Fourth SAGE Meeting

Another month gone by and spring is officially here! It is so good to have longer days. A lot has happened in the past month, and I'd like to share some of the highlights

We've changed our name, so now the group is called SAGE, which stands for socially conscious, alternative, green Edmontonians. We did this to better reflect the mission and vision we have for this group to serve business and community members. Please read our mission and vision statement for more details.

We had a great meeting about creating the resource directory. About 20 people came out to brainstorm about what kind of directory they'd like and what they want it to do. In my opinion this directory is going to be better than Google!

It's going to list all the green, local or sustainable businesses, have a section for green job postings, a wiki-type glossary of terms, a 5 "foot" rating system so you can search for businesses with the smallest footprint, "5 foot" business profiles, a place to nominate businesses and organizations for inclusion in the listing, and a place to give feedback on businesses similar to e-bay, a community calendar, a search feature that lets you search by business type, product type, or issue - like businesses to help you reduce your impact on the earth, a locator to help you find business within a certain distance of your house or work, a collection of articles and resources submitted by members, a green dating service, and links to the many, many awesome websites that are already out there.

We also had a celebration meeting to share how far we've come and from now on we will be having 2 meetings each month, one for business people, and one for community members. The dates and topics for the next 6 months of meetings is posted on our calendar at right. Our next meetings are coming up soon.

Business Meeting
April 7, 2008 @ 10am - 12pm Village Lifestyles (10429 - 79 Ave)
Tad Hargrave presents :

"Marketing for Green and Local Entrepreneurs"

I've spent the last five years traveling around North America, working hands on with
locally owned, green and community minded businesses like you.

Most conscious businesses I know struggle with attracting enough of the right kinds of clients and keeping cashflow strong. So, we thought it would be a good conversation to start off our business series with (and we left it too late to find any other guest presenters).

Basically, I'll share the 5 minute version of what I do and then we'll open it up into a group Q&A and discussion that I'll facilitate to explore our issues around marketing for an hour or so. My goal is to keep this session very practical, nuts and bolts and focused (vs. wandering, meandering and a chance to soap box).

Community Meeting
April 16, 2008 @ 7 - 9:30pm Village Lifestyles (10429 - 79 Ave)
Ron Berezan presents:

“The Edible City – cultivating connections to our food”

Cities around the world are currently experiencing a tremendous growth in the urban agriculture movement. Whether we hunger for environmental sustainability, for health and wellness, for community, or for a reconnection to our food source and our local bio-region, growing some of our own food can be an immensely satisfying and meaningful experience. This workshop will explore a variety of models for growing food in the city from backyard gardens, to edible landscapes, to rooftop gardens, to permaculture edible forest gardens. Ample opportunities for discussion and visioning will be included.


We hope to see you at the next meetings!

Maureen and Tad