A key consideration in SCALING UP to a more localised economy is addressing the fact that we have lost, or never learnt, many of the skills that such a shift would require. While fostering a culture of SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP and its role in creating a STRATEGIC LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE will be essential, its realisation will require a huge reskilling, a shift in the focus of existing education and training, not just in terms of LOCAL FOOD INITIATIVES, but across the board, particularly in terms of energy and construction.
Strategies that bring people together with their neighbours to explore carbon reduction on a street-by-street level are very powerful. They can be a great way, through the support they offer, of tackling POST PETROLEUM STRESS DISORDER and providing EMOTIONAL SUPPORT/ AVOIDING BURNOUT. Being part of such a group has been found to increase PERSONAL RESILIENCE, while at the same time offering a powerful tool for MEASUREMENT, gathering hard data about very real carbon reductions. Finally, these tools are excellent AWARENESS RAISING methods.
It’s October already, so it’s time to share September’s Transition activities from across the world… we have lots of news from Transition groups in the Netherlands. Their Renewable Energy Project has 75 households involved in it, which between them will have about 800 solar panels on their roofs in the coming spring. Also their first Local and Interest Free money project was launched at the end of September, and they also recently held a Post-fossil Festival, with lots of interesting activities going on. Their ‘Share your stuff – with people you trust’ social website, launched in August, has seen 688 people share 832 goods…wow! They’ve also been making ‘eatable façade gardens’ in the heart of the old city of Deventer, and there’s a great video too:
Oh dear, oh dear. I had seen Frannie Armstrong’s newsletters talking about a forthcoming promo film for 10:10 being made by Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Love Actually etc), but actually got to sit down and watch it last night. I have to say I am shocked, and appalled by this, and I’m on their side! The reaction to it has been largely negative and the whole saga entirely self defeating, the very people it was presumably meant to invite to be part of 10:10 feeling understandably judged, revolted and assaulted by it. If you haven’t seen it, here it is, you’ll need to have seen it for what I am going to write to make any sense….
Missed the Transition Conference and can’t wait till next year – or simply keen to delve deeply into understanding the wider movement of which Transition is a part?
Transition Scotland Support is hosting the Transitions, Diverse Routes to Belonging conference with the support of Transition Network and Edinburgh University. The conference is on the weekend of November 20th-21st (with overnight accommodation available from the 19th) and will be a chance to deepen and broaden our understanding, our alliances and our actions. This conference is a truly international feast and will be a fantastic opportunity to see how Transition can make new alliances and work with the other movements and initiatives which are all aiming at reclaiming our creative, collaborative, place-based way of living.
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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