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.
What follows is a recent article by David Fleming (left) and Lawrence Woodward, which explores the concept of resilience which is so central to the Transition concept, in more detail. It also argues that the implementation of Tradeable Energy Quotas is a key part of the Transition, and indeed is the only way we can be sure it will happen. I am delighted to be able to post this article, and many thanks to the authors for allowing me to do so.
At the Big Green Gathering one can learn a great deal. All kinds of workshops and talks are available, but one of the things I had no idea about before the Gathering was the World Naked Bike Ride. Once a year, in cities all over the world, people strip naked and ride their bikes, to raise awareness about oil dependency, body freedom and need need to curb car culture. This year’s happened in London in June. You can watch an excellent film about the Bike Ride here. The London Naked Bike Ride is the biggest in the world. At the BGG, a spontaneous naked bike ride took place, which was very entertaining.
I didn’t get to many talks at the Big Green Gathering, but I did get to one excellent, and very important one, given by Paul Allen and Richard Hawkins of the Centre for Alternative Technology. The talk was to introduce the wonderful piece of work they have just completed, a report called Zero Carbon Britain. I think it is the most important piece of work CAT had ever produced, and is very important for Transition Initiatives too. In essence it is the first draft of an Energy Descent Plan for the UK, although its focus is largely on energy. The two of them presented the report, how it came about, and what its aims are, in a very accessible way. Here, reconstructed from my notes, is the general gist of their presentation.
Jim and Mary Beth Heddle of the EON, the Ecological Options Network, have just posted on YouTube the film they made when they were in Totnes during the winter, which consists largely of the interviews we already posted the transcripts of, interspersed with little vignettes of me walking around the town. As a single film that covers the broad territory of the Transition concept, it is one of the best that we have. Have a look. It does fail to answer the question though, that why it is that every time a film crew or radio reporter comes to Totnes it pours with rain…. (as you might have noticed in the Radio Scotland piece posted yesterday).
On Monday morning, one of the best pieces of radio journalism about Transition Initiatives, and about Totnes in particular, was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland’s **The Investigation** programme. The reporter, Mark Stephen, had travelled to Totnes a couple of months ago, and done a wide range of interviews, which are woven into the piece.
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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What follows is a recent article by David Fleming (left) and Lawrence Woodward, which explores the concept of resilience which is so central to the Transition concept, in more detail. It also argues that the implementation of Tradeable Energy Quotas is a key part of the Transition, and indeed is the only way we can be sure it will happen. I am delighted to be able to post this article, and many thanks to the authors for allowing me to do so.
