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.
Let’s start this month’s bumper round-up (which contains some of the finest short films about Transition among many many other things) with the news that Transition Network has just been named as the winner of the highly prestigious European Economic and Social Committee’s Civil Society Prize. This is great recognition for the work of the REconomy Project and so many people in hundreds of European local communities who are engaging their local civil society in developing low carbon futures and livelihoods which promote wellbeing for all in the community. There are more than 500 Transition initiative community groups in 23 European countries (more than 1000 groups worldwide) who are working on the “transition” to a low-carbon, socially-just future.
Last Friday I visited Brixton in south London to visit Brixton Energy. Brixton Energy had just closed its second share launch, Brixton Energy Solar 2, which had raised £70,000. Its first project, Brixton Energy Solar 1, was the UK’s first inner-city community-owned solar power station, a 37kW solar array on the roof of Elmore House on the Loughborough Estate. The second was a 45kW system spread over the roofs of the 4 housing blocks of Styles Gardens. I joined Agamemnon Otero of Brixton Energy on the roof of a neighbouring tower block on a crisp and clear winter day, with a clear view over the solar systems that Brixton Energy had already installed (see picture above), to ask him more about the project.
It’s fantastic. Get a copy. It made me wonder whether the recent revival of independent record shops have a few things to teach us more generally about vibrant local economies? As a vinyl junkie and as someone who grew up in independent record shops, I wanted to explore some of the issues in the film in more depth. I was therefore delighted to be able to start out by interviewing Graham Jones, author of ‘Last Shop Standing’ and presenter of the film. As lovers of music, vinyl and independent shops we could have talked all day, but luckily for you we kept it brief.
A couple of weeks ago we presented an interview with Kevin Anderson of the UK Tyndall Centre and mentioned that he was soon to give a lecture at the Cabot Institute’s annual lecture in Bristol. The film of Kevin’s talk is now available, and I would suggest that it could turn out to be one of the most important 58 minutes you ever spend sat in front of your computer. This is powerful, and essential stuff and makes a nonsense of the idea that the most sensible thing to do at this point is to throw everything at trying to rekindle economic growth.
It’s Friday, been a long week, so here is something beautiful to inspire and soothe the soul. Even if you don’t speak Spanish, this video document of the recent Transition gathering in Marbella is just beautiful. Filipa Pimentel, who co-ordinates the network of Transition hubs was at the event and wrote “the video mirrors perfectly what you could feel there – it was magic… (I cried all day, of course). After this event, a new Transition Initiative was started – the first meeting with 60 people!”
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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