Paul Mackay's Page

The more I learn about Permaculture, the more it seems to fill most every void in our lives and livelihoods. I had once thought it was just something to do with organic farming. Hmm. Much more.

Well, in my vague attempts to live the talk, I have 1200 square feet (110 m^2) of yard currently under cultivation (with help from Grant), and another patch of almost equal size with half under glass (cold frame) to come in next year. My energy use at home is currently 120% of the PassiveHaus standard of 120 kWh per m^2 per year, and I've not yet even installed the 8 solar PV panels or solar hot water as yet. I will not try to go off grid, but I can certainly get to half of Germany's and the world's best home energy performance standard.

I am also buying a foldable bike, which I will carry everywhere I go, so as not to feed the Vancouver petty crime wave anymore and make sure I ride more often. The bike is being made fully in Eugene Oregon, and I am taking the train down to go pick it up.

I cannot afford an electric car yet, and that's probably a good thing. I really should not drive anyway.

So I guess it was your birthday. Hope it was a good one.

R

Happy Birthday! (at least if you registered you birthday honestly)

We miss you, but there is a lot going on. Unemployment continues to climb here, oil spills keep spilling, carbon output increases, and the Gini coefficient continues to rise as wage and wealth differentials increase. Nice world.

We'll just have to fix it.

For your birthday, there is a fix: Transition.

Randy

When we got the word we'd been accepted as an official TT, they sent us a link to their logos. We decided to use them in several forms, in the banner and on the home page.

Regarding our on-line media, a Creative Commons license statement would be an excellent addition. I will take care of that soon. There is one movie here (on CarFree Day) for which I do not have music clearances, and I am taking a risk to put it here, albeit a small one.

Ross has yet to determine who is a partner and who is an ally. Originally, I had a long list of "partners," anyone with whom we had worked closely to co-sponsor an event. Ross began to feel proprietary about this VV partner designation, so I scaled back. I came up with the term "ally," as a way to widen our "network" and provide links of value to members and guests. I see "partners" as most any significant group that shares our vision and contributes substantially to transition, but it may be valuable to have a formal Board vote on adding new "partners." We have not done this yet. (No surprise!)

We cannot wait for Belsize to get organized. We'll have to create some sister-TT collaboration across continents and oceans.

Paul,
I wonder how you think the site looks now? We are finally advertising it (word of mouth), and are getting a couple new members a day. We are up to 63 now. Once we have a critical mass of 100 or so, AND people start blogging in the Discussions area, we are planning to go viral.

We still need a Facebook strategy and may consider postering and leafleting community centres and commercial areas, but this may have to wait until after the Olympics.

You are missing a great early spring here! It feels like 15 degrees outside, and everything is in bloom. A "Green Olympics" for sure!

Take care and stay in touch.

Randy