I already posted something in response to DaveDann’s request – see my post of 3 Apr 10:37am above.

And no, of course I don’t think that lifestyle changes are unnecessary. No point in wasting more words on the topic though – I think it’s pretty much all been said now.

It’s all of it together. The great Transition principle is that people should follow their passion as the route to greatest success. The more time we spend this type of discussion simply diverts us from the really urgent need to get on with it – what ever it is that you think is best. But do it now!

Hi Robert,

I still don’t get the either/or approach beloved of the capitalst media you mention, and which you also appear to advocate (but in reverse). Surely changing how we live is connected to changing our communities is connected to changing our politics is connected to changing global processes. Or if it isn’t, then we ned to be working rapidly to make sure it is!

If I think of political movements that have been effective (or worked against all odds to be effective) they have not been ones that have told people not to make individual choices, and not to buld community level organisation and change, because there is some other level (the national/ internatioal) where everything happens. They have not been ones that say there is no point doing anything except some unspecified line of action which almost always comes down to simply protesting.

Over my life I have regularly been involved in protest but, by itself, it simply bolsters the position of the powerful – and this is my problem with the whole Rocky Road approach. By itself it is another dead end. All of our approaches are (by themselves) dead ends. Our (slim, but worth struggling for) hope/ work is to connect up these approaches, to turn up the creative and challenging heat of creatively recovering our power, rather than the heat of the planet and the poor and the ecosystems and (finally) the bloggers burning.

I’m still looking forward to your picking up on your statement to DaveDann (3rd April) to “post something about my own experiences in taking back power shortly”!

Best, Justin

I still don’t get the either/or approach beloved of the capitalst media you mention, and which you also appear to advocate (but in reverse). Surely changing how we live is connected to changing our communities is connected to changing our politics is connected to changing global processes. Or if it isn’t, then we ned to be working rapidly to make sure of this.

If I think of political movements that have been effective (or worked against all odds to be effective) they have not been ones that have told people not to make individual choices, not to buld community level organisation and change, because there is some other level (the national/ internatioal) where everything happens, so there is no point doing anything except some unspecified line of action which almost always comes down to simply protesting. Over my life I have regularly been involved in protest but, by itself, it simply bolsters the position of the powerful – and this is my problem with the whole Rocky Road approach. By itself it is another dead end. All of our approaches are (by themselves) dead ends. Our (slim, but worth struggling for) hope is to connect up these approaches, to turn up the creative and challenging heat of creatively recovering our power, rather than the heat of the planet and the poor and the ecosystems and (finally) the bloggers burning.

I’m still looking forward to your picking up on your statement to DaveDann (3rd April) to “post something about my own experiences in taking back power shortly”!

Best, Justin

It’s not an accident that the main focus of mass climate activism, until very recently, has been on individual lifestyle changes. The capitalist media (you know, the ones that carry adverts for cars and airlines) have been very influential in pushing this form of “activism” as the one and only solution. I suppose that’s because it’s politically safe and non-controversial, and as Ian points out, probably completely ineffective.

But to think that because I use less oil, that less carbon dioxide will enter the atmosphere is a delusion. The reason for this is because it is a demand-side action. The supply side is not affected. By reducing my demand for oil, I am not reducing the supply. That reduction in demand, given equal supply, simply makes oil cheaper for those who live high-energy lifestyles.

I actually do live a relatively low energy lifestyle, mainly because such a lifestyle usually is in harmony with living a low-income lifestyle (e.g. cycling rather than driving or using the bus, not travelling often, leaving heating off). That is what is important. You win many people over to your side by talking about low-energy use being economical rather than merely virtuous.

This is why climate change activism has been stuck in the mud as a middle-class and alternative subculture interest. These are important, but what we need to learn from left-wing movements is that collective goals and action are far more important than the individualist attempts at political change.

Like all motor vehicles, the passengers make up a small percentage of the total mass of an aeroplane.

What people around me think is more influenced by what the media is saying than what I am doing. If there’s anything that climate change activism should not be allowed to become, it is a cult of good behaviour. It’s too urgent for that. But that has already happened, and caused tragic delays. There is a tendency to insist that people aware of the climate act in harmony with their beliefs. But I don’t like that. I would rather act in harmony with the facts, because the urgency of climate change is not a belief, as often implied, but a fact.

Transition culture gets around this because it is about doing “useful/good” things rather than not doing “bad” things. Pious self-abnegation typically just depoliticises the whole thing, and turns it into a lifestyle choice.

For example some people justify flying ‘as the plane is flying anyway’. But in fact each passenger and their luggage is included in the calculation of how much fuel is taken on board for that journey.

Individual actions also influence the people around us. If you are aware of Peak Oil and Climate Change and fly in spite of that knowledge, what do you think that the people around you who know less about it will think?

I have two daughters who should be at the age to fall in love around 2020. Personally, I can no longer justify flying.”

Yes I know the facts about climate change and peak oil. However, it is also apparent to me and any other people that whether I make a flight or not will not make a difference to the likely run of history.

I don’t see the logical leap from being aware of these facts to considering it imperative that one attempts to be pure and free of fossil fuel use. It’s not as obvious as a lot of climate change writers think. It is this kind of moralising that is holding our movement back. But since you are involved in TT, I see you already know this!

Good luck with Stratford.

Transition makes the link between peak oil and climate change.

The latest predictions for climate change are extremely frightening. If the world is to avoid a tipping point into run-away climate change we have to keep the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere down to below 450(ppm). At the current rate of fossil fuel usage that figure will be exceeded between 2015 and 2020. CO2 does not just go away, it takes hundreds (maybe thousands) of years to be re-absorbed into the world’s eco-systems.

Peak oil (according to the latest figures from Total) will occur in 2015. By that time we will have burned half of the world’s oil reserves and as a result caused run-way climate change.

Run-away climate change is likely to cause a reduction in the world’s population from 7 billion to 1 billion by 2100 – beyond that it is very difficult to predict how many people will be able to survive.

And if you don’t value human life, consider that half of the world animals and plants will become extinct by 2100.

I have two daughters who should be at the age to fall in love around 2020. Personally, I can no longer justify flying.

But looking at your website I see you already know this.

Peak oil (according to the latest figures from Total) will occur in 2015. By that time we will have burned half of the world’s oil reserves and as a result caused run-way climate change.

Run-away climate change is likely to cause a reduction in the world’s population from 7 billion to 1 billion by 2100 – beyond that it is very difficult to predict how many people will be able to survive.

And if you don’t value human life, consider that half of the world animals and plants will become extinct by 2100.

I have two daughters who should be at the age to fall in love around 2020. Personally, I can no longer justify flying.

I was all set to get on my high-horse about green-wash, Organics shampoo, Nescafe fair-trade, David Cameron etc when my better half found an item (I won’t tell you what) with the small-print warning ‘dwarf not included’.

What? No dwarf? I’m not buying that then.