27 Nov 2013
The Big Debate: how should Transition initiatives respond to austerity?
This month’s immersion in austerity has taken us in numerous directions. We’ve heard from all sorts of people, and now we’d like to hear from you.
We’ve had James Meadway’s ‘Austerity Basics’, which have given us a grounding in the thinking behind the whole approach. We’ve heard from a Conservative MP on her take as to why austerity is necessary and could be the spark for all manner of community enterprise. We’ve heard from food journalist Felicity Lawrence about the impact the austerity cuts are having on the safety and regulation of our food. We spoke to Jeremy Leggett about the importance of challenging the stranglehold the Big Six energy companies have over our energy supply. Pam Warhurst of Incredible Edible Todmorden told us how they are seeing urban food production in the context of a response to austerity. Prof Tim Lang told us about how food policy needs to reevaluated in the light of austerity. Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall shared her thoughts on what we can learn from the austerity of 1939-1945 that might apply today. We have yet to hear from Frances Northrop at Transition Town Totnes about how TTT are seeing their work in the context of austerity. Our Social Reporters also reflected on the subject (for example here). We heard how Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition are responding to austerity, and Jason Roberts told us about lessons from the Better Block project.
So now it’s over to you. How do you think Transition initiatives should be responding? What are you doing in your initiative?