Taking Back Our Lives from the Wall Street Mafia peakmoment 2026-09-21 | Taking Back Our Lives from the Wall Street Mafia
The Little Fir and the Christmas Tree Angel peakmoment 2020-12-20 | This heartwarming story for all ages is based on a true event that happened in the first Great Depression. When the Christmas Tree Angel comes to the tree farm to announce that some trees will be taken to the city to bring joy to families there, a straggly little tree yearns to be chosen. But in the city, no one selects her, and she falls into deep despair. But on Christmas eve, a woman enters the lot just as the man is about to close it….and something wondrous begins. Watch the video to see what unfolds. Let your heart be touched by the beauty and miracles of love. This is our 2020 gift to all. From the story illustrator Janaia Donaldson and video editor Robin Mallgren, host and producer of Peak Moment Television, @peakmoment. Visit http://www.peakmoment.tv
Learning Outside the Box — Homeschooling with Heart peakmoment 2018-10-20 | “I don’t know if you can teach creativity…it’s some connection within ourselves,” says Mark Mendonca. “Wherever those ideas come from, it’s not taught. So you have to allow it. That’s our philosophy in terms of their education: finding their interests and allowing these things to happen… I know that when I watch a child, they’re incredibly curious, creative…” As performing artists themselves, dancers Veronica and Mark exemplify the unteachable magic of creativity. Wanting to nurture this in twins Kaoli and Maceo, they decided to homeschool rather than pressure them with the stresses of school. How has the twins’ creativity been expressed? We’ve included their 2013 video “Summer” (all their own music, lyrics, acting, dance, and videography). Where has it evolved? Maceo’s 2018 video “Quick” is one example. Enjoy! Episode 336. Read Janaia's Journal "It Started with a Serendipitous Meeting" at http://peakmoment.tv/journal/it-started-with-a-serendipitous-meeting
The Resilient Gardener — Surviving and Thriving peakmoment 2018-02-21 | “We’ve had 50 years of unusually stable weather… What do we need to do now, to garden in times that are less predictable?” Plant breeder Carol Deppe, author of The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times, suggests growing a wider variety of crops adapted to conditions where you are; crops needing minimum inputs; and varying gardening patterns with the year. “Short season crops are a premium,” she asserts. She discusses seed saving, and storing enough seeds so everyone in your neighborhood can be gardening if need be. She’s a big fan of growing potatoes and squash to extend each season’s food, plus beans and corn for long-term storage. Carol is breeding seeds with resilience for unpredictable conditions, including open source seeds which anybody can use as they wish without patent restrictions. Episode 335. [caroldeppe.com, osseeds.org].Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Pine Mountain Ranch — Where the Buffalo Roam peakmoment 2017-10-30 | “A rancher could really be called a grass farmer,” contends rancher Alan Rousseau. “But let’s go further. Let’s go to the soil.” The soils in his Oregon high-mountain ranch are rich in minerals, producing grasses with higher protein to nourish his pastured animals, producing hardier offspring, and healthier meats for our eating. Alan raises bison (buffalo) and yaks, and has raised Bighorn Dall sheep, geese, heritage turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. Join him on a tour through the paddocks where he raises native, heritage and indigenous species which are chosen for the colder climate. “We’ve pretty much copied nature,” he says. Periodically rotated into fresh paddocks, the big animals’ hooves till the earth while they graze, and their manure refertilizes the soil. Later, turkeys or other birds follow, eating bugs from the manure. Continuous cycles of depletion and restoration, as nature does it. Episode 334. [pmrbuffalo.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
For Humans, Bugs and Beauty — An Urban Food Forest Demonstration peakmoment 2017-09-16 | “This place is famous. People loving coming by here because at any time of year you can get something to eat.” Architect Mark Lakeman, co-founder of the City Repair project, gives a tour of the corner sidewalk outside his Portland office building, where a food forest is bursting with life. A diagram shows where over 80 plants are located in six or seven vertical layers. Tall fruit trees, flowers, a grape arbor, herbs, berries, small vegetables, and ground cover are abundant. This demonstration project is a haven for insects, and a provider of shade on hot days and the sun’s warmth in winter, which keeps utility bills down and the carbon footprint small. In addition to demonstrating permaculture principles, Mark notes that in this lush garden “what we’re doing here is letting the earth burst forth with self-evident meaning and wonder, so people can just stand here and be appreciative.” Episode 333. [communitecture.net, cityrepair.org]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Connecting with Ourselves, Each Other, and Earth — Personal Tools for These Times (part 2) peakmoment 2017-07-14 | “If we’re going to really be present in this predicament, we’re going to have to befriend all of our emotions. So we teach some tools for how to do that. Being present with your body. How does the body fit in with all of this? Then, we teach some tools for how do we really see each other?” Carolyn Baker and Dean Spillane-Walker continue with specific tools and practices they’re offering as part of “Living Resilience.” Episode 332. [carolynbaker.net, livingresilience.net]
Connecting with Ourselves, Each Other, and Earth — Personal Tools for These Times (part 1) peakmoment 2017-07-09 | “Every single metric [of abrupt climate change] has been accelerating since I took on writing the book [The Impossible Conversation] in 2014,” says Dean Spillane-Walker. “But … the calling of our times, is: who will be together in the face of these predicaments?” Dean and Carolyn Baker are offering “Living Resilience,” an online body of resources, workshops and a supportive space for sharing inspiration, learning, and community. They support participants to reconnect with their deeper wisdom, with one another, and with the Earth in the context of the unfolding global environmental and economic crises. As Carolyn says, “…so we can build resilience. Not so we can build survivalists, and store lots of beans and bullets… so we can be truly resilient physically, emotionally, spiritually, and in every way as we navigate this unprecedented experience that humanity has not had to face before.” Episode 331. [carolynbaker.net, livingresilience.net]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Share-It Square: Creating Neighborhood Gathering Spaces peakmoment 2017-06-23 | Every year for the past two decades, the neighbors near Sherrett Street in southwest Portland repaint their colorful street intersection. Resident Mighk Simpson gives us a tour on painting day. On the sidewalk corners are spacious cob benches (with roofs), a children’s playhouse woven from tree branches and found materials, a beehive-shaped dispensary for the monthly neighborhood newsletter The Bee, a 24/7 Tea Station, and the first-ever “Little Free Library”, an innovation which has now gone viral around the world. Local residents are reclaiming this public space as a friendly places for people to get together, creating fertile ground for other collaborative projects — as well as having fun! These projects marked the beginnings of “City Repair”, a Portland urban permaculture movement which has spread throughout Portland and many other cities. [cityrepair.org/share-it-square]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv
Living Abundantly in the Sharing Economy: A Voice of Experience peakmoment 2017-05-15 | “I ask the groups that hire me to pay me what feels good and right and fair to them, an amount they can afford, and that they can give joyfully… I basically trust them. And it works out really well.” Freelance group facilitator Tree Bressen has made her livelihood in the sharing economy for over a decade. She has also participated in a neighborhood Gift Circle and an online version called Kindista. In these, people put out what they have to offer, and make requests of what they need. Her personal stories reveal how the circles not only facilitate exchanges, but build relationships. Dave Pollard, author of howtosavetheworld.ca, makes presentations on the sharing economy. He has been inspired by Janelle Orsi’s book The Sharing Solution. She frames four levels, from casual and spontaneous, to simple agreements, organizations like a tool library, which might have many players. Dave says sharing can start with something as simple as a potluck: “Invite all your neighbors and chat about what other neighborhoods are doing. I’ll bet something will catch.” Episode 329. [treegroup.info, shareable.net, kindista.org]
A Minstrel for the Earth peakmoment 2017-04-24 | Singer-songwriter and guitarist Dana Lyons’ lyrics can be darn funny and downright moving. He sings passionately from his love of the Earth. This show opens with Dana’s rich deep voice singing his signature “Cows with Guns.” Listen closely to the hilarious lyrics! He talks about stopping coal trains in his own Pacific Northwest community, as well as protecting salmon among the native people in Alaska and orcas in the Salish Sea. This musician-activist uses song, humor, ballads and stories to urge people to protect their communities, economies and environments. Don’t miss his singing one of Janaia’s favorites at the end, “Salmon Come Home.” His extensive tour schedule, music videos, and songs free for the listening are at cowswithguns.com. Episode 328.Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Milking Buttercup the Cow peakmoment 2017-03-17 | “The faster you go in the beginning, the more milk you get. Beginning milkers have a rough time because of this.” Alexandra King, co-owner of Inspiration Farm shows how she milks the family cow, Buttercup. A stall holds the Jersey cow in place while being milked. Alexandra emphasizes super-clean practices because her family enjoys drinking the milk raw — she keeps the animal, the stall, and all implements clean, especially her hands. She chills the milk immediately using frozen ice packs, then places the jars into ice water bins in the farm kitchen refrigerator. From this milk she makes butter, cheese, cheese starter, buttermilk, and cream. Buttercup and Alexandra have their own unique relationship. Contrary to the myth of being up in the wee hours to milk the cow, Alexandra instead has Buttercup trained for 10 am milking. And she has learned which music Buttercup prefers. (She dislikes talk radio). Enjoy the whole process! Episode 327. [inspirationfarm.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Dying Consciously in a Loving Community peakmoment 2017-03-01 | After a terminal diagnosis, activist Steve Hamm said he wanted to die consciously with his friends around him. Judy Alexander and about twenty friends committed to being his care team. In training meetings with professional end-of-life caregiver Kippi Waters, they learned what to expect, and were invited to express their own fears and concerns. Kippi’s advice: “The most important thing around the dying is to leave our philosophies and the way we think it should look — at the door.” Judy noted that few people are comfortable talking about death, and that being willing to have the conversation is a huge gift. She believes that many people would choose to die as Steve did: at home, surrounded by family and community who team with hospice to keep them comfortable. Episode 322.Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Love, Intelligence and Sex — Musings on the Natural World (part 2) peakmoment 2017-02-17 | I asked Derrick Jensen whether he believed in God. “I believe in something,” he replied. “There is some animating force or something. Life is so complex and so extraordinary, and even our individual bodies are so extraordinary and complex.” He plies us with examples of extraordinary non-human intelligence: hearts building capillaries around blocked arteries. Forests sending nutrients to trees with limited sunshine. Bacteria and fungi making communal decisions. Plants that are preyed upon by insects warning their neighbors to put up their chemical defenses. In his latest book The Myth of Human Supremacy, he points out that humans think of art and inventions as only human creations. He asks, “when nature creates something beautiful… is that not a creation? … When we think of the greatest inventions ever — like gunpowder, cotton gin, the plow — I got one that tops all of those easily.” Can you guess his zinger reply? Episode 326. [derrickjensen.org]
Love, Intelligence and Art — Musings on the Natural World (part 1) peakmoment 2017-02-07 | Derrick Jensen reflects on the bird and frog songs he loves, and the richness of longtime relationships with natural places where one lives. By contrast, and especially in cities, our sensory input is largely mediated by machines (computers, television, radio, cars, etc.) Being surrounded only by human input, it can be very easy to forget there’s a real world — the natural world not created and controlled by humans. In his latest book "The Myth of Human Supremacy", he notes that unquestioned assumptions are the real authorities in a culture. “We often hear that evolution itself is based on competition, that it’s ruthless, it’s survival of the fittest, the meanest, the most capitalist, the most abusive. If you believe that, it’ll cause you to act in that fashion.” By contrast, Derrick asks us to consider, “how do you think the world got to be so wild and fecund and beautiful in the first place? Obviously it has been built up…. Every salmon living and dying makes the forest a better place by its life and death…. How do YOU make the world a better place?” Episode 325. [derrickjensen.org]
Embracing the End of Life: A Journey into Dying and Awakening peakmoment 2017-01-21 | A frightening near-death experience led Patt Lind-Kyle, author of "Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain", to wonder what happens to the mind during the dying process. Her explorations led to writing a new book "Embracing the End of Life." She invites readers to prepare now — for living with less stress each day as well as during the dying process. She covers legal and practical issues, and the important choice of caregivers while you’re dying. Her primary focus is on cultivating now the consciousness that you’ll be in while dying — what she calls the “expanded self.” We all experience this when our hearts are open, in times of forgiveness, appreciation, compassion, and gratitude. Episode 324. [pattlindkyle.com]
The Open Source Seed Initiative — Protecting Our Food Commons peakmoment 2017-01-09 | Plant breeder Carol Deppe is passionate about making seeds available for all growers, rather than being in the control of a handful of corporations. “If we want to control the kind of food available and the kind of agricultural system that we want, we have to do our own breeding,” she explains. “What Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) does is create a pool, a protected commons, of germ plasm which will always be available for breeding. The OSSI pledge goes along with these seed varieties, but also if you breed new varieties. So it’s an ever-expanding pool of seed.” OSSI frees the seed, guaranteeing the rights of farmers and gardeners to save and replant seed for many generations. Don’t miss Carol’s catchy lyrics in the song at the end! Episode 323. [osseeds.org]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
In the Spirit of Giving peakmoment 2016-12-20 | Our guest is Janaia's sister Terry, aka "Sparkles the Clown", who brings a colorful and unique addition to our Peak Moment series.
Deep Nutrition — Eating the Way We Used to Eat peakmoment 2016-11-30 | “Nature knows Best,” says Cate Shanahan, M.D. “Just eat the way people used to eat….” For their book Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, she and her partner Luke researched early American cookbooks and worldwide cultures with intact cuisines. They came up with four ways people who live off the land eat, no matter where they live. Eat (1) Fresh, (2) Fermented or sprouted, (3) Meat on the bone, and (4) Organ meats. “Just as we talk about having a variety of vegetables as being important … we also need a variety of parts of an animal.” What to avoid? Excessive amounts of carbohydrates, and vegetable oils (like canola, corn, sunflower oils), which are heavily processed, refined, bleached, and deodorized. Her recent book Food Rules: A Doctor’s Guide to Healthy Living is short, readily accessible and fun. Episode 321. [drcate.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Food, Community and Our Place on Earth peakmoment 2016-11-22 | If the trucks stopped rolling, how long could locally-produced food sustain your community? A farmer friend of Whidbey Islander (WA) Vicki Robin calculated “Two weeks in August [peak harvest time].” Vicki went on a one-year 10-mile diet, building relationships with her neighbors, producers of meat, milk, eggs, and produce. This led her to learn about large-scale food systems which have largely replaced the local food economy. “I woke up as an eater,” she said. “I found that we have lost our food culture…We have lost small- or mid-scale regional food economy.” For example, regulations benefitting industrial agriculture can create insurmountable challenges for local producers. She asks, “how do we rebuild our local food systems, so farmers can be prosperous, our soils can be in good shape, so that we don’t lose our capacity to feed ourselves?” She began facilitating “Local” Food Labs to help communities celebrate their food assets, look for what’s missing, and then brainstorm ways to work together to fill the gaps — “to rebuild the fertility of the local food economy.” Episode 320. [vickirobin.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Imagine If - ‘The Great Turning’ meets ‘Community Rights’ peakmoment 2016-11-12 | Community rights educator Paul Cienfuegos reads his inspiring short declaration inspired by Joanna Macy’s notion of “The Great Turning,” a total change in how we govern ourselves. Paul writes, “The Community Rights movement has been spreading across the United States — one city, town and county at a time. Since 1999, 200 communities have passed new-paradigm laws that strip corporations of all of their so-called constitutional “rights”, ban a variety of corporate activities which are fully legal but considered harmful by the local residents, and enshrine the inherent right of a community to govern itself. These laws are a direct challenge to a variety of structures of law that have made it literally illegal for local communities to protect their own health and welfare. Thus, each of these local ordinances is in itself an act of municipal civil disobedience.” Episode 319 [PaulCienfuegos.com and CELDF.org.]View full text at http://peakmoment.tv/videos/imagine-if-the-great-turning-meets-community-rights-319.Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Ecovillages — A Leading Edge for Sustainability peakmoment 2016-11-10 | What might ecovillages show us about living sustainably? Political science professor Karen Litfin visited fourteen ecovillages in both developing and developed countries. The author of Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community looked for commonalities among such communities, whose intention is to live sustainably. Looking through the lenses of ecology, economics, community and consciousness, she found they share a common worldview: The web of life is sacred, and we’re part of that web. Since the prevailing story says humans are separate from the rest of life, how can we (re)find ourselves in that web? She notes that there are many paths to reconnection, from hands-on permaculture to meditation — insights she brings to her students at the University of Washington. Episode 318. [ecovillagebook.org has photos of ecovillages she visited].Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news and donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
EagleYew House — Efficient Technology With an Artists Aesthetic peakmoment 2016-10-28 | Artist Ezio Cusi’s house is a work of art —and also built smart. The timber-framed house with light clay walls is made with mostly local natural materials. For the cold winters, it has an annualized geo-solar system (AGS) which in summer transfers hot water from solar panels to storage in the ground. In the cool months the heat flows back into the house, warming especially the periphery. It’s comfortable even in the top story. A hand-sculpted dragon provides whimsy as well as warming in the masonry rocket stove — which burns far more efficiently than a wood stove as well as offering a nice warm bench to sit on! Art is embedded in walls while many windows are graced with original stained glass. Enjoy the blend of beauty and functionality. Episode 317. [earthenbuilt.com/gallery/eagleyew-home; ecusi.wordpress.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Knowing and Using Our Gifts peakmoment 2016-10-10 | “Each of us was born to do something unique on this planet, and to give our gifts. That all comes from heart and soul and spirit. Without those in [our] work, we cannot really feel satisfied or fulfilled or truly rewarded…” Ellen Hayakawa, author of The Inspired Organization — Spirituality and Energy at Work, delineates four pillars to help us find our unique gifts. Values are what are important to you. Your Life Purpose is with you throughout your life, regardless of how it might be expressed. Visions and Missions can change over time, and may involve working with other people on a shared mission. Her latest passion is working with children and youth who have intuitive, psychic and healing abilities beyond what our culture considers normal. Ellen says, “This hopeful exciting generation, and generations to come, are bearing very special gifts… If we adults had been as sensitive as they are, we would not be destroying our planet. We would have the empathic sensitivity for what’s going on with mother earth, with people, and with the animals on this planet.” Episode 316. For training for discovering children’s psychic and intuitive gifts, go to www.divinelyinspiredleaders.com/children.[divinelyinspiredleaders.com, ellenhayakawa.com, spiritholdingland.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Alternatives to the Growth Economy — Examples from the Real World peakmoment 2016-09-26 | The growth economy is historically relatively recent, and is now consuming 1.5 Earths and growing. Compound interest is sucking the lifeblood out of the real economy, from households to countries. Mike Lewis, co-author of The Resilience Imperative, tells the story of the successful JAK cooperative Bank in Sweden, which is based on saving on behalf of others and uses only simple interest. It’s one example from the book which illuminates “alternate pathways to move from a growth imperative to a resilience imperative… It presumes we will transition ourselves back to one Earth and find a different way of dealing with a number of ways we meet our basic needs — whether it’s with food, energy, shelter, land, or finance (an important part of the problem).” Don’t miss his stunning hungry hamster example of compound interest at work! Episode 315 [http://communityrenewal.ca]For info on the JAK bank: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAK_Members_BankThanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
The Once and Future World — Rewilding Nature and Us peakmoment 2016-09-12 | “Today we’re looking at a ten percent world,” says J.B. MacKinnon, author of The Once and Future World. “What we think of as nature today has been depleted by 90% in many cases.” Diaries of explorers reveal an abundance of sea life, birds, and animals like bison in numbers far beyond our imaginations: “It’s almost like visiting a different planet.” Our urbanized population has become disconnected from our roots in nature. MacKinnon advocates rewilding by actively building the wild back into our living spaces. We also need to regain the cultural understandings necessary to live alongside the natural world. He asserts, “We NEED the natural world…Not only is it good for us, but it’s good in ways nothing else can provide.” To rewild ourselves, we can start small: sit down and actively see nature again. “Once I began paying attention, what I experienced was so wonderful, that it was easy to keep doing it. It’s so easy to fall back in love with the natural world.” Episode 314. [jbmackinnon.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Beautiful Money — Salt Spring Islands Community Currency peakmoment 2016-08-24 | An island near Vancouver, B.C. has designed its own form of currency. Salt Spring Island's paper dollars and coins look and feel beautiful. For the Island’s tourists, they’re genuine souvenirs. Michael Contardi, President of the Salt Spring Island Monetary Foundation, explains that they’re widely accepted by local businesses and banks, and easily redeemed. They’re purchased using national (Canadian) dollars and are spent at many businesses which accept them, including grocery and hardware stores. Michael shows us the intricately-designed multi-color bills featuring local artists’ work on the back, and historical figures and wise quotations on the front. He explains different models of local currency, as well as Bitcoin, an emerging revolutionary decentralized, non-politicized approach to money available via the internet. Episode 313. [saltspringdollars.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Tour Salt Spring Islands Local Meat Processing Facility peakmoment 2016-08-13 | (No animals or meat products are portrayed in this program). When new regulations required Salt Spring Island's meat producers to take their animals off-island for processing, local production plummeted nearly in half. In response, the Salt Spring Agricultural Alliance obtained grants to create a local meat processing facility for this important local food product. Chair Anne Macey gives a tour of the facility before it was put into use — from animal holding pens to humane harvesting, processing, meat cutting and packaging. This small local operation is a far cry from the enormous inhumane confined animal feedlot operations (CAFOs) where most meat is processed. Episode 311. [plantofarm.org]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Seeds for Our Future — How Shall We Feed Ourselves? peakmoment 2016-07-24 | "We've alienated ourselves so much from nature that our whole way of producing food is by trying to dominate nature. We're not really connected." Dan Jason, owner of Salt Spring Seeds (B.C.), points out how corporations now control most of the seeds and food products worldwide. They are poisoning plants, us, and the planet with pesticides. He passionately advocates our reconnecting with nature by gardening and farming "heirloom" and "heritage" plants started from open-pollinated seeds, just as our ancestors have done in 10,000 years of agriculture. Decades ago he helped start "Seedy Saturdays" for garden-loving people to swap seeds and information. His latest venture is a local Seed Library where people can borrow seeds, and return them at the end of the season complete with growing notes. "It's about love," he says. "Appreciating and enjoying and sharing life. It's about giving, not getting." Episode 310. [saltspringseeds.com and seedsanctuary.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Longing to Belong: Looking for Your Tribe? part 2 peakmoment 2016-06-22 | Bill Kauth and Zoe Alowan, co-authors of We Need Each Other: Building Gift Community, modeled the tribe-forming process on fraternal lodges like Elk and Oddfellows. It begins with a champion, one or two people who establish the tribe's values. The champion invites others into the tribe who wish to commit to those values: staying in place, time together, and being there for one another come what may. Potential members are sponsored by existing members. They go through a 15-hour training on the tribe's values, deepening intimacy, gender safety, and conflict resolution. After several months of provisional membership, they are initiated in a co-created ritual. Don't miss our ending song from their training: "Longing to Belong." Episode 309. [timefortribe.com] Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Longing to Belong: Looking for Your Tribe? (part 1) peakmoment 2016-06-04 | "If you look at our DNA, we're meant to be connected…. You can take people out of the tribe, but you can't take the tribe out of the people." Bill Kauth and Zoe Alowan share a model for community where people live in their own homes located "roughly within biking distance." The co-authors of We Need Each Other: Building Gift Community explain that their own tribe, who have met weekly for three years, has committed to staying in place and to being there fully for one another. Countering the pervasive isolation in our culture, their model creates a safe space for men and women to build non-sexual intimacy, honesty, openness and mutual support in a social safety net. In part 2, they explain the structures, activities and values for successful tribe-making. Episode 308. [timefortribe.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Sooke Harbour House & Restaurant — Pioneers of Local peakmoment 2016-05-08 | Nestled beside Sooke Bay on Vancouver Island, Sooke Harbour House Hotel has gardens boasting hundreds of edible plants, including sea plants at ocean's edge. Innkeepers Frederique and Sinclair Phillip have pioneered locally-sourced cuisine, art, and decor for decades because "it's the most natural way." Head Chef Oliver Kienast discusses preparing seasonal meals with foraged foods, fresh-caught fish as well as locally farmed animals and plants, including parts not often used. Maintenance manager Francis Louvat shows how both kitchen scraps and waste graywater are processed and re-used on-site. Sinclair is co-founder of Slow Food Canada, which, like the Hotel, supports small scale food producers and heritage varieties. Episode 307. [sookeharbourhouse.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community! We treasure donations of any size - go to http://peakmoment.tv/donateSubscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Making Meaning for the Ending of Our Days, part 2 peakmoment 2016-04-18 | Stephen Jenkinson asserts that our death-phobic culture considers "The best death is the least death" -- basically dying quickly and knowing little about dying. He titled his book Die Wise rather than Die Wisely to encourage us to learn about dying from those who die before us. He advocates being exposed to dying people from earliest childhood. The subject of the documentary film "Griefwalker," Jenkinson suggests, "Consider that your death is a companion to your life, not the annihilation of your life." [orphanwisdom.com]View part 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzhFNA98T_U Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Making Meaning for the Ending of Our Days, part 1 peakmoment 2016-04-07 | Stephen Jenkinson made keen observations in his decades working with the dying. The author of _Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul_ observed that our high-technology medical system often makes things harder for dying people. When a patient or their family bargains for "More Time" through radiology or chemotherapy or drugs, it "bears no resemblance to the More Time they bargained for." Thanks to medical intervention, they're not dying death-free, but living longer with dying. This is a product of our death-phobic culture's intolerance of the reality of dying. How can we do it differently? See part 2. Jenkinson is the subject of the documentary film "Griefwalker." [orphanwisdom.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
What About Veganism? peakmoment 2016-03-28 | "The more we take back our ancestral roots and eat the diet our ancestors ate, we go back to what is the most natural for our physiological makeup." The author of Primal Body, Primal Mind considers a short-term vegan diet excellent for detoxifying and anti-aging benefits. She notes, however, that human digestion isn't designed to make optimal use of an all-plant diet for the long term. There can be "significant compromise" to neurological function, because we require high fat levels from animal sources for optimal brain function. She cites studies of brain shrinkage for vegans and vegetarians, and her experience working with them using neurofeedback. "Many people eating a paleo approach to diet, and a lot of raw food vegans, have more in common than they don't have… We all want a sustainable, healthy, humanely-raised food supply." Episode 304. [primalbody-primalmind.com]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Vertical Gardening for Small Spaces peakmoment 2016-03-21 | "There are wonderful ideas for what people are doing, working with small spaces. There's lots to get you excited about growing -- anywhere." Stephen Hindrichs shows three approaches to growing vertically in limited space in his backyard garden. One is a south-facing wall made from a wood pallet filled with soil held in with weed cloth. The second is a tower garden, an aeroponic system alternately drenching the plant roots with nutrient-filled water, and then air. Its yields are 5-6 times that of soil-based plants. The third is a DIY Barrel Garden. Stephen cut the top off a wine barrel, and drilled 40-50 holes in the sides for plants. In the middle is a mesh cylindrical tube where kitchen scraps are added, along with compost worms. Worms migrate into soil packed between the tube and the barrel sides, fertilizing and aerating. A pan below the barrel collects water so nutrients can be recycled. Episode 303.Read Janaia blog: Gardening in a Small Space? Go Vertical! http://peakmoment.tv/journal/gardening-in-a-small-space-go-verticalThanks for being a Peak Moment viewer!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
302 Village Vancouver — How Can A Big City Become a Village? peakmoment 2016-02-26 | How do you empower an entire metropolis to transition towards more localized living in a post-petroleum era? Founder Ross Moster and board members Ann Pacey and Rand Chatterjee of Village Vancouver (B.C.) Transition Society view Vancouver as a network of neighborhood-sized villages. They encourage neighbors to get to know each other. Projects arise from these connections: recycling depot, dinner groups, seed libraries. Village Vancouver has sponsored, collaborated and participated in a wide range of activities since starting in 2008 — permaculture blitzes, a New Economy summit, street fairs, a neighborhood emergency preparedness project, a film series. Their invitation: "Have a desire to create a happier, more livable future for the next generation...and to have fun while you're at it?" [villagevancouver.ca]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Bringing the Wealth Home - intelligent Design at InishOge Farm peakmoment 2016-01-29 | "We had a different notion of real wealth…we converted [our paper money] wealth into this land and home," says Steve Unger. Mary Coll adds that they're storing wealth in their knowledge, and by building a low-tech handmade house with no need for outside "experts" for maintenance. With their children Chloe and Finn, we tour the cob house under construction at Inishoge Farm in Sooke, BC, Canada. On the south side, heat from the summer sun is stored in rocks underground, which release heat slowly through winter (called annualized geo-solar heating). On the north side, walls are insulated to prevent heat loss, and there's even a cool room (like a cold cellar). Chloe and Finn show us the cob oven and their favorite under-the-stairs room. Watch the whole episode to enjoy the blooper at the end! Episode 301. [inishoge.ca, rlwcf.blogspot.ca]
Finding Emotional Resilience in These Troubled Times peakmoment 2016-01-17 | How do you grapple with bigger, deeper issues like catastrophic climate change? Author Carolyn Baker and video producer Ivey Cone join Janaia in a wide-ranging conversation about keeping our hearts open while witnessing the crumbling of industrial civilization. We discuss tools for holding our center, supporting each other, gratitude, and witnessing the powers of the universe at work. For Carolyn, grieving is the most important work now. She sees grieving as the other side of gratitude and love. Ivey constantly asks herself, "what is relevant?" to be doing or being. Janaia ponders what the legacy of the human experiment might be, in the vast story of Earth. Episode 300. [carolynbaker.net, youtube.com/fukicafe]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
The Transition Bus — A North American Odyssey peakmoment 2016-01-04 | Camille Daum-Lobko and Charlotte Astier are in search of alternative ways to organize Western economies and society, particularly with post-growth, cooperative, worker-owned enterprises which incorporate social justice and environmental sensitivity. They converted a school bus to an environmentally-friendly home, and with their two small children, and have embarked on two journeys in North America. They met community-builders and bio-fuels producers in the Florida keys, and visited a new Orleans urban farm and educational center. They were impressed by the thriving Twin Oaks intentional community in Virginia. They sought out worker-owned cooperatives in Austin, Texas and California. The search isn't over. After a pause in Denman Island, B.C. (where we met them), they plan to visit more projects in northern California. Episode 299. For links to some of the projects they visited, go to Janaia's journal: Get on Board the Transition Bus.To watch their videos of some of the projects, visit [transitionbus.org/en (English) and transitionbus.org/fr (French)].Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Ill Farm Your Lawn peakmoment 2015-12-14 | "I'm not a millionaire but I feel like one," declares Gabriel Pliska. This Vancouver, B.C. urban farmer gives a tour of a residential front yard garden, including planted boxes in the boulevard strip beside the curb. Several homeowners provide him yard space and water for cultivating veggies, flowers, herbs, wildlife habitat and beauty. They receive beautifully tended gardens all year round (and some produce, too!) Gabriel harvests veggies for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes and sells the surplus at a weekly growers market. Gabriel's "hyper-local" enterprise is achieved almost entirely on bike. We finish with images of his "guerrilla garden" on an unused railway spur, accompanied by a music track of with his own lyrics "Garden Nostalgia." Episode 298. [frischfarmsvancouver.wordpress.com] Janaia's journal: An Urban Farmer's Ultra-Local CSA - Just a Walk Away http://peakmoment.tv/journal/an-urban-farmers-ultra-local-csa-just-a-walk-awayThanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Visit McCaskill Street - Forging Community Through Resource Sharing peakmoment 2015-11-12 | It all started with neighbors meeting to save money and share information around energy, water, food and more. It has grown into shared projects, shared tools and deepened friendships. Residents joined brushes to paint a wall mural with unique neighborhood themes, spearheaded by artist Lori Garcia-Meredith. "Eggnabler" Janet Riddell hatched a Chicken Coop Co-op to encourage others to raise chickens, and they now host an annual "Tour de Coop." Patti Parkhouse and friends planted a community orchard and several veggie beds on the boulevard (street-side city-owned land). After meeting with an energy auditor, several families purchased heat pumps to save on heating costs (shown by Jack Meredith and Warren Walsh). And that's just the beginning. Here's a list of more results: http://transitionvictoria.ca/index.php/groups-projects/transition-streets Episode 297. Transition McCaskill Street started as a pilot project of Transition Victoria and followed Transition Streets guidelines. Transition Streets are happening in the US, Canada, the UK and elsewhere. Also watch Building Community from Your Front Porch (episode 288) with Transition Victoria founder Michelle Colussi http://peakmoment.tv/videos/building-community-from-your-front-porch-288-----Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747UK link: http://www.transitionstreets.org.ukUS link: http://www.transitionus.org/transitionstreets and http://transitionstreets.org
Beyond How to Save the World peakmoment 2015-10-21 | When Dave Pollard started his blog "How to Save the World" over a decade ago, he believed he might actually play a role in changing the world. After studying the three major systems of civilization — energy & resources, ecology, and economy — he finds all three unsustainable and out of control. Rather than trying to prevent the end of industrial growth civilization, Dave suggests four things we can do. Live a joyful life, while acting sustainably. Learn essential skills our grandparents knew — growing food organically, sewing clothing, fixing things, and mentoring young people in how to learn. Learn to live in community, where "we'll have to live with and maybe even love people we don't particularly like. That's what people do in community." Episode 296. [howtosavetheworld.ca]
What Goes Around Comes Around at the Bicycle ReCyclery peakmoment 2015-09-03 | Behind us, people of all ages are fixing and assembling bikes. It's shop day at the Jefferson County (Washington) ReCyclery. Founder Chauncey Tudhope-Locklear and Board President Kees Kolff explain how opportunities exploded when the Recylery became a non-profit organization. There's a youth Earn-a-Bike program where kids can volunteer a number of hours and then build their own bike from donated parts. The Borrow-a-Bike program lets anyone pay what they can afford to borrow a bike, helmet and lock. The ReCyclery partnered with the school district to offer a "Step On It" campaign in the schools to promote safe walking and biking, and leads two mountain bike teams for young people. Chauncey advises "For anyone who has a dream that can benefit their community — breathe life into it…. It only takes one person to start something that has far-reaching influence." Chauncey has done just that. Episode 295. [PTRecyclery.com]Watch our 2006 program at the ReCyclery, "Changing the World One Bike Rider at a Time", http://peakmoment.tv/videos/changing-the-world-one-bike-rider-at-a-time-182Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
The Animals are Allies at Inspiration Farm peakmoment 2015-08-17 | "My worms are my hardest working critters…along with all my other critters." Brian Kerkvliet shows the mobile chicken house area where chickens scratch, eat bugs and plant seeds, spread the compost pile, and fertilize the soil. As they clear one region, they're moved to another, surrounded by a portable electric fence. In spring they plant potatoes by burying potato pieces Brian tosses onto the compost pile. When moved back in fall, they scratch up the new potatoes ready to harvest! The pigs are "natural rototillers" who get placed where Brian wants soil worked up. They eat anything that would otherwise go to waste, and their manure fertilizes the soil. Pouncer the cat keeps down the rodent population. Plus most of the animals provide food for the family. Episode 294. [inspirationfarm.com]Also watch "Inspiration Farm - Cultivating Nourishing Food and Creativity" (episode 226) http://peakmoment.tv/videos/inspiration-farm-cultivating-nourishing-food-and-creativity-226"Shaping Water and Soil at Inspiration Farm" (episode 267) http://peakmoment.tv/videos/shaping-water-and-soil-at-inspiration-farm-267"Handmade Tools Make Simple Work at Inspiration Farm" (episode 269) http://peakmoment.tv/videos/handmade-tools-make-simple-work-at-inspiration-farm-269Janaia's Journal: A New Season at Inspiration Farm http://peakmoment.tv/journal/a-new-season-at-inspiration-farmThanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Growing Veterans — From Battlefields to Organic Farm Fields peakmoment 2015-08-03 | Chris Brown founded Growing Veterans to help returning veterans like himself break their isolation, gain job skills and support each another in their transition back into society. Their 3-acre farm produces organic vegetables for their partner Growing Washington's CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes. In the greenhouse, farm manager Chris Wolf talks about farming operations. Veteran Glenn Clark, on staff with both organizations, describes how supportive it is for vets to be with one other, along with finding other programs to match their interests. Justin Power (JP), a Transition Specialist for the federal government, notes the healing in being outdoors with hands dirty, watching creation from planting seed to harvesting healthy food. Episode 293. [growingveterans.org]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)
Local Currency — Money for Us, Not the Bankers peakmoment 2015-07-17 | "Back in the 1930s on the Olympic peninsula, people were paying their taxes in alternative money…The banks shut them down. This is an example of the monopoly the banks have, and the level of control they have over peoples' economic lives… People need to know [local currency] is a possibility, an option, a realistic tactical and powerful way to take back your economic power from the bankers." Fourth Corner Exchange co-founder Francis Ayley says the current debt-based global money system is an unsustainable Ponzi-scheme that will crash. By contrast, local currencies are unlimited, based on whatever members want to exchange. He and director Lia Ayley share the nuts and bolts for new members starting to exchange, how values are set, and exchanges involving both Life Dollars and US dollars. The biggest challenge, they say, is changing our mindset from the scarcity built into the existing monetary system to one based on relationships, cooperation and plenty. Episode 292. [fourthcornerexchange.org]Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Living Each Moment in the Face of Abrupt Climate Change peakmoment 2015-07-06 | "It's pretty clear by now the methane gun has been fired in the Arctic ocean, so we're headed for very abrupt warming. What does that mean in terms of how we live? I think it means we live with urgency. We live with love. We live passionately." More people are paying attention when professor emeritus Guy McPherson names recent scientific observations pointing to abrupt climate change in the next few decades. This will quickly reduce habitat for humans and the plants we depend on. The co-author of "Extinction Dialogues: How to Live with Death in Mind" shares his recent journey in grief recovery work and meditation. A recent visit to the emergency room gave him a chance to share in some gallows humor while being mindful to appreciate each moment. Episode 291. [http://guymcpherson.com] Read his frequently updated Climate Summary on Nature Bats Last at http://guymcpherson.com/2014/01/climate-change-summary-and-updateThanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Grow Your Food in a Nook and Cranny Garden, part 2 peakmoment 2015-06-13 | "We're here to help form things. We have a food forest mimicking what the natural forest does." Ann and Gord Baird's edible gardens make use of less-than-ideal growing spaces on their rocky knoll. Nook and cranny gardens optimize micro-climates -- water catchment for perennial plants, rocks that retain warmth to extend the growing period, and trees providing fuel, food and shade. They are transitioning away from the annual food plants. As more perennials get established, they're becoming foragers rather than cultivators. While the cob oven cooks food, it adds warmth to the wall it shares with the cob greenhouse. Inside, heat-loving plants are enjoying tropical warmth in southern Canada! Episode 290. [www.eco-sense.ca, ecosenseliving.wordpress.com]Watch part 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc0bIn7T-DATour Ann and Gord's EcoSense House - "Natural Building, Natural Living" (episode 230) at http://peakmoment.tv/videos/an-eco-sense-house-natural-building-natural-living-230Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Grow Your Food in a Nook and Cranny Garden, part 1 peakmoment 2015-06-01 | "Chickens are naturally forest birds." A tour of Gord and Ann Baird's edible landscape starts at the off-grid chicken house and yard, containing fruit trees that provide a protective canopy against flying predators. Roof rainwater becomes drinking water for the chickens, whose “rototilling” has prepared land now being planted in grains — for themselves and people. Don't miss Hannah Hen catching a berry in mid-air! Then visit a Hobbit-ish above-ground root cellar built of cob, where cheeses, vegetables, and beer stay cool and dry. Then on to a shipping container shed whose sunny living roof produces a bounty of winter squashes. The roof's nutrient-rich rainwater is caught in a barrel, then used as compost tea (fertilizer) for other plants. "It's all connected," says Ann. "We're connected to the chickens, and they and we are connected to the land…. The biodiversity here is actually increasing.” Episode 289. [www.eco-sense.ca, ecosenseliving.wordpress.com]Coming in part 2: Nook and cranny gardens that optimize micro-climates, plus a heat-storing cob-sided greenhouse. Tour Ann and Gord's EcoSense House - Natural Building, Natural Living (episode 230), http://peakmoment.tv/videos/an-eco-sense-house-natural-building-natural-living-230Thanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
Building Community from Your Front Porch peakmoment 2015-05-15 | "Hi, neighbor!" After work Michelle Colussi's husband sits on the front steps, attracting visitors young and old. This bit of neighborliness encourages relationships which come in handy -- like bailing out one another's houses when the nearby creek flooded. Co-founder of Transition Victoria (BC), Michelle organized her neighbors to join in a five-week "Transition Street" initiative to discuss and improve household practices around conserving water, growing food, and reducing waste, energy and transport. She says we need projects at the street level on up to regional levels. We also need to shift values from the "I'll take care of me" ethic to valuing cooperation and collaboration. Enjoy her heartfelt three-word song at the close. Episode 288. [communityrenewal.ca, resilientneighborhoods.ca].Read Janaia's journal "Why'd the Chicken Cross the Road? - To Meet the Neighbors" at http://peakmoment.tv/journal/whyd-the-chicken-cross-the-road-to-meet-the-neighborsThanks for being in the Peak Moment viewer community!Subscribe to peakmoment channel on YouTube for more great shows on grass roots pioneers forging a post-growth culture. Subscribe to email news or donate at http://www.peakmoment.tv. Visit Peak Moment on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Moment-TV/113511867700 GooglePlus: plus.google.com/+peakmoment/postsJanaia on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janaia.donaldsonTwitter: twitter.com/PeakMomentTV (handle: @peakmomenttv)iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/peak-moment-tv/id413896747
