An Evolving Exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent
Transition Culture has moved
I no longer blog on this site. You can now find me, my general blogs, and the work I am doing researching my forthcoming book on imagination, on my new blog.
Recently I mentioned the Prince’s Foundation event ‘Building: a new green economy’ held in early February at St. James’s Palace, which looked at the role of green building, particularly focusing on the role local building materials might play, and the benefits they would bring. I mentioned that the talks were filmed, and they have now been posted online. So here they are, starting with my one (with thanks to Jeff Rubin for the ‘afford to burn’ line I used….), and followed by all the other speakers too….
Vandana Shiva was in Totnes recently, and gave a talk as part of an evening co-presented by TTT and Schumacher College. Those darlings from nu-project were there, and documented the evening for posterity. Vandana was on fine form, and these two short films below are a great record of her talk.
With the recent exoneration of Phil Jones in the UEA ‘ClimateGate’ kerfuffle, the key lesson emerging from the whole thing is not that the science of climate change is somehow profoundly flawed, but rather that scientists are flawed human beings rather like the rest of us, subject to pomposity, ego, vanity, ill-temper and rudeness. The world of science and academia doesn’t always function like the ego-free collective pursuit of knowledge it is meant to, it can be obstructed by those beligerently trying to boost their reputations and funding streams. ‘Solar’ (the first novel I’ve read for a while) is a superbly executed journey through the world of one (fictitious) eminent climate scientist, warts and all. It is compelling, gripping, hilarious and informative, and definitely well worth the read.
It’s a while ago now, but the great event that was the launch of “Local Food: how to make it happen in your community” has now been immortalised in a rather good film record of the evening. It was hosted by yours truly, but featured talks by Claire Milne (Transition Network), Julie Brown (Growing Communities), Zoe Leventhal (Transition Town Brixton’s Food Group) and permaculture artists Holly Gregson and Richard Houguez, as well as, of course, Tamzin herself. The film was made by Samuel Stonehill to whom many thanks.
It was with some fear and trepidation that Alexis Rowell, a Camden Borough councillor and the author of the upcoming Transition Guide to Local Authorities (LA), and I arrived in a deeply conservative part of the country, Norfolk, to do a day with them on peak oil, climate change and the Transition town model and practice. For those that don’t know it, Norfolk is a stunningly beautiful part of the country which is partly comprised of two areas, the Norfolk Broads, a large inland waterway system and the Fens (see pics below) which is partly wild and very intensively farmed, it being one of the UKs most productive farmland. It is also largely at sea level therefore at the hard edge of climate change policy. As the Helen and Newton Harrison’s work, Green House Britain makes clear, a 5 metre rise in sea levels will mean a significant part of East Anglia would be under water.
How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations
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