FTW, I gather from the “so I’m told” remark that Rob has not been producing videos, or he would not have called these videos “short.” Videos that are 20 minutes long are not “short.” Even the sorter videos in the bunch, at 6 minutes or so, are not really what most Youtubers would call “short.”

I might expand just a touch on your yeast explanation. In addition to going dormant – the spores increase the likelihood of being scattered, and increase the range that they might be scattered over. Could this be a metaphor, that Transition Towns should be sending out starter “seed” groups and individuals? That the point is not sustainable autonomy, but remaking the surrounding range into media suitable for creating, growing, and budding more Transition Towns?

Should Transition towns “bud”, create a daughter offshoot to nurture, or combine with one or more Transition Towns to create composite, “blended” offspring, to raise and nurture? Or am I just too wrapped up in an incomplete analogy?

As you’ve said before, also Brad’s comment above, we all need to share ideas to develop appropriate language for targeted audiences. I would like to hear ideas on language appropriate for city-dwellers; 9-5ers and low-income young families.

Following on the anal comments though – the other one that bugs me is the metaphor of the yeast dying in their own excretia (alcohol). Although it’s a good analogy it should be bourne in mind that this is an anthropogenic (artificial) environment – the brewer encourages population growth (aerobic) followed by asphyxiation, leading to alcohol excretion and death of the yeast (anaerobic). This shouldn’t be confused with the natural life cycle, which would be population growth (as the fruit rots), then spore formation (as food runs out the yeast goes into a dormant resilient phase) – ha! – maybe that’s the metaphor to follow!! – also involving conjugation / sexual reproduction…. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast
Interestingly, during the growth phase population increases with no genetic change (vegetative/clonal growth) which can be compared to Industrial Growth System/monoculture. When conditions become limiting it’s time to increase variation (sexual reproduction), mix up the genes – an attempt to find a new form which will be better adapted to the new niche: evolution, biodiversity, redundancy, resilience. But also sporulation involves a kind of hibernation/powerdown with the aim of lasting until finding pastures new.
I’m still trying to think of a bio-metaphor for outgrowing the old model, which doesn’t involve parasitism. Strangler fig is a good one, but unfortunately the names wrong for a positive vision… Neil

Here’s another video and story of a fun event that took place yesterday on Waiheke – The Great Waiheke plum Drive. We gather fruit and cooked up 150 jars of delicious plum jam – and had so much fun in the process!

http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/node/2259

What I ask is – how do you engage the public? Can Transition afford to overlook the young parents of young children, striving to keep food and utilities, shelter and clothing and hygiene intact? Is it enough to rely on advertising and marketing and even political momentum to convince, in economic terms, a consuming republic to “buy” the concept?

I continued my thoughts at http://bradsworldview.blogspot.com/2010/01/tc-cant-find-transitions-golden-land.html

Where is the “golden land”, that people will be driven to for life and refuge?