food Group

post a comment & engage with the group.
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TLB Green Building

::: click the title to post a comment and build on this conversation -

Energy & LED's Efficiency

::: click on the title above to follow or add a comment . . .

Insider Tips from the TLB Vegetable Garden Owners

::: click the title or add a comment to start the tips.

Transportation

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Thank you for visiting Transition Laguna's Mobility Action Group.

Our mission is to ensure our city meet the needs of all street users including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of public transit, motorists, children, the elderly, and the disabled. We seek to replace a transportation system dominated by the private automobile with a balanced system of mixed mode transport including walking, biking, busing, and automobiles. We seek to educate and mobilize our residents to adopt this new mobility and to preserve our community and the health and safety of its residents."

Every trip that we can make without our car is getting us one step closer to kicking our addiction to oil. Updates on upcoming rides and activities forthcoming...


post a comment below & dialog . . .

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Kids Food Coop

::: Leave a comment and start the dialog for this group.

Education / Eco-Spirituality / Dynamics of Change Group

Billy That's right, folks.

Calling all healers, yogis, poets, dancers, trancers, hoopers, drummers, chefs and shamans. I want to hold a Transition Summer party on the beach this summer. It will be a celebration of all things Transition Laguna, where we enjoy the company of each other on a splendid summer day. It's a day of personal growth and community, where everyone brings some thing to share... either knowledge, skill, or food.
Bring yummies from your garden, provide a cooking demonstration, a healing arts workshop, or a yoga class. Me? I'll bring a fleet of kayaks and stand-up paddleboards, and a whole bunch of drums.

How about a Saturday or Sunday in August?

I'm thinking Goff Beach by the Montage, because it's quiet, secluded, calm and beautiful. Anyone wanna help organize? Volunteer something to share?

The dialogue starts here and now

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Transition Laguna Beach Food COOP

::: Transition Laguna We are the Transition Laguna Beach Food COOP

Share the Neighborhood Harvest!

Why does LB Food COOP exist:
To develop, educate and inspire sustainable living through communal food sharing

How does it work?

1- Once a month members bring natural food they have grown or prepared themselves to a drop point in a canvas reusable shopping bag.

2- All the food collected is sorted by volunteers and redistributed evenly to everyone who participated that month

3- Members come back to the drop point 1 day after drop-off and collect their reusable shopping bags that are now filled with food that was provided from everyone involved.

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Ocean Water Group

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ocean water group







Our group purpose is to engage community interest for clean ocean water, through education and action, focusing on the areas of prevention, cleanups, future legislation and government funding.

We will strive to increase public support for, and expand upon the local "no plastics in laguna beach campaign" through further education to include not only the "refuse-reuse-recycle" aspects of prevention, but also to encourage "re-purposing" and to specifically focus on educating youth to these sustainable ways of life.

Through enlightenment of community to our very unique and sacred estuary, where both blue-belt and greenbelt join forming a potential stakeholder land area for laguna beach, we can move positively towards a goal of receiving government funding to support our local restoration and preservation efforts.

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The Perils of Plastic

The Perils of Plastic

On the first Earth Day, celebrated 40 years ago this month, the U.S. was a poisoned nation. Dense air pollution blanketed cities like Los Angeles, where smog alerts were a fact of life. Dangerous pesticides like DDT were still in use, and water pollution was rampant — symbolized by raging fires on Cleveland's Cuyahoga River, captured in a famous 1969 story for TIME. But the green movement that was energized by Earth Day — and the landmark federal actions that followed it — changed much of that. Today air pollution is down significantly in most urban areas, the water is cleaner, and even the Cuyahoga is home to fish again. Though climate change looms as a long-term threat, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day will see a much cleaner country.

But if the land is healing, Americans may be sickening. Since World War II, production of industrial chemicals has risen rapidly, and the U.S. generates or imports some 42 billion lb. (19 billion kg) of them per day, leaving Americans awash in a sea of synthetics. These aren't the sorts of chemicals that come to mind when we picture pollution — huge plants spilling contaminated wastewater into rivers. Rather, they're the molecules that make good on the old "better living through chemistry" promise, appearing in items like unbreakable baby bottles and big-screen TVs. Those chemicals have a habit of finding their way out of everyday products and into the environment — and ultimately into living organisms.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1976909_1976908_1976938,00.html#ixzz0o9NFXuQb

Unleashing Party ::: Transition Laguna

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Laguna Transitions towards Sustainability in true Laguna style.

The Great Unleashing Party Friday
at the Sawdust Festival Grounds.
& Community Action Breakfast Saturday
at Festival of the Arts Grounds at Tivloi Terrace.




I put videos I create on Vimeo. You can see my profile.


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Friday night, May 14th at the Sawdust Festival grounds over 600 Laguna residents were treated to exceptional food, drink, music, art and conversation at Transition Laguna's Great Unleashing Party. With educational exhibits, art installations, a silent auction, and stimulating conversation everyone learned more about the Transition Town movement in Laguna Beach and throughout the world.

After a year-and-a-half of consciousness raising by the Core Team, it was clear that we'd reached 'critical mass" Friday night. It was time to unleash our work and vision to the larger community... to provide the opportunity for hands on involvement.

Saturday morning's Community Action Breakfast at Tivoli Terrace was exactly that... ACTION - PACKED. With over 100 attendees ranging in age from seven to 70, many were focused, some curious, and more courageous community members arrived early and stayed late.'The breakfast began with Max Isles reviewing our journey and a kick-off by City Council Member, Jane Egly. A wonderful breakfast was followed by the Open Space break-out sessions facilitated by corporate leadership coach, Kevin Buck, M.A. and psychologist, Michele McCormick, Ph.D. City council members and community leaders attended in support: Toni Iseman, Verna Rollinger, Jane Egly, and Ann Kristoff.

All present began with an Open Space circle and stated their desires for Laguna's future sustainability. Out of this initial stage, fourteen action groups formed, from transportation, a childrens' food co-op, community gardens, energy awareness, ocean and water, education and eco-psychology. Stay tuned for more fun, education, and action from Transition Laguna Beach in the coming months.

Transition Laguna has now expanded beyond our small Core Team to include the wider community of Laguna. All of us wish to extend our gratitude to the mayor pro-tem, the Sawdust Festival, Tivoli Terrace, Hurley, Common Sense, and our many other sponsors and supporters.


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What is a Transition Town . . .

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What is a Transition Town (or village / city / forest / island)?

Here's how it all appears to be evolving...

It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?

They begin by forming an initiating group and then adopt the Transition Model with the intention of engaging a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a Transition Initiative.

A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:

"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"

After going through a comprehensive and creative process of:

• awareness raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon
• connecting with existing groups in the community
• building bridges to local government
• connecting with other transition initiatives
• forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics & livelihoods, etc)
• kicking off projects aimed at building people's understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement
• eventually launching a community defined, community implemented "Energy Descent Action Plan" over a 15 to 20 year timescale

This results in a coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life that strives to rebuild the resilience we've lost as a result of cheap oil and reduce the community's carbon emissions drastically.

The community also recognizes two crucial points:

• that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy up-slope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the down-slope
• if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.
  
  more information can be found here : http://www.transitiontowns.org/
  
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Community Action Breakfast : 05-15-2010

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Community Action Breakfast
Saturday, May 15th from 9:00am - Noon

Put your ideas into action at Tivoli Terrace, Festival of the Arts Grounds.
Free Breakfast, Join us in creating a sustainable future for Laguna. We call this "Open Space", a playful, yet focused opportunity to create action groups and engage in your community. Don't miss this event!


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The Great Unleashing Party : 05-14-10 : 6-10pm

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Transition Laguna Beach, an organization that seeks to engage the community as it develops practical alternatives to a lifestyle dependent upon a fuel-based economy, will host a party called “The Great Unleashing” from 6 to 10 p.m. May 14 at the Sawdust Art Festival, 935 Laguna Canyon Road.

::: Coastline Pilot :::

“We have the possibility of co-creating a future for our children and grandchildren that is healthier, saner and more nurturing. Transition Laguna is one way to feel empowered about that future.”

The organization was established by a group of community activists in 2008, as the tenth member in the U.S. and 129th in the world of Transition Town, a worldwide movement that started in England and focuses on individual communities to facilitate movement toward a new energy future that is abundant, local, innovative and truly sustainable.

Max Isles, Ron May, Elise Higley, Michele McCormick, Ph.D., Sean McCracken, Chris Prelitz, Joanne Situ Allen, Pam Sterling, Hoiyin Ip, Brad Wood, Michelle Spieker and many other wonderfully supportive friends, neighbors, volunteers and sponsors.

It has 11 core members and many folks who work actively behind the scenes and on community projects.

For more information about the organization or events, or to volunteer, visit www.transitionlaguna.org.

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