Hello all,
you will notice that the website is a bit shorter now. I've finally converted all our past updates into a blog, which you can see by clicking here. I've moved the interesting links section to the blog as well to make this site more manageable.
Looking back we've done a lot in the past 7 months! It was fun to see that a lot of the areas people said they wanted to know more about have been covered in our past meetings.
So far we've had speakers on these topics:
Urban Gardening - Ron Berezan
Alternative Energy - Harold Verburg
Greening Your Home - Shanthu Mano, Stephani Carter, & Andrea Jones
Sustainable Economics - Mike Nickerson
Eco-Villages and Co-housing - Lorie Saito & Shanthu Mano
and coming up this fall...
Alternative Economics
Buy Local
Food Security
And there are so many things happening in the city...
A food security conference is being organized as we speak,
so is a conference on local governments for sustainability,
There will be a Shop Local month to spotlight our local businesses,
Eco-villages are being built and Co-housing Associations are being formed,
Alternative energy choices for our utilities are around the corner,
a closed loop paper recycling facility is being built - the 1st one on the continent!
and so much more, I could go on for pages.
It's an exciting time to be here, and we invite you to join us on the journey!
Tad & Maureen
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Get Ready for August!
What great weather we've been having. You may not like the rain, but my garden loves it, and the bees love my garden, and I love the bees. With so many dying every year (colony collapse disorder), I'm happy to welcome them into my yard and give them food.On Sunday (the 20th), Tad and I we're out at the Devonian Botanical Gardens for the >1st annual green festival. It was a great day to be outside and there was a good crowd there that grew with each presentation. There were talks on Green investing, the sage group and local economies, alternative power sources, composting, carbon busting and more. We are looking forward to seeing it grow next year.
We've wrapped up all the July meetings, but August is coming fast and is sure to be interesting. We've got 3 meetings next month because there are so many exciting things happening we need more time to tell you about them.
Special Interest Community Meeting
Who cares about Local Food?
August 6, 2008 - 7pm @ the Village Lifestyles (10429-79 Ave)
Guest presenter - Jessie Radies of Original Fare
Have you ever wondered why it costs more to buy eggs at the farmers market, or whether you could do a 100 mile diet? Are you concerned about the distance food travels to get to our tables? Have you noticed that the good farmland surrounding Edmonton is being sold to develpers? Did you know that we only have 3 days worth of food on the grocery store shelves? What does all this mean to you and your family?
These are questions some of us are thinking about as we become more aware of the role food plays in the health of our bodies, and our communities at large. And we'll answer them at this meeting.
Remember at the very start of SAGE you told us that you wanted 3 things out of this group: networking, information, and ACTION. This is your chance to take action and make a difference!
SAGE has become a supporter of GEA's (Greater Edmonton Alliance) Shake the Hand that Feeds You local food action. We invite you to find out more about this simple plan to participate in improving the fabric of our community. If you aren't able to attend the meeting, you can still find out what is happening and take part by reading this document.
Business Meeting
Creating a local living economy in Edmonton
August 18, 2008 - 7 pm @ the Village Lifestyles (10429-79 Ave)
PLEASE NOTE THE TIME FOR THIS MEETING IS THE EVENING!!!
Usually we have the business meetings in the morning, but we needed to accommodate the schedule for our special guest presenter, Jessie Radies.
This is a special meeting. When we first started SAGE, we wanted to create a movement in Edmonton like the BALLE networks in the US. We weren't really sure how to do that, so our past few meetings have focused on entreprenuer experiences and networking. Now we have a plan for action, and we aim to put local business on the map in Edmonton.
We have invited Jessie Radies from Keep Edmonton Original, and also the owner of the Blue Pear will be speaking about the importance of local business to the economy and community where they operate. Our goal from this meeting is to gather together local Edmonton business to find out what kind of support they need from the community and the government to sustain their business and make it thrive. From there we can formulate the steps to make it happen.
Community Meeting
The fun of economics!
August 19, 2008 - 7pm @ the Village Lifestyles (10429-79 Ave)
I know, 2 meetings in a row, what was I thinking? But I am really excited about this month's meetings because they are all inter-related and they are being led mostly by members of the SAGE steering committee.
You are in for a treat tonight because Mark Anielski (author of the Economics of Happiness) and Joey Hundert (entrepreneur extrodinaire and super smart too) will be presenting together on the in and outs of economics, our economy and how we fit into the whole world banking system. What are the alternatives to the status quo? Are there other ways to do banking? What about alternative currencies like Calgary Dollars, or LETS? You will learn about all this and more, plus an exciting announcement about new ethical investment opportunites in our city.
Monday, July 7, 2008
The SAGE Summer Soiree
July 7, 2008
The day after the party! I'm writing this from the future, but I can tell you the party was great! Even though it was rainy most of the day, it cleared up right around 4 when the party started and we had about 60 people enjoying the food, music and company. The rain stayed away until the last band played so everyone came in and danced.
So many people helped make this event a success, and we'd like to thank you all.
First of all - thanks to everyone who came!
Thanks to everyone who helped to set up the hall and clean it up afterwards.
We had a huge selection of homemade vegetarian potluck dishes - thanks to everyone who brought something!
Thanks to all the kitchen helpers who made lemonade and ice tea the old fashioned way. (Jenika, Azley, Mair, Diane & Lona)
Andrea Jones of Raising Spaces for the door prize
Terra Fleenor helped plan the party - everything from finding a venue, to finding musicians, to taking tickets at the door to getting the kegs to work, and being the mc for the night! Thanks so much Terra!
Nanda Gruss of Living in Unison is a talented feng shui consultant and she helped set the mood in the hall and transform the gloomy day into a celebration!
Mike Tulley of MKT Systems was our tireless sound tech, and he transformed the Riverdale hall into a super concert venue. Thanks for looking after all the musicians needs and keeping things on track.
Thanks to all our musicians! Without you it wouldn't have been a party! As you can see from the list below, we were spoiled.
Tophee Davies
Ken Stead
Mike Ehlers and Zizi
The Urban Coyotes - with our own Ron Berezan! I didn't know you were in a band, where do you find the time?!
Isoul
Tracy Reed
Ambers Brewing provided some of their locally made, special brand of beer. Thanks for all your help and they even deliver!
So if you missed this one, don't fret - we're having a 1 year anniversary party on DEC 11, so watch for more details and mark your calendars.
The day after the party! I'm writing this from the future, but I can tell you the party was great! Even though it was rainy most of the day, it cleared up right around 4 when the party started and we had about 60 people enjoying the food, music and company. The rain stayed away until the last band played so everyone came in and danced.
So many people helped make this event a success, and we'd like to thank you all.
First of all - thanks to everyone who came!
Thanks to everyone who helped to set up the hall and clean it up afterwards.
We had a huge selection of homemade vegetarian potluck dishes - thanks to everyone who brought something!
Thanks to all the kitchen helpers who made lemonade and ice tea the old fashioned way. (Jenika, Azley, Mair, Diane & Lona)
Andrea Jones of Raising Spaces for the door prize
Terra Fleenor helped plan the party - everything from finding a venue, to finding musicians, to taking tickets at the door to getting the kegs to work, and being the mc for the night! Thanks so much Terra!
Nanda Gruss of Living in Unison is a talented feng shui consultant and she helped set the mood in the hall and transform the gloomy day into a celebration!
Mike Tulley of MKT Systems was our tireless sound tech, and he transformed the Riverdale hall into a super concert venue. Thanks for looking after all the musicians needs and keeping things on track.
Thanks to all our musicians! Without you it wouldn't have been a party! As you can see from the list below, we were spoiled.
Tophee Davies
Ken Stead
Mike Ehlers and Zizi
The Urban Coyotes - with our own Ron Berezan! I didn't know you were in a band, where do you find the time?!
Isoul
Tracy Reed
Ambers Brewing provided some of their locally made, special brand of beer. Thanks for all your help and they even deliver!
So if you missed this one, don't fret - we're having a 1 year anniversary party on DEC 11, so watch for more details and mark your calendars.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Eighth SAGE Meeting
July 2, 2008
Our community meeting this month was on Eco-Villages and Co-housing and we had a great turnout and really interesting information.
Our guest speakers were:
Lorie Saito of SaitoKai is a straw bale expert from way back. She has been interested in "green" building for almost a decade and was a part of the Riverdale Net Zero Project. She is now involved in setting up a co-housing association in Edmonton with one of the designers, Alan Carpenter from Windsong, BC. To find out more visit www.cohousing.ca.
If you are planning to visit Capital X, you can see Robert and Lorie in the Northlands Green Zone. (Which is in the kidszone area of the midway - I hear they are behind the rides and games) they’ve built a straw bale structure complete with solar power and solar thermal heat.
Shanthu Mano of Carbon Busters. Well, Shanthu wasn't really there, but I did an great impression of her. They are building an eco-village just south of Beaumont that will be amazing, and of course carbon zero. If you are interested in knowing more about the village and how you can be a part of it, contact Shanthu at contact (at) carbonbusters.org (to reduce spam I have spread out the email address, to send a message just replace the (at) with @ and remove the spaces).
Our community meeting this month was on Eco-Villages and Co-housing and we had a great turnout and really interesting information.
Our guest speakers were:
Lorie Saito of SaitoKai is a straw bale expert from way back. She has been interested in "green" building for almost a decade and was a part of the Riverdale Net Zero Project. She is now involved in setting up a co-housing association in Edmonton with one of the designers, Alan Carpenter from Windsong, BC. To find out more visit www.cohousing.ca.
If you are planning to visit Capital X, you can see Robert and Lorie in the Northlands Green Zone. (Which is in the kidszone area of the midway - I hear they are behind the rides and games) they’ve built a straw bale structure complete with solar power and solar thermal heat.
Shanthu Mano of Carbon Busters. Well, Shanthu wasn't really there, but I did an great impression of her. They are building an eco-village just south of Beaumont that will be amazing, and of course carbon zero. If you are interested in knowing more about the village and how you can be a part of it, contact Shanthu at contact (at) carbonbusters.org (to reduce spam I have spread out the email address, to send a message just replace the (at) with @ and remove the spaces).
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