September 2011 Transition Network Newsletter
By Mike Grenville 2nd September 2011
September 2011 Transition Network Newsletter
CONTENTS
EXPLORING THE TRANSITION WORLD
~ August Round-ups
~ Travels visiting Transition Initiatives
~ Transition Fujino — Prospects for a better future
~ Cycling to raise money for Transition and Sustrans
THINKING ALOUD
~ Coming Round The Dark Mountain
~ Why do so many people believe in the fantasy of infinite growth on a finite planet?
~ Five bummer problems that make societies collapse
~ A Different Kind of Tea Party
~ Why I Don’t Read Like I Used To
~ Economic Resilience
~ Panic on the streets of London
~ A Discussion on Resilience
NETWORK TRAINING
~ New Training section on the website
~ Transition Training survey: the results
~ A follow on to the 2 day course: Transition;Thrive
~ Your thoughts needed: Where does equality fit in Transition?
PROJECTS
~ Linen Project
~ Project sharing engine funding bid
RESOURCES
~ Exploring Community Resilience
~ The End of Growth; Adapting to Our New Economic Reality
~ German military analysis of peak oil now available
COMING UP
~ Transition Companion
~ Exploring the Ingredients for Transition
~ Bill McKibben: Building Social Movements and Organising for Change
~ Transition Camp south east
~ German/Austrian/Swiss Transition (Un-)Konference
EXPLORING THE TRANSITION WORLD
An August Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition
Australia, Japan, Spain, Kinsale, Canada, Italy and the UK and more are included.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-08-31/august-round-whats-happening-transition
US Edition Round Up
Some highlights of what’s keeping Transition Initiatives busy across the US.
http://transitionus.org/stories/august-round-whats-happening-world-transition-us-edition-2011
Let it go where it needs to go
A status report about Transition in Los Angeles
http://transitionus.org/blog/let-it-go-where-it-needs-go
Ruah Swennerfelt recounts her travels visiting Transition Initiatives in Belgium, Netherlands, and Sweden
http://transitionus.org/blog/visiting-transition-initiatives-belgium-netherlands-and-sweden
and then on to exploring Transition in England in Chesterfield and Bristol.
http://transitionus.org/blog/exploring-transition-england-part-one
A journey home – Seeking the essence of Transition in England
http://transitionvoice.com/2011/08/a-journey-home-seeking-the-essence-of-transition-in-england/
Transition Fujino — Prospects for a better future
In these difficult months following the 11 March quake and tsunami, it has been a time for reflection and an opportunity to ponder what the future holds in store for Japan.
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/transition-fujino-%E2%80%93-prospects-for-a-better-future/
Cycling to raise money for Transition and Sustrans
A 4,500 mile bicycle ride around the coast of Britain.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-08-31/cycling-raise-money-transition-and-sustrans
THINKING ALOUD
Coming Round The Dark Mountain Part 1: Uncivilisation
Last month Charlotte du cann went to Uncivilisation, a festival organised by the Dark Mountain project. Below is a writer’s cut of article she wrote for The Independent newspaper.
http://transitionnorwich.blogspot.com/2011/09/coming-round-dark-mountain-1.html
Coming Round The Dark Mountain Part 2: the Shaman and the Village
Here Charlotte explores the idea that Dark Mountain is something you can visit, Transition is something you live.
http://transitionnorwich.blogspot.com/2011/02/coming-round-dark-mountain-part-2.html
Why do so many people believe in the fantasy of infinite growth on a finite planet?
There are three honest (but bogus) reasons why we pursue economic growth past the point of effectiveness and reason.
http://energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-29/why-do-so-many-people-believe-fantasy-infinite-growth-finite-planet
Five bummer problems that make societies collapse
A TED talk Jared Diamond gave has examples from the Greenland Norse. These were the unlucky Vikings who missed the boat to Normandy, where their more fortunate countrymen set up colonies.
http://transitionvoice.com/2011/08/five-bummer-problems-that-make-societies-collapse/
A Different Kind of Tea Party
What kind of teatime conversations are you having?
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/transition-norwich/2011-08-30/different-kind-tea-party
Why I Don’t Read Like I Used To
I have a confession. I don’t read books anymore. Or rather I read books very rarely, is this just me, or is it a symptom of our age?
http://transitionnorwich.blogspot.com/2011/08/benchmarks.html
Economic Resilience
In Sacred Economy, Charles Eisenstein poses the seemingly outrageous idea that money should be sacred
http://www.transitionus.org/blog/economy-possible-scenarios-future-3
Panic on the streets of London
Now is the time when we decide what sort of country it is that we want to live in.
http://energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-09/panic-streets-london
A Discussion on Resilience
What does it mean, and what it looks like in practice? This video of a panel discussion at Sunrise Off Grid took a good hard look at the subject.
http://transitionnetwork.org.dedi2835.your-server.de//blogs/rob-hopkins/2011-09-01/panel-discussion-resilience-what-it-means-and-what-it-looks-practice
NETWORK TRAINING
New Training section on the website
The how, what, where and how of Transition Training but didn’t know where to look is now online.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/training
Transition Training survey: the results
Since October 2007 Transition Training has been offering a two day training course and a survey in May assessed the impact it has had.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-08-23/training-survey-results
A follow on to the 2 day course: Transition;Thrive
A positive, no-nonsense exploration of the Transition model and process, tailor-made to fit the requirements of those people attending that we will be piloting shortly.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-09-02/follow-2-day-course-transitionthrive
Your thoughts needed: Where does equality fit in Transition?
We’ve come up with a possible new purpose statement to reflect which says: “Transition Network supports community-led responses to climate change, inequality and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, building resilience and happiness.” Do you feel strongly about this either way? If so, we want to hear your thoughts.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/catrina-pickering/2011-08/your-thoughts-needed-where-does-equality-fit-transition
The Road to Resilience in Low Income Communities,
23-25th September Chester
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-07-27/training-road-resilience-low-income-communities-23-25-september-2011
PROJECTS
Linen Project
A group in Australia has set about developing the skills and knowledge to produce and process fibre flax locally.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/projects/linen-project
Project sharing engine funding bid
Like the News Sharing Engine, its intention is to distribute the movement’s project information to Initiatives’ websites, enabling webmasters to easily embed all the functionality of our projects directory into their own sites.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/ed-mitchell/2011-05/project-sharing-engine-funding-bid
More projects and add yours here
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/node/add/project-profile
RESOURCES
Exploring Community Resilience
This new free publication from Nick Wilding and the Fiery Spirits CoP gathers a mix of experience and academic insight into how local communities are learning how to cope – and even thrive – through difficult times. Written in an accessible style its stories highlight experience from Cumbria to the Scottish Highlands, and from New Orleans to Tooting, London. Web links direct readers to topical references, and a practical guide shows how to run a community workshop on the topic.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources/exploring-community-resilience
The End of Growth; Adapting to Our New Economic Reality
Review of Richard Heinberg’s new book
http://transitionvoice.com/2011/08/economics-has-failed-us-but-there-is-life-after-growth/
German military analysis of peak oil now available
The Bundeswehr has posted an English version (112 pages) of their extraordinary analysis of peak oil. The original German document was approved for public release last November, yet neither the complete German version nor the partial English translation has attracted interest from mainstream media.
http://t.co/lsENYBY
COMING UP
Transition Companion
At the end of October ‘The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times by Rob Hopkins will be published. The launch timeline is here including the ‘Twitter Book Launch’!
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/transition-companion
Exploring the Ingredients for Transition
12th September – 3:00pm (BST)
An online conversation with Rob Hopkins where he will go more deeply into the “ingredients of Transition” as well as answering questions supplied by participants.
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/events/2011-09-12/exploring-ingredients-transition
Bill McKibben: Building Social Movements and Organising for Change
3-7th October Schumacher College, Totnes
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/events/2011-10-03/bill-mckibben-building-social-movements-and-organising-change
Transition Camp south east
7-9th October
http://there.is/transitioncamp/
German/Austrian/Swiss Transition (Un-)Konference
14-16th Oct. in Bielefeld/Germany now open for booking
Program, details and booking (in German) here:
http://www.transition-initiativen.de/page/2011-un-konferenz
More events here
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/events
Follow Transition Network on Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/transitiontowns
Find previous editions of the newsletter here
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/tags/transition-network-newsletter
Read this newsletter online
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-09-02/september-2011-transition-network-newsletter
This newsletter is published on the first Friday of each month.
Newsletter Editor: Mike Grenville, from Transition Forest Row for the Transition Network
Contact: mgrenville@gmail.com
+44 (0)7974924289