Transition Culture

5 Sep 2011

SPIN Farming Basics: a book review

I have something to share in this post which I think is hugely exciting and which I think you are going to enjoy.  A while ago I was sent a book called ‘SPIN farming basics: how to grow commercially on under an acre’ by Wally Satzewich and Roxanne Christensen.  The book describes itself as a “step-by-step learning guide to the sub-acre production system that makes it possible to gross $50,000+ from a half-acre”.  SPIN, which stands for ‘Small Plot Intensive’ (their website is here), has the feel of an important, big, and timely idea, and it is one that fits into Transition beautifully.  So what is it?

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12 Jul 2011

Some reflections on the 2011 Transition Network conference

We had a great few days at Hope University in Liverpool.  This will not be an attempt at a complete document of that event, you will find the most comprehensive record over at the Transition Network’s conference feed.  What I am going to share, with links to some of the key pieces of media from that feed, is some of the notes of my reflections at the end of the conference.  As the event drew to a close, I went around and asked people for their brief reflections on what they saw as the character unique to this conference in comparison to others.  Three words came up again and again, deepening, focus and maturity.

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7 Jul 2011

Resilient to what?: a fascinating new look at risk

I was reading through the Executive Summary of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2011 this afternoon (as you do) and the chart on page 3 (see above) caught my eye (click on it to enlarge it).  In it, the authors set out all the risks they see in the world on a matrix which positions the various risks by their perceived impact on the global economy and by the perceived likelihood of their happening.  What you might expect to be at the top, given recent media reports, would be the threat of terrorism or perhaps some hideous computer virus that knocks out nuclear power station.  But no.  There at the top, leading the pack, are climate change, ‘extreme energy price volatility’ and fiscal crises. 

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28 Jun 2011

David Fleming’s ‘Lean Logic’ finally sees the light of day

When I reported here the recent death of my dear friend Dr. David Fleming I wrote, “and he never did get his bloody book finished!”  Everyone who knew David will have seen one or other iteration of his book, whether it was known as ‘The Lean Economy’ or ‘Lean Logic‘, tucked under his arm, adorned with much scribbling and crossing out.  Following his death, his family and friends have set to the task of making sure that his life’s work does finally see the light of day, and I’m delighted to announce that copies will soon be available.  I’m delighted, as would he have been, to know that his insights, his humour and his brilliance, are now more widely available.  Here is the text from a flyer I was recently sent announcing the publication.  I’ve already ordered mine…

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22 Jun 2011

Why localisation is a key part of the answer. An article from today’s Guardian online…

Transition Network empowers local groups to promote sustainable issues by Rob Hopkins (appeared today in the Guardian’s online Sustainable Business section).

Last week it emerged that the Department of Energy and Climate Change, whose official position remains that “we do not have any contingency plans specific to a peak in oil production”, was actually stating in internal documents released under the Freedom of Information Act that “it is not possible to predict with any accuracy exactly when or why oil production will peak”.

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