350.org Events: Transition Mill Valley

This Saturday, October 24 is 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action. Artfulchange will be hosting a carbon neutral online concert fundraiser all day on our website and an after-party that night at the Box! We hope you can all come. Many other Bay Area organizations are doing great events that day as well and we are doing a series this week to highlight those projects.

I had the chance to speak with Deborah Phelan from Transition Mill Valley about their 350.org Day of Climate Action Project.
   
1. What is the mission of your organization?
Transition Mill Valley engages the creativity, expertise, and skill-sets of our friends and neighbors in the design of a sustainable, resilient, and mutually-supportive community. We collaborate with other groups to bring about an inspired awakening to the challenges of peak oil and climate change. We recognize the need to build a sustainable, local economy, and to restore the living systems that insure our future.

    2. How did you get involved in the 350.org International Day of Climate Action?
Everyone in our organization is '350 literate' .... One of our members came up with the information on where the water level would be in our community and we decided to co-sponsor an event with other local environment organizations

    3. Tell us about your Climate Action Project.
We are having a 1 hour rally with assorted beach gear on a small street beside a creek which will be underwater. Along with calling community attention to how raising water levels will impact our community, we are using this opportunity to forge bonds of connectivity among the various groups who will speak. Transition Mill Valley will be handing out 5-foot pieces of blue yarn to every two people to engage them in cat's cradle, a game you cannot play yourself but which necessitates a certain degree of fluency in string games and, I believe, in many cases the recall of a forgotten skill to participate.

    4. What do you need people to do to help make a difference?
Show up! Make a decision that you are going to have to reprioritize your time to become actively engaged in local, regional, national and the global effort to own your responsibility for the future of all life on our planet. Hopefully, this event will play a huge role in waking up our community to a reality which is hard to envision but is inevitable without a major commitment.

    5. Where can people learn more about your organization and project?
We have just created a web page http://www.transitionmv.wordpress.com. Transtion Initiatives  are also widely represented on WiserEarth http://www.wiserearth.org. (just search under transition)  and Transition US http://www.transitionus.org