In this post Paula offers another excellent table with columns broken down into three modes of the economy everyone in preparation or pre-preparation needs to consider:

– Overt — Taxable, monetary income
– Barter — Taxable non-monetary trade
– Underground — Things to sell or trade that are unclaimable as income because they are illegal, controlled, subject to licensures and permitting, or would threaten an individual’s ability to survive if their full value were claimed as income.

P.S
When I grow up I want to be a hedgerow drinks consultant!

→ Water
→ Food
→ Energy (fuel, power, heat, light)
→ Hygiene (disease control)
→ Administration (organising for now)
→ Repairs (with spares, handmade if necessary)
→ Adaptation (without spares, or new uses for old things)
→ Manufacture (making new things)
→ Trade (export surplus, import shortfall. e.g. bikes for glass)
→ Planning (organising for the future)
→ Health (maintaining physical and mental strength)
→ Education (passing on practical life skills)
→ Entertainment (relaxing)

Common themes here are practical engineering skills, teaching/learning skills and a knowledge of earth, life and physical sciences.

Manufacture and trade are interesting ones. Not every area will have everything locally (fuel, ores, wood, etc) to make everything required. How else then can what can’t be produced locally be obtained except by trading surpluses (food and/or goods) for them?

The “fabric” heading seems to be shortcut, but would include spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, education in fiber arts.

Under food production I don’t see preservation of food including canning, drying, etc. and education of homemakers in same. We’ll have cooking, and education in power-down cooking techniques (solar cooking, rocket stoves, hay boxes, woodstove cooking, raw foods, etc).

Not exactly a “new employment opportunity” but rather a new focus: we’ll need lawyers who can think creatively to develop the new forms and systems based on the new ethics.

Same with schoolteachers. Traditional schooling (reading/writing/arithmetic) will likely continue for quite some time, although likely in smaller more localized locales (no more massive school systems). We’ll need a whole new portfolio of subjects and focus to prepare young people for the new lifestyle, teaching the entire list you’ve outlined.

Jane’s comment about water harvesting is huge for those of us in places that don’t have abundant oil-independent water supplies. Don’t leave out retrofitting of plumbing to greywater, installation of composting toilets and post-peak sewer solutions.

We’ll see a whole range of professions that deal with the deconstruction and collapse of the old ways of business, including bankruptcy lawyers, mediators, forensic accountants, etc.

Another area that isn’t mentioned: local “inner work” professionals (mental health professionals, counselors, spiritual and religious leaders, etc.) who are prepared to work with the issues that arise as people cope with a radically new direction for the future.

Not sure where it fits in but there is a lot of work to do around creating entrepreneurs, ie people able to translate and, crucially, apply in practice, ideas from other walks of life to Transition (everything including international development and social entrepreneurship – eg Ashoka or the School for Social Entrepreneurs – to timebanking and skillsharing).

Also related to this would be greater professionalisation of those attempting to work across private, public and citizen/voluntary sectors, see eg the work of the partnership brokers accreditation scheme: http://www.partnershipbrokers.org/

I agree strongly with the point above about local media, I would also add local radio to your list above, this is a low-energy technology that will certainly be around if/when the internet starts going down

Not sure ‘scavenging’ is a job – or if it is, maybe find another word for it! From the list it sounds a bit like salvage/ remanufacturing?

‘Sustainable industry’ is a massive area and a bit vague as currently presented in your list. ‘Cradle-to-cradle design’ might capture this idea with rather more precision.

The language challenge is absolutely enormous with this stuff…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-461950/Police-rush-crime-scene–rickshaw.html

http://www.herefordpedicabs.com/

There are hundreds of professionally trained (to degree level) medical herbaists in the UK who work holistically with huge respect for the plants they use, the environment the plants come from and the people they treat.

Their knowledge and experience, often built up over decades, of the intricacies and synergies that plant medicines can bring to maintaining and improving human health will be of vital importance to their communities in transition.

They will be also be vital in teaching people to use and value the plants that grow in their neighbourhoods and gardens, and as holders of the expertise needed to use herbal medicine in more serious conditions.

I watched with fascination eager to see lots of suggest sources that offer new angles or layers of understanding about the new world we attempting to transition to. I felt that these threads didn’t get the response level they deserved and was hoping you’d post them out as part of the transition network newsletter and perhaps report back. I’d also be interested in other films that capture a glimpse of our possible future, such as Farm for the Future and Power of Community.

Just a little item to add to your empty schedule.

thanks
Shane