THE NEW COMMUNITY COALITION: UPCOMING EVENTS

10 Jan THE NEW COMMUNITY COALITION: UPCOMING EVENTS

Emily Kuehn, our OSM/VISTA offers MLK Volunteer Day workshop and training in basic home energy efficiency in Norwood, Colorado. First, what’s an OSM/VISTA? That’s a Volunteer In Service To America through the Office of Surface Mining! Emily has been with us since last summer, working on our newsletter, developing lesson plans and teaching in the Telluride High School Applied Science class, and doing a ton of work! One of her requirements as an OSM/VISTA it to put together a volunteer project for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – this coming Monday, January 16th.

Doing a project outside this time of year can be tricky so Emily chose to work with one of our EcoAction Initiative participants and offer a bit of fun and a bit of training. We’ll get to see first-hand how a blower door test can identify pesky air leaks that lead to heat loss and uncomfortable drafts. We’ll do a basic walk-through of the home – and then get some training on how to eliminate those drafts. It’s pretty easy and enjoyable – and will make a big difference! Sealing air leaks can save significant amounts of energy and money – and lead to a much more comfortable home. We also want to show some ways to deal with windows. We love our views, but those large glass expanses can contribute to a chilly room. Call or email Emily at 728-5208 or Emily.tncc@gmail.com to sign up and get the low down.

And put February 3rd on your calendar for the first Green Business Roundtable of 2012 combined with the library’s Building Common Ground: Discussions of Community, Civility and Compassion. The library received a small grant resulting from a collaboration between the American Library Association and the Fetzer Institute.

We are so excited to have both Michael Brownlee of Transition Colorado AND Woody Tasch of the Slow Money Alliance speaking at the Wilkinson Public library at 8:30 a.m. on the 3rd.  The Transition Town movement, started in the United Kingdom is spreading through the world – and is a way for communities to prepare for resilience in an uncertain future. It’s a way to build community resources and connections.   See www.transitioncolorado.org and www.transitionus.org for more info.

The Slow Money Alliance was formed a few years ago by Woody Tasch, who had run the Investor’s Circle previously. He began to question why philanthropic organizations were investing their funds in high-return companies that often operated in ways that were completely opposite the goals of the programs the philanthropists wanted to support. Woody’s book, Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing As If Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered, published in 2009 details the fast nature of our current monetary systems that make our heads spin and make it seemingly impossible to track. We’ll have the opportunity to learn more about both topics – and launch a book club consideration of the title. See www.slowmoneyalliance.org for more about Woody Tasch.

As always, for more information, check out our website at www.newcommunitycoalition.org or call us at 970-728-1340 or email coordinator.tncc@gmail.com.