On Monday I did the second webinar for Transition US, looking at the ‘ingredients’ of Transition, and answering lots of questions about Transition sent in by people from across the US. You can now listen to it in full here. I started out by telling people that it was, in a way, an illustrated talk, in that I had uploaded a picture online they could look at, taken from the forthcoming ‘The Transition Companion’ (which you can pre-order now). Beautifully created by Marina Vons-Gupta, it communicates the idea of embarking on Transition being like opening the larder door and picking the ingredients for creating what you have decided to create. Anyway, thanks to everyone who made it possible, and enjoy the recording.
We have reported here before about the spread of Transition in France, well here is something rather great from Fontainbleu near Paris where a Transition initiative is emerging. Judging by the amount of requests we get to use the drawing on the front cover of the Transition Handbook for posters, flyers, websites and so on, it’s fair to say people are rather fond of it. But have a look at this rather lovely animation the Fontainbleu group have done with it. Aw, isn’t that lovely…
Recently, the BBC did a great series called ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’, which used objects from the British Museum’s collection to highlight key stages in human history. As a way of capturing some of the stories contained in ‘The Transition Companion’ (available to pre-order now), we have made 10 short films that try to capture “A Story of Transition in 10 Objects” (you can see the various dates associated with the book’s release here). They present various items from different Transition initiatives as though they were precious museum artifacts, and tell their stories. Here’s the first.
Here is a fascinating short film. It features Eric Stewart of Transition New Port Richey in Florida, US, giving a presentation to his local council about what the group are up to. Yet it is also one of the most stressful Transition films I have ever seen, like some surreal drama, the dramatic tension is almost unbearable. The clock, in bright red, is ticking down and it’s hard to take your eyes off it. Will he say everything he needs to in just 3 minutes? What happens if he is still talking after 3 minutes? Do they pull a handle so that he plunges into a tank of crocodiles? Will he stumble, get it all wrong and say the wrong things?
… and then… just when the tension becomes unbearable, the film stops with 1:07 left to go! Ah the suspense! The unanswered questions! The sheer drama! I don’t need The Wire, 24…. just I minute 53 seconds of Eric Stewart and I have no finger nails left and chances are I won’t sleep tonight. He does a great job, keeps his head, and presents what the group are doing really well. Worth having a think about what you would say in that situation…. what would be the key things to get across if that red clock were ticking? If anyone has any idea where the rest of this film can be found, you might just put me out of my misery…
A while ago I posted a film here about Tom Harper’s ‘The Oil Game’, a programme of teaching young people about peak oil that he has been doing in schools in the south east of England. Tom has now finished a workbook for people who want to run this programme elsewhere, containing the games and activities that he developed. You can download it here. It was interesting to read on Energy Bulletin today about a cartoon book called Luz which uses cartoons to introduce ideas around peak oil to a younger audience. More of these kind of resources seem to be emerging all the time. Tom adds “I hope as many people download it as watched the short film!” Thanks to Tom for letting me post this here.
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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