This month’s round-up adds in a new dimension for the first time. Thanks to the newly established network of international Transition hubs, we have a number of international stories sent in especially for this roundup. We’ll start in Canada. Here, sent in by Jennifer Rice, is a speech by Lee Brain, a young man in the community of Prince Rupert, BC. He is one of the main coordinators for the Transition Prince Rupert initiative, still in the mulling stage about to become official. His speech is in regards to a 1200km pipeline project being built from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. He delivers riveting testimony to a government Joint Review Panel that is holding community hearings. It has already been viewed nearly 37,500 times on YouTube.
After the preview of ‘In Transition 2.0’ at the Barn Cinema in Dartington, producer Emma Goude and I answered questions, both from the audience and also that were sent in via Twitter from the other previews that took place that night. The evening ended with Rebecca Mayes singing ‘Turn the Lights Out’. If you tweeted in a question, I hope that yours was one that we answered. The angle of the stage to the camera means our legs look about half their normal size, meaning we both look a bit like puppets.
So today we have some good news, and some bad news. First the good news. We are delighted to announce four events that Transition Network is involved in at the Guardian’s Open Weekend, which is coming up 24-25th March at the Guardian’s new offices in London. On Saturday 24th, we are presenting, at 1.45pm, a workshop called “How to start a community business” which looks at how to create a community-supported food business. The presenters are Greg Pilley of Stroud Brewery (as mentioned in yesterday’s post), and Dan McTiernan of The Handmade Bakery (one of the stars of ‘In Transition 2.0’).
Sometimes the simplest ideas carry with them, when thought through, such a powerful taste of how the future could be that they are quite irresistible. One such idea has led me to spend the last couple of days immersed in trying to find out as much as I could about it, and it has been time well spent, which I want to share with you here. The idea came in a post on the City Farmers website, entitled ‘Brixton Beer’. The idea is a simple one: rather than breweries in London buying their hops from wherever they can source them (sometimes as far afield as New Zealand), people across London grow hops in their back gardens, on their patios and balconies, allotments and community gardens, which are then used by local brewers.
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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