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.
Last week, on a rather soggy, windswept London evening, members of Transitions Belsize, Bethnal Green, Brentford, Brixton, Crouch End, Crystal Palace, Finsbury Park, Hackney, Highbury, Kensal to Kilburn, Kentish Town, Lewisham, Peckham, Stoke Newington, Tooting, Tufnell Park, Walthamstow, Wandsworth, Wanstead, Westcombe, Willesden and Wimbledon (and probably a few more besides), as well as members of the public, gathered at the GLA building in London, to help celebrate Transition in London, and the launch of ‘The Transition Companion’.
In the UK, the main Transition-related story to make the national news over the past month was the suggestion by Ian Jones, CEO of Volunteer Cornwall, that Cornwall should set up its own currency, the ‘Cornwall Pound’. The story made the national news and many references were made to the local currencies already in existence via Transition Towns Totnes (Devon), Lewes (Sussex) and Brixton (London). Jones told the Daily Telegraph “It’s no good if we endlessly talk about our problems, we need to start doing something positive now if we are to avoid being at the mercy of the global storm which is currently raging.”
I already posted a clever thing here that mixed the slides and the audio from a talk I gave the RESOLVE conference in May, well here now is the film of the talk, in case you’re interested…
Earlier this week I was in Norwich for the third birthday anniversary celebrations of Transition Norwich’s Unleashing. I had been meant to speak at that event, but had been unable to attend because I was ill, so it was great to get there finally and to be able to take part in their celebrations. Here’s a reminder of what that event was like:
This three-years-on celebration featured a new film about Transition Norwich (which I’ll post here when it is online), a talk by me followed by questions and answers, and then lots of chatting, eating cake, drinking tea and signing copies of The Transition Companion (unfortunately the batteries ran out in my recorder, so I have no audio of the actual event itself). At the end of my talk I dedicated it to Richard Douthwaite, who had passed away the previous day. Transition Norwich are doing some amazing things, and in order to capture some of the voices of some of those who have been involved and the story of Transition Norwich thus far, I interviewed 6 members (thanks Tierney for the loan of the batteries!) and on the train home created the following short podcast capturing where they have come from, where they are now, and where they think they are going.
My thanks to everyone there for their amazing hospitality. Here are a few photos from the visit….
A bumper harvest of apples has resulted in an abundance of top Transition stories in the UK! Local fruit harvesters, now part of Transition Kensal to Kilburn (K2K) were joined by the newly- formed Transition Willesden in setting up stall with traditional apple press in tow on the Kilburn High Road to make juice from locally-picked fruit. As temperatures soared on an unusually hot autumn day, over 200 shoppers and children helped press the fruit, taste the juice and join in the fun (see above). Pictures of the stall can be seen here; and local press coverage here, here and here. Thanks to Viv Stein of K2K for this great story!
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