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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.
Come find me at robhopkins.net
Archive for “Research on Transition” category
Showing results 41 - 45 of 49 for the category: Research on Transition.
20 Oct 2010
To celebrate the launch of Alexis Rowell’s book ‘Communities, Councils and a Low-Carbon Future: what we can do if governments won’t’, I recently interviewed Alexis about the book, and a number of other things besides. My thanks to Alexis for taking the time to do this….
Many people’s experience of engaging with local Councils is an intensely frustrating one. Yet in your book you argue that not only should Transitioners engage, but should also put themselves forward for office. Why?
Yes, it can be endlessly frustrating. I often use the analogy of trying to turn a tanker. Or the Titanic! But a local authority can make a huge difference. When I think how much we managed to change in Camden during 2006-10 and how much good practice I’ve seen at councils around the country and abroad – frankly it’s amazing. So frustrating yes but worth it if you persevere.
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8 Oct 2010
This week sees the launch of Alexis Rowell’s Transition Book, “Communities, councils and carbon – what we can do if governments won’t”, which will be available here at Transition Culture from early next week. It’s a blood, sweat and tears account of life as an elected eco warrior trying to encourage local government to work with communities to make the world a greener place, packed with great case studies and tips for Transition initiatives and Councils alike. The book is being launched next week, at 7pm on Wednesday 13th October at Caponata, 3-7 Delancy Street, Camden Town (www.caponatacamden.co.uk) and speakers include: the Home Office Minister, Lynne Featherstone MP; the Chair of the Transition Network and Director of Sustrans, Pete Lipman; Author and Co-Founder of Transition Belsize, John-Paul Flintoff; and the Deputy Leader of the Local Government Association, Richard Kemp. The event is open to all interested Transitioners, although you’ll need to contact Stacey at Green Books (stacey (at) greenbooks.co.uk) for an invite. In the meantime, and to whet your appetite, here is my foreword for the book. Congratulations to Alexis on the publication of this landmark publication…
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8 Oct 2010
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s ‘Ingredient’ which looked at Energy Descent Action Plans, here is a detailed and fascinating review of the Totnes one by Michelle Colussi, from i4 magazine. It offers some excellent insights and well informed commentary on the Plan, and argues that it should really be thought of as an ‘Invitation’ rather than a Plan. The Totnes EDAP is still available here. You can download the pdf. of this article (beautifully illustrated) here. Our thanks for their permission to reproduce.
The Transition Totnes Energy Descent Plan. By Michelle Colussi.
The Transition Town model is a series of steps or ingredients for engaging a whole community in the process of reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The model assumes that life with less oil is inevitable, and that making the changes required is up to us – to you and me. It also assumes that everyone needs to be part of the solution. Residents of Totnes, England first developed the model in about 2005. Today, close to 500 communities around the world have adopted it and are recognized as “Transition Towns.” An international Transition Network has formed to connect these initiatives and support training related to the model.
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4 Oct 2010
Strategies that bring people together with their neighbours to explore carbon reduction on a street-by-street level are very powerful. They can be a great way, through the support they offer, of tackling POST PETROLEUM STRESS DISORDER and providing EMOTIONAL SUPPORT/ AVOIDING BURNOUT. Being part of such a group has been found to increase PERSONAL RESILIENCE, while at the same time offering a powerful tool for MEASUREMENT, gathering hard data about very real carbon reductions. Finally, these tools are excellent AWARENESS RAISING methods.
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7 Sep 2010
Last weekend I was at Embercombe, about 20 minutes drive from Totnes, for the West Country Storytelling Festival. Embercombe is a fascinating evolving project, describing itself as “a charity and social enterprise established to champion a way of living that celebrates the opportunities inherent in this challenging time and that inspires people to energetically contribute towards the emergence of a socially just, environmentally sustainable and spiritually fulfilling human presence on earth”. It is also a stunning place, a mix of woodlands and fields. Food production is becoming a key part of its work, and it now has a wonderful vegetable garden, orchards, field scale veg and, of particular interest to me, some small scale cereals production. The day I was there, they were threshing (or attempting to thresh) some of what they had grown, and I thought I would share some of the conversations that took place by the threshing machine.
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