*** More here

May 27, 2009

Amazon Neighbors Sustainability Subcommittee
Attending: Jared, Sherry, Erik

Compost Pile at Harris-Eastside.  Connie Johnston reported by e-mail about her work at Harris-Eastside Elem School, setting up a compost pile and working with Mary’s class. Connie is interested in helping maintain the school garden during summer recess. (You received Sarah Grew’s detailed report about garden planting, compost installation, and summer coverage. Sarah finishes her volunteer work as her student is graduating.) Amazon Garden Brigade now includes: Connie, Erik, Rebecca, Alena, Alden

Recycle-Reuse Day.  Jon Belcher was unable to attend but reported by phone that he is working with Temple Beth Israel in getting support from Amazon neighbors for the Recycle-Reuse Day. Also,  Jared Rubin reported progress on the June 14 TBI Recycle-Reuse Day, June 14, 2-4. Several recycling and reuse agencies will be present. There will be tours of the Temple’s sustainability features. Sherry Wellborn volunteered to represent Climate Masters. Publicity will include TBI membership, Harris-Eastside and Edison communities, and Amazon Neighbors. The event is a neighborhood, not a city-wide, event. Erik and Jon will facilitate Amazon neighborhood distribution of fliers and web messages, as well as recruitment of more volunteers.

Second Website. Sherry Wellborn indicated she wanted the website www.amazonneighbors.com to be used more. She thought a drawing and fliers at the June 14 event might be useful. A huge feature of that kind of wsebsite is that Neighbors can upload their own goings-on.

Neighborhood Garden Coordination. Erik Muller reported the effort at coordinating some neighbor gardens has resulted in four new garden boxes and discussion of more thorough gleaning.

Future focal points. More intensive gleaning. Planting trees for increased fruit production. Summer bike tour, maybe of Amazon artist studios. Reading group on food.

More.....

 

July 1, 2008 Sustainability Subcommittee

Attending: Ann Kneeland, Erik Muller, Mary Tegel

Compost Follow-up: Mary reports that a Master Composter can present a workshop in our neighborhood if there is a show of interest (5-15 people) and a neighbor yard suitable for the class. The composter would visit that yard and indicate what materials she needed. Ann says she would host the workshop if her yard were suitable. We can advertise the workshop at the August 13 Amazon picnic. We wondered if Connie Johnston were a Master Composter.  Erik will report to the Steering Committee on this possibility and indicate that we would like to have a “Sustainability Table” at the picnic.

Neighbor Inventory: Jon has sent out a revised Amazon Neighbors Resource Inventory. Erik has completed three of them. Others are urged to ask neighbors to complete the survey. Mary wanted to know who will compile the data and how it will be useful. She also thought the form should make clearer the release of any information: “Is it OK to store, share, post . . .?” Jon is still looking for programs to help record and present inventory data; Erik says that the kinds of responses on these early forms may indicate how we want to sort and use them.

Amazon Neighborhood Place: While our neighborhood has Amazon Park and the Masonic Cemetery, Mary thinks the neighborhood has no “amenity for fostering neighboring.” What might it be? A watering hole (drinking fountain)? resting place? notice board or kiosk? Perhaps a Neighborhood Matching Grant could help develop it. Erik will carry this idea to the Steering Committee.

Garden/Yard Tour: We discuss such a tour sometime after the August 13 picnic. It should be a group tour to selected spots with gardens and yard projects instructive for their sustainable aspects. We are not sure if Rebecca still wants to work on this; it would be good to have a lead from the Steering Committee for the event.

NLC Sustainability Committee: Erik reports that this Neighborhood Leaders Council committee is in its early stages, but has a mission statement and intends to work primarily with neighborhood groups and the NLC to involve as many neighbors as possible. So far it is setting up a speakers’ bureau, will have sustainability tables at neighborhood summer picnics, and is developing the focus and content for a green summit/expo. This committee is interested in our subcommittee and its work, as we are one of the neighborhood groups with such a committee. I add my notes from the last meeting of the NLC Sustainability Committee.

Book Group Discount: Mary reports that Peter Ogura of Black Sun Books offers a discount on titles ordered by any book group in our neighborhood.

Next Meeting: Our next meeting is at Erik’s house, 7pm, July 31.

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June 30, 2008 Minutes of NLC Sustainability Committee Meeting
(some action items are highlighted in bold)

Attending:
  Kathy Saranpa, Crest Drive, convener; David Sonnichsen, Fairmont; Erik Muller, Amazon, notes; Carlos Barrera, Friendly; Aleta Miller, Bethel; Jan Spencer, River Road; Anand Keathley, Whiteaker; Doug Black, Post Carbon Eugene (Friendly); Jean Granvinese, Grass Roots Garden.

Introductions, agenda review.

Further discussion of committee role and brainstorming list:
  This involved a discussion of our urgency about many issues, the inertia or lack of education of many of our neighbors, the need to work with neighborhood structures and to present programs in ways that actually motivate and involve people.
  A sampling of points, most of them reiterated by one or more at the table:
Jan: “We need to get ourselves in gear; maybe get the city in gear.” We are building a human potential community.
Doug: is setting up a Friendly Neighborhood tour of green sites and encourages other neighborhoods to do this. We should have an inventory of neighborhood programs that are already in place.
Carlos: We are tied to the tracks but can’t see the train, maybe feel the vibrations. A lot of us won’t believe in the oncoming train until we see it! We “need to explain to people the need to get involved in localization,” and skills & changes need to be easy to assimilate. While we work within the neighborhoods, we can reach out as well, for example at the July 27 Friendly Neighborhood Picnic, tabling by various groups. NLC might support program development and widening access to proven programs.
Anand: Lots of people, believing politicians, still think our oil problems can be fixed. Anand continues the effort to get more neighborhood representation on this committee.
David: We need to promote NLC as a center of alternate action; neighbors can be empowered and our NLC mandate can help us reach neighbors.
Aleta: We should be concerned to involve as many people as possible, and as we support each other in developing programs so we should encourage our neighbors.
Jean: Grass Roots Gardens teaches gardening skills, as well as nutrition and budgeting, all three important to expand.
Erik: We seem to want to reach as many people as we can. We seem to think we can do that best by using existing neighborhood structures. We agree we feel tension between urgency and inertia, urgency and the slow pace of change.

Proposals to take to NLC:
  Kathy circulated a proposal to develop a speakers bureau, drawn in part from Jan’s e-mails. Doug reminded us that Linda Kelley had a good form for identifying possible speakers (forwarded by Doug, see your current e-mail). Speakers can tailor their presentations to what neighborhoods want; they can also develop talks for public forums. The proposal was accepted; Kathy will carry it to NLC with the added word “for developing a Speakers’ Bureau.” By e-mail, we agreed to begin a list of possible speakers.

Outreach Action:
  Carlos invited us to have a green table at the Friendly picnic, July 27. Both Anand and Jan can attend, with a laptop slide show and solar drier and oven, as well a a way for attendees to identify neighbor presenters on green topics. Erik will see if such a table can be arranged at the Amazon picnic August 13.
  Kathy will bring to the NLC our sense that every neighborhood association should be encouraged to have a representative on this committee and to consider forming a sustainability element in their work. David reminded us that it was unlikely that every association would end a representative, but that should not diminish the work we can do.

Green Summit/Expo:
  While the Neighborhood Empowerment Initiative Group seems to be in charge of surveying neighbor interests in order to determine summit themes and has so far shown no preference for a green element, we can define the green component for a summit or for an exposition independent of the summit. We can advocate such a theme to our own neighborhood associations. To begin to rough out such a summit/expo, several of us agreed to exchange e-mails and possibly meet before our next committee meeting (Jan, Erik, Carlos, Doug, David, Anand).

Other Points Not To Be Lost:
  We need an inventory of items useful in green displays
  Grass Roots and its neighborhood group (Harlow?) need to be mutually supportive.
  Jan will e-mail his list of public program topics.
  Add nutrition to our outreach themes.
  Carlos reminded us that the Neighborhood Matching Grants program could serve us, maybe by funding more neighborhood community garden plots.
  Anand suggested that “neighborhood livability” could be an immediately appealing name for our green/sustainability efforts.

Next Meeting:
  Kathy would like half our meetings at Growers Market and half in neighborhoods. Aleta will look into the use of Petersen Barn for Wednesday, July 23, 7pm. As a fall back, Doug will pencil us in for that date at Growers Market.

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May 29 Sustainability Subcommittee

Attending: Dave Renn, Jon Belcher, Mary Tegel, Renee Travis, Connie Johnston, Ann Kneeland, Erik Muller

Our agenda included:

Amazon Food Sustainability Programs
***For #5, Jon & Erik will tailor the “Neighborhood Resources Inventory” to fit our situation, test it (with help from Mary and Dave), and then edit it. Consideration made for developing data base

***For #7, Peter Reppe may be available to do such audits.

***For #9, we agreed to increase traffic on the current e-mail posting. Jon is continuing to look at more refined tools: PBWiki.

***For #11, 14 & 15, we agreed these were ways to share local materials.

*** For #13, we discussed food being shared inside and beyond the neighborhood, need-based or not.

Amazon Neighborhood Resources Network
See #9 above. The notice of the annual picnic could advertise this e-listing, so could an additional mailing. Neighborhood signboards (#19) could serve those who do not have computers, so could a system of buddies.

Amazon Yard & Garden Tour
A tour of Amazon yards that have green features, between July 4-Labor Day, as a group tour and/or drop in, featuring yards of Mary Tegal, Connie Johnston, Whitey Lueck (?), Ann Kneeland-Peter Reppe, Linda Lu (?), John Coutnage (?). Question mark=not asked/confirmed.

Outreach for recruitment & resources
Mary will gather resources, but asks that we each bring one or more to add at our next meeting (or by e-mail). Ann will look into the question of liability in any of these projects.

Other
How can Sanipac help green the garden waste stream? Dumpsters available?
In what ways can we provide a variety of services to neighbors, as does City Repair (Portland)?

Next Meeting: Thursday, June 12, 7pm, M. Tegel’s home.