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We are delighted to be able to announce details of the inaugural Transition Cities conference, hosted by the good folks of Transition Nottingham on November 27th -28th 2008.
We had a wonderful evening in Totnes last week, where we launched the Totnes EDAP process. About 180 people turned up, and were provided with wine and nibbles, as well as with live guitar music on their arrival. I felt it was one of those great Transition events that appeals to both sides of the brain, some talking, some chatting, some moving around, some laughter, some poignancy, some food and drink, some fun. To set the scene, here is how the evening was reported in the Totnes Times, the first time a TTT-related story graced the front page. Under the headline “Why Time is Running Out”, the article ran as follows;
Thanks to that great Transition film-maker Alex Munslow, the talks from the night of the Lewes Pound launch are now available. The Lewes Pound is developing into a fascinating story, and although I did my best to try and capture the spirit of the night, these films capture it far better, in particular the last one, with the Mayor officially launching it. So here they are, in the order they came on the evening….
Part Two here.
Stewart Wallis of the New Economics Foundation
In Totnes, one sometimes hears the term ‘old hippy’ used as a term of abuse. Last week in Totnes, Albert Bates, an old hippy of the highest order, thrilled a full house at the Methodist Hall with the story of the Farm Ecovillage in Tennessee. It was a delight for me, as I first heard Albert speaking in 1995, when I was a fresh-faced, just qualified permaculturist who was lucky enough to get a bursary to attend the ‘Eco-Villages and Sustainable Communities’ conference at Findhorn. The speech Albert gave there, one long evening, was a life changing moment.
Stopping work and going away has similarities with being hit repeatedly over the head with a plank of wood. In the same way that it is only when the beating stops that you realise how much it hurts, it is only when you actually stop work, turn off mobile phone and email contact, that you realise how utterly exhausted you are. That’s how it was for me anyway. So on our first day away, we ended up in London, and went to Hamley’s toy shop. While the rest of the family wandered around, I sat with our bags and promptly fell asleep in the middle of the shop. When I woke up again, I found I was sitting just by a big XBox thing which was demonstrating the latest version of the game ‘Guitar Hero 3′. While I sat waiting for the return of my family, I had no alternative than to observe this dreadful thing for about half an hour, which prompts the following…
