Transition Culture

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.


19 May 2009

Job Opportunity with Transition Network

transition-network-logo1Following the recent piece about burnout, I am delighted to announce my own survival strategy given how bonkers Transition and my life has gone in recent months.   We have a new post in Transition Network, Personal Assistant and Volunteer Manager, which, as the title suggests, is a combination of helping me out, and also co-ordinating volunteers.  Here is the job description in PDF format (“The Catalyst” it refers to is me).  If you interested, please send a CV and a covering letter explaining why you feel you would best be able to fill this post, by midday on June 19th 2009, to jo.coish(at) transitionnetwork.org.  Thanks.

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Discussion: 10 Comments

Categories: General


19 May 2009

Rethinking Land Use at Dartington: my presentation to an amazing Think Tank day

Had a fascinating afternoon recently at Schumacher College (you can read Simon Berry from DEFRA’s account of the day here).  Schumacher is part of the Dartington Estate, and I was asked to speak about the future of Schumacher as part of the wider Dartington Estate.  At present Dartington’s land is let for conventional dairy farming, and the lease comes up for renewal in 2014, so the process is starting of thinking what to do with the Estate’s 1000 acres.  Here is the talk I gave, filmed on Simon’s phone…

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18 May 2009

Hide Enomoto on Transition in Japan

I stumbled across The World’s Next Breath yesterday, and there was an interview with Hide Enomoto from Japan.  Hide is the founder of Transition Fujino, passionate Transition advocate in Japan, and all round really lovely guy.  This interview offers a fascinating update on how things are going in Japan.

Transition Town Japan: Hidetake Enomoto from UNUChannel on Vimeo.

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Discussion: 3 Comments

Categories: General, Transition Initiatives


15 May 2009

Patrick Whitefield Reviews ‘The Transition Timeline’

The Transition Timeline, for a local, resilient future, Shaun Chamberlin, Green Books/Transition Network, 2009.  Review from issue 60 of Permaculture Magazine.

This book doesn’t do what it says on the tin. It does, on the other hand, hold treasures which are not even hinted at in the title. A timeline, in the context of the transition movement, is an imagined story of the future. It helps us envision what the journey from the present to a more sustainable future might look like.

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Discussion: 6 Comments

Categories: General


14 May 2009

How to Make a New Generation of Coal Sexy, and Lessons for Promoting Transition

You won’t believe this one. How do you make a new generation of coal, traditionally seen as dirty and decidedly unglamorous, not to mention the fact that it is climate suicide, attractive again? Riding to the salvation of the coal industry is Carbon Capture and Storage, a marvellous technology the puts all the carbon dioxide produced safely underground somewhere. Only problem is that as a proven technology it still barely exists, and you need to burn a third more coal in order to power the thing. Still, doesn’t stop the coal industry (in this case GE Energy) using the oldest tricks in the advertising book to convince us the our future lies in coal.

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