Strategic Plan Event Focuses on Building Relationships
Active Membership in Transition Sooke
District of Sooke news: Climate Action Plan, EV charging stations
Zero Waste Sooke Update
United for OLD Growth
Book Review: Paulette Steeves' The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere
A Heart for the Earth
Wonders of the Salish Sea
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Transition Sooke Meetings
Contribute to...
Your Opinion Matters!
Your February Newsletter
2023 is shaping up to be a busy year....
Strategic Plan Event Focuses on Building Relationships
Transition Sooke's purposes, laid out in our constitution, clearly relate to helping the local community manage the transition to a post-carbon energy system. Sometimes it is important for organizations to consider how they can best achieve their purposes; this was the focus for the Strategic Plan event on January 22.
Discussion yielded the following plan highlights:
Future Vision of Transition Sooke: A modest, helpful organization, Transition Sooke is broadly connected with the wider Sooke Region including the local and care economies, community members, First Nations, community organizations and neighbourhood groups. A financially stable organization, Transition Sooke helps people overcome climate angst through action, turning climate stress into joy. By connecting people in neighbourhoods “where they live” to work together on issues that affect them, Transition Sooke has been able to flip the community’s perception from negative to positive.
Goals: Conversation focused in part on the perceived negative perception that the community has of Transition Sooke, because we keep raising uncomfortable issues. It was determined that building greater connection and relationship with the larger Sooke community is an important undertaking over the next two years, as it will help to flip that negative perception to the positive, polishing Transition Sooke’s reputation as a lot of skilled, thoughtful people working for the long-term public good. This will involve reaching out to First Nations and community groups, identifying common goals and concerns, and determining how our organizations might work together. A Social Marketing group will lead this work.
It was recognized that optimizing our capacity as an organization to effectively take on the issues facing our community will require stable funds, whether they are achieved through membership dues, grants, or donations. A Funding group will spearhead this work.
And finally, although the planning process was focused on the organization’s needs, it was noted that an ongoing goal over the next two years must be to take and support actions that protect the land, reduce emissions and build resilience—because that is at the core of our purposes as an organization. A “7%” group will lead this work.
Thus, two-year organizational goals are:
Build membership through social marketing. (More Active Members)
Build Alliances with governments, First Nations, community groups. (Strong Alliances)
Act to protect the land and reduce emissions and build resilience/ adaptation. (7% solution)
The upcoming March 26 Public Forum will generate the direction for actions under this overarching goal.
Full proceedings from the Strategic Plan event can be found here.
Are you interested in becoming an Active Member of Transition Sooke?
Decisions in Transition Sooke are made by the Active Members. There is no membership fee but it is expected that Active Members will attend, in person or by zoom, 2 monthly meetings or working group meetings in a six-month period. Members of Transition Sooke meet regularly either in-person or online and share progress on ongoing initiatives, discuss new actions, and find out what other relevant activities are going on in the community.
Transition Sooke has undertaken specific initiatives (working groups) promoting:
Green energy for commercial and residential buildings
Fossil-fuel free transportation and infrastructure
Divestment from fossil fuels
Building a local economy
Self-sufficient and secure local food and agriculture
Rainwater harvesting
Official Community Plan (OCP) and Climate Action focusing on the climate emergency.
Addressing climate angst
Pesticide Education – builds awareness of pesticides and their alternatives
Zero Waste Sooke – educates the public and the next generation on waste reduction following the 5Rs of the international Zero Waste movement — Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot in that order. Runs the popular Repair Cafés
Many of these action teams are just starting to re-activate after COVID and they could use more interested members to join them.
For more info on Active Membership. To be placed on the Active Members list, please contact Jo
The District of Sooke has completed and approved in principle, a Climate Action Plan. Unfortunately it is not implemented yet, even though the Province has offered over $100,000 per year for 3 years to do the work. The Malletts have a hard copy of the plan if you want to borrow it. Or, download it from theDistrict Website .
More EV Charging Stations Coming to Sooke
Christina Moog at the District of Sooke reported to one of our members recently that an “electric vehicle charging stations” page is now available on the District website.
The district is currently waiting to hear back regarding a grant application submitted last summer to expand stations in the community. This application, made in coordination with the CRD, identifies eight new units in the community:
Two at the municipal hall parking lot, located at 2205 Otter Point Road
Four at SEAPARC, located at 2168 Phillips Road
Two at 6726 Eustace Road
Results of this application should be out by fall 2023 – at the latest.
Paulette Steeves' The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere
A book review by Paula Johanson
This new book about the long history of people in the Americas is written by a woman of both Indigenous and Settler heritage. Paulette Steeves is a Canada Research Chair and a professor at Algoma University, who gathered published information from archeological sites throughout North and South America. She compares hundreds of academic articles including work by modern Indigenous scholars, with traditional Indigenous teachings. Her conclusion is that modern science confirms the presence of people throughout the Western Hemisphere for many thousands of years, despite a minority colonialist agenda claiming that Indigenous people were recent newcomers.
This is an outstanding book! Dr. Steeves has summarized her work into a book readable by people who are not scholars. Even just skimming the introduction and illustrations gives a sense of how broad the science of archaeology is when compared to what is read in schoolbooks and newspapers.
There's a detailed review of her book in The Tyee. It is published by University of Nebraska Press, 2022
Zero Waste Sooke Update
Zero Waste Sooke hosted a terrific Sewing Supplies and Fabric Swap at the Library on January 29. Volunteers set up early and cleared away leftover fabric and patterns, then carried a few boxes to a volunteer's truck to be taken to a thrift store as planned. Attendance was about 40 people, a mixed group for ages and genders. People kept saying how nice it was to do a Swap like this, and how they like coming to the library.
Zero Waste is so glad to be able to do activities like this with the librarian April, who is helping us set up a Yarn Swap for Sunday, March 26 at the Library from 11 am to 1 pm, an Art Supplies Swap in June and a possible Puzzle Swap in the future.
Stay tuned to hear Zero Waste's plans for a community clean-up Sunday April 16, and a bus tour of the Hartland Landfill later in the spring.
And don't forget the next Repair Café coming up February 19 at the library from 10 am to 2 pm.
A Heart for the Earth
Sunday February 26, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
an afternoon introduction to the Work That Reconnects
Location on registration
Discover and experience our innate connections, the self-healing powers of the web of life, transforming despair and overwhelm into inspired, collaborative action.
Allie Picketts is a musician, piano teacher, accompanist and poet with many years of teaching, writing, editing, and performing experience. She and her kids have called Sooke home since 2010. Since spring of 2022, Allie has been working towards becoming a Work That Reconnects facilitator, and she is excited to offer this workshop in Sooke as her practicum.
The workshop will include safe sharing, group, paired, and individual activities, with a mix of learning, discussion, introspection, nature connection, and creativity. Following the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, we will start with gratitude, honour our pain for the world, practise seeing with new eyes, and resource ourselves to go forth in active hope.
Transition Sooke will sponsor a second annual Climate Change Poster contest at EMCS. Stay tuned for details.
Contribute to Sooke's Sustainability, Environmental Protection, Climate Leadership and Just Transition
Join us and influence the focus and direction of Transition Sooke by:
Being part of the planning committee to help organize a Public Forum on Sooke issues to work on this year.Contact usto be involved.
Attending the Public Forum, and joining an action team.
Joining the Council Watchdogsand helping keep community members informed about local municipal actions and policies.
Helping Transition Sooke reach out to the community by staffing information tables at community events-- first of the year, Worklink and SRCHN's Volunteer Fair Feb 11, followed by Seedy Saturday, March 25 and EMCS' ECO-Fair in May.
Enjoying great discussions at our monthly meetings.
Up-Coming Events
Feb 11 Workling and SRCHN Volunteer Fair 10-2 EMCS Common Area
Feb 19 Repair Cafe 10 am - 2 pm Sooke Library Multi-purpose Room
Feb 25 Rally for Old Growth noon Centennial Square Victoria
Feb 26 A Heart for the Earth Location on Registration
Mar 26 Public Forum Community Hall
Mar 27 Wonders of Salish Sea Via Zoom
Upcoming Transition Sooke Meetings
Mar 7 Steering Ctte. Meeting
Mar 8 Monthly Meeting
Mar 22 TS Annual General Meeting
Apr 11 Steering Ctte. Meeting
Apr 12 Monthly Meeting
May 9 Steering Ctte. Meeting
May 10 Monthly Meeting
To get the zoom link to meetings, please contact us.
Your Opinion Matters!
Your letters and articles on climate change, development, and community resilience in the Sooke News Mirror keep important issues in the public eye. And sending your thoughts about issues, or Transition Sooke's stance on issues to this newsletter helps keep the dialogue inclusive. If you have a photo you'd like to send the newsletter, a letter to the editor, or a piece of news, please forward it to us. Thank you!
