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 236 - 240 of 243 for the category: Economics.
24 Jan 2006
I have an idea evolving in my head, and I want to put it out there for your feedback and thoughts. As the ‘Hands’ part of the **Head, Heart and Hands** approach I am developing towards the response to peak oil, I am exploring structures and mechanisms that we can develop for driving localisation. The one I am focusing on at the moment is the ESCO, or Energy Supply Company, which is designed to provide people with the services that energy does, rather than the energy itself. ESCOs are often the tool used to
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20 Jan 2006
Well you probably knew it already, but it was news to me. Until I attended an excellent talk last night at Schumacher College by David Boyle of the New Economics Foundation, author of The Money Changers, I had no idea that The Wizard of Oz was actually written as an allegory of the gold-backed capitalist monetary system. Apparently although the book was published in 1900, it wasn’t until
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3 Jan 2006
One of the leading figures in the peak oil community is **Robert Hirsch**. I have written about him previously at Transition Culture, his ‘Hirsch Report’ has been hailed by many as one of the most important pieces of research in this area. The report was asked to look at how far in advance it would take to prepare for the peak, rather than when the peak would be. The results shocked even Hirsch and his team. The scale and magnitude of the challenge they identified was such that Hirsch admits to feeling overwhelmed; it took a few months before he felt able to go out into the world and be constructive and positive about the challenge of oil peak. Hirsch has not given that many interviews (at least not many that I have come across..), so I was fascinated to see that David Room of **Global Public Media** has just posted an interview with Hirsch. It is fascinating, sobering and illuminating listening.
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19 Dec 2005
I have a bank account with the Co-operative Bank, as they have made the most efforts towards being an ethical bank that offers everday services, so far as I can tell. The other day in received a mail shot from them, containing a leaflet from CIS, which is their investment and insurance branch, entitled **”Go for growth, with a clear conscience’**. The leaflet promoted their Unit Trusts, which featured four companies that CIS believe represent ‘sustainability in action’. These are GlaxoSmithKline, Vodaphone, National Express and Amazon. I was incredulous … National Express maybe, promoting public transport and so on, but the rest of them?
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1 Dec 2005
It is becoming clear to me that one of the important elements of the response to peak oil is a relocalisation of the energy grid. Most of the current scenarios about energy for the UK, including those that have prompted the Government’s revival of the nuclear option, are based on a National Grid (and also on maintaining current levels of consumption rather than attempting to rein in our out-of-control consumer culture, but that’s a subject for a later post…). I have yet to see figures for the national implications of a localised energy scenario rather than the National Grid. It would be interesting to see how much it would reduce demand. Very little research exists as to the feasibility of localised grids. **FEASTA** in Dublin have produced a very useful document, the ENLIVEN Report, looking at some of the real nitty gritty of applying this concept to actual settlements.
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I have an idea evolving in my head, and I want to put it out there for your feedback and thoughts. As the ‘Hands’ part of the **Head, Heart and Hands** approach I am developing towards the response to peak oil, I am exploring structures and mechanisms that we can develop for driving localisation. The one I am focusing on at the moment is the ESCO, or Energy Supply Company, which is designed to provide people with the services that energy does, rather than the energy itself. ESCOs are often the tool used to
