December 2016 – Transition Newsletter
By Mike Grenville 1st December 2016
Thoughts on ways of weaning us off fossil fuels and responding to elections open our newsletter. Initiatives in Tooting and Totnes successfully partner up with other local groups; a report on a European Food Sovereignty conference and a rewriting of an old tale for troubling times. More on our new website and find out how Transition Belgium are getting on.
THINKING ALOUD
Before President Trump, fetch wood, carry water. After President Trump, fetch wood, carry water.
Rob Hopkins reflects on the death of imagination in our culture and the question that a lot of people are asking “so what do we do now?”
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/president-trump-fetch-wood-carry-water-president-trump-fetch-wood-carry-water/
Invest in the Future, Not The Past: 4 reasons to divest from fossil fuels
Following a recent legal opinion that concluded that investment in carbon intensive industries is irreconcilable with many charitable objectives, Transition Network Trustee Tony Greenham that by divesting from fossil fuel companies the UK finance industry can still take a lead in sustainable finance initiatives. And we can help.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/invest-future-not-past-4-reasons-divest-fossil-fuels/
Can We Learn To Embrace a Future of Less Flying?
A group of international students at a prestigious French business university were asked by Rob Hopkins to explore the implications that the amount of flying it will be possible in 2035 will be very different to today.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/future-less-flying-thorniest-thorns/
OUT AND ABOUT
Riding a Wave
Transition Town Tooting (TTT) partnered with two other local groups to bid for some community funding. Chuck Whitehead from TTT relates their experience of the month’s public voting stage of the Aviva Community Fund.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/riding-wave-experience-months-public-voting-stage-aviva-community-fund/
Podcast: The Caring Town Fair
A great initiative that has emerged from Transition Town Totnes exercising their ‘power to convene’ is Caring Town Totnes which describes itself as “a network of public, voluntary and private organisations who care about our community”. It recently held a fair and in this podcast Rob Hopkins takes you for a walk around the Fair, and allows the organizers, visitors and participants to tell you about the event, and why it mattered to them.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/podcast-caring-town-fair/
Bubbles, Struggles, Soils and Troubles
One of 500 delegates from 40 countries, Sophie Galleymore Bird was at the Nyeleni European Forum on Food Sovereignty, representing Transition Town Totnes’ food projects, where her Totnes bubble was exploded with one swipe.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/bubbles-struggles-soils-troubles/
What The Long, Red-legged Scissorman Did Next
Are you sitting comfortably? Rob Hopkins made a contribution to the just-published book ‘There was a knock at the door: 23 modern folk tales for troubling times’
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/long-red-legged-scissorman-next/
A “Cookie Monster” Hopes to Transform HEC Paris Into French Hub for Transition Experiments
Rob Hopkins recent visit to French business university HEC generated a number of lightbulb moments.
www.hec.edu/News-Room/News/Rob-Hopkins-Self-styled-Cookie-Monster-Hopes-to-Transform-HEC-Paris-Into-French-Hub-for-Transition-Experiments
Introducing … our new website!
The reactions to our new website have been very positive. The website doesn’t just have a new look but also has new content which we will be highlighting soon.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/introducing-new-website/
Hub of the Month: Belgium
Each month we’ll be finding out more about one of our national Transition Hubs. We start with Réseau Transition, the Belgian Transition Network for French-speaking initiatives.
transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/hub-month-belgium/
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“What I fear most, I think, is the death of the imagination…. If I sit still and don’t do anything, the world goes on beating like a slack drum, without meaning. We must be moving, working, making dreams to run toward; the poverty of life without dreams is too horrible to imagine.”
Sylvia Plath