Transition Culture

15 Dec 2005

The Lessons from Kinsale – Part Three

**Lesson Three – Creating a Vision of an Abundant Future.**

One of essential things in developing community strategies to peak oil is that of facilitating the community to create a vision of how the future could be. We move from working with peak oil, which is about probabilities (how probable is it that it will be horrendous, how probable is peak in 2007 and so on…) to possibilities. The shift is subtle but illuminating. Through the Open Space event we ran in Kinsale, we gave the community (well those who came at least) permission to dream. It was very powerful to see it happening, people going home excited about

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13 Dec 2005

The Lessons from Kinsale – Part Two

**Lesson 2 – Creating a sense that Something is Happening.**

The KEDAP process arose from the Practical Sustainability course at Kinsale FEC, which began in 2001. Over the last 4 years, it has developed a reputation in the town for being a place where unusual yet fascinating things are occuring. People often commented to me that they loved the ‘buzz’ around the town created by it. The various building projects that have taken place there have particularly been of great interest, indeed sometimes students would spend the morning cob building or clay plastering, and then head down to the town for some lunch, leading to their being fondly referred to in the town as the ‘Mud People’. We also had an annual Open Day where visitors would

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8 Dec 2005

End of Suburbia

**The End of Suburbia**. I’m sure that most of you reading this have seen this film already. If you hadn’t you probably wouldn’t be reading this. I tend to assume that everyone has seen it, but actually most people haven’t. I organised a number of public screenings of it in West Cork when I lived there, it is always a very powerful experience seeing how people react to it. One thing that has struck me is that when I first showed it people were deeply affected and upset, it was quite a thing listening to people’s shock and distress after the film. Now when I show it people are really inspired and want to do stuff, nowhere near so much upset and shock. It is still the same film, so I can only really assume that the people have changed in that time.

For many years, most people I met in the permaculture movement could trace their involvement back to

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6 Dec 2005

An Historic Evening In Kinsale

I had a phone call last night from a pub in Kinsale from the Transition Design team, Louise, Catherine and Graham, to tell me some historic news. At a meeting of **Kinsale Town Council** last night, Transition Design’s proposal that Kinsale become Ireland’s first ‘Transition Town’ was unanimously approved. The proposal put before the Council was;

>**Notice of Motion**

>This council supports the efforts of the not-for-profit company “Transition Design

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5 Dec 2005

Peak Oil and the Fine Art of a Good Shave.

I know it is a bit early for New Year’s Resolutions, but I have already made one of mine. I am going to teach myself to shave with an old fashioned razor. What’s this got to do with **Transition Culture** and energy descent you may wonder? Well, read on.

I did grow a beard once, and it’s not an experience I wish to repeat. Facial hair grows to a point where it becomes unbearably itchy under the chin, usually the point where one shaves it off. Only those determined to grow a beard persevere beyond this point. I did it once, when I was travelling in Pakistan many years ago, when it seemed like a useful tool for blending in in certain situations. It looked terrible though, and the one photograph of it has thankfully disappeared over the years. Despite having firmly decided from that day on

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