Archive for “Transport” category
1 - 5 of 33 posts
7 Dec 2009
Regular readers will know that I don’t fly, and that if I can’t get somewhere by train, we use other means of communicating. But should the same apply to everyone who works for Transition Network? Should the organisation make a commitment that anyone who represents it similarly seeks alternative ways to get around? This is a very live discussion within the organisation. In order to move it forward, Naresh Giangrande and myself had an email exchange on the subject (see below), and now we’d love to hear your thoughts. Should an organisation committed to modelling Transition also exemplify sustainable transport? As the Copenhagen talks kick off, with many thousands of climate activists flying there, this is a very pertinent question. Have a read of the debate so far, and then have your say too….
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22 Sep 2009
Michael Portillo passed through Totnes yesterday, filming part of his upcoming series of ‘Great British Rail Journeys’, which follows in the footsteps of George Bradshaw, the Victorian travel writer, who visited the town in the late 1800s. Portillo’s trip, which began in Swindon, took him to Dartmouth, then up the River Dart to Totnes, from whence he will head further west, ending up in St. Ives. A taste of Totnes was laid on for him, meeting and interviewing me, initially in Totnes High Street (where the level of interest and fascination was such that another location was quickly chosen), and then in St. Mary’s churchyard. We talked about TTT and the Totnes Pound, and then Michael and the film crew headed off to buy and then spend some Totnes Pounds, and get ferried back to the station by Pete Ryland of the Totnes Rickshaw Company, in one of the town’s biodiesel-powered rickshaws.
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29 Jul 2009
Transformation Moment: low carbon travel.
How, and how far, will we travel if we make the changes we need to in order to thrive in a carbon constrained society? For a range of interlocking reasons, the conclusion of this paper is that we will be happier, healthier and more resilient if we radically change from our current patterns to ones that fit into a relocalised world. In that world we will travel far less far and fast, overwhelmingly walking, cycling and using public transport.
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17 Jul 2009
After many months of Ed Milliband putting himself out there are a Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change that actually gets climate change, finally his big Plan, the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan was unveiled on Wednesday, in a speech in the House of Commons that namechecked Transition Towns and which is the boldest national vision for a low carbon society yet seen. Many others have since pitched in with their thoughts, I thought it might be useful here to offer an analysis from a Transition perspective. In his speech, Milliband said “we know from the Transition Towns movement the power of community action to motivate people..”, clearly an outcome of his attendance as a ‘Keynote Listener’ at the Transition Network conference in May. So how does the Plan measure up, and does it actually advance what Transition initiatives and the wider relocalisation movement are doing?
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12 Mar 2009
A couple of weeks ago I was in London, and I visited Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) on the South Bank. CSCB are a fascinating initiative, one that can teach a great deal to Transition Initiatives. For me, a Transition initiative, once it has created its EDAP, needs to morph, and become in effect, a relocalisation agency, a developer, a housing association, a bank. CSCB have done many of these things, and their experience is invaluable.
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Regular readers will know that I don’t fly, and that if I can’t get somewhere by train, we use other means of communicating. But should the same apply to everyone who works for Transition Network? Should the organisation make a commitment that anyone who represents it similarly seeks alternative ways to get around? This is a very live discussion within the organisation. In order to move it forward, Naresh Giangrande and myself had an email exchange on the subject (see below), and now we’d love to hear your thoughts. Should an organisation committed to modelling Transition also exemplify sustainable transport? As the Copenhagen talks kick off, with many thousands of climate activists flying there, this is a very pertinent question. Have a read of the debate so far, and then have your say too….
