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.
Here’s a great article from the latest edition (‘The Green Issue’) of Norwich magazine, to whom I am very grateful for permission to republish in full. You can also download the pdf of the article here with more of Tony Buckingham’s excellent photos here.
Close to home
In November, Transition Norwich celebrated its third birthday. Sabine Virani investigates a green initiative that is part of a global movement yet focuses on local need, local interest and local resources.
Welcome back to Transition Culture, and a Happy New Year to you. We’ll kick off with our round-up of Transition for December. We’ll start with a few stories of Transition groups working on energy efficiency and fuel poverty which, even though this has been the UK’s mildest winter for many many years, is still a big concern for many people, especially as energy prices continue to rise. TT High Wycombe have created a Warm Homes Team (see right) who have taken to the streets with their council loaned thermal imaging equipment to address winter fuel poverty.
It’s time for the second monthly Transition podcast, in which we return to November’s ‘Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition‘ and go into more depth on three of the stories it contained. Do let us know of any stories you think should feature in the next one. This month we look at:
Transition Norwich’s Farmshare CSA project, interviewing one of its founders standing in the very field where the CSA is based and hearing the joys and the realities of running such a scheme
Bath and West Community Energy‘s recent share launch which raised £721, 350! Find out their plans, the story so far and their very ambitious plans for energy generation in their area
Transition Llambed (Lampeter) who have just taken on a 20 year lease from their local council for their local hall, and have great plans to turn it into a Transition resource centre and farmers’ market.
At just over 15 minutes in length it’s rich with stories, inspiration and the voices of people out there doing Transition on the ground. You can play it here, or download it to listen to on the train, while you’re cooking, or out running. We do advise against listening to it whilst swimming though, on health and safety grounds. Do let us know what you think….
Like buses, you wait for ages for Energy Descent Action Plans to come along, and then two come along at once. This month sees the publication of two new EDAPs, from Llambed in mid-Wales, and Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland. For a crash course in EDAPs and a taste of those published thus far, see this ingredient from The Transition Companion. These two high quality pieces of work represent two communities taking the idea of an EDAP and rooting it to their place, their community, their challenges.
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.”
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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