Fresh Greens

One local food meal = one step toward reducing foreign oil dependence

A couple of weeks ago Transition OKC helped host a Local Food Meet and Greet. The Meet and Greet provided a host of folks passionate about growing a local food system the opportunity to network and get to know each other better. It was enthusiastically and well-attended, with more than 110 people coming on a sunny Saturday afternoon to IAO Gallery in Oklahoma City to nosh on locally produced food, wine and do a little “speed meeting.”

The event was organized by the “Going Locavore Group,” a loosely organized and growing grassroots coalition (or alliance) of several Oklahoma City organizations focused on catalyzing and transitioning our food system to a healthier, more sustainable and resilient one – and one strategy for doing so is to localize it. The team organizing the event was for the most part all-volunteer, and although we were scrambling up until the last minute to put all the details in place – we pulled it off – a total team effort if there ever was one. If you have any interest in networking with this group, or want more info, email us at [email protected]. 

As one of the volunteers working on this event, part of my task was to put together a slide show about the reasons for transitioning to eating local food, and to provide a high-level overview of some of the initiatives in other states focused on growing regional and local food systems. As we researched, we discovered coalitions in New York City and Vermont have aggressive strategic plans for regional and localized food sheds and the body of work on this topic is growing exponentially -- encouraging.

Above you’ll find one of the slides from the presentation and I’ll be sharing more of these in the coming days. Eventually will put the whole presentation online at ThinkLady and here on Fresh Greens as well Transition OKC’s website so if it is useful in any way to other local food efforts, it’s available for anyone to use and adapt.

In the meantime, given the high price of gas these days, the fact the era of cheap, easy-to-produce oil is over, and the growing production decline in one of the U.S.’s major suppliers of oil – Mexico -- thought this slide might be a good one to start with. It illustrates one way we can begin to reduce our dependence on foreign oil imports. Ebullient and grateful hat tip to Barbara Kingsolver and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, for helping us imagine a different way of eating in the world.

Imagine abundant local food. Imagine the jobs it will create and the ways it will strengthen our local economy. Envision the health it will bring to our school kids, our communities, the resilience it will give our communities. Imagine how much we can reduce our country’s oil addiction if we eat not just one, but two local food meals a week, three, five, etc. Imagine. And then try it. I think you’ll like it.

If you’d like info on how to get started eating locally head over to Transition OKC’s website where we have a page full of local food resources.

-- post by Shauna Struby, this post originally appeared on ThinkLady 

Technorati Tags: Community,local food,localization,locavores,conservation,resilience,peak oil,transition,sustainability

Transition sweeps down the Oklahoma plains

Transition OKC, a project of Sustainable OKC, became the nation's 27th official Transition initiative in May of 2009. The TOKC coordinating team took several months to lay the foundations of this project by discussing the “Transition Handbook,” hosting a Training for Transition, and setting principles, guidelines and a constitution in place (neatly stored in PVC-free binders, thanks to Shauna Struby). Once the team worked the consensus process and crafted a mission, vision, and goals, a tornado of creativity and energy was unleashed here on the Great Plains. Here’s the scoop! 

Going Locavore
Local food champions are very active here in Oklahoma City, but we don't often have a chance to get together to discuss strategies, share updates and success stories, and plot ways to expand the local food market. Enter Transition OKC, which is now sponsoring Going Locavore happy hour potlucks so all these fabulous people can get together in the same room and share ideas. After one meeting and some intense brainstorming, the next meeting is slated to focus in on the most promising of the hundreds of ideas and start serving up some local food projects. Several members of the coordinating group are working on this project, but Christine Patton of the TOKC coordinating team has taken on the responsibility of pulling the meetings together for now.

Sustainability Center
The indomitable Susie Shields, another TOKC coordinating team member, was so inspired by the "Hands" portion of Rob Hopkins’ “Transition Handbook,” she vowed to create a Sustainability Demonstration Community Center. She put together a diverse team of architects, sustainability pros, nonprofit, business and government folks to forge a way forward with this dream. Education and programming and site selection subcommittees are already hard at work brainstorming and researching.

Reskilling Videos
TOKC’s coordination team believes reskilling workshops (learning how to do things for ourselves again) are a fantastic way to help people transition. It's learning valuable skills, education, sharing information on the challenges we face, networking, food and/or beer and wine - all rolled into one. Put all that learning on video and wow – that’s one way to spread reskilling beyond the 10 or 20 people that can make it to a workshop. Luckily Trey Parsons of Enersolve and Christine Patton, TOKC coordinating team members, are ready to take on the challenge of creating a set of short reskilling videos to share information about how to cook with local food, install a rainwater catchment system, weatherize a house, use a sun oven, grow a garden, make pesto and peach jam and sun-dried tomatoes, and more. Lots of excitement about this as it will give these two the chance to run around all over the metro area asking questions of interesting people and maybe learning a few things too.

Movie Night
Several TOKC team members – Vicki Rose, Marcy Roberts, and Susie Shields - are planning quarterly movies night at Oklahoma City University. Since movies raise awareness about environmental problems, economic crisis, our precarious energy situation, and climate change, they’re a great way to start a conversation and brainstorm on how to address the issues.

Permaculture Design Course
Randy Marks of Land+Form and Shauna Struby are in the early stages of working with Permaculture teachers to design a course for Oklahoma. Short courses on Permaculture design (Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human settlements) have been held here in Oklahoma, but if people want the full course, they have to go out of state which makes the cost prohibitive for so many. By bringing a full-scale design course here, Randy and Shauna anticipate greater participation and lots more Transitioning. Interestingly enough, Oklahoma’s 45^th Infantry just had a team train in Permaculture design before they headed to Afghanistan, and this helps folks here in Oklahoma make a connection to the potential of Permaculture design for our communities.

Wired and Connected
TOKC's Going Local OKC website has been enhanced with new navigation, a new look and a lot of new content. Shauna, Trey and Christine redesigned it to be more user-friendly, timely and flexible. Plus, it needed to expand to be able to contain all the new info TOKC will be posting on various projects (see above), as well as the handy OKC Resource pages (six at last count). TOKC also ties continuously updated media, such as this collaborative Fresh Greens blog, Sustainable OKC Twitter feed, and the TOKC Facebook page, into the website. A big thank you to Transition OKC and Sustainable OKC volunteers for keeping the content fresh and updated.

Teaching and Listening 
One of the things TOKC often hears when out and about in Oklahoma City is there is a great need for more education and awareness about the challenges we face and possible solutions within the general population. TOKC has given many presentations and conducted workshops over the last few months and plans to not only continue with this work,but the project has made it a goal to increase the number of presentations as they go forward. Shauna, Marcy, Vicki, Adam and Christine are working together to make this happen. If you'd like to have TOKC make a presentation to your neighborhood, civic, church group or school, please email them at [email protected].

But Wait, There’s More
Susie just created a Buy Fresh Buy Local Farmer's Market guide and she and Marcy are working on a comprehensive eight-page "Big Book" guide to local food. Plus Transition OKC is planning to redesign printed materials such as brochures and offer a fall and winter gardening workshop. 

So there you go. The whole TOKC coordinating team – Randy, Shauna, Christine, Vicki, Marcy, Susie, Trey, Adam, Jim, Chase and Joseph - have all been working hard. Whether you're in Oklahoma City or elsewhere, you're invited to join in the workshops, presentations, friend them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter! They'll be sharing what they're doing here, reading all about what everyone else is up to, and sharing that too as they keep on sweeping down the plains.

-- Inspired by a post written by Christine Patton, TOKC team member, on her blog at Peak Oil Hausfrau; tweaked and reposted with Christine’s permission on “Fresh Greens” by Shauna Lawyer Struby, TOKC team member

Money for trash and the perks aren't free

by Tricia Dameron

City living definitely has its perks. One perk I'm enjoying since we moved to inner-OKC a mere three weeks ago has been curbside recycling. What a treat! Previously we lived in an unincorporated area and had to haul our recycling to a drop-off center during Saturday morning errands. Everything had to be sorted and it was common for the dumpsters to be overflowing with recyclables, resulting in us carting our waste back to the house.

Today is trash day in my new neighborhood and as I made my way to the office, I pondered the missing "Little Blues" at many of my neighbors' curbs. I cannot comprehend why someone would opt out of curbside recycling. Because of my various residences, taking recycling to drop-off centers has always been a highly regarded pain in the butt. Comparatively, curbside recycling is a luxury. As of July 2009 26 percent of OKC trash customers set out their "Little Blue" every week and 52 percent of the same participate in curbside recycling, according to Mark Jordan at Recycle America. Perhaps you're asking yourself, "What is the difference between set-out rate and participation rate?" I'm not clear on that yet, but check back for more information in the comments.

I wish Oklahoma City had a residential pay-as-you-throw program. I recycle and compost without financial incentive, but it would nice (and logical) to pay less when I use less (landfill space), as it is with gas, electricity, and city water. For $16.23/month, you can fill two 90-gallon "Big Blue" containers per week. A third 90-gallon cart costs an additional $2.76/month. I can request a smaller cart, but I'll pay the same if I dispose 7 gallons or 180 gallons of waste per week. I wonder if there has been any correlation between pay-as-you-throw programs and multiplying illegal dump sites?

Recycling can also be incentivized by container deposit legislation (also called a "bottle bill"), which requires a refundable deposit on beverage containers. Seven states with bottle bills studied litter rates and found a substantial reduction in beverage container litter. Oklahoma Department of Transportation spends $3.5 million/year cleaning up litter along state highways. A 1998 litter survey found beverage containers to be the fourth highest source of litter in Oklahoma.

Iowa, with land area and population comparable to Oklahoma, enacted a bottle bill in 1978. If Iowa can do it, why can't Oklahoma? Several attempts to enact a bottle bill have failed in the Oklahoma Legislature. In 2008 a measure creating a task force to simply study container deposit legislation didn't even get a committee hearing.

Spending taxes to pick up litter will never cure the problem. And burying reusable materials — materials that save money, energy and natural resources — comes straight from pages of "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed," by Jared Diamond. Both practices seem antithetical to the fiscally conservative values of the political majority here in Oklahoma.

Nosh, nibble and buy local goodies at the Local Food Fair today

Sample delicious food, shop, chat and gab at the Local Food Fair this evening. No admission!

A Local Food Fair

Tuesday, July 14

6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Harn Homestead

1721 North Lincoln Blvd.

Oklahoma City

Local foods, plants, flowers & wine vendors and live music!

Come ready to:

• Shop for locally-grown food & wine (please bring a reusable shopping bag).
• Learn how easy it is to make more sustainable food choices.
• Sample fresh locally-grown food & get to know the people who produce.

Sponsored by:

The Next One in the Nest

by Nancy Love Robertson

I love Oklahoma City. I really do. I am a life-long resident and have watched our community ebb and flow over the span of my 53-year lifetime.

In my life, it seems we’ve ebbed more than we flowed for so long, and I, like many of us, experienced discomfort when people from other parts of the U.S. would grimace when I’d tell them where home was.

Today, however, I sing a different tune. I defend my hometown with the fierceness of a momma lion. I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past 15 years or so.

As a community, we invested in ourselves and made the first MAPS happen in 1992. We marveled at our pretty new ballpark, and applauded when we stepped into the Civic Center, Downtown Library and Cox Convention Center for the first time. It all looked good and making progress FELT good.

We the people stood tall on April 19, 1995 and survived the Oklahoma City bombing with dignity and compassion. The whole world watched us in awe, and through the profound sadness of that time, we found our voice as a community with heart.

The momentum of the 1990s propelled us to further our city’s promise when we took a stand to advance public education in our city in 2001. We made a down payment toward our future by telling children in our town that they mattered when we passed MAPS for KIDS in November of that year. “Good for us,” I thought at the time. “I’m proud of you, Oklahoma City!”

So, that’s our community basket of golden eggs we laid over the past 15 years. And, to paraphrase a Joni Mitchell line from For the Roses, “Who’s to know if the next one in the nest will glitter for us so?”

Don’t mistake my question as doubt or as a complaint. That’s not my intention at all. On the contrary, I have an idea on how we can produce another golden egg that will sparkle for our city long into the future.

Thankfully, Oklahoma City as a micro-society is finally beginning the dialogue of what the pressing environmental issues of the day mean to our way of life. Don’t forget, we used to pride ourselves on being the largest city, in landmass, in the United States. Thankfully, Jacksonville, Florida, now owns that dubious distinction. However, in our quest to “be somebody” back in the 1950s and 1960s, Oklahoma City sold its soul to developers and thus created a scenario that took decades to create. Now, it will take decades to unwind.

For what it’s worth, I am throwing my voice behind my fellow Oklahoma Cityans who’ve been calling us on our BS for the past several years about having one of America’s most livable cities. They’re correct. If we really want to be a livable city then where are the sidewalks? Where is the network of running trails and bike lanes? Nothing spells “l-i-v-a-b-l-e c-i-t-y” more than a community that encourages walking, running and cycling.  So, what have we done to put our collective muscle to work on this issue? First of all, doesn’t it make sense to create a world-class city for the residents who live and work here before we cast our net to the larger world?

Fortunately, we’ve been blessed with the hard work of a few. A case in point: Every year, thousands of us enjoy the fruits of the labor of those dedicated staff members and volunteers who breathe life into the Lake Hefner Trails. I have personally logged many hours and miles running or cycling around that lake. And, as a birder, I truly enjoy the opportunity to connect with nature in such close proximity to my home.

Or, take the mountain bike trails at Lake Stanley Draper. In less than half an hour, my partner, Shelly, and I can be resetting the little computers on our mountain bikes (one of us captures time, the other distance) at the Draper trail head. Generous people give their time and sweat equity to creating and maintaining the patchwork trail system at Draper Lake so folks like Shelly and I can have a getaway that is restorative far beyond the two hours we spend flying through the woods, practicing German and playing like two little kids. For those of you responsible for making that space the oasis that it is, I say, “Thank you.”

I am certain there are many more examples in our city that illustrate my point. All of them can inspire us to do more to make our city livable and sustainable. And, these examples of what could be might be the indicators of the next golden eggs we produce in our nest.

So, how does a grassroots initiative get traction in Oklahoma City? In reality, it starts with civic and business leaders.

Attention please! Mayor Cornett, take note. Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, tune in and pay attention. Your constituents might be onto something here.

How marvelous it would be if the next MAPS project involved a network of sidewalks and cycling/running trails that would be the envy of forward-thinking cities like Portland, Oregon? We’ve had MAPS and MAPS for KIDS. How about MAPS for LIFE (Living in Full Enjoyment)? Like two of the other three MAPS projects, (MAPS for Millionaires was a step backwards) this MAPS project, Living in Full Enjoyment…of our community, of our healthy bodies, of our scenic beauty (our sunsets have been known to take one’s breath away) and of each other…has something in it for everyone in our community. I also like the metaphor of a network or web of life for our city. What a gift to be connected to people and places, via a bike trail, to parts of town that are off of our beaten paths. How awesome it would be to figuratively stumble onto a celebration of a culture that’s different, while running along a trail that connects one part of town with another.

I like imaging how this could weave together for the good of our community.

In addition to promoting recreation, fitness, a sense of community, sustainability and livability, there’s a pragmatic side to bike lanes, running paths and sidewalks, and it’s called safety. Here’s what I mean, and it begins with an image that’s burned into my mind’s eye that I never want to see again. It’s an image borne from years of unsustainable city planning for our way of life and a visual that would’ve been less painful to see had there been a sidewalk.

Right before Christmas, Shelly and I were driving on May Avenue just north of N.W. 63^rd. It was a freezing cold and blustery Saturday afternoon. Against the curb as close as they could get for safety, was an elderly couple. The man was bundled up in a wheelchair and he had an oxygen tank in his lap.  Behind him a few paces, was an old woman in a car coat, clutching her purse and holding onto what was left of her dignity. In the face of this dangerous situation, both of them appeared stoic. Shelly and I were stunned at the sight, and I am confident that the other motorists who saw it were equally as horrified. There was so much traffic, there wasn’t an opportunity to stop and help them, so we moved our car as far to the left in our right-hand lane to give them as much room as possible under the circumstances. Nothing was in the headlines the next day, so I trust they made it to where they were going.

Now, back to sidewalks. Is this the image we want to project as a city?  Does the scene I’ve just described bespeak a community that’s forward-thinking, sustainable, livable?  For those whose jobs it is to bring commerce and people into our town to expand our tax base, it might be a wise investment of time to take a look at an initiative that has broad implications for the common men and women in our city. MAPS for LIFE would not only promote a healthy lifestyle for our community, therefore enhancing the quality of life for everyone. It could also say to residents and ultimately the rest of the country that we are doing our part to be sustainable and leave a smaller footprint as a city. While this utopian network of sidewalks and trails isn’t the light rail system many of us dream will someday connect our suburbs with the city center, it is likely to come into being more quickly and for less money. Yet the long-term benefits would be far-reaching. 

What about the next golden egg? MAPS for LIFE could be the next one in our community nest that could glitter for us so. 

What's red hot, green and fun?

Answer: Rethink: Recycle: Redesign

Special preview party 

Saturday . April 18 . 2009

7 - 11 p.m.

IAO Gallery . 811 N. Broadway . Oklahoma City

Purchase preview party tickets here.

Proceeds from the preview party benefit Sustainable OKC and IAO. More info at www.rethinkrecycleredesign.org.

Local art, local food, local thinking. Hang out with old friends, make new friends, tap the green vibe!

Sustainable OKC presents an art event and juried show created to challenge artists and designers to RETHINK objects that have reached the end of their lifecycle. The event promotes and encourages green design and sustainability and rethinking how we use objects. The idea is to RECYCLE and REDESIGN by repurposing and transforming objects into art—functional and non-functional. Included works were considered according to various criteria with emphasis on originality of transformation, effectiveness of repurposing, and aesthetics of design. Exhibit runs through May 8.

Rethink:Recycle:Redesign (RRR) is proud to present work from many artists including: Jacine Arias, Paul Bagley, Nick Bayer, Bryan Dahlvang, Bill Derrevere, Ron Ferrell, Helen Grant, Preston Greer, Aaron Hauck, Susan Horton, Reta & Vana Howell, Brad Humphreys, Amy Jones, Trent Lawson, Darci Lenker, Tanya Mattek, Michelle Himes, Regina Murphy, Rebek & Holmes,

Diana Smith, Julie Strauss, Sue Moss Sullivan, and David Surls.

RRR preview party features:

• A silent auction with great items available for bid including: an Oklahoma State Park stay, a "made in Oklahoma" product basket, Oklahoma Today magazine limited edition Centennial Collection and subscription, private yoga lessons, Yard Dawgs tickets, OKC Thunder basket, a Colcord Hotel stay and more.
• Educational information will be presented including: Trash Factoids, Green Event Guide, Guide to Green Living, Art Class Contest, World Population DVD, and a geospatial mapping project with information about urban food deserts, 100-mile diet and sustainable dining.
• Tasty food provided by local restaurants and food producers. Gratitude to: Kam's Kookery, The Wedge, Earth Elements, Hardesty Cheese, Seasons, Cuppies and Joe, Flip's Wine Bar & Trattoria, Prairie Gypsies, and Pure Prairie Creamery. 
• Local music provided by 13 Seeds.

Our generous sponsors: Sonic America's Drive-In, Sierra Club, Weatherizationsource.com, Arts Council of OKC, Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates, Amanda Ewing, Jennifer Alig, Shelley Branum and Matt Leveridge, Jamie MacIvor, Shauna and Jim Struby, Vicki VanStavern.

For downloadable educational information about how to put together a green event, lower your carbon footprint, resources and more visit www.sustainableokc.org.

Bob Waldrop Elected Mayor Of OKC

by Peak Oil Hausfrau

Featured here is the first post of the Envision 2020 blog, which imagines the events in Oklahoma City as we transition from the present, a time of abundant and cheap energy, to the future, a time of declining and expensive energy...

(OKLAHOMA CITY) Mar. 7, 2014 -- Bob Waldrop, local social justice activist and founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in a landslide election yesterday evening.

"I am proud my fellow citizens have embraced my platform of 'Local Food, Energy and Economy,'" Mayor-elect Waldrop told Peak Oil Hausfrau today. "It shows that our city is ready to tackle the enormous challenges facing us and take responsibility for our future. When we are willing to work together, we can create great things as a community."

Opponents tried to paint Waldrop as a radical, calling him a "sad old Hobbit hippie," "permaculturist" and "local foodie fanatic." These attacks did not resonate with a population weary of years of recession and the lingering effects of the financial crash of 2009. Local groups banded together in a swell of grassroots support to knock on over 54,000 doors in a massive volunteer campaign.

First on Waldrop's agenda: Restoring granaries within city limits. Mayor-elect Waldrop explained, "This step will provide local food security in the face of another oil shock like the one of 2011. We will have grain and beans on hand to provide a two-week basic minimum diet for our most vulnerable citizens. But I encourage everyone to have three months of their own food storage if at all possible."

The oil crisis of 2011 laid the foundations for Mr. Waldrop's campaign of "Local Food, Energy and Economy." While not entirely unprepared due to the efforts of local group Transition Town OKC, Oklahoma City nonetheless endured great stress from the effects of the oil supply crisis. Without constant deliveries of food, grocery shelves were emptied within three days of the Ras Tanura refinery bombing in Saudi Arabia on June 14, 2011. Highways and roads became deserted, and basic city services stopped. Luckily, the crisis lasted only two weeks before the federal government began rationing gasoline and released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ensure coal and food deliveries. Still, the economy was at a standstill, and without regular paychecks, many people could not even afford to buy the food that was available.

Leading citizens, business and spiritual leaders from all walks and parties endorsed Waldrop, including many that had opposed him in the past.

"After the Crisis of '11, the Federation of Churches realized that we needed a city that would prepare for the future of oil depletion, not be stuck in the past of oil dependence. We decided to mobilize and make sure that the city had a plan. Our church was very excited to support Bob's campaign, which had a great, innovative focus on preparedness, resilience, and localization," said John Franks, minister, Faith and Hope Community Church.

Mayor-elect Waldrop will celebrate his election with a "Local Food Extravaganza," and invites all citizens to an open-air potluck festival downtown to be held directly after his inauguration. "We look forward to bringing all our citizens back into the democratic process," he remarked. "My administration will be one of inclusiveness and responsibility and will offer a new vision for the future--one of energy efficiency, local food and economy, shared transport and renewable energy. Our hope is that everyone will participate."

Walking OKC

The OKC Gazette has a great article this week about the "walkability" of Oklahoma City, or the unwalkability some would say. I thought the topic was a good one for us to discuss.

How much do you rely on your own two feet for transportation? Do you have any horror stories about trying to cross NW Expressway sans wheels? What do you think our city could do to encourage more walking? Join the discussion with your thoughts and passions on getting around the oldest of ways.