December 2014 – Transition Network Newsletter
By Mike Grenville 4th December 2014
While our theme in November was catching up, December’s theme is ‘Less is More’. In the newsletter we find out about the new Support Framework, we want to hear your starting out stories and your thoughts on Transition Culture. We offer several reflections on stuff and what happens when we don’t have so much of it. Plus news from initiatives including the Round up; Training courses coming up and Book reviews. And since it’s that time of year – we have our plan for a Christmas advert!
NETWORK
JOB: Conference Project Manager
We are recruiting for a project manager for our Transition Conference autumn 2015. If have the skills and interest to work with TN on a project/ freelance basis, then please email naresh@transitionnetwork.org
Details and application form will follow shortly.
Our New Support Framework
“Give it a go and let us know what you think” says Michael Thomas, Transition Network’s Support Co-ordinator. “For the past 9 months we have been creating a new support framework which draws on the various resources that Transition Network has produced over recent years, experience gained from Transition Training and feedback from across the movement. We wanted to bring key information together, put a bit of structure around it and make it easier for people to find and use the learning that we’ve gathered from the fantastic ongoing social experiment that is Transition.”
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-12/our-new-support-framework-here-give-it-go-and-let-us-know-what-you-think
Are we doing Transition Culture right?
It’s now 17 months since Transition Culture moved to its home at transitionnetwork.org. We have introduced a number of changes, in particular the monthly themes, the monthly Transitioner’s Digest and the bigger editorial ‘think piece’ at the start of each month. As we reach the end of 2014, we’d like to hear how you are finding it, what you like, what you think could be changed, any suggestions and feedback. We have created a very quick survey that should only take you a minute or two, and your feedback will be very valuable in shaping what we do during 2015. Please let us know what you think by Sunday the 14th of December
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-11/are-we-doing-it-right-let-us-know
Wanted: your stories of starting your Transition initiative.
Over January and February, the Transition Network website will be looking in more depth at the first step in starting a Transition initiative, namely Developing an Initiating Group. Site editor Rob Hopkins has the following request:
“We’d love to hear your stories about how your Transition group came together and what happened as you drew together the group to get it all going. Who started it? How did you organise yourselves? What happened? This is your opportunity to capture and share those early days.” Please get in touch at robhopkins@transitionnetwork.org
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/support/how-to-start-transition
REFLECTING
Unveiling the 2014 Transition Christmas TV Advert
Rob Hopkins puts on Transition glasses and has a look at the various Christmas adverts being put out by the UK stores. He then has a go at suggesting what a Transition Christmas ad might look like.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-12/unveiling-2014-transition-christmas-tv-advert
Looking Back Over 100 Years:
It is all too easy to imagine that prior to present-day consumption levels life was bereft of pleasure, fun, anything rewarding. As a way of challenging that Rob Hopkins shares a conversation he had with 99 year old Douglas Matthews.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-12/looking-back-over-100-years-interview-douglas-matthews
Fukushima – the aftermath of a disaster
Debbie Warrener reports from her trip to Fukushima. She finds that there is so much about Fukushima that is hard to take in. “Fukushima strikes me as a gigantic mirror for the craziness of the times we live in – and how there are no easy answers and we have to find answers ourselves and together – at a citizen level. One by one. Making difficult decisions along the way.”
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/sophy-banks/2014-12/fukushima-aftermath-disaster
How to think and live for yourself
One of the tasks that loom large as we strive to build more resilient, sustainable communities with a new paradign writes Sherry Ackerman, is reassigning value to the subjective and intrinsic experiences in life. We can begin to do this on our own, thus setting precedents for employers, teachers, government and others. We can do things that bring us pleasure — instead of just money or “stuff” — as a part of our regular routines.
http://transitionvoice.com/2014/10/how-to-think-and-live-for-yourself/
INITIATIVE NEWS
The October/November 2014 Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition
Around the UK from Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Harborough, Haverfordwest, Marlow, St Albans, Stirling, Stroud, Tooting, Totnes, Wivenhoe.
In Germany from Bielefeld, Essen, Wiesbaden, Witzenhausen and Würzburg. Budapest in Hungary, Réseau in Belgium, Bologna in Italy and South Carolina in the USA. Plus Montreal, Perth, and Winnipeg in Canada.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2014-11-14/octobernovember-2014-round-what-s-happening-out-world-transition
Transition Cobham Crowdfunder campaign
Cobham Community Garden’s fence project aim to raise £2500 by 22nd December using Crowdfunding
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/cobham-community-garden/
Helping shape the planning process
Ian Jackson from Transition Belper tells an ongoing tale of engagment with the planning process.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-11/helping-shape-planning-process-transition-belper
TRAINING
- The world’s first Permaculture for Transition course takes place in the new year.
- Launch online begins again January 13th, 2015 at the new time of 09.00- 10.30 UK time. This will enable people in Asia and Australia and New Zealand to take part more easily.
- There is a talk training in French, and a few places are still left for the Inner Transition training in London this weekend.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/events/network-training
RESEARCH
Project Evaluation Tools
Over the last year ‘Monitoring and Evaluation for Sustainable Communities’ has developed a set of evaluation tools. They are easy to use, tailored to your needs, abilities, and time, and offer ways to evaluate your projects or your Transition initiative.
http://www.mesc-project.org/
BOOK REVIEWS
Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’
It is a powerful, deeply felt, painstakingly-researched book which takes the reader on an incredible journey and makes a radical yet common-sense case. So why is it that by the end Rob Hopkins felt underwhelmed?
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-11/naomi-kleins-changes-everything-review
One Minute Reviews is a new feature, where we review books or films in a way that will take you less than a minute to read. Here is the first one:
One Minute Review: Incredible!
Incredible!: Plant Veg, Grow a Revolution is the story of Incredible Edible Todmorden (IET), the food-growing project in Yorkshire which has inspired people around the world to look at their urban spaces in a very different way.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-12/one-minute-review-incredible-pam-warhurst-joanna-dobson
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Resistance is essential, but it’s not enough. As we fight the injustice around us, we also have to imagine — and create — the world we want. We have to build real alternatives in the here and now — alternatives that are not only living proof that things can be done differently, but that actively challenge, and eventually supplant, the power of the status quo”. Naomi Klein https://solutions.thischangeseverything.org/#about
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http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2014-12-04/december-2014-transition-network-newsletter
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This newsletter is published on the first Friday of each month.
Next newsletter is 9th January 2015