March 7th, 2010 by admin

The Newburyport High School Environment Club, Green Artists League, First Parish Church of Newbury and Transition Newburyport partnered to observe the International Day of Climate Action. They created a banner that will be on display at the high school and crafted healing blankets for mountaintop removal sites in West Virginia. At 3:50 PM the church bells tolled 350 times echoed by students responding with improvised percussive instruments.

A Daily News article publicized the event and photos of the event are featured on the Transition US website.

March 7th, 2010 by admin

Connecting with Local Groups
Building Community

On August 5 we met with members of The Greater Newburyport Local Food Network to explore common interests in a wide-ranging discussion of the future of food in the Newburyport area. If you’d like to know more, see the meeting minutes on the Transition Newburyport Ning Site

We are working collaboratively with the The First Parish Church, The Newburyport Farmers Market, the Spencer-Peirce LIttle Farm, Pennies for Porverty:2 Cents 4 Change and the Green Artists League on several upcoming events.

The goal of the transition movement is to promote resilience and self-reliance in our community. This typically involves the formation of self-selected working groups focusing on issues like: energy, transportation, housing, education, the heart and soul of change. If you are involved in a group interested in these issues or would like to form one, we would like to hear from you.

March 7th, 2010 by admin

Permaculture Demonstration Plot
A Living Experiment

We continue to watch and learn from our Permaculture Plot at the New Eden Community Garden. We’ve harvested strawberries, beans, turnips, tomatoes, lamb’s quarters, lettuce, kale, basil and mint for eating as well as comfrey and calendula to make salves in the fall.
Perma plot 3 width
Check out the New Eden Community Garden website blog and schedule of food preservation workshops offerings.

Charlotte Dion, our advisor and the organizer of the North Shore Permaculture Meetup, is co-hosting a 2-day Permaculture Workshop September 12 & 13 in Cambridge. The workshop will focus on providing individuals with practical tools for creating positive social change, inner-city gardening techniques, indoor and apartment gardening, making fermented foods, whole foods, Living Machines and natural wastewater treatment, biogas generators, ecological niche market and value added business ideas, passive integrated water systems, rain gardens that alleviate flooding while addressing sewage treatment plant overflows and clean water, living roofs, rooftop gardens and regional energy systems.For more details visit Urban Permaculture Workshop with Andrew Faust .

June '09

community, gardening, permaculture

January 24th, 2010 by TN

The Initiating Group of Transition Newburyport is launching a monthly film series in March beginning with the films The End of Suburbia, The Power of Community and In Transition. These films were shown once each last year. If you saw any of them at that time, we encourage repeat viewings to absorb more of the important messages. And now you have the opportunity to share the experience with other family members, friends and neighbors. Once again, the screenings will be free and open to the public.

This provocative documentary, a regular on the film-festival circuit, examines the history of suburban life and the wisdom of this distinctly American way of life. A post-World War II concept, suburbia attracted droves of people, giving rise to sprawl and all that comes with it — good and bad. How has the environment been affected by this lifestyle, and is it sustainable?

The documentary, “The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil,” was inspired when Faith Morgan and Pat Murphy took a trip to Cuba through Global Exchange in August, 2003. That year Pat had begun studying and speaking about worldwide peak oil production. In May Pat and Faith attended the second meeting of 
The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, a European group of oil geologists and scientists, which predicted that mankind was perilously close to having used up half of the world’s oil resources. When they learned that Cuba underwent the loss of over half of its oil imports and survived, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the couple wanted to see for themselves how Cuba had done this.

In Transition is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions-focused, viral and fun.

The films will be shown several times during the month for maximum accessibility; each screening will be followed with an open-ended discussion to explore the implications for our community. Any and all are invited to attend more than one screening of the same film, to deepen your personal experience and to enrich the ensuing discussions.

January 24th, 2010 by TN

The planning board will be meeting in the near future to hear public comment on the proposed changes to the wind ordinance. This will be a crucial meeting in the development of wind energy here in Newburyport. Whether you are concerned about Climate Change, fossil fuel depletion, rising energy costs or the security implications of fossil fuels, ‘green energy’ such as from wind turbines is a great alternative energy resource.

Passing the modified ordinance as it stands will essentially bring the development of wind power in Newburyport to a halt at a time when forces at the local, state, national and international levels are indicating we should start to develop clean, renewable energy sources in the face of climate change and fossil fuel depletion. It will create a blockade to the exploration of further local wind power sites and will hamstring our community’s development of local power sources.

Show your support for renewable energy and a fair ordinance by sending a letter to your city councilors and the Mayor and attending the public meeting when it is scheduled. A sample letter, copy of the proposed wind ordinance and the Energy Advisory Committee’s recommendations on the ordinance are available here.

November 29th, 2009 by admin

Monday, November 9

Monday November 9th Transition Newburyport and Long Way Home co-hosted the movie Garbage Warrior at the Newburyport Public Library.  Mike Reynolds, the garbage warrior, builds self-sustaining homes, “earthships”, made of re-purposed tires, cans and bottles.  One of Mike’s favorite techniques is to utilize passive solar energy by building walls of tires packed with earth.  The free movie showing was very well attended and sparked a dialogue we hope to continue.  For those of you who were not able to attend, the movie is available though the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.

November 15th, 2009 by admin

Training for Transition
November 21-22, 2009
Boston, MA

If you are interested in learning  about the Transition Towns movement in greater depth this may be the course for you.

It describes how to set up, run, and maintain a successful Transition Initiative. It is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to engage your community, and delves into both the theory and practice of Transition that has worked so well in over 200 communities in the U.K.

To register or for more information.



Events

November 10th, 2009 by Justin

Hello, we are Justin and Kirsten O’Leary, the newest members of the Transition initiating group here in Newburyport. Four years ago, we moved here from Haverhill (Justin having always lived in the Merrimack Valley). A large part of that decision was Newburyport’s vibrant and walk-able downtown. We love being able to live and work within walking distance of our home. It connects us more fully to our city and with the people of Newburyport (our community). Our house ceases to be just a place to sleep in and microwave the occasional dinner in; it is our Home (which is now microwave free). We see our neighbors as we walk to work, they wonder how we are if we have not crossed paths in several days. Neighbors, artisan breads and cheeses, all within walking distance; this is good.

Who we work for is also of importance to us. Working for independent businesses and shopping locally is, for us, another important part of being a Newburyporter. Finding locally grown food was also important, and led us to Middle Earth Farm, in Amesbury, (where Kirsten now runs a CSA). The hunt for local food has also been aided by the existence of the Newburyport Farmer’s Market.

We continue to search for for things made locally. This list is also growing, from fiber found at local farms, to soap, shampoo, and coffee mugs.  Seeking out and supporting these artisans is an ongoing enjoyment.
Considering all of this, when we saw The Transition Handbook in the library we were immediately interested. The whole idea is that, yes, we are running out of oil and the climate is changing, now lets do something positive and build strong communities.

Since then, we have read the handbook, talked to Transition members at the Farmer’s Market, attended movie showings, and are now reading about permaculture (and planning our edible garden for spring).

As new members of the initiating group we hope to be helpful in making Newburyport and the surrounding communities sustainable. If you have questions/stories please post them to us at the Transition Massachusetts site.

October 27th, 2009 by admin

This October meeting of the EAC featured a presentation on how to achieve energy independence by 2028. The outcome was a proposal by the benchmarking sub-committee to put together a draft Strategy for residential homes to achieve energy independence. This will be presented at the next meeting. An effort is underway by the committee to identify and classify all the streetlights in Newburyport. The goal is to reduce the streetlight energy usage by 20 percent.

The EAC meets every last Thursday of each month at 7 PM in the Newburyport Library. Please check with the city for the latest schedule.

September 20th, 2009 by admin

FARM FOR THE FUTURE FILM- 7:00PM, September 26,
Harvest Festival – Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27

We participated in the 3-day Harvest Festival running from Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27 in partnership with the Newburyport Farmers Market, The First Parish Church of Newbury and the Spencer-Peirce Little Farm.

Saturday evening at the First Parish Church we will be showing the movie, “Farm for the Future”. Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realizing that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.

Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

A ‘Visioning our Future’ discussion will follow the show.

community, farming, gardens