Transition Culture

The Queen
Head of the Banks!
Ed Balls
BBC and all media
Transport Secretary
(All Councils)

I suggest Dr Konstantinos, Director of the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymbari. He and the OAC do amazing work for peace, social justice and the environment- and he is a member of many networks that have not yet heard of Transition.
I’m returning to Crete after Xmas, to prepare for a course I’ll be running at their Conference Centre in April, and can deliver TTC personally, or am happy to post it before then with a personal message.

(Ex of A Greener Hawick Transition Town.)
I would suggest MICHAEL MOORE -Lib Dem Westminster MP ,Scottish Borders. He is already sympathetic but it is more important to get others onboard- John Lamont- MSP Con, also local might be better.
No probs getting the book to either!
Key MP’s -Holyrood would be important. Out of touch here but can get info.
If you decide for either of the two Hawick MP’s/others in Scotland, I can ask if the Hawick TT group would be a sponsor.
brilliant idea. So important.
Thanks
Danielle
I will ask if the group could sponsor

Richard Branson – hearsay says his nephew and head of virgin galactic recently did a pdc here in Australia

I suggest David Suzuki. I trust you know who he is: an outspoken champion of the environment with a lifetime of books, TV shows and movies dedicated to bringing environmental concerns and wonder about the natural word to the everyday person. I think he would be very sympathetic, and could be a wonderful spokesperson for the TT movement.

Also Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada. She gets this stuff and has likely heard of the TT movement, but I think she would love this book.

OCCUPY MOVEMENT – I’m sure soon, if not already, some of these folks will be looking for concrete ways of “walking the walk” – no need to reinvent the wheel!

Hi Julia,

Ed Balls is actually a formally endorsed member of the Co-operative party and so is technically a Labour Co-op MP: http://www.party.coop/tag/ed-balls/ as such he should be especially receptive to the ideas in the Companion…

(and for anyone wondering why and how it is that the Labour Party has another, separate, political party working with it and that an MP can be a member of both parties… it’s complicated – wikipedia has a stab at explaining it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Party)

Some North Americans:
Michael Moore, the documentary film-maker
Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
Dennis Kucinich, Congressperson from Ohio
Roscoe Bartlett, Congressperson from Maryland

Mayor of the city where I live – Baltimore, MD, USA – Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. I think if I mail it to her from a local address and write an accompanying letter, it will get to her (because it’s not such a large city). Or, I do people who work for the city, and they may know how to get it to her directly.

Thanks all, keep’em coming. Just fyi, Transition Network recently posted two copies to Occupy Wall Street, and I hope to get to take one up to Occupy LSX soon….

Rob–great idea! I would ask for a copy to be given to Mel Akers, the CEO of Milestones Trust in Bristol. This is the not-for-profit care organisation I wrote to you about recently. With members of Transition Bristol and the Permaculture Assoc we are working with him to create a transition pathway for social care for people with disabilities, mental health needs and learning disabilities. The Trust address can be found on their website http://www.milestonestrust.org.uk. We hope an emerging model will be able to be used elsewhere.

David Attenborough! In 2009, David visited Chepstow for a book signing at the wonderful Chepstow Bookshop in St. Mary’s street (thought to be inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter).

During his signing, David was presented with a copy of The Transition Handbook which had been signed by Rob at Transition Chepstow’s unleashing earlier that year.

He is a vice president of the Wildlife Trusts and I imagine could be contacted via their main office.

Richard Lochead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment at the Scottish Parliament – already delivered a Zero Waste Strategy, the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and the Climate Challenge Fund – http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/Scottish-Cabinet/richardlochheadmsp

My 5 proposals:
John Bercow MP and Speaker of the House – he was supportive of Haddenham in Transition when he visited our stall at the village Fete and has the ear of ministers. He has yet to understand the breadth and depth of the transition movement and the numbers of active people involved around the country – the Companion help him engage and raise our profile.

Mike Pickering – Social and Environment Manager of Midcounties Cooperative (one of the largest independent Cooperatives) – they are supporting a number of transition initiatives as they see it as a ‘good thing’…. but I think they still don’t quite understand what it is about! When he does he will be able help influence the national retail cooperative movement to really got on board!

The civil servant responsible for UK Resilience (look at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience)
– they should be sent some links to what Transition groups in Australia have been doing – they will appreciate the benefits of working with transition groups. There are different approaches to resilience – they will understand our language and our work to reframe the issues.

The CEO of NALC (National Association of Local Authorities) see http://www.nalc.gov.uk/Default.aspx
This organisation could be the key to building links with our local councillors. Nearly all local councillors receive their glossy quarterly magazine – a review of the Companion would be great publicity!

Ruth Bond – Chair of National Federation of Womens Institutes – they have been working quietly on local resilience for many many years and still have a lot more to contribute. They don’t yet seem to have recognised as a national organisation how much they have in common with the transition movement or how important their contribution to national resilience will be in the comming years.

Jonathan Ross, although getting a meeting might be more useful than a big book he might not read.

He gave Vivienne Westward a free slot to rather messily spout her grief about climate change in his BBC show once, and fed David Attenborough the perfect line for him to say something profound and leadership orientated about climate change which Attenborough fluffed completely.

I reckon he’d be grateful to find a way he can approach climate change without losing his wit and clumsy risque charm appeal.

Seriously! (sort of) He’s got a big heart and he’s a daddy, and he needs to reinvent his career every now and again.

Sorry for being a day late, but Happy Transition Halloween!

http://transitionfarnham.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/witches.jpg?w=469&h=616

The newly elected Irish President Michael D. Higgins – he’d love it – and would act on it!

I see HRH is top of the list, but what about Prince Charles? I’m sure someone at the Resurgence magazine office in Hartland will know how to get it to him – I undertand he reads the magazine.

the folks at Occupy Toronto (Canada) would love a copy!!

We’ll give a copy to our MP and Minister for Energy Charles Hendry on Saturday after he has spoken at our Transition Forest Row Energy Fair
http://transitionforestrow.org/events/energy-fair

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