Transition Culture

An Evolving Exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent

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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.

Monthly archive for May 2006

Showing results 1 - 5 of 26 for the month of May, 2006.


31 May 2006

Sending Seeds to Guantanemo.

seedsI have resisted writing anything about the US detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay until now, as I feel so enraged about it that I felt sure I would be able to contribute nothing useful other than a long rant. The abuses of international law, the mistreatment of prisoners, the allegations of torture, the utter distain for people’s human rights and for their dignity constitute a huge stain on the present US adminstration’s already deeply soiled reputation. We all know about it, and, I’m sure, feel the same sense of powerlessness and rage. Then the story of a small garden reached me. I have to say I was deeply moved by it.

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Discussion: 1 Comment

Categories: Community Involvement, Politics


30 May 2006

12 Suggestions of Insightful Reading for Designers of Energy Descent Pathways…

bwI am currently in full-on bookworm mode, up to my neck in books and papers, attempting to write my dissertation about tools for community planning for energy descent (due in September). Therefore, this might be a good time to reflect on some of the gems I’ve come across recently. The last list of books I did was around Christmas, and many people enjoyed it and wrote to me to that effect, apart from the person who commented on the site that it was a “weak little list”, and that its “uninformed reviews are rife with typos”. Oh well, you can’t please everyone..

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29 May 2006

Brian Goodwin on Peak Oil – an Interview

Interview with Brian Goodwin. Schumacher College. May 8th 2006.

BGBrian Goodwin is a Visiting Scholar at Schumacher College and teaches on their MSc in Holistic Science. His research and teaching interests are on the use of the sciences of complexity to study emergent phenomena in evolution and to understand health in various contexts: in individuals, communities, organisations, economies and ecosystems. This involves a fundamental rethinking of basic scientific assumptions and leads to a new science of qualities.

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Discussion: 1 Comment

Categories: Gaia Theory, Localisation, Peak Oil


29 May 2006

How Cool is That?

bike shed frontAt the Dyfi Eco Business Park in Machynlleth in North Wales you will find the coolest bike shed you’ve ever seen. The park is right next to the railway station and is a great place, very attractive buildings (for a business park), a huge PV array, but the most delightful thing there was this little bike shed. As you approach it it looks like a curved PV panel, get round the back and it’s a bike shed!

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Discussion: 2 Comments

Categories: Energy, Technology


26 May 2006

The Power of Community Premieres in Totnes.

cubadvdLast night around 95 people attended the UK premiere of the Community Solution’s film ‘The Power of Community’ at the Totnes Methodist Hall. The film explores what happened to Cuba when their oil supply disappeared, almost overnight, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. It looks at the positive way in people responded and relocalised many aspects of their lives. At last, a peak oil film which is also positive and inspirational. The film was very well received, and the group discussion afterwards was lively and very positive about the film.

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Discussion: 4 Comments

Categories: General