transition towns

I've heard about the idea of Transition Towns a few times in the past couple months. And the more I hear about them, the more I like them and want to live in one.

The Transition concept is a relatively recent movement, but it's not really a new idea at all--it's all about getting back to the basics. Started in Totnes, England in 2005, Transition Towns is a project that seeks to equip communities with the tools and systems necessary to deal with the rising problems of climate change and energy consumption. The main goal is to work toward energy independence.

What I love about Transition Towns is how they are working to reach their goal. The communities are encouraged to work toward sustainable living by reducing energy usage and increasing their self-reliance. So they have community gardens to grow fruits and vegetables, businesses swap their unneeded items/waste, community members are encouraged to buy their dairy and meat from local farmers.

In Totnes, they've gone so far as to make their own local currency. While residents are still able to use the normal British pound, the Totnes pound is redeemable in most of the locally run shops. The local store owners then turn around and use what they receive to do their own shopping within the town. It keeps the money within the town, within their own economic community, which totally increases their self-reliance. If the residents are able to reach a point where everything they need for their daily lives can be bought at a store within walking/biking distance of their home with a local currency that has no value outside the city limits, the community can become self-sufficient on many levels.

And while it gets back to the basics, it's not like these people are reverting and living in some kind of nonmodernized society. They are simply being more intentional about how and where they are spending their time and money.

vote

i just did. absentee style.

pure michigan.

These ads are all.over.the.place in Chicago. On TV, on the radio, on billboards and the sides of buses. I know they are cheesy and over-the-top and a little ridiculous, but I totally love them.

Giant Pool of Money

In case you're a little confused about the economic 'crisis' that's going on right now and want some clarification as to how the U.S. got itself into this mess, listen to this. It'll take you an hour. But it's fascinating and informative and entertaining. I recommend it.

This morning, my mom left for a three-week trip to China with my grandma.

She stayed with me last night and then I took her to O'Hare this morning.

At 4:30 AM.

And there were people out and about!--fully functioning and ready for the day. One man was even jogging along the lake. I could barely put one foot in front of the other.

I do not understand. 4:30AM is the middle of the night, people. The sun isn't even thinking about rising yet. Go back to bed.

'What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.' - Thomas Carlyle

My book list for the next little while:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
No One Belongs Here More Than You. By Miranda July
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Middlemarch by George Eliot (Eternally on my list. It will happen eventually.)

A mix of intense, with some brain candy in between...

And I'd love some suggestions on what to add. :)

Outstanding in the Field.

Okay, this is something that I think is super cool.

And it looks like this:

or this

or this



It’s an event called ‘Outstanding in the Field’--dinners held in locations all over the world—from Ohio to Tuscany. Their mission is to reconnect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. Very granola. But sometimes I wish I was a hippie, so I like the idea of this.

According to their website, for the past 10 years, they've been setting up "restaurants without walls" at farms, gardens, mountain tops, caves, islands, and ranches--or even sometimes inside, at a greenhouse or museum. The meals are prepared by a well-known chef in the area, using all local and organic ingredients. And everyone eats at the same long table--the farmers, producers, artisans, and diners.

Cool, huh? It's a pretty expensive evening, however, with tickets at $200 a pop. I think it would be totally worth it though, if I had a little extra cash laying around. Just grab a bunch of friends who appreciate good food and wine, buy tickets, and love it for the experience.

After all, Virginia Woolf said that 'one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.'