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 2009
For years in talks, I have talked about the idea of “energy slaves”, trying to translate the amount of energy used in the average family house into the number of people pedalling on bicycles that would be required to meet their needs. Thus far, no-one has ever actually tried to do it. Until last night, on a fantastic ‘Bang Goes the Theory’ programme on BBC TV, they put this to the test, and found it is way more than that. A brilliant programme, definitely worth watching. I have talked to people who found this one of the best programmes in terms of an awareness of energy that they have ever seen. You can view it for the next 7 days here.
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4 Dec 2009
So 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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3 Dec 2009
You may remember recently Ted Trainer’s first draft of his paper “The Transition Towns Movement: its huge significance, and a friendly criticism”, and my subsequent response. Ted subsequently sent some more detailed thoughts, and has since rewritten his piece, which you can download here. Brian Davey of Transition Nottingham responded to Ted’s piece in a beautiful, heartfelt and fiery response, which he has kindly allowed me to share with you, as many of you might find that his key points resonate quite deeply. My thanks to both.
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2 Dec 2009
Just heard the other day that I won the 2009 Energy Saving Trust/Guardian ‘Green Community Hero’ award, for which I am hugely grateful. There is a big spread about it in today’s Guardian, and the award itself arrived in the post on Monday, a very nice piece of handmade glass. A big thanks to everyone who nominated and voted for me. Once again I must say that this is actually an award for everyone out there doing Transition in communities around the world. Although these kind of things have my name written on them, they are really an acknowledgement of the incredible work the wider movement is doing. Well done all!
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2 Dec 2009
A few people have been in touch to ask whether, in the light of the recent illegal hacking into UEA’s emails, and the proposition by climate deniers that some of the emails that have emerged prove climate change is a scam, Transition Network now intends to renounce the absurd notion of human-induced climate change. Of course not. It has been a fascinating few days though, and we are probably the last people to actually post any thoughts on it, but on reflection my sense is that there are perhaps 6 things we can say that we know for sure (or, as climate scientists would say, with a very high degree of probability) .
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For years in talks, I have talked about the idea of “energy slaves”, trying to translate the amount of energy used in the average family house into the number of people pedalling on bicycles that would be required to meet their needs. Thus far, no-one has ever actually tried to do it. Until last night, on a fantastic ‘Bang Goes the Theory’ programme on BBC TV, they put this to the test, and found it is way more than that. A brilliant programme, definitely worth watching. I have talked to people who found this one of the best programmes in terms of an awareness of energy that they have ever seen. You can view it for the next 7 days here.
