15 Sep 2006
Unleashing Transition Town Totnes Feedback #1. Our Concerns.
At the **’Official Unleashing of Transition Town Totnes’** on September 6th 2006, people were invited to reflect in pairs on the following question, “when I think about issues such as peak oil and climate change, my concerns are”. These were then written up on post-it notes and stuck on the wall for all to see. They are reproduced below (there are lots of them!).
War
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Wars – Greater divide between rich countries and poor countries and between rich and poor within those countries – Not being possible to visit other countries
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Problem too huge (Appetite for energy in China, India etc) – Sustainability needs economic, political, social, spiritual changes to happen together
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Lack of diversity and exchange in food/meeting people/ entertainment from other countries – Slippage of old habits in the changing process
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Other people’s inability to accept change – Isolation of communities/individuals – The materialistic, consumer driven lifestyle society values, can this be reversed – Will this work in lower income areas?
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The collapse of Civilisation
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Rioting, especially youths – No food in supermarkets – No travel – No Water
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We don’t value the natural world down with us – That people get what this is about on a spiritual level – What will happen to large populations of extremely poor people?
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Climate change – Ecosystem Death – Peak Oil life support system collapse
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War – Societal collapse or rush to coal
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How to survive without a car! – Global warming
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No premiership football to distract me from myself – Food riots in cities – Lack of heating in homes, especially for the elderly in winter – Resource war – Nuclear fall out
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Social collapse – Starvation – People killing each other – Climate too savage to support life
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No transport for food and travel – Heating and electricity
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People are generally too busy – Getting them galvanised is the big problem – So a psychological change is necessary – Brains can be altered to become more spiritually inclined – Its an exercise of mental effort needed
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Global: Majority of people unaware/unwilling to change – Personal: None! I can do it!
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How the most vulnerable people in society are going to be affected – and what is going to be their potential for change if already socially excluded?
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War – Nuclear Power – Reverting to coal
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We might not have a chance to educate ourselves about everything in time!
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To make all aware – How to replace oil in a sustainable way
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Converting politicians of big business – Lack of interest by the masses (Don’t want to lose their “comforts