David Orr in London. Note the offending highly energy wasteful chandeliers behind him (referred to in the interview)
David Orr was in the UK recently, and the two of us were part of a panel at an event organised by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. After the event, we retired to the bar of a rather grand London hotel, and chatted for an hour about energy, climate change, the Precautionary Principle, Transition and whether or not we are beyond talk of ’solutions’. Part two will follow shortly.
So, how would you introduce yourself?
I’m David Orr. I teach at Oberlin College in Ohio and I also work as Senior Advisor to the President of the college on environmental issues generally, but specifically on the redevelopment of the town and the college to carbon neutrality, a 20,000 acre green belt and the revitalised downtown corridor.
There have been various threads here previously about music inspired by, or to inspire, Transition. A quick scoot about on YouTube reveals a couple of Transition-themed tunes people have posted there. This first one, by Lala Jane Wilson (I’m guessing that’s her name), was inspired by her going to watch ‘In Transition’… she came home, and out came this….
The second one, as far as I can tell, is from somewhere in the US, where a competition sought local bands to sings songs about Transition (would love to know more about that…). This band, the Time Spinners, who all look about 15, came up with the song below, although it is quite hard to hear the lyrics…
Here is another great short film by the nu-project folks, this time documenting the recent Seedy Saturday event that took place in Totnes, a fantastic event. Enjoy!
We’ve got so many wonderfully diverse and inspiring activities to show you this month…ideas for getting people involved and having fun! And they’re here for the sharing…
In the UK, TT Luton is organising a series of Grow Your Own events to relocalise food production and consumption, with discussions and a quiz to encourage people to grow their own fruit and vegetables, while Southend-on-Sea in Transition organised a day’s introduction to Permaculture with more events lined up that you’re invited to get involved with. TT Leek is getting hold of allotments and orchards so they can plant more trees and increase production of native British apple varieties, while TT Nailsea is sharing its gardening skills with other local people to increase self-sufficiency in food production, strengthen local resilience and encourage people to think more about their carbon footprints.
The Story of Transition Tales by Simon Robinson (MSc student at Schumacher College).
This is the story of Transition Tales, a small group within Transition Town Totnes. One of the aims of this project is to raise awareness within Primary and Secondary School children of the transition solution of community led response to the twin challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change by creating positive stories. This is done in partnership with local schools in the Totnes area, either as part of class time, or in after-school clubs. In writing up their story, I hope to highlight many successes, challenges and issues that will be of interest to those who wish to set up a Transition Tales initiative within their own Transition Town or Transition Network project.
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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