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.
I travelled to London yesterday for an event which was part of the Big Energy Shift (BES). BES was commissioned and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government and was facilitated by Ipsos Mori. Over the last few months, members of 9 communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have met for a series of facilitated “deliberative discussions”, looking at the bases on which the public would be prepared to take up renewable energy generation and energy conservation. Yesterday’s meeting was the last in the series, and brought representatives of all the communities involved to London. It was a fascinating day.
So Shaun, you’ve just got copies of the first book you’ve ever published in your hand. What does that feel like?
Wow, what a question! Relief I think! It’s been a long process, and it feels so good to finally see the fruits of everyone’s labours that have gone into this book, and to feel that it can now go out and be a help to people. And I can’t get over how much I love the cover design – we spent ages getting it right, and I’m totally in love! I think it’ll be a while before it all sinks in. (Below is a short promotional film for the book produced by Green Books).
I have wanted to visit the Wintles in Bishops Castle in Shropshire for many years. It has won many awards over the years as a pioneering ‘green’ housing development. I knew its creators, Bob and Carol Thomlinson, many years ago, and followed the project’s early stages, including its design phase. It was conceived of as a low energy, sustainable housing complex, one that was designed in such a way as to create a strong sense of community. Last week I was in Bishop’s Castle for a talk (which went very well), and finally I was able to have a good look around the place and see how it had turned out.
Manawatu Gorge Windfarm with Naresh and interested looking sheep
We are staying up the Pohangina river valley with my sister and family. They live in the rich, rural heartland of the North Island of New Zealand. They have a small holding; 5 acres and run a few lambs and a couple of beef cattle and have a small vege garden and horses for the kids. It’s potentially very resilient and has the makings of a sustainable lifestyle if the rest of their lives weren’t so resource hungry. Like most Kiwis they live a normal unsustainable life amidst a potentially easily sustainable and resilient land, a real contradiction to my eyes.
With investment in research and development for renewables plummeting, and the much-hyped hydrogen economy in the doldrums, its about time we had a new improbable and unfeasible energy source to get excited about. I am an avid collector of such stories, from the termite gut enzyme powered cars to the mining of the moon for Helium 3. I was delighted to read, therefore, about the dead fly powered lamps soon to be all the rage, apparently.
How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations
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I travelled to London yesterday for an event which was part of the Big Energy Shift (BES). BES was commissioned and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government and was facilitated by Ipsos Mori. Over the last few months, members of 9 communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have met for a series of facilitated “deliberative discussions”, looking at the bases on which the public would be prepared to take up renewable energy generation and energy conservation. Yesterday’s meeting was the last in the series, and brought representatives of all the communities involved to London. It was a fascinating day. 
