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
Archive for “Economics” category
Showing results 196 - 200 of 243 for the category: Economics.
10 Aug 2007
I didn’t get to many talks at the Big Green Gathering, but I did get to one excellent, and very important one, given by Paul Allen and Richard Hawkins of the Centre for Alternative Technology. The talk was to introduce the wonderful piece of work they have just completed, a report called Zero Carbon Britain. I think it is the most important piece of work CAT had ever produced, and is very important for Transition Initiatives too. In essence it is the first draft of an Energy Descent Plan for the UK, although its focus is largely on energy. The two of them presented the report, how it came about, and what its aims are, in a very accessible way. Here, reconstructed from my notes, is the general gist of their presentation.
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1 Aug 2007
I was fascinated to see that Totnes MP Anthony Steen raised both Transition Town Totnes and the Totnes Pound in a question in the House of Commons a couple of weeks ago. This is in the wake of the piece he wrote in the local papers, waxing lyrical about TTT. In Questions on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the subject of local food production, he managed, in one question, to cover peak oil, the fragility of import dependency, the role of local currencies and the Transition concept, not bad! The exchange ran as follows;
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18 Jul 2007
I have often joked that it won’t be long before Totnes Pounds start to appear on Ebay. Last week though, someone drew my attention to the fact that one had just sold on Ebay that day… for £4.27! Now I look and there are 3 more for sale although so far they have generated somewhat less excitement. I suppose it is inevitable really, but it isn’t really in the spirit of the thing somehow. It is reflective of the interest such a scheme generates from coin and currency collectors, which I note the Salt Springs Dollar people have turned to their advantage, producing limited edition silver coins and also signed notes (signed by the artists). If you want a Totnes Pound and can’t get to the town, please buy them through us (see right), as it generates some much needed revenue to keep the scheme going. For your interest, since the notes were launched about 3 weeks ago, over 4,000 have been sold into circulation.
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29 Jun 2007
The Totnes Pound project is now launched, and is, by all accounts, doing rather well. 10,000 notes have been printed and will be sold into circulation, and rather nice they are too. They have all kinds of security features, UV light, heat sensitive ink and so on, and it will be seen if and how they become truly adopted as the currency of choice in the town. Apart from some financial help with the printing of the notes, the Totnes Pound initiative is unfunded, and entirely dependent on volunteer input. For people outside the town who would like to get their hands on some of these historic notes, we have put together a **Presentation Pack**, comprising a Totnes Pound note and a copy of the detailed information leaflet about the scheme, which we can offer for sale here at **Transition Culture**. Simply click the Totnes Pound link to the right or click here. The funds generated will be well used maximising the potential of the scheme. For an insight into the potential of such a scheme, you might enjoy this short film about Berkshares in the US. Get your hands on a piece of history!
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25 Jun 2007
This week sees the release of the new edition of **Totnes Pounds**. The Totnes Pound is an initiative of Transition Town Totnes, and follows on from the first pilot scheme which ended at the end of May, in which 300 notes were put into circulation. The first notes, one side of which carried a facsimile of an 1810 Totnes bank note, were very popular, with shops, businesses, shopkeepers and tourists alike. The main findings from the research that was done upon its completion were that the notes were too big, there weren’t enough of them, and many people kept them as souvenirs rather than spend them. The new notes have been designed to overcome many of these problems.
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I didn’t get to many talks at the Big Green Gathering, but I did get to one excellent, and very important one, given by Paul Allen and Richard Hawkins of the Centre for Alternative Technology. The talk was to introduce the wonderful piece of work they have just completed, a report called Zero Carbon Britain. I think it is the most important piece of work CAT had ever produced, and is very important for Transition Initiatives too. In essence it is the first draft of an Energy Descent Plan for the UK, although its focus is largely on energy. The two of them presented the report, how it came about, and what its aims are, in a very accessible way. Here, reconstructed from my notes, is the general gist of their presentation.
