Transition Culture

8 Feb 2007

My Talk to the Soil Association Conference.

Here is a very lightly edited transcript of the talk I gave to the Soil Association conference on Friday 26th February 2007. You can also download the accompanying Powerpoint presentation of the talk here.

“Good morning and thank you very much. I couldn’t wish for four better preceding speakers (Porritt, Campbell, Leggett & Heinberg) to go before me in this morning session and they were in the main the people who very much inspired and influenced me during the work that I do and this first day of the conference was very much designed to take you on a journey through encountering this issue and what we might do about it. So as a response, as my part of that, I want to take you on the pathway, the journey that I’ve gone through since I was where you are all now, where you’ve just heard about peak oil.

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1 Feb 2007

Vandana Shiva on Food Relocalisation

**Vandana Shiva** is the most extraordinary speaker on environmental issues I have ever heard. Period. It was entirely appropriate that she should deliver the keynote lecture on Taking The Oil Out of Our Food which she did very powerfully and is essential listening. You can now hear the podcast at the Soil Association website. During a previous panel discussion, I asked her the question “there are now communities around the UK looking at how to relocalise their food systems in response to peak oil, but they are working against the cultural trends and the direction most see as logical. Do you have any advice for such groups?”. Here is a direct transcript of her reply;

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30 Jan 2007

Why Life After Oil Will Be Better – from the Western Mail.

The Soil Association conference generated a lot of interest around the subject of peak oil and relocalisation. Some very good pieces appeared in various media, one of the better ones in the Welsh paper, the Western Mail. It is reproduced below….

**Why life after oil will be better – by Molly Watson.**
Experts are predicting that in as little as 12 months’ time our global supplies of oil will start to diminish. Demand will exceed supply, prices will rise, and suddenly all of the things we take for granted like commuting from Swansea to Cardiff, buying roses in February and holidaying abroad will be out of the question.

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30 Jan 2007

One Planet Agriculture – the Case for Action. Download the Booklet here.

For the Soil Association conference, I co-edited a booklet which set out in a concise way the case for peak oil, its implications for farming, and possible directions beyond the peak. Entitled One Planet Agriculture – the Case for Action , it was given out at the conference, and is a pre-cursor to a longer report called **’One Planet Agriculture: Handbook for Practical Action’** which will be out in a month or so. You can download the booklet as a pdf here, I think it turned out really well, and is a very concise introduction to the subject.

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29 Jan 2007

Peak Oil and Transition Town Totnes on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Farming Today’.

BBC Radio 4’s **Farming Today** on Saturday explored some of the issues raised by the Soil Association conference in Cardiff. In an excellent programme, it looked at the role of supermarkets in a post-peak society and whether, indeed, they will actually have one. It included interviews with Green MEP Caroline Lucas and a walk around Totnes with **Transition Culture**’s own Rob Hopkins. It will be featured on the Listen Again section of the “R4”) section of the Radio 4 website until late Friday. Look for the link to ‘Farming Today This Week’.

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