Transition Town Huroniafor a sustainable lifestyle

We had a great discussion at the last Transition Town Huronia meeting held on May 1, 2012!

Download TTH Minutes from May 1, 2012 (PDF)

May 12th is World Fair Trade Day! Hopefully you had a chance to see a couple of bananas walking the street in an effort to raise awareness! For more on Fair Trade, see our friends over at Fair Trade Huronia!

Check out this video of Rob Hopkins talking about Transition Town Totnes at a TEDx Conference. Totnes, England is a small community of about 8,500 people and they started working on responses to the impacts of climate change and peak oil around 2006. They were the model for the Transition Town initiative. For more information, watch the video below or check out their website: http://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/

Reviewed by Peter Ladage

The nice thing about an anthology is you get different voices. In a really good anthology like this one you get a smorgasbord of voices, yet all these different voices are united by the orchestration of the editors, Halpern and Frank. In this volume, they present a dilemma: if ‘the traditional Western assumption about nature that has come under serious scrutiny: the idea that we are both apart from, and superior to, the natural world,’ how do we view nature in the late 20th/early 21st century when we are part of it?

Divided into several sections, each section begins with a poem. Most of the selections are from essays, though one section features features fictional excerpts, and the final section is an annotated bibliography. While I found some of the selections obscure, baffling, others were thought-provoking; for example, one essay touched off this train of thought:

How can you be creative and anonymous? Doesn’t consciousness need community? Barry Lopez writes that in the desert hundreds of years ago, somebody made a stone horse, about twice life-size. It’s still there. Long after I and my reasoning are gone, the love, the pain will become anonymous and decay or fade. That’s natural. Like the stone horse in the desert, hopefully vandals will leave them alone.

Maybe it’s not one-way writing but a two-way dialogue that makes for a good anthology. Plenty here. Spread the word.

About the Contributor

Peter Ladage is a lifelong cyclist, and has always been interested in anything cars, energy, and food: how we get ourselves and our stuff from point A to point B, what does it take, and why. Sometimes, being human-powered has its advantages. He may see and feel things that you otherwise would miss or take for granted, and lives another day to write about them.

Our TTH monthly meetings are always a fun time, and even more fun now that we have a rotating Director of Fun! This month’s meeting saw Director of Fun, Sarah Robbins (pictured at left below), engage the group in food creation! We made some tasty vegan date squares (no bake) and enjoyed them throughout our discussion time! Thanks again Sarah!

5 Ingredient No Bake Vegan Date Squares

(Original Source)

Crust:
1.5 cups whole raw almonds
1.5 cups regular oats
1/2 tsp kosher salt
10 dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil

Date filling:
25 dates, pitted and roughly chopped (~2.5 cups)
1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Line a square pan (8in x 8 in) with two pieces of parchment paper going opposite ways. In a food processor, process the almond, salt, and oats until a fine crumble forms. Now add in the dates and process until crumbly again. Melt the coconut oil and add to the mixture and process until sticky. You can add a tiny bit more oil if the dough is too dry. I didn’t need to though! Remove from processor, set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture for later, and press the rest of the mixture very firmly and evenly into the pan.
2. Grab your pitted and roughly chopped dates and water and process in the food processor until a paste forms. You will have to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl often. You can add a tiny bit more water if needed, but you want the paste quite thick. Scoop out the date mixture onto the crust and gently spread with the back of a wet spatula until even.
3. Sprinkle on the 3/4 cup of mixture you set aside and gently press down with fingers. Refrigerate in the fridge until firm for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Cut into squares and serve. Store in the fridge or freezer.