* Please expect an RSVP e-vite to you and your family later this month for the TS “Celebrate Transition” Potluck Picnic at Inishoge Farm on Sunday, Aug. 3. The day begins at 11 a.m. with a pre-picnic learning party we’re calling “Keep Calm and Swale On Contour.” BYO shovel and learn how to dig and expand an earthworks irrigation system, a skill transferrable to any home garden. The picnic itself begins at 1 p.m. Parking is severely limited, so please bike or walk to the Helgeson Road acreage. We’ll have a drop-off point for car poolers, and a shuttle will be running from Evergreen Mall starting at 12:30. Our organizing team is lining up fun activities for kids and adults, Inishoge’s new farmhouse will be open for tours, and music will be in the air (please bring instruments and a song on your lips). Wander the grounds, visit with the farmyard critters, enjoy farm-made stone soup, kick back and relax in a truly beautiful setting. More details soon http://www.inishoge.ca/

 

 

* Cheers to the 75+ Sookies who turned out for The Enbridge Decision & Our Response public forum last week. Transition organized the night in association with the Dogwood Initiative’s whirlwind JDF organizer Terry Dance-Bennink, who in short order has assembled a local team of nearly four dozen volunteers for the Let B.C. Vote citizen’s initiative campaign (http://www.letbcvote.ca). We also invited Awareness Film Night to co-present given the key role Jo Phillips has played in social activism hereabouts for 19 years and counting. The crowd was buoyed by the optimism of Dogwood’s Kai Nagata and former federal Environment Minister David Anderson, both of whom are confident the Northern Gateway project is going nowhere for a variety of good reasons – declining energy prices, safety issues and widespread public dissent included.

As for alternatives, Transition’s Andrew Moore outlined the possibilities of a “net zero” future that will see homeowners capitalizing on retrofit incentives, installing solar and eventually covering their hydro bills by selling power back to the grid. Sooke councillor Maja Tait, a blue-and-black ribbon (i.e., water and oil don’t mix) pinned to her jacket, won a loud round of applause when she said she’d support a No Tankers/Pipelines referendum question on November’s ballot, as did Otter Point’s Bob Phillips when he said he’d lobby for the question on the Juan de Fuca ballot as well. Contact Terry at tmdance@shaw.ca or by phone, 250.222.6834 if you’d like take an active role in the campaign. And sincere thanks to pastor Mike Favero at St. Rose of Lima Church for making us so welcome.

 

* Like many in town, we at TS are disappointed Mayor Wendal Milne won’t be seeking a second term. He’s been a class act who believes in the public process yet has also made firm decisions as required and moved on when that process was complete. His legacy will likely be measured by the town’s ongoing corporate strategic plan, the first part of which (fiscal responsibility) has dominated the agenda over the last three years. The connector road project is underway. And the bones of a future town centre are slowly taking shape with Harbourside Cohousing as a foundation for what we trust will one day be a moderately dense, mixed-used town core built green on Smart Growth BC principles … a place where residents can genuinely live/play/shop/work (to quote the OCP) within a stone’s throw of a waterfront made accessible to all by coastal trails and the boardwalk.  That said, veteran council watchers could read between the lines of the Mayor’s diplomatic resignation note when he wrote, “the job is not without its frustrations and the challenge of continually trying to bring members of council together on issues is sometimes trying.” As one Sookie who’s been tracking council dynamics and voting patterns over the last three years noted on our FB page, “no kidding!”

 Nomination packages for mayor and council will be available starting Aug. 31 at the municipal office.http://sooke.ca/municipal-hall/local-government/elections/  (photo of the future Mayor at our first Sooke Slow Food Cycle in September, 2011 … and here’s what he had in mind for his years in office back then: http://wendalmilne.wordpress.com/why-am-i-running)

 

* Sooke Voice News’ Mary Brooke has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for her proposed Vancouver Island news website. As Mary notes: “Independent media is different than mainstream corporate media. We make room for lots of community input, and we are not silenced by bigger corporate or political agendas. A functioning democracy of free-thinking citizens needs independent media, as a channel for open thought and conversation.” https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vancouverislandvoice/vancouver-island-voice-news

* Great to see that the Sooke Slow Food Cycle & Transition Sooke’s initial $3.5k investment in the design blueprint for a bike skills park in Sooke continues to gain traction … albeit in a much different form and setting than first envisioned. Congrats to the Sooke Bike Club, Judd de Vall from Alpine Bike Parks, SEAPARC and all the parents, youth and elected officials who’ve weighed in with their support. Check out the plans at an open house this Thurs. July 3, 6:30 p.m. at SEAPARC.https://www.crd.bc.ca/seaparc/

* Jordan River’s Debbie Reid, Sooke coordinator for WildSafeBC, is recruiting volunteers to canvas homes in the Sunriver neighborhood and raise awareness about bear-human conflict. Reach her at debbielynnread@gmail.com. More info here: http://www.wildsafebc.com/species/black-bears.

* The third of three initial opportunities to pitch ideas about a potential senior, youth and “maker” (arts) centre in town is set for Wednesday, July 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Sooke Child, Youth & Family Centre, 2145 Townsend Rd. Sooke CHI’s Marlene Barry and the EMCS Society’s Ebony Logins are spearheading the “Getting It Built” study in advance of a referendum borrowing question on the subject slated for the November ballot. http://www.sookeregionresources.com/links

* Since TS doesn’t send CEMS (Commercial Electronic Messages) to our email list, we figure we’re in compliance with Canada’s new Anti-Spam Legislation. That said, if you know anyone who wants to receive our blurbs (or if you want to remove us from your inbox), please send a note to sooketransition@gmail.com.

 

July Calendar

* Tues., July 1 –Canada Day On the Flats presented by the Sooke Lions Club, 1 p.m. ‘til the end of the fireworks display at approx. 11 p.m., Sooke River Campground.

* Wed. July 2 – Non-Violent Communications: The Language of Goodwill and Responsibility with Rachelle Lamb, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Royal Roads University. http://cstudies.royalroads.ca/courses/PAPA3225-Y13.htm

* Thurs., July 3 – SEAPARC Bike Park and Multi-Use Connector Trail Open House, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the SEAPARC lobby, 2168 Phillips Rd. https://www.crd.bc.ca/seaparc/

– Summer market at the Sooke Region Museum, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights until Sept. 4. http://www.sookeregionmuseum.com/

* Sat., July 5 – Juan de Fuca Community Trails Society hike along the Secret Trail, meet at the Kaltasin Rd. park-and-ride at 9 a.m. for car pooling. All welcome. Contact Rosemary Jorna at 250.642.2767.

* Fri., July 11 – The Sacred Work of Grief: A Talk by Francis Weller, 7 p.m. at Royal Roads University. $20. http://cstudies.royalroads.ca/courses/VEVI3107-Y13.htm

* Sat., July 12 – JDF Electoral Area Parks & Recreation hike from Thetis Lake to Francis King, meet in the parking lot at the Sooke Business Park at 9 a.m. for car pooling. Phone Sid Jorna at 250.642.2767.

– Canning: A Workshop, 2 p.m. at the Compost Education Centre, 1216 North Park St., Victoria. $20 http://compost.bc.ca/ai1ec_event/canning/?instance_id=90

* Sun., July 13 – Sooke Philharmonic’s Annual Pop in the Parks Concert, gates 1 p.m. with concert beginning at 2:30 p.m., Ed Macgregor Park. Free admission. http://www.sookephil.ca/philharmonic-fling

* Mon., July 14 and July 28 – District of Sooke council meetings at the Municipal Hall, 7 p.m. http://sooke.ca/municipal-hall/agenda-minutes/

* Sat., July 25 – 28th Annual Sooke Fine Arts Show, SEAPARC until Aug. 4.http://sookefinearts.com/

* Sun., Aug. 3 – Celebrate Transition Potluck Picnic at Inishoge Farm http://www.inishoge.ca/

Subscribe to Guy Dauncey’s The Green Diary for monthly updates on Transition-spirited events in the Greater Victoria region … http://www.earthfuture.com/greendiary/

 

Selections from last month’s TS social media postings …

* Opinions wanted for the Victoria Foundation’s 2014 Vital Signs report – 10 minutes minimum and some careful thought required https://surveys3.praxis.ca/vitalsigns_victoria_2014/choose

* Join a pair of cycling/hiking/bushwhacking filmmakers in tracing the Northern Gateway pipeline’s route from tar sands to the west coast. (screened at Awareness Film Night in late 2012). http://vimeo.com/29854533

* Canada finishes 12th in the 2014 World Cup of Good (Ireland, Finland and Switzerland are the top three). http://www.goodcountry.org

* “The American Dream has run out of gas. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It supplies the world with its nightmares now.” – English novelist J. G. Ballard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF34N4gJAKE&index=11&list=RDqwnxypgED6s

* The Commons: Another variation on the Transition movement’s way of holistic, engaged, community oriented teamwork … http://onthecommons.org/magazine/commons-way-life-vs-market-way-life

* “Nine First Nations on the BC coast have banned the trophy hunt for bears in their territories. Please sign and share to respect this law.” http://www.bearsforever.ca/

* So this is how it’s done! Denmark changed direction 40 years ago. (thanks to Mark Ziegler for the share). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1HABtACKV0

* Rampant consumerism viewed through the lens of evolutionary psychology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOKl04TWVsU

* Shopaholics anonymous: http://www.retale.com/info/retail-in-real-time/

* And in the end … “You gotta have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoaP0e2tFrM&list=PL0t7o2OXl0kZHnALb717AL3c16a1eFtX_&index=3

If you’re receiving this bulletin, you’re one of the 240 or so individuals who’ve signed up for our email list. The core team – Darren Alexander, Blake Barton, Jeff Bateman, Yves Boudreau, Yvonne Court, Sofie Hagens, Lee Hindrichs, Stephen Hindrichs, Andrew Moore, Tony St. Pierre and Michael Tacon – welcomes new Transition-minded recruits with ideas, skills, expertise and energy who can attend monthly meetings and join or lead working groups. Please contact jbateman@shaw.ca or phone 250.642.2056 for a more detailed pitch.