An Evolving Exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent
Transition Culture has moved
I no longer blog on this site. You can now find me, my general blogs, and the work I am doing researching my forthcoming book on imagination, on my new blog.
Last week, Colin Hines spoke at St. John’s Church in Bridgetown as part of an evening event called ‘Money, Money, Money’. Colin is the convenor of the Green New Deal, advisor to Caroline Lucas MEP and author of ‘Localisation: a global manifesto‘. In spite of it being a foul night, cold, wet and wild, and it being an evening about economics, over 80 people turned up. I present here a record of his talk, compiled from my scrawled notes. Any mistakes here are entirely due to my never having learned shorthand as a child.
“This is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. For some sections of our society it is already becoming the worst of times, with people losing their homes and being deeply worried as things becoming more and more dire and insecure. It is the best of times in that dramatic change only comes at times of economic instability.
Here is a great film from Australia about ‘permablitzing’, and about edible backgardening. It features Asha Bee, who is currently working here with Transition Network doing a book about Transition in cities. Enjoy.
You can download a hi-res version for screenings in your local initiative here.
It has been fascinating to read a series of three articles at PeakOilBlues.com looking at the arrival of Transition in the US. You can read the article, entitled “I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Transition Was In” here (parts 1, 2 and 3). Apart from having a fantastic title that I really wish I had thought of, the piece also raises some key questions needing contemplation as Transition continues to spread vigorously across the US. I wanted to take the opportunity to address some of Kathy’s points in this post.
Here is a link to a rather good piece that appeared last week on BBC East Midlands, called ‘Energy Transitions’, with the subtitle “A look at how the East Midlands’ towns and cities are dealing with future energy issues”. It features some film done at the Cities Conference, as well as a look at the work of some of the local groups there. I particularly love the way she explains peak oil by walking over a bridge, very nice. Here is how they describe the programme on the Inside Out website;
The Local Government Association recently published a paper called ‘Volatile Times: transport, climate change and the price of oil”, which you can download here. It looks at the challenges faced by local authorities through the lens of peak oil and climate change, and is a very useful document for any Transition groups working with their local authorities. It starts with a clear setting out of the peak oil concept, and then looks at what Councils can do to respond. Transition initiatives, and Nottingham in particular are cited as case studies, the ‘Oil Independence in Oakland’ report is cited, including the great quote “quite simply, if Oakland is to reduce its dependence on oil, its residents must drive less”. A very useful document.
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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Last week, Colin Hines spoke at St. John’s Church in Bridgetown as part of an evening event called ‘Money, Money, Money’. Colin is the convenor of the Green New Deal, advisor to Caroline Lucas MEP and author of ‘Localisation: a global manifesto‘. In spite of it being a foul night, cold, wet and wild, and it being an evening about economics, over 80 people turned up. I present here a record of his talk, compiled from my scrawled notes. Any mistakes here are entirely due to my never having learned shorthand as a child.
