AGM, Transition Cafe, PEP Earth Day, Orca Paint-In, TS Book Club, Justice for the Peace info night … and more (apologies for the tightness of this text — best we can manage with this bargain WordPress website. Once we have more disposable cash, we plan to upgrade to a swankier online presence). 

* Our AGM went ahead as planned on Feb. 28. Sincere thanks to those who attended and especially to our newly elected 2018 Board of Directors: Paivi Abernethy, Jeff Bateman, Martin Bissig, Stephen Hindrichs, Bernie Klassen, Wendy O’Connor, Jo Phillips and Michael Tacon. Onwards with this very fine cast and crew! Visit our website Archive to download the AGM minutes and the 2017 financial report along with two other newly posted documents: i) a 2017/18 Year In Review  that summarizes a busy 14 months in the life of TS; and ii) a multi-issue position paper we recently filed with Premier Horgan’s office.

* Return of the Transition Cafe: Starting this Sunday morning (March 11) from 10 am to Noon, join our Bernie Klassen at Serious Coffee next to Village Foods downtown for relaxed, mildly caffeinated weekly chin-wags. Everyone’s welcome to drop in and share whatever’s top of mind.  As Bernie notes, “I’ll be sitting there reading as usual, so please stop by, say hello and let’s see where the conversation goes.”

* Planning continues for the Planet Earth Party: A Sooke Region Earth Day Celebration on Sunday, April 22 at the Community Hall. Coordinator Marlene Barry (email) has now enlisted more than three dozen Sooke region volunteers, and yet still more are needed for a variety of pre-event responsibilities (listed in full on the PEP webpage.) She and Jeff Bateman will make a presentation to Sooke council this Monday night in seeking support from the District of Sooke. (see the paperwork in the TS Archive).  

* Speaking of Earth Day, the folks at Save Our Coast Sooke are creating a collection of plywood Orca signs and chinook “fish sticks” for a family friendly art project that will be part of the festivities on April 22. The Orcas will represent actual whales in the endangered southern resident population. The organizers intend to create an initial pod of 12 with materials donated by Windsor Plywood. Volunteers are needed for a preliminary work party on Sunday, March 25 in the trades department at Edward Milne Community School from 9 am to 4 pm. If you can help out for as long or short a time as you’re available, contact Deb Wood via email or phone: (250) 642-7934. (PS Best wishes to Deb and the sizeable contingent of Sookies who will be in Vancouver tomorrow for the #ProtectOurInlet march organized by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation to stop the Kinder Morgan TMX pipeline expansion. Thank you on behalf of all who care about our coast!)

* Tues, March 13, Noon to 2 pm: The fourth of the Reconciliation Group meetings will be held from Noon to 2 pm in the T’Sou-ke First Nation‘s Lazzar Building across Sooke Road from Edward Milne Community School. This month’s speaker will be Linda Lucas, Executive Director of the Indigenous Perspectives Society. As hosts Linda Bristol, Edith Newman and Margaret Critchlow note: “All welcome, whether or not you were able to attend earlier meetings. Admission is by donation. Please plan to arrive in time for everyone to begin introducing themselves promptly at noon. Don’t forget to bring your bag lunch. Tea and coffee will be provided.” Recommended reading for the next two months is the late Art Manuel’s The Reconciliation Manifesto.

* Sat/Sun., March 17/18, 9:30 to 4:30 am: West Wind Harbour Cohousing presents “Is Cohousing For You?” with Harbourside co-founder Margaret Critchlow at the Sooke Child, Youth and Family Centre. Information at Eventbrite.

* Wed. March 21, 6:30 to 8 pm: The Transition Sooke Book Club led by Paula Johanson gathers again at the Sooke branch of the Vancouver Island Public Library. The discussion this time will focus on The Wayfinders by west coast anthropologist Wade Davis  (who can be heard reading excerpts from his 2009 Massey Lecture here).

* Thurs. March 22, 7 to 9pm: Rolling Justice Bus presents a Mini Site C Summit in Sooke featuring Peace River Valley farmers Ken & Arlene Boon along with Steve Gray and Jackie Larkin (who moderated the Site C Summit at Victoria’s First Met Church in late January). Sooke Masonic Lodge, 6544 Throup Road. Admission by donation with all funds going to the Peace Valley Landowner Association and the Peace Valley Environmental Association. As Ken Boon says: “Mainstream media and half the voters of BC refuse to see the obvious. But we’re hoping to change that. Overwhelming evidence makes it clear that the dam makes no sense financially, environmentally or ethically.” Hosted by TS in collaboration with Awareness Film Night and Sierra Club BC.

* Sun, March 25, 9 to 4 pm: Orca Paint-In at EMCS.

* Wed. April 11, 6:30 to 9 pm: Awareness Film Night and Sooke Region Food CHI present their 8th annual Farm & Film Gala. The night’s feature will be Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mark Kitchell’s Evolution of Organic. The doors at EMCS will open early for the night’s always popular marketplace featuring Sooke region vendors of seeds, plants, gardening suppiles and locally-made wares. Info tables, teas and treats are also planned before the film gets underway at 7:45 pm.

* Sat. April 21, 3 to 5 pm: Practical Utopian Guy Dauncey will be at Harbourside Cohousing in Sooke to host a focus group as he gathers material for his next book, The Economics of Kindness: The Birth of a New Cooperative Economy. Would you like to participate in the discussion? Please let us know via email and we’ll add you to the guest list. No charge, guaranteed fascinating conversation (just as will be the case on Sunday morning with Bernie at Serious Coffee.)

* TBA in late April or early May: The return of Starhawk to Sooke during a break in her permaculture fortnight at Our Ecovillage.

* A reminder of the genius of Charles Eisenstein (posted in the wake of last month’s inspiring screening of A New Economy)

* Alain de Button ~ On Love (shared on from NVC trainer Rachelle Lamb following our workshop with her in January)

* Now launched: A Facebook page for the Sooke Region Multi-Belief Initiative, whose Charter For Compassion affirmation campaign is underway.

* TS website presence for our glyphosate education working group. It features a research paper by Paivi Abernethy and a sharp response from Jo Phillips to a recent Tom Fletcher/Black Press editorial

* Project HOWL‘s Finn and Chloe Unger write in sharing images of a recent clear-cut at Blueberry Flats west of Sooke: “Conservation promises made along the Juan de Fuca land reserve have been broken; wildlife corridors have been disrupted; human wildlife conflicts will increase; and the solutions to these conflicts NEVER benefit the wildlife. The costs of compromise to our wild spaces and the quality of life in them are TOO high and will have to be paid by the next generations of young people coming along.”

* Rethinking the energy pyramid: A long-ish read from Andrew Nikiforuk and The Tyee (thanks for the share to John Boquist)

* March issue of the Rural Observer now available online. Includes articles on spring flowers (written by Rosemary Jorna), land stewardship (Susan Nelson), solar panels (Steve Unger), the arrival of the Iraqi family sponsored by Team Sooke Juan de Fuca and, yes, our Earth Day Sooke event.

* BC government survey on oil spill regulations (deadline: April 30)

* Tiny House Advocates of Vancouver Island launches a website

* “China, unabashedly, wants to be the Detroit of electric vehicles.” (article)

* City of Victoria’s draft 2018 Climate Leadership Plan

* “12 Emerging Trends that Bring Hope for 2018” (via The Nature Conservancy)

* Closing with a little stormy night music from Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet .