Sustainable West Seattle (SWS)

1st SWS Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Sustainable West Seattle) — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:54:00 +0000

the great weather drew a huge crowd. here are more pics from the festival.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sustainable.ws/2008_05_04SWSFestival

there are several movies in the album and some shots of the polar bear!

Open Space Nov 17 - Afternoon Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Sustainable West Seattle) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:15:00 +0000

These lists were generated at the beginning of the afternoon session of the Open Space, by the participants. (Notes taken by Marilyn Ferguson-Wolf, thanks!)

What can SWS give to its members and to the community?

Marketing of its mission
Affordable green housing
Make it happen to have a green MBA
Grassroots, community events
Community cohesion
Information on how I can be sustainable
Connection with others who are sustainable
Fun X 2 or 3
Community
Make a sustainable difference in West Seattle
A concrete action for building the change I want to see
Build a better model and share it
SWS is seen as a strong local resource
Connections with like-minded people who take action on their environmental community values
SWS as a hub of services for other groups and promotes cultural change
Community action, so that all West Seattle residents know of SWS resources
Provide me with peace of mind
Concretely engaged community
Energy
Community and networking

What I bring to the table of SWS: (or our super power)

Humor, teamwork affinity, big picture thinking
Hosting of pot lucks (Ann Morrow, 938-0595)
Passion
Hosting of pot lucks (Moreah Vestan 938-8385)
Non-violent communication training
Finding of resources and sharing those resources
Commitment to SWS
A dreamer
Bureaucrat
Hope for the future

Proposed Mission & Vision Statements

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Allen) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:22:00 +0000

Hello all,

The Steering Committee has been working on the following draft Mission & Vision statements for approval at the Oct 15 meeting. We'll next turn our attention to incorporation, formalizing our governance structure, and Goals & Objectives for the upcoming year.

Please review these statements and consider what parts of them you do (and don't!) identify with, and why. We're planning on a basic up/down vote of SWS members present at the meeting to adopt these statements as our working Mission & Vision Statements (with the understanding that they're open to further tweaking in the coming year as we grow our organization).

Thanks everyone!
@brian

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SWS Mission: Sustainable West Seattle educates and advocates for urban sustainability in our local community.

SWS Vision: We envision a West Seattle community of empowered citizens who actively lead us toward greater self-reliance, local democracy, social justice, and existence in harmony with life on earth.

SWS Steering Committee Meeting Notes, Oct 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Reiswig) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:56:00 +0000

These are the notes from our last Steering Committee meeting. Feel free to leave a comment below or contact us with any questions or if you would like to help on any of the noted action items.

Present: Bill Reiswig, Brian Allen, Chas Redmond, Gary Lichtenstein, Andy Silber

1) Our next general meeting (10/15) will revolve around an RTID forum with pro/con representatives. The proposed schedule is as follows:
7pm - Welcome
7:05-7:20 - Housekeeping: Mission/Vision statement up/down vote, call for tabling volunteers, call for sustainability scavenger hunt photos for our tabling exhibit
7:30-7:40 RTID Pro
7:40-7:50 RTID Con
7:50-8:50 Q and A session.
Wrap Up

2) Arranging the RTID Forum.
a) Organize by calling Madeline Ostrander, Sierra Club, Transportation Choices, Sustainable Ballard (Andy Silber - needs to happen Tuesday or Wednesday)
b) Flyer (Bill)
c) Outreach - call out to WS Blog, WS Herald, Chamber, MegaWatt, SW Seattle and Delridge District Councils (Charles)

3) Sharing the SWS Calender of Events
Bill will send Charles the Google calender he already started, and Charles will populate it with the dates we discussed tonight and share this with the SWS Steering Committee (Bill, Charles)

4) Tentative SWS Sustainability Fair
a) will occur on one of three weekends May 4, 11, or 18th, depending on availability of parking lot, ArtsWest, permits etc.
b) will be on a Sunday to leverage WS Farmers market crowds and central WS location, will use Arts West for transportation forum and other discussion events
c) Check parking lot availability/dates with Morgan Junction Assoc. (Charles)
d) Check availability of Arts West (Bill)
e) Need to form SWS Sustainabiltiy Fair Organizing Committee ( ?? )

5) Complete Articles of Incorporation with Washington State - Bill has the paperwork (Brian, Bill, Mary Ellen)

6) Complete and turn in membership with and joining of MegaWatt gathering of Neighbors (Bill)

7) SWS will have table at the Cascadia Convergence Oct 26, 27 (Brian will secure table, get details)

8) Improvement of SWS tabling materials/display for Cascadia Convergence, MegaWatt events
a) energy materials (Gary)
b) food and health materials (Bill/Tom O'hern)
c) transportation materials (Chas)
d) CAN materials (Brian-- can you do this by checking in with Ron and Stan about whether they are carrying them?)
e) Sustainability Scavenger Hunt photos

9) Open Space Forum - Camp Long Weekend Retreat (to be coordinated by Gary)
will be Saturday of Nov. 10,17 depending on Camp Long availability - will be an open space event designed to provoke thinking around Sustainability in WS. Please contact Gary with any questions on this one.

10) Winter Celebration in West Seattle - Multi Green-Non-Profit Gathering hosted on SWS's home turf (options and possibilities for this event being explored by Brian)

11) SWS Monthly Operations... what are those tasks that need to be covered for basic maintenence?
a) monthy SWS email newsletter (Bill)
b) monthly general meeting (Charles to create checklist of those items needed to operate each meeting)
c) monthly steering committee meeting (OK... who's gonna step forward to host the next one on Monday, Nov 5? :) )

12) Final Preparation of SWS Mission Statement / Vision Statement for up/down vote at 10/15 meeting (Brian)
final language of mission statement very close to Laura's #2 statement, with additional sentence discussed at meeting

13) SWS to remain engaged with SCALLOPS - next meeting at Cascadia Convergence (Gary, Brian, Bill)

14) SWS to potentially join SW District Council, and perhaps Delridge district council (Chas, ???)

15) Loosely discussed - Plan formed over the winter to send out emmissaries to all the neighborhood meetings to introduce Sustainable West Seattle, and to promote CAN materials... We would promote neighborhoods to have tallied competition to see who can sign up the most people committing to take climate action (for example).

Well..... thats a wrap. for those of you who missed it, it was a productive meeting with some good ideas... if any of them look appealing and you would like to get involved or add your two cents, email back in or call with a query.

Bill

Vision Statements (Draft)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 02:36:00 +0000

NOTE: If viewing with FireFox, the sentences may be truncated. Use IE.
The same document is also saved as a google document:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgr5dzgm_0cgc2dh

At the 8/20/2007 meeting, I proposed a vision, mission and goal statement and
then led the group through an exercise to refine the mission statement.
Below are the notes from the meeting as well as my own exercise in organizing
these thoughts and refining the mission statement.

Mission Statements (as of 8/20/07)

Sustainable West Seattle promotes a sustainable community in the
neighborhood of West Seattle through education and advocacy of
urban sustainability.

Sustainable West Seattle promotes and creates a sustainable West
Seattle community through education and advocacy of urban
sustainability. [but there is no mention of doing projects]

Sustainable West Seattle creates a community empowered to live and enjoy locally with careful use of resources through the education and advocacy of urban sustainability.

Vision (as of 8/20/07)

We seek a community that thrives on a lifestyle of nourishing foods, clean
water, abundant natural resources, safe and convenient transportation, and
healthy homes and that will remain an achievable lifestyle for generations
to come.

Goals (as of 8/20/07)

We partner with West Seattle organizations to create a network
of knowledge in the area of sustainability.

We advocate for policy and initiatives that support building a
more sustainable West Seattle community.

We educate the West Seattle community on topics aligned with
our vision.

We lead projects that build community around the goal of a more 
sustainable lifestyle.

From the SWS General Meeting 8/20/2007:

SWS will promote:

Tangible Products

Intangible Products

Other

Education

Skills

Resources

Connections

Information

Tools

Funding options

Solutions

Thought-provoking ideas

Practical examples

Inspiration

Voice

Legacy

Direction

Possibility

Community building

Hope/celebration

Support

Ethic/values

Clearinghouse/ Conduit

Accessibility

Food

SWS __________ for the community:

Advocacy

Motivational

Encouragement

Other

Advocate

Facilitates

Coordinates actions

Activates

Connects

Searches (on behalf of)

Explores (on behalf of??)

Lobbies

Educate

Unites/Coalesces

Energizes

Leads

Helps

Empowers

Inspires

Envisions

Understands

Nurtures

Supports

Demystifies

Celebrates

Work(s)

Questions

Creates**

Facilitates values-driven actions **

Other: Work(s), Questions, Creates**, Facilitates values-driven actions **

** fits in with the theme above related to tangible products.

Laura’s take on this exercise:

I split the words that the group offered at the last meeting up along some themes which fit more-or-less into some of the themes we were talking about on email. It seems to me there are 3 or so main actions that I can see this group engaging in: Advocacy of sustainable practices, Motivating the community to participate in a sustainable lifestyle and providing a support structure for those in the community willing to engage. Further, the “products” that we’d get from these are real-life examples of sustainable practices (i.e. bus maps and local food resources) as well as an environment that will allow the community to succeed in their sustainability endeavors.

From here I think we can derive a mission statement that captures this essence. My first take is:

SWS is dedicated to reducing our community’s use of natural resources through advocacy and education to promote awareness about consumption, facilitation of projects and events that foster conservation and by providing a support network of like-minded individuals, families and organizations.

I believe this is still consistent with the goals and vision that I wrote above.

Welcome to Sustainable West Seattle!

noreply@blogger.com (Sustainable West Seattle) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:53:00 +0000

Sustainable West Seattle is a newly-formed group of West Seattle citizens who want to make a difference locally—working within our neighborhood to become more self reliant while using fewer natural resources.

Sustainable West Seattle's shape and activities will reflect the talent and interests of those who come along for the ride, but we aim to provide resources and outreach for the West Seattle neighborhood on issues such as:

· Renewable Energy & Conservation

· Local Transportation Solutions

· Easting Locally, Sustainable Health and Elder Care

· Water & Waste Reduction

· Green Building, Sustainable Landscaping and Gardening

· Community-Based Economics

· Green Space Conservation

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You're invited to our next meeting...

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 7:00-9pm
Camp Long - 5200 35th Ave SW

You can get involved directly with one of our ACTION GROUPS at any time. Just contact the folks listed below:

Energy	Gary Lichtenstein	glichtenstein at comcast.net
Transportation	Chas Redmond	credmond at mac.com
Food & Health	Nancy Ishii	grace728 at juno.com
Water & Waste Reduction	Holly Harris	holly.harris at klgates.com
Green Building & Planning	Mary Quakenbush	maryquackenbush at comcast.net