Sustainable Economies Law Center Launch Party

Oakland-based Sustainable Economies Law Center has been hard at work for about a year now.  In fact they have been so busy helping to facilitate and shape the new economy that they haven’t yet had a chance to celebrate–until now.  Come out November 8 to celebrate and meet the folks at the cutting edge!

 

When: November 8th, 6:30pm

Where: At The Hub, 2150 Allston Way, 4th Floor, Berkeley

Please RSVP by emailing Janelle Orsi at Janelle.SELC@gmail.com

* Featured Speaker: Michael Shuman, author of The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Competition, and Director of Research and Economic Development at BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies)

* Cartoons: A cartoon guide to Sustainable Economies, presented by Janelle Orsi, SELC Co-Director and author of The Sharing Solution

* Starting a Movement: What SELC is doing and how you can collaborate, presented by Jenny Kassan, SELC Co-Director and CEO of Cutting Edge Capital

* Free Books and Flamboyant Squash: Yes, squash! Take home books on sustainable economies and beautiful winter squash from local farms!

* Food: Seasonal salads, snacks from local artisan chefs, and other treats!

What are we celebrating? The Sustainable Economies Law Center is facilitating the explosion of new economies enabled by sharing, cooperatives, barter, local investing, community-supported enterprises, local currencies, cohousing, and urban agriculture! This year, we began laying the organizational groundwork, along with a team of interns and a growing network of collaborators. We are now preparing to launch SELC into many more years of developing resources and serving communities in the transition to sustainable economies!

Richmond’s Mayor to Talk About Mondragon Coops

More good local news about cooperatives and their potential. Richmond’s Green party mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, signed a letter of intent and endorsement with Mondragon last month, after a 5-day visit learning about Mondragon’s cooperative model and operations.

There will be a presentation and discussion on Mondragon and the potential for worker cooperatives in Richmond.

Van Jones Makes Calls With Citizens to Urge Voters to Crush Prop 23

Becky Bond and Van Jones rehearse before calling voters to urge No on Prop 23

(Published on Ecolocalizer) On Sunday evening Van Jones joined hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area residents at the First Congregational Church to call voters to urge them to vote no on Proposition 23.

Prop 23 is the deceptive ballot initiative funded by Texas oil companies and the billionaire Koch brothers that would suspend California’s landmark greenhouse emission reduction law AB 32 (Global Warming Solutions Act).

Regular engaged citizens as well as luminaries like George Lakoff joined Van Jones, Michael Kieschnick (CEO & President of Credo/Working Assets), and Becky Bond (Credo Action’s Political Director) to make calls.  They all underscored the importance of not merely beating Proposition 23, but crushing it overwhelmingly. Organizers also emphasized that since voters can begin mailing in their ballots this week it is critical to contact as many as possible.

“This is not a fight we picked. They are on our turf, in our backyard, using our rules,” Kieschnick said of the out-of-state oil companies Valero and Tesoro and the billionaire Koch brothers.

Van Jones reminded the crowd of their recent history of mass mobilizing against the invasion of Iraq and on-going wars. “We’re getting the moment back for this movement,” Jones said.

“These people are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars to crush your dreams because you suck. They don’t have lunatics on TV twenty-four-seven because you lack power.  They’re doing this because you do have power, you are a force to be reckoned with,” Jones said.

“Do you think they’re getting up in the morning trying to figure out how to create jobs for Californians?” Jones asked, then hilariously play-acted crying on the part of the CEOs of Tesoro and Valero.  The two CEOs put out an editorial on Friday complaining they were just so tired of being cast as villains, after even Schwarzenegger called them out for “self-serving greed.”

Poor them.

The words of Jones and Kieschnick rallied the crowd to action.  Out came the cell phones and everybody started making calls.  Volunteers made thousands of calls and had hundreds of great conversations about Prop 23.

As Kieschnick said, “The old guard oil companies won’t go easily into a future where they don’t dominate the energy scene. We have to win here, crush it here, or it is a big step backwards.”

Credo is continuing to contact voters everyday until election day. Consider plugging in whatever way you can, but the most effective thing is to call voters and get pledges to vote no and volunteer. So consider volunteering a few hours of your time to phone-bank.  That’s environmentalism in action.

Take Action: Go to the Credo Action Campaign site to find your local office and events.



Tuesday Evening in Oakland: Mayoral Candidate Forum on Green Jobs and Climate Action

Source: Green For All Flickr

Oakland’s important Green Jobs and Climate Action forum with mayoral candidates is being hosted by the Oakland Climate Action Coalition Tuesday night at the Oakland Museum of California:

Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Oakland Museum Theater, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street (at 10th Street)

From event site: Oakland is on the cusp of adopting the boldest, most equitable and most creative Energy and Climate Action Plan of any city. But it all depends on the next mayor. That is why the Oakland Climate Action Coalition is extremely committed to creating opportunities for us to talk with mayoral candidates about equity, green jobs, better air quality, and lower energy bills.

We hope you can join the Oakland Climate Action Coalition, which unites labor, business, social justice, and environmental organizations from throughout the city.

Hear Oakland Mayoral Candidates answer the hard questions on climate action and environmental equity.

*Free childcare provided on request. Doors open at 6:30 PM with free light food and drinks, forum starts at 7:00 PM.

If you’d like to attend this event, please RSVP online. http://action.ellabakercenter.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100181

We look forward to an evening of questions, answers and climate action with you!

Proposition 23 Opponents: Climate Change Impacts National Security

Some heavy-weights across the political spectrum are weighing in against Prop. 23 as a threat to national security.  Imagine if we treated issues of food policy, health care, job creation, housing, flood recovery, etc. as the national security issues that they are? Do you think then they would finally get the urgency they deserve?

Check out this post from Streetsblog San Francisco:

Streetsblog San Francisco » Proposition 23 Opponents: Climate Change Impacts National Security.

SF Community Congress this weekend

Please come out to this important event next weekend and be part of San Francisco history!

2010 Community Congress
Saturday, August 14, 9am – 5pm, and Sunday, August 15, 9am – 1pm
University of San Francisco, Fromm Hall (please note change of location)

The Community Congress will be held on August 14-15th to bring together community activists, residents, workers, artists and thinkers seeking to create a progressive vision for the future of San Francisco. Topics will include how San Francisco can begin to become energy independent; strategies for creating alternative systems of municipally controlled finance; progressive revenue reform; sustaining arts and culture as a vital aspect of urban development; improving public transportation; increasing affordable housing; supporting critical health and human services; and participatory budgeting.