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.
For today’s post, I am handing over to Jimmie Hepburn, who farms organic carp quite near to me here in Devon. During the Middle Ages, carp farming was commonplace, but once we were able to harness the power of ancient sunlight to plunder the sea, it mostly died out. Jimmie’s project, Aquavision, is beginning to make freshwater aquaculture financially viable. He wrote an excellent article on the latest edition of ‘Organic Farming’ magazine (Issue 101: for subscription details call 0117 914 2447). I thought it was rather wonderful, and asked to be able to reproduce it here. You can read the full article here.
As expected, the recent paper ‘Can Totnes and district feed itself?’ has started stirring things up. An intriguing response comes from Colin Tudge, a director of LandShare CIC (co-funders of the research) and leader of the Campaign for Real Farming. Colin’s thesis is that the food security issue is a simple matter of feeding the population as far as practical from local sources, recognising that some trade between specialist production areas will always be necessary. He argues that we simply need macronutrients (energy foods and protein), mainly in the shape of grains, and micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – and that by growing lots of wheat and encouraging more urban horticulture we can feed ourselves. I’m brutally over-summarising, of course, but he is keen to keep things simple.
Marc Wegerif is an old school friend of mine from when I grew up in Bristol. After school he moved to South Africa and was very involved in activism there, and he now lives in Tanzania and works for Oxfam. He recently got back in touch and I sent him a copy of The Transition Handbook. Subsequently he sent me a long and thoughtful letter, with his reflections on the book, and on how it might relate to Africa. The whole question of what Transition might look like in a developing world context is something we have rarely explored at Transition Culture, and Marc has given me permission to reprint his letter here by way of initiating that discussion.
Somerset County Council was the first UK local authority to pass a resolution in support of Transition Initiatives across Somerset in July last year. The motion was pushed through by what was largely a LibDem council, since when, a few months ago, following a local election, the Council has gone largely Conservative. Transition Training also ran a training day with Councillors. So what has happened since? Has the resolution been sidelined by the new administration? How deeply does awareness of Transition run? What role has Transition Somerset, a coalition of local initiatives, played? Niamh McDonald, in her MSc dissertation at University College London has set out to answer those questions.
OK, OK, I promise tomorrow I’ll start blogging about things other than the Brixton Pound, but today, here is a great film made by Positive TV about the launch, featuring some of the Brixton Pound crew and really giving a powerful sense of the event.
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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For today’s post, I am handing over to Jimmie Hepburn, who farms organic carp quite near to me here in Devon. During the Middle Ages, carp farming was commonplace, but once we were able to harness the power of ancient sunlight to plunder the sea, it mostly died out. Jimmie’s project, Aquavision, is beginning to make freshwater aquaculture financially viable. He wrote an excellent article on the latest edition of ‘Organic Farming’ magazine (Issue 101: for subscription details call 0117 914 2447). I thought it was rather wonderful, and asked to be able to reproduce it here. You can read the full article here.
