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.
Come find me at robhopkins.net
Showing results 146 - 150 of 243 for the category: Economics.
First, here is a piece from a recent edition of ‘The Politics Show’ about the Brixton Pound….
…and secondly, a short film made by the Brixton Pound folks as a way of promoting the currency and getting people to understand how it works….
This weekend saw the launch of the Stroud Pound. Four denominations have been published, and over at Josef Coates-Davis’s blog, he tells the story of the design of the notes.
“The notes, designed by local artist Ronan Schoemaker and produced by local currency collector Steve Charlwood, are like miniature histories of the economic and cultural life of the Five Valleys. The most prominent local celebrity to feature is Laurie Lee, author of Cider with Rosie, who was born in Stroud and is buried in the Slad Valley. Local wildlife is represented by the rare Adonis Blue butterfly found on Minchinhampton Common. Stroud’s economic heritage is commemorated by the teazle itself, while the lawnmower, invented in Stroud, the green felt cloth that is still made in the town and Thomas the Tank Engine also feature”.
Not long to go now before the launch of the Brixton Pound. This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, that an urban district has launched its own currency. It is a bold experiment, and like all the best bold experiments, it starts with a party; September 17th, 7.30pm, Lambeth Town Hall. There is expected to be huge demand for this historic event, so you need to book in advance. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t miss it for the world! I’ll be speaking at the launch, along with David Boyle of nef, and Derrick Anderson (Chief Executive of Lambeth Council). As a taster, here is an excellent article about the Brixton Pound by Josh Ryan-Collins, from the latest edition of Fourth World Review.
Ted Trainer (right, author of, among other things, the utterly indispensible ‘Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society’ just published a long and detailed piece which offers his thoughts on the Transition movement. He sent me an earlier draft which I, in return, sent him some detailed thoughts on. Given that the final published piece didn’t seem to take on many of the points I sent, the comments I wrote still stand as a response to it, and I offer them below in the hope that they offer a reasonable companion to Trainer’s considered piece.
I was honoured to be one of the signatories of a letter which was sent to the Queen last month, a response to the British Academy’s letter to her which sought to address her question as to why no-one had seen the economic meltdown coming. Here is the text of the letter in full.
Open Letter to the Queen: 14th August 2009
Your Majesty,
We, the undersigned, noted with interest the letter to Your Majesty of 22nd July 2009 from the British Academy in which they respond to your question about how the current economic meltdown was missed. They talked of a “failure of the collective imagination of many bright people” and a “psychology of denial”.
