Transition Culture

An Evolving Exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent

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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.

Archive for “Politics” category

Showing results 66 - 70 of 154 for the category: Politics.


4 Mar 2010

Time to Organise Those Transition Hustings!

lutonA while ago we published here a draft guide for Transition initiatives wanting to hold Transition hustings with their local election candidates, in particular to explore themes around resilience.  Thanks to everyone who sent in comments and changes, and I am delighted to announce that the final document is available now to download here.  It runs over 8 pages, so in theory it should be able to print out as a rather nice A5 booklet.  The first such husting to have reached our ears was held on 25th February by Transition Luton.  You can read a detailed report of the event here, including their reflections on how to do it better if they did it again and a rather ropey film that gives a flavour of the event.  Do let me know (rob (at) transitionculture.org) any stories of hustings you hold, and we’ll report them here.

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25 Feb 2010

Frank Field Tells It How It Is: “This Mega Debt Crisis Which Threatens Our Very Existence”

frank_28497tAmazing times. Last week’s headline of one of the papers I saw at the station was that the UK’s national debt is now worse than that of Greece. On Tuesday I spent the morning with Chris ‘Crash Course’ Martenson, whose view is that last year’s ‘banking crisis’ was just the first of many, which will get steadily worse. The interview I did with him will be posted next week. Then yesterday morning, in the middle of a piece on Radio 4’s Today Programme about immigrant workers and why so few unemployed people here want any of those jobs in spite of rising unemployment, enter Frank Field, Labour MP, who delivered a verdict on the state of Britain’s economic health so withering that it made Martenson’s predictions look positively rosy. Rarely do I hear politicians on the radio and feel the need to transcribe every word, but here it is. After my meeting with him, Martenson went to give a talk for the All Party Parliamentary Working Group on Peak Oil and Gas at the Commons… I wonder if Frank Field happened to wander in on Chris’s session?

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Discussion: 25 Comments

Categories: Economics, Politics


2 Feb 2010

Cross Sector Partnerships and Transition Towns: some useful insights

aprilweek6Here is an excellent piece from the Mid-Wales Permaculture Network site, an interview which looks at how Transition initiatives build relationships with other organisations.  It is very insightful, and so, with gratitude to Roz Brown and the MWPN, here it is.

Roz Brown in conversation with Dave Prescott of Transition Hay-on-Wye

The need for broad community involvement is frequently recognised by TT groups, and is certainly advocated by the fonder of the movement. But many TTs struggle to identify and work with existing community organisations to forward the process of meeting the global challenges of climate change and peak oil. One TT group in Mid Wales proceeded from the outset to foster this collaboration and work with and through other organistions. In this interview, Dave Prescott tells the story of Transition Hay on Wye.

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11 Jan 2010

A Draft Guide for Holding Transition Hustings

hustings2A small group of us have spent the last few weeks working on what will become a booklet for Transition initiatives, which will help with the setting up of community grillings of our political candidates, allowing constituents to assess the degree of resilience thinking in their policies.  It could provide the basis for an event, co-run with a range of other similar local organisations.  It sets out how to do hustings, a guide to what resilience means, and also 10 Frequently Asked Questions that might arise.  We are now throwing the draft over to you for your thoughts and consideration.  We hope you find this useful, and look forward to your thoughts.

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4 Dec 2009

What It Looks Like When a Local Authority REALLY Gets Transition… the Monteveglio story….

monteveglio1So what might it look like when a local authority really gets Transition?  Earlier this week I received a very excitable email from Cristiano Bottone, one of the movers behind Transition Italia, and the Transition of his own town, Monteveglio, near Bologna.  “Monteveglio‘s local authority signs a strategic partnership with “Monteveglio Città di Transizione”….This is a revolution for this country, believe me. Thank you for all your help. I love you  ;-)”.    So what did the Monteveglio authorities actually sign up to, why is Cristiano so excited about it, and  what does it mean?

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