EVENTS GALORE IN APRIL!

Dear community,

The events below go far in showing why Los Angeles is such an amazing city. ;) There are a bunch of interesting, stimulating, world and mind changing events coming up and they are mostly free, though some have suggested donations.

Events include talks (through American Friends Service Committee and Zocalo Public Square), Earth Day events, CicLAvia, free tomato growing class, a play inspired by Homegirl Cafe homegirls, info on preparing a toxic free funeral for your loved ones, and more.

Events listed run through the end of the month. Enjoy!


*****************************

What: Friends Peace Dialogue - "The Transition Movement: From Oil Dependency to Local Resiliency"

Hosted by: American Friends Service Committee

When: Thursday, April 12, 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Where: AFSC Office, 634 S. Spring St., 3rd Flr., Downtown Los Angeles, 90014

Join the AFSC in Los Angeles for a timely discussion on the Transition Movement. The Transition movement is a grassroots response to a number of global changes including peak oil, climate change, and economic stability. The movement recognizes that change must happen within every aspect of our society. Here in Los Angeles, there are various local groups creating and participating in a wide variety of Transition movement activities, including organizing workshops on repurposing old clothing, chicken hutch building, bicycle repair, designing solar cookers and building community gardens. The Transition Movement goes far beyond "going green" but into root level and local change based on individual empowerment.

Notes: (Event occurs during downtown Artwalk night. Parking available at Joe's Parking lot on Spring and 5th St., or take public transit -- Pershing Square exit off of the Red Line is 2 blocks away.)

Cost: free!

*****************************

What: Free tomato growing class! 'Tis the season!

When: Saturday, April 14, 9-11 am

Where: At all Armstrong's Garden Center locations

Grow your own tomatoes! They taste way better than store bought, contain more nutrients (you can pluck them when they are ripe, not weeks before like store bought), they won't have pesticides, they won't be shipped from some far away place like China, and they are YOUR beautiful babies! Head out to this class if you can, it is free and depending on where you go, they will teach you organic growing methods. It doesn't matter if you don't have a garden - you can grow in a container on a patio, or anywhere that you get good sun.

Cost: free!

*****************************

What: CicLAvia

When: Sunday, April 15, 10 am - 3 pm

Where: Along over 10 miles of Los Angeles streets! From east of the LA bridge to Little Tokyo to City Hall, down Spring St. to 7th, all the way to Melrose and Heliotrope! For a map, click HERE.

Ciclovías started in Bogotá, Colombia, over thirty years ago as a response to the congestion and pollution of city streets. Now they happen throughout Latin America and the United States. Connecting communities and giving people a break from the stress of car traffic. The health benefits are immense. Ciclovías bring families outside of their homes to enjoy the streets, our largest public space. In Los Angeles we need CicLAvia more than ever. Our streets are congested with traffic, our air is polluted with toxic fumes, our children suffer from obesity and other health conditions caused by the scarcity of public space and safe, healthy transportation options. CicLAvia creates a temporary park for free, simply by removing cars from city streets. It creates a network of connections between our neighborhoods and businesses and parks with corridors filled with fun. You can walk, bike, skate, skateboard, dance, rollerblade, anything goes except automobiles!

Cost: free!

*****************************

What: Sacred Crossings: Bringing Funerals Home -- Integrating death into the cycle of life with joy! with Rev. Olivia Barham

When: Friday, April 13, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Where: L.A. Eco-Village - 117 Bimini Place, Los Angeles, CA 90004

Did you Know?

*You can delegate a family member to act as your funeral director?
*Embalming is not required by law?
*The body of your loved one can lie in honor at home for a 3-day vigil?
*You can create, decorate and transport a casket to the place of disposition?

Are you, or someone you love preparing to make their final transition? Or would you like to opt out of the toxic funeral industry by planning ahead, no matter what your age is or the condition of your health? Or make sure that your loved ones know what your wishes are about your final journey? If you would like to learn more about your options for creating a deeply meaningful, Green and affordable wake and funeral in the comfort and privacy of your own home, then join our intimate gathering as we discuss the legalities and logistics of Home Funerals and our options for Cremation, Burial and Green Burials. Sacred Crossings educates, inspires and empowers families to reclaim the lost art and ancient ritual of a Home Funeral.

We will view films of home funerals and Green burials - your discretion is advised.

Notes: Reservations required: email crsp [at] igc [dot] org or call 213-738-1254

Cost: Fee: $10 - $15 (sliding scale)

*****************************
What: Zocalo lecture - Can Diverse Societies Cohere?

When: Friday, April 13 at 7:30 pm

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), 250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

Although the world is getting smaller, our divisions are increasing. Communities that used to be alike in religion, ethnicity, language, or income have begun to diverge along these lines. Because people naturally avoid engaging with those unlike themselves, modern society has become increasingly fragmented. And yet some communities manage to bridge the divides, to cohere despite the odds. It’s through cooperation that such achievements are possible, and cooperation, argues Cambridge University sociologist Richard Sennett, is a craft. Sennett, author of Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, visits Zócalo to discuss why, in a diverse society, cooperation is a craft that can—and must—be learned.

Notes: RSVP online to attend.

Parking $9 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage. Enter from Second St., just west of Grand Ave. Or take public transit - exit Civic Center off of the Metro Red Line.

Cost: free!

*****************************

What: Zocalo lecture - Is Eating Well Just for the Rich?

Sponsored by: KCRW

When: Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 pm

Where: Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA

Some of us are eating better than ever. But most Americans still live in a fast food nation. The number of U.S. farmers’ markets has nearly doubled, but at least 88 percent of Americans fail to consume the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables. Over 1 million people tune into the Food Network each night, yet 14 million people live in food deserts at least a mile from a supermarket. What would it take for us all to eat well? Journalist Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table, spent a year working and eating with the people at the bottom rung of the food service industry to try to find out. She visits Zócalo to discuss what’s keeping Americans from getting the food they want and what we can do about it.

Notes: RSVP online at: http://zocalopublicsquare.org/rsvp/index.php?event_id=524

Cost: free!

*****************************

What: Cafe Vida -- a theatrical play!

Sponsored by: Produced in partnership between Cornerstone Theater, Homeboy Industries and Homegirl Café. Community partners include Hunger Action LA, Solano Canyon Community Garden, and the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College.

Where: The Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring. St., Los Angeles 90013

When: Thursdays - Sundays from April 26 - May 20. From Thu-Sat it takes place at 8pm, with Sunday matinee at 2 pm

Acclaimed playwright Lisa Loomer pens the first production in Cornerstone Theater Company’s Hunger Cycle with an original work, Café Vida. Chabela and Luz are two rival homegirls ready to leave the gang life and begin anew at Café Vida, the only place in the city that gives young women and their shady pasts a genuine second chance to start a new life free of violence. It’s here that these former enemies pull themselves up by their shoelaces, maintain a steady diet of self-respect, learn to compost, tend a garden, julienne an onion and take your lunch order with a smile and a heaping side of transformation.

Notes: Café Vida is the first play in Cornerstone Theater’s recently launched Hunger Cycle, a series of nine world premiere plays investigating the universal and urgent need for food and how filling that need has the power to transform individuals and communities.

Cost: $20 advanced purchase online, pay what you can at the door (accessible to all).

*****************************

What: Earth Day South LA

Sponsored by: Community Services Ltd., Normandie Avenue Elementary School, Los Angeles Conservation Corps, City Year, Guerilla Food Not Bombs, Earlez Grille, Steel Deck, VegFund, WORKS USA, Offices of Mark Ridley-Thomas, USC Office of Civic Engagement/University Neighbor Outreach and others. Booths featuring: Hunger Action LA, Community Build, Community Coalition, LA Community Action Network, Garden Gateway, TreePeople.

When: Saturday, April 14, 11am to 4pm

Where: Normandie Avenue Elementary School, 4505 S. Raymond Ave, LA, CA 90037. At the corner of Normandie and Vernon.

Community Services Unlimited and numerous partners and sponsors will hold the 4th annual Earth Day South LA Festival, an educational, fun and safe event for the whole family. Join us as we celebrate our collective vision for a more vibrant and earth-friendly South Los Angeles with this year's theme - air - visible throughout the event. Participate in service projects, all day activities for kids, cooking demos and workshops including gardening with natives, recycled art and yoga.

Cost: Free, though there is a suggested donation of $5 or more. No one turned away for lack of funds

*****************************

What: Topanga Earth Day Festival

When: April 21st and 22nd, 10 am til sundown

Where: At the Topanga Community House Fair Grounds, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290

Authentic musical performances, guest speakers, ecological artists, innovative environmental demonstrations, non-profit organizations, yoga, biodegradable & sustainable solutions, products and services, alternative energy, healing arts, primitive skills & living by example workshops, organic food & beverages, a free bio-diesel shuttle, composting, water conservation, and native planting for all ages and all cultures.

Notes: The Love and Haiti Project, Kids Make A Difference

Cost: $12 suggested donation

What are you eating? What's in your food?

I had the opportunity to go to a meat farm - New Frontier Family Farms - over the weekend as a member of the LA Eco-Village food coop. I myself am a vegetarian, was interested to check out a farm claiming to raise happy chickens in an environmentally sustainable manner and to learn what that might mean to these farmers. I asked them to explain why they do what they do based on the local to global impacts of their work. Check the video above, and feel free to peruse the rest of the article below. And please, as always, feel free to share your thoughts. :)

Peace!

Nisha Namorando Vida
Local to Global Life Works Founder/Director 

LA Eco-Village food coop folks gathered around chicken tractors and New Frontier Family Farms co-owner Heather to learn about how they raise their chickens.

One of the little ones in Farmer Dave's hands

We learned about the term 'free range'. The farmers informed us that according to government regulation, the way that they raise their chickens (in open air, outdoor pens, which they use since there are coyotes and wild dogs in their neighborhood) is considered 'free range'. Dave and Heather feel that 'free range' should mean that the chickens run around as they please, but they say that they at least work to keep the chickens living in a comfortable situation. Check this link for criticisms on 'free range'. Check this link for how to decode your egg carton.

Chickens chilling in the sun

Chilling chickens and Farmer Heather

At New Frontier Family Farms, chickens stay in the pens as you see above. After a few days, the grass gets worn down, and the pens are shifted to a grassier patch. We were informed that meat chickens tend to be a bit lazy and stay near where their food is. When the pen is lifted, they often follow it to stay near their food. This is apparently a different situation from egg-laying chickens, who are very active and will sometimes fly into trees and on top of roofs, if they aren't unlucky enough to be born as a factory chicken.

Chicken manure fertilizes the pasture on which the chickens graze.

Dave informed us that the health of the chicken mostly depends on the health of the grasses it is eating, which depends on the soil. It all comes back to the Earth. (Watch the film Dirt!)

Chicken feed in addition to the grasses they graze on and the grubs they pluck from the dirt.

A good reason to buy pasture raised meat is because most animals consumed (chickens, cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, etc.) mostly eat grasses by nature. Even 'organic', 'vegetarian fed', or 'cage free' are not necessarily eating the foods they should be biologically. Further, most likely the grains and 'vegetarian feed' these animals are consuming is soy and corn (soy farming, by the way, is the biggest contributor to destruction of the Amazon, other than cattle raising). If you buy organic, then you are likely not buying genetically modified foods, but soy and corn are grains that none of these animals would ever eat in nature. New Frontier supplements their chickens' diets with an organic feed that they said unfortunately contains corn and soy. They said, however, that of all the feed supplements they have tried, they have had the least chicken death and illness with the one they currently use.

In this video, Farmer Dave explains how he kills chickens. He and Heather discussed how they have looked into different methods for killing chickens, but this is the least cruel and painful. The chickens do not live stressful lives, and experience minimal stress and no pain until the final moment of death. After they are defeathered, Heather removes all of their innards. Some of the people who order meat from them request the liver or feet, and so they keep these for customers. Currently, they bury the chicken parts that are not sold, though they informed us that they are looking into composting methods. The kids that Dave refers to in the above video are his own - they help out on the farm. He says they prefer living on the farm, even though they have to do more work, because they have a wide space in which to play, and can observe wild birds (such as hawks nesting on the farm).

 Close up of the defeathering machine

Dave and Heather's farm are surrounded by dairies and meat farms. As soon as we exited and started driving toward the farm, we could smell methane. As Dave mentioned in the video at the top of this post, there are a lot of polluting byproducts from animal rearing, particularly when it is done irresponsibly. He says the water is so bad in their area that it was killing off a lot of their chickens. They installed an industrial water filtration system (below), which has lowered the illness and death levels of their chickens to 15% of the previous number.

The people of the United States have an enormous impact on the world. We alone use 25% of the worlds energy and natural resources. What we eat is central in this equation, whether it is because of the pesticides that leach into the ocean, or the tons of fossil fuels burned by shipping meats and other ingredients across the nation and the world. Further, if we want to have peace within ourselves, we need to think about the peace levels experienced by the food we eat, since both plants and animals release stress chemicals and hormones based on their life experiences.

"Free range"

It is horrifying how 'conventional' chickens are raised and slaughtered.

So, if you are interested in making the world a better place, think about what you eat, what was eaten by what you are eating, and how the animals are treated. And remember, each of your dollars is highly coveted and goes a loooooooong way. Buy local as often as possible. Visit your farmer's market - ask how the chickens are raised, what they are fed. If you are going to eat meat, at least eat meat from animals treated well at a farm that treats the Earth with respect.

*

All pictures and videos taken by LTG, except for 'Free Range' above. That photograph comes from a slaughter machinery company website.

Free fruit trees are fantastic!

At the first official LTG event last year - Waste Not, Want Not: Food, the Earth and You! - we screened the documentary film Dive!: Living off America's Waste at the Los Angeles Eco-Village, following up the screening with a discussion. One of the key points made was that there need to be more edible gardens planted in schools and communities in Los Angeles from which people can eat. Harvesting food immediately before using it would prevent incredible amounts of waste; food wouldn't rot on store shelves, wouldn't reach an expiry date, and wouldn't go bad in people's refrigerators.

Since that discussion, I have been working on starting a small veggie patch (which will soon be a BIG veggie patch) at a school in Pasadena. This past weekend, I attended a free fruit tree giveaway in Inglewood at Morningside High School. The giveaway was organized by the Social Justice Learning Institute and by Tree People. There were workshops on how to plant and prune your tree, and Waste Management hosted a workshop on composting, which not only is a great, cheap (free!) and natural plant fertilizer, but also keeps a lot of waste out of landfills. I received an apple tree, which I will be planting with my students today. :)

Check the video below for a peek at the event and my beautiful baby apple tree. Also, click here to connect to the LTG strategy paper from the Waste Not Want Not event. Thanks!

- Nisha Namorando Vida
LTG Director/Founder

Images by Nisha Namorando Vida

Congrats to a colleague!

I recently received an email from the Los Angeles Bicycle Kitchen email listserve that contained a video featuring Jimmy Lizama.  Jimmy is a resident of the Los Angeles Eco-Village, founder of the Los Angeles Bicycle Kitchen, and an avid activist for building better access for cyclists in Los Angeles and raising awareness about cyclist safety.

Check him out giving a talk on cycling, happiness, and economic development at an independent Tedx talk at UCLA:

Local to Global Strategies and Ciclavia!

Dear community:

Firstly, I hope you are all well and are warming up to the arrival of a beautiful new autumn.  :)

Below, please find an embedded and downloadable strategy paper from the Local to Global August event held as a GOOD LA monthly meetup at The Last Bookstore.  Please feel free to share this document with your respective communities, but know that we will soon post a longer version that includes dialogue from all discussion groups.  I am also working on providing videos of the panels based on footage shot by Ro Kumar of Local Blu.  Check out the video he put together on his site of our event: http://localblu.com/2011/08/good-magazine-presents-generating-good-growth-in-downtown-la-video/.

Local to Global Life Works (LTG) is very much a budding organization working to establish itself as a nonprofit.  The August GOOD monthly meetup at The Last Bookstore was only the second official event we have ever held.  Please stay in tune with our work, and please come out to more events, because there is much planned for the future!

Ciclavia // No cars = thousands of cyclists!

I also have some photographs to share from Ciclavia, which happened yesterday.  I volunteered to work the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) booth and free bike valet service.  Ciclavia was birthed by folks affiliated with the Los Angeles Eco-Village (where LACBC was born).  Local to Global Life Works had the privilege of having our first official event at the Eco-Village and of having a staffmember of the LACBC (Allison Mannos - who will be starting a new position as a communications manager at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy) as a panelist at our event at The Last Bookstore.

Ciclavia was amazing, inspiring and beautiful.  And it made the streets so deliciously free of car exhaust.  There is so much more that needs to be done in our cities to live healthily with our environment, but this was a great start and a beautiful vision for the future of Los Angeles.

         

                       Bicycle love on the Gold Line!                     Free bike valet + $5 discount on LACBC
                                                                                                    membership = a good deal

LTGStrategies_TeaserDTLA

I hope you all are well and I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Kind regards always,

Nisha Namorando Vida

Director/Founder 

Local to Global Life Works

localtoglobalworks (at) gmail (dot) com

Strategy Paper: Solutions in action to end food waste!

Below, please find the strategy paper created for our event on food waste reduction at the Los Angeles Eco-Village.  Thank you!

LTG Strategies: Food Waste

May 28th // Waste Not Want Not: Food, the Earth and You! at the LOS ANGELES ECO-VILLAGE

Save the date:

Waste Not Want Not: Food, the Earth and You!

Saturday, May 28th 2011
5:00 - 8:00 pm

Located at the Los Angeles Eco-Village

117 Bimini Place
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Food will be provided!

Please bring something to drink, a pen to write with and positive thoughts!

~~~~~~~~~

*We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children*

The time to fix glitches and sinkholes and to create an ALIVE future is NOW!!!

Earth Day is everyday!

Dear friends and colleagues:

Local to Global Life Works would like to invite you to Waste Not Want Not: Food, the Earth and You! - an event to provide internal peace work, inspiration, information, and a space to collectively manifest your positive visions for future human living patterns. The event will be hosted by the Los Angeles Eco-Village (LAEV).

Below, please find the evening program, information about Local to Global Life Works (and our call to action!), the Los Angeles Eco-Village and the film Dive!, which will be screened at the event. Timmy Vatterott, producer of Dive!, will be present at the event to foster discussion and information sharing.


The evening program is as follows:

5:00 - 5:30 pm // Welcome and opening meditation

5:30 - 5:40 pm // Los Angeles Eco-Village introduces their work

5:40 - 6:25 // Screening of Dive!

6:25 - 7:20 // Workshop breakout sessions for event attendees to share thoughts on root causes for the perpetuation of unsustainable, modern living practices and their input on what is being done/what should be done for immediate and long term solution creation

7:20 - 7:30 // Closing meditation

7:30 - 8:00 // Reception and networking

We hope to see you May 28th at the Los Angeles Eco-Village!

Local to Global Life Works - http://localtoglobal.blogspot.com/
Local to Global Life Works wants YOU as a partner and ally! Local to Global Life Works is a budding project that organizes events to provide a public space for people to foster dialogue to inspire the spread of information and devising of mechanisms to build a society that promotes mental, spiritual, physical, community and environmental health. We recognize the fundamental interconnectedness between the individual and local, state, national and global communities. We aim to empower individuals to understand how they contribute to problems faced locally and globally, which therefore makes them crucial to identifying, creating  and implementing solutions to build a thriving, LIVE future for Planet Earth!  We seek any and everyone interested in learning, creating, leading workshops, hosting and attending future events, volunteering, or donating thoughts/time/tools/talents/anything to make our efforts more effective. Come join us! 

Dive! - http://divethefilm.com/
Dive! follows Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food during the worst recession since the Great Depression and uncover a disturbing truth about waste in America. Dive! is equal parts entertainment, philosophy, guerrilla journalism and call to action. The film challenges us to conceive of and implement a much less wasteful way of eating and living.

Los Angeles Eco-Village - http://www.laecovillage.org/
We are a neighborhood in the built-out Wilshire Center/Koreatown area working toward becoming a demonstration of healthy urban community. Our whole-systems approach to community development tries to integrate the social, economic and physical aspects of neighborhood life to be sustainable over the long term. Eco-villagers intend to achieve and demonstrate high-fulfillment, low-impact living patterns, to reduce the burden of government, and to increase neighborhood self-reliance in a variety of areas such as livelihood, food production, energy and water use, affordable housing, transit, recreation, waste reduction and education. We also plan to convert the housing in the neighborhood from rental to permanently affordable cooperative ownership.

Thank you for your time!

Peace to you!