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.
This has really very little to do with Transition, peak oil, or any of our usual fodder here at Transition Culture. It is a short film that I found rather fascinating, which is an interesting take on the idea of things that ‘go viral’. I am fascinated by how that happens, it seems to be happening with Transition initiatives, with many other ideas too; this is a film about a 6 second drum ‘break’, known as the ‘Amen break’, recorded in 1969, which , with the invention of the sampler, has gone viral. No profound lessons for Transition here (unless you can spot any), just something I found rather intriguing.
Here’s just a quick and not really fully-formed thought for a Thursday morning. I have finally, as part of the Transition Town Totnes Solar Hot Water Challenge‘, signed up to get solar panels put on our roof. Took a while, but I am going for flat bed panels rather than evacuated tubes (to see why read this). The plan is to get them up while there is still some summer sun to take advantage of. The question I find myself asked though when I tell people about it is “but what is the payback on them?” Now I have to say honestly that I have no idea, I haven’t sat down and worked it out, but what intrigues me is that nature of that question.
From Friends of the Earth’s Earthmatters Magazine.
“The Transition Handbook is skillfully structured to help you and your neighbours move from oil dependency to local resilience. Its author, Rob Hopkins, argues that making changes to your lifestyle makes you feel more in control, ready to cope rather than collapse with post petroleum stress disorder. He should know: Hopkins is not just a brilliant communicator, he is the founder of the Transition Town movement – a grassroots burst of empowerment that provides solutions to the twin changes peak oil and climate change must bring. If Hopkins is right about the viral spread of the Transition concept, then he has to be a runaway contender for a Nobel Prize. Until then the Transition Town story is powering up The Archers plot on Radio 4″.
Here is an excellent article that appeared in Sunday’s Observer, which discussed peak oil and also mentioned Transition…
Oil Crisis: £100 to fill up the tank? Just get used to the idea.
By Jamie Doward, Gaby Hinsliff, Lisa Bachelor and Tim Webb. The Observer, Sunday June 15 2008
Queues at petrol stations may be a chilling taste of things to come. Prices are soaring, experts warn of shortages ahead, and some say the world is running out of fuel. Already people are getting out of their cars and finding other ways to travel, while less scrupulous drivers are stealing diesel. Has the motor car just stalled – or are our driving habits changing for ever?
I guess, as what Albert Bates terms a ‘post-petroleumologist’, you would imagine that I would be philosophically opposed to diggers, earthmovers, and other forms of fossil fuel powered equipment. I think it would be fair to say that until I encountered permaculture, I saw them, mostly due to seeing the extraordinary damage that such machines can wreak on road-building protests, as inherently wicked. When I sat down to read Bill Mollison’s Permaculture, a Designer’s Manual, I was surprised to find that a book on earth repair had an entire chapter dedicated to earthmoving. Seemed somewhat incongruous. Now, however, I am a convert, and I was honoured that my garden was visited by one this weekend.
How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations
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From Friends of the Earth’s Earthmatters Magazine. 
