Pasadena weekend: February 6-8

The big thing this weekend is a Love Fest at the Arroyo Food Co-op. Also on the calendar are the City's e-waste round-up, gardening opportunities and docent-led walks as well as some ongoing and recurring events.

Love Fest. On Saturday afternoon, the Arroyo Food Co-op is holding a Love Fest to celebrate its members and volunteers. Party guests — all are welcome — can participate in "the heart-felt cookie contest" with awards in the categories of biggest, best, weirdest and heart-healthiest cookie; they can also expect vendors' samplings, live music and a kids corner. Existing members will receive a 10-percent shopping discount all day. Those who join the co-op at the party will get 15 percent off all purchases. The Love Fest will take place from noon to 4 p.m. (For a complete list of cookie contest entry rules and other party details see the Love Fest's Facebook page.)

E-waste round-up, document shredding. On Saturday, the City of Pasadena will host a recycling event at the Rose Bowl.

Climate Change. The Pasadena-Foothills chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday morning.

Walks, docent-led. For Sunday morning, the California Native Plant Society has put a plant walk at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center on the calendar. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) is holding docent-guided seasonal walks on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host docent-led walking tours.

Gardening, hands-on. On Sunday morning, the Eaton Canyon Gardening Group will meet at the Nature Center to do some maintenance work on the gardens and the native vegetation. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

Petition, survey. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Exhibition. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival 2014, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Pasadena weekend: January 9-11

Participate in gardening events and docent-led walks, attend a meeting on climate change. Plus: ongoing and recurring events, and this week's random read.

Gardening, lecture. On Saturday morning, Descanso Gardens (La Canada) will host a presentation titled Lush and Low-Water Garden Design with Cassy Aoyagi from the Theodore Payne Foundation.

Gardening, hands-on. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center's gardening group will meet on Sunday morning. Volunteers are invited to help maintain the Nature Center's gardens and native vegetation. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

Walks, docent-led. On Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host its regular walking tour as well as a bird walk, led by Julia Ray from the Pasadena Audubon Society. Guests with any level of birding knowledge may join. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center will offer a guided walk for families, also on Saturday morning, and a native plant walk on Sunday morning. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) has docent-guided seasonal walks on its calendar for Saturday and Sunday morning.

Climate change. The Pasadena-Foothills chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday morning. All are welcome.

The Arroyo Food Co-op is open on Saturdays and Sundays for shopping and pick-ups (in addition to Tuesdays.) Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up starting next Tuesday. For Saturday afternoon, the co-op has added a discussion of Chinese medicine with Jad Dawson to the calendar. In other news, it is hiring staff members.

Two City surveys. Pasadena Public Works is asking members of the community to weigh in on the future of trees in the city. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Cycling. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Exhibition. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

Random read. Like to feel righteous about what you eat? An article by Rowan Jacobsen in Outside profiles what might just become the future of food: the plant-protein-based concoctions of a start-up called Beyond Meat. The company's scientists promise to provide juicy tasting, perfectly textured burger patties with more protein than beef and more omegas than salmon but none of the environmental downsides. While The Top-Secret Food That Will Change the Way You Eat is an eery read for those in the no-processed-foods camp, it is also a fascinating story.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Climate protest in Los Angeles on Saturday

Just days ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on Tuesday, nonprofit organizations, local grassroots groups and individuals are getting ready for a climate protest in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon. Titled Building blocks against climate change and initiated by the Converging Storms Action Network, the event aims to put pressure on political leaders to implement policies that will help stop climate change.

The demonstration will take place on the sidewalks of Wilshire Boulevard between Wilton Place and Alvarado Street — though not in the classical format of a protest march. Demonstrators will, instead, gather in groups and form a chain of protests, with the thoroughfare open for traffic and businesses hoping to cater to customers as usual.

Protesters can sign up to meet at gathering spots of their choice via a website, againstclimatechange.org. "Pick a corner! Pick a block!" the webpage says, "Bring yourself or your group to the location on Wilshire you choose!"

A map on the website shows that Occupy Democracy-Pasadena will gather on Wilshire Boulevard and Kenmore Avenue. The list of participating groups and individuals — as of the publication of this post 73 had been named — includes the California Nurses Association, the League of Women Voters (Los Angeles Region), Loyola Marymount University and the Transition Towns of Greater Los Angeles.

Againstclimatechange.org describes the event as "a no-frills, grassroots, decentralized, self-organizing, multi-group, multi-block mobilization." Groups can bring their own banners, slogans and flyers but are asked not to interfere with the normal flow of traffic and to show respect for people passing by, other groups of participants, and property owners in the area.

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What: Southern California Climate Protest
When: Saturday, September 20, 1-5 p.m.
Where: Wilshire Blvd, between Alvarado and Wilton

Pasadena weekend: September 12-14

Learn about landscaping in times of drought, petition the City, read about climate change.

Bicycling. Pasadena Cyclery is holding a "Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll." The six-mile ride, will be paced to the slowest participant. Learn how-to use gears, climb steep hills without stopping, what to do in case of a flat tire and more.

Gardening 1. On Saturday, the City of Pasadena and neighboring communities are hosting a free drought-tolerant landscaping workshop at Descanso Gardens in La Canada.

Gardening 2. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden meets on Sunday.

Ongoing petition. The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has initiated a petition for the City to adopt an ordinance to protect vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and persons with disabilities.

Ongoing exhibition. An exhibition at Descanso Gardens titled Signs of Life aims to look at water "in all its moods and states." The event is part of this year's AxS Festival, a celebration of the arts and sciences held in Pasadena every two years.

The Arroyo Food Co-op will be open on Saturday morning for pick-ups and browsing. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up next Tuesday and Saturday.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Random read. The September issue of The Atlantic magazine features an article about climate change, that tries to cut through the emotions on the one side and the denial on the other. Titled How to Talk About Climate Change so People Will Listen, it looks at books on the topic and at their authors' suggestions for dealing with the problem. Plainly put, the proposed solutions range from collectively returning to a life of rural simplicity to implementing a (near) global carbon tax. Or we could geo-engineer our way out of the mess by injecting droplets of sulfuric acid into the stratosphere. The resulting haze would reflect sunlight back into space and thereby reduce the Earth's temperature. The downside? Eventually the sulfuric acid would rain back down on us.
Contrary to The Atlantic's promise, writer Charles C. Mann does not show us how we can move beyond the impasse in the debate. But he leaves no doubt that we must learn to communicate better. "Unless we find a way to talk about climate change," he says with an eye toward the handful of billionaires who could afford the geo-engineering, "planes full of sulfuric acid will soon be on the runway."

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Fuller Seminary to screen "Disruption"

Two weeks ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23 in New York, Fuller Seminary will screen a documentary that explores the science, politics and lobbying around climate change. According to its promotional website, "Disruption" promises to show "the terrifying science, the shattered political process, the unrelenting industry special interests and the civic stasis" that have brought us to "our unique moment in history." Created by Kelly Nyks and Jared P. Scott, the film also offers a look at how activists are planning what is already being called the largest climate march in history for September 21 in New York.

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What: Disruption, a documentary, free screening and discussion
When: Monday, September 8, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Travis Auditorium at Fuller Theological Seminary, 135 N Oakland Ave

Tonight: Conscientious Projector screens "The Wisdom to Survive"

Scientists agree that climate change has already arrived. In their documentary The Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism & Community filmmakers John Ankele and Anne Macksoud explore what the pursuit of unlimited growth is doing to our planet, to society and to the lives of individuals.

For the film, the producer-director team talked to thought leaders and activists including Bill McKibben (350.org), Gus Speth (co-founder of the Natural Resource Defense Council), the author Richard Heinberg (The End of Growth) and the Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy.

The documentary asks: "What is keeping us from action?"

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When: today, 7 p.m.

Where: Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N Raymond Ave

What: Screening of the documentary "The Wisdom to Survive", followed by a community discussion. Free admission. The facility is wheelchair accessible.