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.
Come find me at robhopkins.net
4 Dec 2006
In this post I want to discuss an evolving theory I have which may illuminate some and enrage others. I have come to think that part of the reason behind the “die-off” perspective and the mind-set which thinks that Western civilisation is doomed because humanity is basically selfish and foolish, and that it is too late for humanity to do anything on the necessary scale is in fact that a generation of men are coming to realise on some level that they are almost entirely unequipped to face the challenge that peak oil creates.
Read more»
1 Dec 2006
On the last day of Richard Heinberg’s teaching on the Life After Oil course at Schumacher College, where he had been teaching a session on the Oil Depletion Protocol (ODP), a question was asked about the relationship between the ODP and Energy Descent Plans (EDP). The discussion between Richard and myself I found very useful in clarifying how the two fit together.
Read more»
30 Nov 2006
This is really a post of no particular consequence, apologies in advance. Having been recently voted Britain’s 12th Best Green Blog, I thought I had better check out the competition, and so I have been rooting about among those that also came in the Top 100. Despite being a bit unsure how George Monbiot managed to get a website that isn’t actually a blog in at number 3, I have to say I was fascinated by the diversity of the various sites. I rather enjoyed Camden Kiwi, who somehow manages to simultaneously write about coal fired powerstations and her walk to the charity shop round the corner from her house. Something about the combination of the important and the inconsequential rather appeals to me (as you may have observed). So in the spirit of celebrating the utterly inconsequential, I wanted today to offer some in-depth observations on pyjamas.
Read more»
29 Nov 2006
**Oil Vulnerability Auditing – a Workshop Organised by Envision and Transition Town Totnes, Follaton House, Totnes.
Presented by Simon Snowden of University of Liverpool.**
How does a project like Transition Town Totnes engage with the business community in the surrounding area? This is a question which is key to the success of the process, and something grassroots environmental projects have always struggled with. We were delighted then that Simon Snowden from the University of Liverpool came down a couple of weeks ago to run a workshop with representatives of 10 local businesses to explore this.
Read more»
28 Nov 2006
**What role to communities such as Totnes have in preparations for peak oil?**
What I see happening in towns like Totnes in the UK and Willits in California are test-tube experiments for what the rest of society is going to have to do. Right now we are talking about very few communities who are making some groping experimental steps in the direction of energy transition, but very soon every town, every city in the world is going to be faced with the need for making the same kinds of choices. So having at least a few communities that have undertaken the process voluntarily and proactively and have tested out the options and found ways of doing this successfully it is going to be very important. These towns will be the way-showers for rest of us.
Read more»
In this post I want to discuss an evolving theory I have which may illuminate some and enrage others. I have come to think that part of the reason behind the “die-off” perspective and the mind-set which thinks that Western civilisation is doomed because humanity is basically selfish and foolish, and that it is too late for humanity to do anything on the necessary scale is in fact that a generation of men are coming to realise on some level that they are almost entirely unequipped to face the challenge that peak oil creates.
