Edmonton City Council: Please Fully Fund Cycling Infrastructure

(Our fabulous friends at the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society alerted us that this issue was coming up - join them if you're interested in cycling infrastructure, if you want to learn how to maintain your bike, or if you need a cotter pin to fix the loose pedal on your old beater.)

Dear Mayor Mandel and City of Edmonton Councillors,

The Transportation and Public Works Committee is voting on the Active Transportation Strategy tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, November 17th). We have read the report at http://www.facebook.com/l/978d8;ereg2.edmonton.ca/sirepub/cache/2/0tdddp2qbsyr3x45myv31a45/1325711122009114753247.PDF - and we are disappointed in the relatively small investment being made in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in this proposal (down from the original combined total of $286M over 10 years to about $22M over 3 years).

We formed Edmontonians Supporting A Green Economy (E-SAGE, www.e-sage.ca) two years ago with the goals of supporting the development of a vibrant local living economy and providing the resources Edmontonians need to take the 'next step' in making their lifestyle more sustainable. We do this through our informative newsletter (now distributed to over 1200 members), hosting of networking events and educational workshops, participation in local festivals, and creation of the Shop Local Guide (www.shoplocalguide.ca), in addition to our collaborations with other local community groups.

We appreciate that the City of Edmonton is working hard to craft policies that support a more sustainable future for its citizens. However, we worry that in limiting the immediate funding for the creation of cycling infrastructure - and combining it with the funding for pedestrian infrastructure - that the City may miss a golden opportunity to capitalize on a boom of interest in commuter cycling by making it easier and safer. Making it safer to cycle in this city will result in fewer accidents (both bicycle-auto and bicycle-pedestrian), and will encourage more people to use their bicycles. More people cycling to work, or combining cycling with public transit use, would translate into less vehicle traffic and more parking in congested areas like Downtown and Old Strathcona. It would reduce requirements for road repairs and road widening, and subsequently save the city money in the transportation budget. It would help the city meet its goals for reducing its carbon footprint, along with other environmental and public-health benefits. Making it possible for families to do without their cars, or for two-car families to make do with only one, would provide them with additional disposable income that would be spent in our community, stimulating the local economy.

Relative to the costs of maintaining and servicing an ever-expanding network of roads, a one-time investment in creating cycling infrastructure is a bargain. We suggest that deferring some of the projects planned for roadway expansion outside the Anthony Henday ring road system would be an appropriate way to find the funds to speed up creation of on-road bicycle lanes, separate cycling paths, bicycle parking, and public transit solutions for cyclists, without jeopardizing much-needed funds for revitalization of Edmonton's older neighborhoods.

For more information about the benefits to cities of increasing cycling infrastructure, we invite you to read the following articles:

The Economic Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure Investments (a point-form summary on EcoVelo of a policy research report by The League of American Cyclists): http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/08/18/the-economic-benefits-of-bicycle-infrastructure-investments/

How To Get More Bicyclists On The Road, an article from Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-more-bicyclists-on-the-road

Bucking The Cycle (an article from the Los Angeles Business Journal about the connection between cyclists and shoppers at local businesses): http://bicyclefixation.com/bikebucks.html

Thank you for your efforts to make Edmonton a greener, more sustainable city.

Locally yours,
Tad Hargrave, founder
Deborah Merriam, volunteer community organizer
Terra Fleenor, volunteer community organizer
Edmontonians Supporting A Green Economy (E-SAGE)

Edmonton Earth Day - rescheduled

Unfortunately Edmonton Earth Day, is being rescheduled, the projected cold for tomorrow, snow, ground conditions, and required cancellation of MANY of our exhibitors by their volunteer organizations. We will be meeting on Monday to reschedule the event. 

Thanks for your understanding,

Janice


You can contact Janice by phone at 780-760-1756 or by email at edmontonearthday@shaw.ca with any questions

Growing Food and Making a Living – Is it Possible?

April E-SAGE Meeting

Growing Food and Making a Living – Is it Possible?
Ron Berezan the Urban Farmer and Becky Lipton

For those of you who couldn't be there, we've got the slide presentation and audio from the lecture.

Becky's Presentation
Slides (1.8 MB)
Audio (455 MB)

Ron's Presentation coming soon
Slides (MB)
Audio ( MB)

*The audio was recorded using an iphone - so it is not a professional quality recording. You can play this audio file using the free Quicktime media player from Apple. (click here to download the player)

Our Eco Expo Experts!

We would like to acknowledge the people who volunteered to be experts in the E-SAGE Conversation Cafe at the 1st ever Go Green Eco Expo. These people are a wealth of information and I encourage you to contact them for information about these topics.

Food & Gardening:

Ivor Mackay - Ivor is famous for doing the 100 mile diet, and is active is creating food security in Edmonton, and was one of the organizers for the Food Today Tomorrow Together Conference held this January. He has also started a traditional skills group, and does talks on simplicity. If you are interested in contacting Ivor please email him at ivormack@telusplanet.net.

Cherry Dodd & Diana Baragar
Edmonton Naturalization Group
The Edmonton Naturalization Group is an informal group of people in the Edmonton area who like to grow native plants and promote their use in gardening and landscaping to a wider public.
Find out more at:
www.eng.fanweb.ca
engedmonton@gmail.com

Housing & Community:

Stephani Carter
Eco Ammo & Green Alberta
EcoAmmo provides tools and services to educate and excite those that work in the building industry about sustainable design. We offer services such as Sustainable Building Materials and Green Design Education, Conference Speaking and Independent LEED® Project Facilitation.
www.ecoammo.com

Green Alberta is a growing online resource of green building products and materials.
www.greenalberta.com
Suite 600A 10117 - Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, AB
780-466-7616

Nanda Gruss
Living in Unison Feng Shui
Offers on-site and remote feng shui consultations, space clearing ceremonies, workshops and Art with sacred geometry products.
www.livinginunison.com

8946 - 78 Avenue
Edmonton, AB,
780-297-8975
nanda@livinginunison.com


Nathalie Jackson
Village Lifestyles
Village Lifestyles is an intentional community that honors each others' gifts, talents and passions. We are a group of individual-owner businesses that will be collectively supported and nurtured by the community. Rental Space Available - 24 hours, 7 days a week.
www.villagelifestyles.com

10429 - 79 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
780-988-8804


Energy:

Alexander Polkovsky
GAIA Energies Ltd - CleanTech Research, Consulting, Construction, Project Management
www.gaiaenergies.com

#2222, 13 Mission Avenue
St. Albert, AB 
780.443.GAIA (4242)
alexander@gaiaenergies.com


Health & Wellness

Basia Urbanski R.N. CHt.
Pure Access Hypnotherapy
"Clearing the way to real newness"
www.pureaccess.ca

201, 8225 - 105 Street
Edmonton, AB
780-436-3776

Monique Schoenau
Natural Body
(Workshops - teleseminars - public speaking)
"Women in midlife are women on the verge of a total breakthrough."
www.natural-body.ca

9856 - 89 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
780-966-9338

Go Green Eco Expo

April 2, 2009

Go Green Eco Expo

April 4, 2009
10:00 am - 8:00 pm
U of A Butterdome
E-SAGE is hosting the Conversation Cafe
We are providing an opportunity for the visitors to the expo to talk with the real experts about sustainable living. There will be 5 areas of conversation:
1. Food
2. Housing
3. Energy
4. Transportation
5. Health & Wellness

We want to provide top quality information to these people and are looking
for volunteers to take a shift over the course of the day. This is not an
opportunity to openly promote your company and products to these visitors,
but a chance to build relationships and share your knoweldge. If you are
interested in being one of these "hosts" please contact Maureen at
maureen@e-sage.ca and let me know your area of expertise, name, business or group name and what time you can be there.



Food & Gardening Topic (gardening, heritage seeds, growing food, xeriscaping, Permaculture, preserving food, vegan, raw, vegetarian diets, organic, local food, )

Examples of groups that would fit here (if you are in this list you still need to sign up for a time slot):

Edmonton Naturalization Group

Ron Berezan - The Urban Farmer

Edmonton Food Security Network

City Farm

Bedrock Seed Bank

Guerilla Gardeners

Re-Fresh

D'lish

100 mile diet

Vegetarians of Alberta

food co-op



http://www.doodle.com/vdz2cdt4xkh36ydn





Energy Topic (solar, wind power, solar hot water, bio-diesel)

Examples of groups that would fit here (if you are in this list you still need to sign up for a time slot):

Off the Grid

Trimline Design

Gordon Howell

Earth Friendly Electric

Gaia Energies Ltd



http://www.doodle.com/r4ek6vayzdczee3c



Housing Topic (Straw bale, Net Zero, retrofit and renovations, Healthy Buildings, LEEDS, Eco-villages, Co-housing, lifestyle audits)

Examples of groups that would fit here (if you are in this list you still need to sign up for a time slot):

Green Alberta

Carbon Busters

Raising Spaces

Net Zero

Saito Kai

Eco-Domestica

Eco-Butler

Village Lifestyles

landscaping



http://www.doodle.com/66ht2uka7ig64724





Health & Wellness Topic (energy healing, nutrition, yoga, massage, coaching, feng shui)

Examples of groups that would fit here (if you are in this list you still need to sign up for a time slot):

Living in Unison

Reiki

economics of happiness

wholistic medicine

sustainable products and services



http://www.doodle.com/cket7kmaaerrb8dt

Michael Shuman - The Whirlwind "Smallmart" Tour

As promised, Michael Shuman was here at the end of February to share his wisdom on Local Economies, and let us know how important it is for the health and prosperity of a community to shop local first.

He was here for 4 presentation, and if you weren't able to make it to a presentation, you are in luck, because he gave us copies of his presentations. You can download them as pdfs from the links below.


Wednesday, Feb 25/09 (2 - 4 pm) - Business Owner Presentation

Thursday, Feb 26/09 (1 - 3 pm) - Economic Development Presentation (Click here for Audio - 17.7 MB)

Thursday, Feb 26/09 (7 - 9:30 pm) - Public Lecture U of A (audio coming)

Announcement! Michael Shuman is coming and doing 2 events!

Business Owners Event

Wednesday, Feb 25th
WHEN: 2:00 – 4:00pm
WHERE: City Arts Center (10943-84 Avenue)
COST: Suggested Donation of $5 - $10

While business tends to be painted as the enemy of the environment and social justice – there is actually a powerful role that local, independent businesses can play that non-profits can’t. The Small Marts can be a much more powerful force for social change than many entrepreneurs realize.

This event includes:
- the often overlooked and underestimated role for small business in developing a sustainable local economy
- examples of what local networks of independent and sustainable businesses have done to create prosperity and social change in their communities
- planning next steps KEO and E-SAGE members can take to develop our own sustainable business network
- networking with other cool, local entrepreneurs

Public Event

When: Thursday, February 26
Time: 7 - 9:30 pm
Where: Telus bldg (87 ave and 111 Street) room #150, at the University of Alberta Campus
Cost: $10 - $20 sliding scale , tickets available at Earths General Store and at the door

Sure - Walmart's an easy target.

So are the rest of the multi-national chain stores.

And buying local is important.

But why?

What do we tell our friends who say, "But Walmart brings in jobs! And
it's lower prices mean that the poor can afford things. Are you
against the poor?"

Come and hear a compelling perspective to address your niggling doubts
and wonderings in the whole "global vs. local" debate.




Michael Shuman: A Voice Leading the Small-Mart Revolution

For the past 25 years, lawyer, author and economist Michael Shuman has been an articulate voice of clarity in the rapidly growing Small-Mart Revolution. He has been taking on the Wal-Mart style Goliaths of multinational, big box chains and championing the local Small-Marts. Over the past 25 years Shuman has given an average of more than one invited talk a week – to universities, cities, legislators, economic development groups, and grassroots groups in nearly a dozen countries.

His work turns traditional ideas around Local Economic Development on their head and systematically challenges the assumptions of old, worn out models to show how we can live greener, more creatively, wealthier, happier and healthier lives by 'going local first'. Think you need to attract a big box store to your community to generate jobs and money?
Think again.

You've probably never heard of him - but his work is recognized as some of the most important written about the role that small, locally-owned business can play in creating a vibrant, local living economy.

He is the vice president for Enterprise Development for the Training and Development Corporation (TDC) of Bucksport, Maine. He has authored, coauthored, and edited seven books, including “The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition” (Berrett-Koehler, 2006) and “Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age” (Free Press, 1998). The Small-Mart Revolution was just awarded a bronze medal for best business book by the Independent Publishers' Association.

In recent years Shuman has led community-based economic-development efforts in St. Lawrence County (NY), Hudson Valley (NY), Katahdin Region (ME), Martha's Vineyard (MA), and Carbondale (CO). He is currently preparing studies on state business subsidies for the Kellogg Foundation and on global models of local food businesses for the Gates Foundation. He served as a senior editor for the recently published Encyclopedia of Community. And he is a cofounder and active participant in the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and a founder of Bay Friendly Chicken, a community-owned company located in Salisbury, Maryland.

Shuman received an A.B. with distinction in economics and international relations from Stanford University and a J.D. from
Stanford Law School.

Why support Local independent business?
Because a San Francisco study compared the impact of $1 million spent at a local bookstore VS a national chain and found that just a 10% shift in spending to independent business would result in $192 million in increased economic activity and 1300 new jobs! You don’t have to change WHAT you buy, just WHERE you buy it!

It has been shown that local businesses redistribute about 65 – 75% of their profits in the community, while global businesses only contribute 15% of their profits to the local economy. Therefore, money spent at a local business has 3 times more economic benefit to the local economy than money spent at a global retailer.

A healthy local independent business community is the key to developing a sustainable economy. The City of Edmonton has indicated a keen interest in being a leader in sustainable practices. Take the opportunity to attend a special presentation with Michael Shuman - an expert in developing policies and strategies that encourage sustainable local economies.

Agricultural Land and Food Security

FOOD SECURITY ISSUE: If you live within The Capital Region, but outside of Edmonton, we need you.

WHAT: WE NEED DOZENS OF REGIONAL CITIZENS ON FEBRUARY 19TH, 2009- 9 A.M.

The Greater Edmonton Alliance has had a major impact in our work to preserve high yield farmland in the Capital Region.

The "This Land is our Land Campaign" has put food security, a local foods economy and land preservation firmly on the agenda of the City of Edmonton and the Capital Region Board of the twenty-five mayors.

BUT THERE IS STILL TENSION: The mayors of the rural counties are resisting the preservation of high yield farm land because they DON'T WANT TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR LAND!

They mostly believe they have the right to develop that land as they see fit and that food security and local food economies are not important.

The Vote on how much land will be preserved and how it will be preserved will likely take place on the 19th. The Greater Edmonton Alliance will be presenting a set of win-win solutions in conjunction with Green Hectares, a new group working to get young people into farming at the next CRB meeting.

* * *

WHO: We need dozens of REGIONAL CITIZENS to attend this meeting to show these regional mayors that working out a solution to preserve high yield farmland is critical.

People from the counties, towns and cities outside of Edmonton are needed

WHEN: Thursday, February 19th, 2009, 9:00 A.M.

WHERE: Chateau Louis Hotel Conference Centre, 117th Street and Kingsway

RSVP: If you can make it, please RSVP to jessie@thebluepear.com Please include what town or region you live in.

No Interest Banking

Wow is it already February! Where did January go? Things are moving so fast these days, we've already had the food security conference, and our first 2 E-SAGE meetings.

Mark's talk last night was great! We had about 40 people out and we talked about everything from what is money and how do our banks work, to alternative banking models, local investment and alternative currencies. There was lots of discussion and we could have talked all night, but we decided instead to continue the discussion at another time. We had a sign up sheet for anyone who was interested in talking more and working with others to create a sustainable "money" system locally. If you are interested in being part of the discussion, you can contact Andrea Jones at andrea@raisingspaces.com.

Further Resources:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3232

Paul Gringnon Money as Debt Video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

E-SAGE 2009

Hello everyone,

2009 Community Meeting Topics

We’ve decided that we are going to have one meeting a month where anyone can come to learn about sustainable topics and network with like-minded individuals. Here's what is going on for the next year.

Jan 23 – Food Security & the Global Food System

Feb 6 – No Interest Banking (Mark Anielski)

Feb 26 – Michael Shuman, “Small Mart Revolution”

Mar 11 – Nutritional Therapy

Mar 31 - Peter Brown, "Right Relationship Building a Whole Earth Economy"

Apr 4 – Go Green Eco Expo (U of A Butterdome)

Apr 16 – Urban Agriculture

May 8 – Green Homes & Eco-villages

June 4 - Alternative Energy (Solar Electric)

July 7 – How to be a Good Edmontonian

Aug 5 – Ancient Wisdom

Sept 10 – Organizing for Social Change

Oct 2 – Growing a Local Economy

Nov 2 – Arts & Transformation

Dec 11 – E-Sage 2nd Anniversary Party

You are welcome to attend the meetings!

Time: 7:00 – 9:30 pm

Place: Village Lifestyles (10429 – 79 Avenue)

The meetings start at 7:00, and our guests usually present for between 1 and 2 hours, and then we have a nice amount of time for mingling and networking.


Business Meetings

We've made a decision to try something different this year with the business meetings. Because everyone seems to really like the guest speakers and networking that goes on with the community meetings, we are going to have those every month - and encourage anyone who has a business connection to the topic to attend the meeting so that you can be involved in the discussion and networking that goes on. We are still going to set aside time and space for the business meetings, but that time is dedicated time for the committees working the projects below to meet and work on them. That being said, we are looking for people to be on the project committees. Read on for more details.

We been asked to collaborate on some exciting projects and we need your help. Please read the project summaries, if you have any interest in these projects & have a few hours to spare each month, we’d love to hear from you.

Email maureen@e-sage.ca or call 780-435-5683


1. Develop policies to support & encourage sustainable businesses

Last spring the City of Edmonton’s Office of Environment and Energy invited us to help develop policies to encourage more green businesses in the city. This year we are looking for people to be part of a committee to complete this task. We are starting from scratch: developing a method to collect information, conducting interviews and meetings, analyzing the results and making recommendations. One of the perks of this project is getting to work with Michael Shuman when he visits at the end of February.


2. Develop an online directory of sustainable, green, local, products, services, organizations, & events

E-SAGE is building an online directory that will act as a central link to all the great sustainable lifestyle resources that are available in the Edmonton area. This directory is unique because of our “sustainability” ranking system. For example, the first requirement is that a business or organization must be local, which means 51% of the ownership and decision-making power is located in Edmonton. After that there are a series of criteria which measure the commitment to meet environmental, social and economic standards that promote overall sustainability. We are looking for people to help refine the sustainability index, nominate possible candidates to include in the directory, interview them using the sustainability questionnaire, determine their rank, and add them to the online directory.


3. Organize and Host Green Trade Shows

One of the main purposes of E-SAGE is to facilitate connections and create synergy between the people in the “green economy”. We have met so many awesome people who do fantastic, creative work – we want them to meet each other and find out if there is some way they can work together. A regular series of trade shows would allow our business members to showcase what they do to other business people and the wider community, and maybe spark some collaborative projects!

4. Organize and Host Green Job Fairs

There are so many opportunities for the entrepreneurial types out there. We’ve had many comments at our meetings from people who wish they could find someone to do this or that – but no one is doing it...Yet. At the same time there are many people who have decided to leave the traditional careers they have trained for or worked in to find something more meaningful or fulfilling.

We believe there will be more and more opportunities to shift into green careers as our economy falters. There is already one green job fair being planned for March 5/09 to be held at the U of A campus, we are welcome to help with the planning of that event and host another one in the fall.

Further reading:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2966

5. Co-Create our Organization

The fundamental question comes up in any group, “How do we make ourselves sustainable?” This is a question E-SAGE is considering right now. We’d like to know what our meeting attendees think of that. If we were to organize into some form, what form should it be? What are the pros and cons, and what value does E-SAGE hold in the community? If you are interested in exploring this question and helping to make sure E-SAGE can continue to provide great education, networking and action opportunities, we invite you to get involved.

E-SAGE 2009

Hello everyone!
this is going to be an exciting year! We've already planned out our talks for the year and they are going to be great. More details to come as the dates approach.

January 23/09 - Local Food Security and the global food system - who cares?

This is a note I saw posted at my local SAFEWAY store this week:


Due to extreme weather related issues and road closures; we are experiencing temporary gaps on supply with some commodities. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to be back in full supply as soon as the conditions improve.

This really brings home the point that our food supply is vulnerable to all kinds of circumstances. Is it really a good idea to import 80% of our food? Is it smart to be that dependant on things out of our control? What is really going on with our food?

If these are things you have thought about or want to know more about, come to our meeting on January 23rd, at the Village Lifestyles (10429 - 79 Avenue) at 7pm.