Archive for “Transport” category
6 - 10 of 33 posts
7 Jan 2009
I often liken breaking our collective and individual addiction to oil as being like giving up any other addiction. My family has now passed its fifth month without a car, and the process of getting used to life with no car has been very similar to giving up drinking or smoking. I can’t for a moment say that it has been easy and hassle-free, but at the same time, we are still here, no-one has starved to death or died of boredom, life goes on, and we are, in many ways, the better for it. What I want to do here is not to give some rosy ‘it’s been so easy’ account of the process, but rather to give a warts’n'all account of where we have got to, in order to stimulate discussion and debate.
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24 Nov 2008
I was in London over the weekend, seeing a concert at the Alexandra Palace by the utterly wonderful Sigur Ros, which was indeed utterly wonderful. The next day, en route home, we went to Camden Market, and my eye was caught by this great T-shirt on one of the stalls. I had never considered Mr T a hero of the no-fly movement, but of course “I ain’t getting on no plane” was one of his catchphrases. Unfortunately Mr T wasn’t motivated by climate change, nor by the results of the Oil Vulnerability Audit he did for the A-Team’s activities, rather a sheer terror of setting foot on aircraft (something to do with his Vietnam experiences).
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12 Nov 2008
‘Preparing for Peak Oil: Local Authorities and the Energy Crisis’, prepared by the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre and the Post carbon Institute. 2008. 41 pages. Free download here.
The whole question of how to communicate peak oil to local government, and how to support and encourage their creative and rapid responses to it, is huge and very timely. ‘Preparing for Peak Oil’ is an excellent guidebook for anyone who wants to bring their local authority up to speed on energy depletion and climate change issues. It is clear, well presented, and achieves an excellent balance between presenting the hard facts about peak oil alongside some positive and inspiring examples of change, as well as some clear and well thought through thinking tools.
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23 Sep 2008
I wrote last week about the submission that Transition Leicester made about eco-towns, today I want to celebrate the excellent piece of work done by Transition Glastonbury in pulling together their response to a report prepared by their local Council setting out plans for the development of the area over the next 20 years. As with most Council plans, it starts with assuming a graph with a line that rises as it moves towards the right, increased growth, increased investment, increased energy availability. Transition Glastonbury’s submission asks, what if it doesn’t? How might this area thrive in uncertain times? This is a timely post, as tomorrow night in Totnes sees the formal launch of our Energy Descent Pathways process, the creation, in effect, of the town’s Plan B. Congratulations to Transition Glastonbury for blazing a trail with this so brilliantly.
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14 Jul 2008
We’re back, following some down time due to a collapsed server! People find a variety of ways to spend their birthdays. Now that you all know that I ended up spending the evening of my recent birthday enduring ‘Sex and the City’ at the cinema, I can now attempt to redeem myself slightly by pointing you to the time I also spent that day with Nancy Durham from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, helping in the making of a short piece for Canadian TV. You can see Nancy’s article and 5 minute film here (follow the link top right corner for the film clip). I think it turned out rather well, and hope that I have, partially at least, attoned for my sins…
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I often liken breaking our collective and individual addiction to oil as being like giving up any other addiction. My family has now passed its fifth month without a car, and the process of getting used to life with no car has been very similar to giving up drinking or smoking. I can’t for a moment say that it has been easy and hassle-free, but at the same time, we are still here, no-one has starved to death or died of boredom, life goes on, and we are, in many ways, the better for it. What I want to do here is not to give some rosy ‘it’s been so easy’ account of the process, but rather to give a warts’n'all account of where we have got to, in order to stimulate discussion and debate. 
