1 Nov 2010
I have just been looking at the online version (which is pretty restrictive, but you get the general idea) of Liam Leonard’s new book ‘The Environmental Movement in Ireland’. It offers a very well researched overview of the evolution of the green movement politically in Ireland, the rise of protest culture through campaigns such as The Glen of the Downs roads protest, the Rossport 5 and the various anti-incineration and anti-nuclear campaigns. As such, it is a very detailed and comprehensive look at those aspects of the green presence in Ireland, but it strikes me that one key part of that story is missing. So far as I could tell, there is nothing that documents the movement that was developing in parallel which focused on solutions, on practically modelling solutions, often at great personal and financial cost. This morning then, I want to take a stab at what that chapter might have included.
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29 Oct 2010
Naresh signing autographs in Taiwan (just kidding... this is from the workshop in Kaoshiang)...
Typhoon Megi spilled 1000mm of water in 48 hours (about twice the yearly UK average) on the Philippines and headed our way on Thursday. It brushed the eastern side of the Taiwan, caused major flooding, picked up wind speed in the South China Sea as it headed for landfall just north of Hong Kong. Megi was the second mega storm to hit Taiwan this year. It is clear that with warming seas the trend of bigger and more powerful typhoons is increasing. The last Typhoon about a month ago hit Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan causing lots of damage. However many felt that if it had hit Taipei it would have been a disaster because of the many low lying districts and greater population. After all, with a property development model that is only interested in building and selling on as fast as possible flood plain land is cheap land.
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28 Oct 2010
Here is a guest post from Naresh Giangrande about his recent short visit to Taiwan.
The question I couldn’t quite hear finally screamed out on the journey back to the rail station in Kaohsiung. Travelling to the station through a throbbing vibrant brash Asian city after an amazing fish dinner hosted by Mr Tsai, a local property developer and supporter of the nascent Transition Initiative in Kaohsiung, it reverberated in me. Would what I had to say be heard? I was coming from the UK, a country played out, at the end of the road to Taiwan, one of the Asian tigers. What could I possibly say that might catch the attention and help create Transition Initiatives in this brashest and busiest and most successful of Asian counties?
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26 Oct 2010
Planting hybrid walnut trees in Totnes with Paul Hussell of Wills Probate, a local solicitors who fund one new tree for every new will they set up (©Totnes Times)
Context:
While spending time VISIONING and BECOMING A FORMAL ORGANISATION are key at the early stages of a Transition initiative, it is also important that practical things start to happen on the ground. This is a key part of sustaining MOMENTUM and deepening engagement in your work.
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