ReThink Red Deer
Street Films
The NY based organization Street Films makes some great videos about street use - especially cycling in urban areas. Here is a video with good examples of how New York has adapted different bicycle lane designs to different situations. This shows how there is no magic fix and no single design - but that with attention and effort, bike lanes can be integrated into an urban environment.
Better Bicycle Commuting group has drawn attention to the need for cycling lanes for commuting cyclists in Red Deer. There is also mention of the need for bike lanes downtown in the Greater Downtown Action Plan.
Posted in City Planning by: lorne daniel 2009/10/28 0 Comments
List your organization and events here
Welcome
The Sustainable Red Deer web site is up and running, providing a clearinghouse of information on sustainability groups and events in our community.
List Your Organization
If you belong to a government agency, business, school or community organization that is involved in sustainability initiatives in Red Deer and district, please add your organization's contact information here. Your submission will not immediately appear on the site, but will go to the site administrators for approval and appear shortly after.
List Your Event
Do you have a community presentation, speaker, or meeting on a sustainability topic? List your event on the community sustainability calendar. Simply send an email to info@sustainablereddeer.com with your event name, subject, location, date, time and any other details re: who should attend.
Spread the Word
Please encourage your friends and colleagues to contribute information to sustainablereddeer.com.
You can also subscribe to our newsletter on the Newsletter page. Every couple weeks, you will receive an email update on what's happening in Red Deer's sustainability community.
Thanks for your interest!
Posted in General Sustainability by: lornedaniel 2009/10/27 0 Comments
Sustainability Revolution
Sustainability Revolution - by Susan Zielinski
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
(Red Deer Advocate - 10/21/09)
Red Deer could be on its way to becoming a Transition Town.
The global movement, that started in the United Kingdom, is all about helping communities deal with problems related to climate change and recognize that oil production will soon reach its peak and start to decline.
Transition Towns promote sustainable living and local resilience, reducing waste and energy independence.
“We’re going to ruffle a few feathers for sure with what we’re talking about,” said Rene Michalak, co-ordinator of ReThink Red Deer which held a public meeting on Transition Towns on Tuesday night at Red Deer College.
“We’re not putting anyone down. We’re not saying don’t do this, don’t do that. It’s simply — what can we do to become more resilient, to have other options.
“We can’t continue on the path we’re on.”
ReThink Red Deer, a grassroots group that encourages sustainability and smart urban planning, attracted about 25 people to its Transition Towns meeting.
Michalak said Red Deer is heavily dependent upon outside sources for the wellbeing of its citizens, but it’s on the verge of change.
ReThink Red Deer has been advocating for cycling lanes and promotes community gardening. It’s working on renewable energy projects like alcohol fuel production and renewable energy installation like solar panels and wind mills, which will include urging the city look at bylaws to allow residents to install wind mills and use more of their property for food production.
ReThink encourages more people and organizations to join in the sustainability revolution.
“Before we go too far down the path on separate projects, let’s come together and identify where similarities are and how we can work together to amplify each others efforts.
“How can we work with what exists and tweak it and modify it so it gives us more resiliency at a local level.”
Michalak said as long as people are locked into the same way of doing things, they will not recognize what they could create.
“If we can see the potential of new technologies and a way to amplify or increase our return on energy investment, we’re going to create a whole new economy with all new opportunities for prosperity and quality for life.”
For more information about Transition Towns go to www.transitiontowns.org and for local sustainability updates go to www.sustainablereddeer.com or www.rethinkreddeer.ca.
Posted in General Sustainability by: renemichalak 2009/10/21 1 Comments
Urban Homesteading
(from the Dervaes family website)
One family has gone off the grid but hasn't moved anywhere. In fact, they live on a city lot -- a model of self-sustaining ingenuity.
In the mid-1980s, The Dervaes family set out to do the seemingly impossible: To create what they dubbed an "urban homestead" and live a self-sufficient, low-impact life in the heart of the city. For years they worked steadily to transform their ordinary urban lot in Pasadena, California, into an organic permaculture garden that supplies them with food year-round.
Having found food security in their own backyard, they were emboldened to take further steps. They began powering their home with alternative energies and fueling their car with home-brewed bio-diesel. Along with new technologies, they also embraced the simple living of past generations. They kept farm animals for egg production and manure, used secondhand goods to decrease their consumption of earth’s nonrenewable resources, and taught themselves a variety of back-to-basics skills. Through much hard work, and no small amount of blessing, their "urban homestead" now enjoys a dramatic degree of independence, with ever-decreasing environmental impact.
The journey is ongoing—and they are by no means finished—but they are grateful to have come this far. In 2001, they named their homegrown venture “Path to Freedom” and created a website www.PathtoFreedom.com —the first ever devoted to urban homesteading. They hoped that by documenting their personal experiences they could offer encouragement to those striving to live a simpler, more self-sufficient lifestyle. Eight years later, PathtoFreedom.com is now the largest and most comprehensive urban homesteading website, with more than five million hits per month. They believe that their family’s real-life experience is what makes the site unique: They aren''t just writing about the latest eco-practices and products; for more than two decades, they have been living the revolution. At their daily blog, "Little Homestead in the City," you can witness first-hand their struggles and joys, defeats and successes on this pioneering journey.
Whatever you may gain by reading about their journey, please remember to “pay it forward” to others in some fashion. Together, we can ignite a revolution of spirit that will truly change our world for the better!
For more info watch this video:
RADIO - Canadian Broadcasting Centre | Dervaes Family of Path to Freedom Urban Homestead:
www.youtube.com/watch
Radio audio set to photos from the Dervaes Family Urban Homestead. Radio interview by Jennifer Westaway of CBC Radio (Photos added for visual interest by Path to Freedom)
Photos copyright: www.pathtofreedom.com
Posted in Gardening & Food Supply by: renemichalak 2009/10/12 2 Comments
Red Deer's Vital Signs 2009
Red Deer’s third annual report card on life in the city is now available.
Brenda Kossowan of the Red Deer Advocate writes, "Vital Signs, prepared by the Red Deer and District Community Foundation, gathers data from a variety of research organizations and then quizzes local citizens for their reaction in 12 key areas, says foundation CEO Janice Wing.
Areas include safety, education, health, poverty, arts and the environment.
Respondents were given statistical details such as crime rates and compliance with recycling programs, and then asked to grade Red Deer on a scale of one to five.
Despite stats showing a drop in both violent crimes and property offences, people in Red Deer rate crime, law and order as their No. 1 area of concern this year, said Wing.
Following that are health care in second place and poverty, homelessness and hunger in third.
That’s a shift from 2007, the first year of the program, when crime was in third place among people’s concerns and health care actually got top grades as one of the region’s strengths.
“Not that long ago . . . health care was on the top of the list of things that were going really well. Again, you know, that’s an area that has changed very quickly.”
Also significant, education was given a much better grade this year while it had not performed as well on previous report cards.
“Education from this year is something that people are proud of and think that we’re doing well,” said Wing.
The report showed that people in Red Deer feel relatively confident in the local economy.
That said, there is significant worry about poverty and homelessness.
Kim Pasula, vice-chairman of the community foundation, said the report is a vital tool for making decisions about where to apply resources to get the most efficient use of money when there isn’t enough to go around.
It’s a sad irony that, in a weakened economy, needs increase while funding sources dry up, said Pasula.
New this year, the foundation has compiled its report to community stakeholders in a calendar, examining one issue per month.
Copies of the calendar are not available for sale but can be downloaded from the community foundation’s website, www.rddcf.ca.
A full Vital Signs report supplement will be published in the Advocate on Thursday.
Red Deer’s Vital Signs project is part of a nationwide program operated by the Community Foundations of Canada. Vital Signs reports were released on Tuesday by 16 communities across Canada, said Wing."
Posted in City Planning by: renemichalak 2009/10/09 0 Comments
