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.
A WHILE AGO, I heard an American scientist address an audience in Oxford, England, about his work on the climate crisis. He was precise, unemotional, rigorous, and impersonal: all strengths of a scientist. The next day, talking informally to a small group, he pulled out of his wallet a much-loved photo of his thirteen-year-old son. He spoke as carefully as he had before, but this time his voice was sad, worried, and fatherly. His son, he said, had become so frightened about climate change that he was debilitated, depressed, and disturbed. Some might have suggested therapy, Prozac, or baseball for the child. But in this group one voice said gently, “What about the Transition Initiative?”
For those of you who have been following the spread of Transition in New Zealand, you might find this interesting. Last week I took part in a discussion about Transition on Radio New Zealand, along with James Samuel (who has done so much to catalyse Transition there) and Gabrielle Young (of Transition Waiheke). The discussion looked at Transition in the NZ context and was, I think, rather interesting. You can listen to the piece by clicking here.
I travelled to London yesterday for an event which was part of the Big Energy Shift (BES). BES was commissioned and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government and was facilitated by Ipsos Mori. Over the last few months, members of 9 communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have met for a series of facilitated “deliberative discussions”, looking at the bases on which the public would be prepared to take up renewable energy generation and energy conservation. Yesterday’s meeting was the last in the series, and brought representatives of all the communities involved to London. It was a fascinating day.
Saturday night was Earth Day, when, as a sign to the world leaders heading to Copenhagen, people around the world were invited to turn their lights off for an hour so as to make a detectable difference to energy consumption.Lights at the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye and the London Gherkin were all turned off, as well as in millions of homes around the world.Not one to be left out, at 8.30pm we duly got out the candles and switched off the lights for an hour.
So Shaun, you’ve just got copies of the first book you’ve ever published in your hand. What does that feel like?
Wow, what a question! Relief I think! It’s been a long process, and it feels so good to finally see the fruits of everyone’s labours that have gone into this book, and to feel that it can now go out and be a help to people. And I can’t get over how much I love the cover design – we spent ages getting it right, and I’m totally in love! I think it’ll be a while before it all sinks in. (Below is a short promotional film for the book produced by Green Books).
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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Here is an excellent piece from the latest Orion magazine….
I travelled to London yesterday for an event which was part of the 
Saturday night was Earth Day, when, as a sign to the world leaders heading to Copenhagen, people around the world were invited to turn their lights off for an hour so as to make a detectable difference to energy consumption.
