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
Since the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan was produced last June, it has been amazingly virulent, popping up all over the place, something akin to Japanese Knotweed, but hopefully more useful. I just Googled it to get a sense of where it is appearing and what it is leading to and was quite impressed with the results.
OK, its a tenuous link but stick with me. Last week President Bush announced that the US is ‘addicted to oil’. He unveiled his version of what is going to be done about it, which doesn’t really come close to what actually needs to be done, and seems to amount to letting his friends build lots more nuclear power stations to produce hydrogen to keep the cars on the road, but I suppose we should see it as some kind of a start. It did however raise for me the question as to what we ‘peakniks’ are supposed to do once everyone cops on as to the reality of peak oil. If George Bush
*Eleagnus ebbingei* is one of the classic permaculture plants, a nitrogen fixing, evergreen, early fruiting windbreak shrub. Ken Fern in his book ‘Plants for a Future’ talks about finding a mature bush on the roundabout near Heathrow airport covered in juicy red berries in April, a time of year when most other fruits barely even have leaves on. When in Ireland I did a few permaculture designs for people and always included some of this plant, telling the clients what a wonderful plant it was and how they were going to love the berries. None of them ever saw a single berry. I was beginning to think that it was a myth, and that *Eleagnus ebbingei* was purely a decorative shrub with no fruiting abilities, when
I have been reading this document recently and it is wonderful, so I thought I would recommend it. Motivating Sustainable Consumption is a report produced by Professor Tim Jackson for the Sustainable Development Research Network. It explores the latest thinking and research relating to what it is that affects peoples behaviour in relation to environmental issues. How can policies and processes best influence people in changing their lifestyles?
Louise at **Transition Design** in Kinsale recently gave a presentation to the Town Council as a follow on from the night in December when the Council voted unanimously to adopt their proposal that Kinsale begin working towards becoming a ‘Transition Town’, and begin to implement the proposals set out in the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan. They had asked her to cost and set out a plan of work for the next year, with a view to some possible funding from the Council.
