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The Dirt!
a publication of the non-profit Spreading Roots, Spring Forth
Just so you know, YOU are officially invited to login, its FREE!. And did you know that if you do that, you will suddenly be able to SEE all sorts of goodies that you could not see before. This includes our weekly introduction, articles and such like, as well as offer your own comments. If you make a donation and become a SUPPORTER, you are entitled to your own blog, among other things. Best wishes, until then, feel free to view our calendar as a GUEST.

Our vision for this website is:

  • To connect people to what is happening in the environmental community.
  • To facilitate information flows.
  • To provide a space to mutually encourage each other to become involved and to think about the issues we face today.
  • Explore ideas on how to foster and care for our connection to the natural world.
  • Share resources on ways we can incorporate more sustainable choices into our diverse lifestyles.

To read more about what the total vision of Spreading Roots, Spring Forth is, click here.

Feel free to look around. Browse our events calendar that lists different environmentally earth-friendly, ecological and sustainability community events in the Portland metropolitan region, Oregon, and beyond. Read our fun forum articles. Learn more about The Dirt!, this participatory online civic space, and Spreading Roots, Spring Forth, our parent nonprofit organization.

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Supporters (event posters, donors and Spreading Roots volunteers)are entitled for their own eco-related web blog plus that feel good notion that you are supporting a great cause. Oooh-la-la

City Repair Presents City Riparian

Submitted by Jeremy on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 00:26.

The City Repair Project hosts its third annual City Riparian: The Village Planting Convergence event this October 10-12. Join us for three days of service projects, workshops, and social activities centered around Urban Permaculture.

Neighborhoods come together to plant shared public places that they have envisioned, designed, funded, and will maintain for themselves. Projects are founded on developing strong local relationships, social capital and equity, placemaking and ecological design, and supporting our local economy.

By engaging neighbors in a collective process to design and build functional landscapes in the commons, we will incubate both social and natural capital, furthering the connections between people and their place. This year we will be concentrating on a different area of Portland each day.

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Resilient Communities: A Guide to Disaster Management

Submitted by Jeremy on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 22:14.

http://globalpublicmedia.com/museletter_192_resilient_communities  

Resilience: The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy; the ability to absorb shocks.

The following is a proposal to help make communities better able to respond to the coming economic shocks from resource depletion, beginning with Peak Oil, and perhaps also to shocks from other causes (such as the ongoing subprime mortgage and credit collapse). In searching for a name for the strategy, I have settled on the phrase "Resilient Communities," which comes with considerable baggage—useful baggage in this instance. Once I have described and discussed the proposal, I will offer some background materials regarding the terms resilience and resilient communities, mentioning some other projects that have used the same title or that pursue similar goals.

Making existing petroleum-reliant communities truly sustainable is a huge task. Virtually every system must be redesigned—from transport to food, sanitation, health care, and manufacturing. Some fine efforts are under way in towns such as Kinsale, Ireland; Totnes, England; Portland, Oregon; and several cities in northern California to catalog the needed changes and initiate the transformative process. The Powerdown Project, Energy Descent Action Plans, and local Climate Protection initiatives are all important efforts in this direction. However, even in places that began such work two or three years ago, actual oil dependence remains largely unaffected. The transition that is required will take many years, huge shifts in both private and public investment, and fundamental changes in public policy at higher levels of government in order to succeed. Do we have enough time? Will the investment capital be available?

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Film: Who Killed the Electric Car

Submitted by Jeremy on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 19:41.
10/26/2008 - 17:00
10/26/2008 - 19:00

Location(s)

McMenamins Bagdad Theater
SE Hawthorne & 37th
Portland, OR
United States
See map: Google Maps
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October Updates from the Portland Fruit Tree Project

Submitted by Jeremy on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 19:09.

~ PFTP in the News ~

SustainLane featured the Portland Fruit Tree Project as one of the organizations making Portland "a role model for the Nation" and ranked as the #1 most sustainable city in the country. Check out the article by clicking here.


~ October Harvesting Parties ~

Harvesting Parties are open to anyone, and filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please sign up for Harvesting Parties in your area of residence, and only sign up if you can be for there for the entire time. Meeting location and other details will be provided after you sign up.
We ask for a sliding-scale donation of $5-$15 from each participant, except those living on low incomes.

October Harvesting Party Schedule:
Saturday, Oct 4th, 10am-12:30pm, SE Portland
Saturday, Oct 11th, 10am-12:30pm, NW Portland
Saturday, Oct 18th, 10am-12:30pm, Northeast Portland                     
Saturday, Oct 25th, 10am-12:30pm, North Portland


How To Sign Up:
Please send an email to info@portlandfruit.org with "Harvest Party Sign-up 10/4 (or the date you'd like to participate)" in the subject line.

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Streetcar System Plan Surveys Extended For East Portland Neighborhoods

Submitted by Jeremy on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 17:33.

 

Help the City prioritize potential future streetcar corridors in your district

(PORTLAND, OR) – At the request of Neighborhood Associations from East Portland, the Portland Office of Transportation (PDOT) has extended the timeline for the Streetcar System Plan District Surveys from September 15 to October 31, 2008.

Surveys for North Portland, Northeast Portland, East Portland, and Southeast Portland are available online at http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/streetcarsystemplan Printed copies of the surveys may be picked up or dropped off at Neighborhood Coalition offices.   

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