It’s competition time here again at Transition Culture! You can win a copy of Chris Bird’s just-about-to-be-published book ‘Local Sustainable Homes’ (I have 5 copies to give away) by telling me the answer to the following before midday this Thursday (9th September). Please email your answer to rob (at) transitionculture.org (do not post as a comment). Which two of the following ten local natural building materials or related terms is merely a product of my fevered imagination?
You may well have already seen this, indeed 2.5 million people did before it was removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement, but I hadn’t seen it until this weekend, and it is fantastic and, I found, actually strangely moving. Now back on YouTube, “Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)” is a parody of the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song, a celebration of the Welsh town. Although it has been criticised for the fact that its producers don’t actually come from Newport, I thought it was hilarious, as a lover of warts’n’all musical celebrations of place, such as that for Branksome in Dorset (very silly).
Here’s a short treat for a Friday afternoon, a good way to sign off for the week, a trailer for a film being made by Milpa Films called ‘Voices of the Transition’. Looks like it is going to be rather good….
https://vimeo.com/12408171
Here’s what Nils Aguilar of Milpa Films told us about the production: “it is totally independent, non commercial, passion driven and collective (as far as it is possible to involve different actors in the production process).
Two months’ worth of round up in quick succession… normal service will be resumed next month. So, let’s start this roundup in Europe, with an interview with Ellen Bermann of Transition Italia, sat on a terrazza somewhere with a rather nice view (understanding Italian an advantage…).
Transition in Germany is going on well, with another successful training and a further one coming up on 9 October in Bielefeld, so if you’re interested do get in touch with them. There are also lots of new registered users for their German-speaking Transition Network, as well as meetings with key players in German peak oil organisations, and increasing interest from the media as more articles appear in German publications. And congratulations to TT Bielefeld as they celebrate their first year! Thanks to Gerd for this update. Here is a film of him giving a presentation about Transition (understanding German will help considerably.)….
We have a guest post today, from Jules Peck (see left), originally posted at Citizen Renaissance.com. We have had some initial explorations of this here at Transition Culture already, but Jules offers some useful additional insights into what the Big Society agenda might mean for Transition, and vice versa. Our thanks for allowing us to publish his piece here.
Big Society – Small State.
“Countering Margaret Thatcher’s famous declaration, David Cameron has asserted that “there is such a thing as society”. His vision for this society is based on his Big Society programme of “social action, public service reform and community empowerment… a shift from state action to social action”. His concept of the Big Society makes a distinct break, at least rhetorically, with the individualist neo-liberal model of the Thatcher era. And its success rests, to a large degree, on the abilities and energy of citizens, communities and the third sector. Citizen Renaissance Movements like Transition Towns (of which I am a great fan) would argue that they have been active in building a Big Society for years.
How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations
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It’s competition time here again at Transition Culture! You can win a copy of Chris Bird’s just-about-to-be-published book ‘Local Sustainable Homes’ (I have 5 copies to give away) by telling me the answer to the following before midday this Thursday (9th September). Please email your answer to rob (at) transitionculture.org (do not post as a comment). Which two of the following ten local natural building materials or related terms is merely a product of my fevered imagination? 
