T325: Transition Towns

From the Transition Towns website,

The community also recognises two crucial points:

• that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope.
• if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

I’d planned on writing about Transition towns again, as I am an adoring fan. When I wrote about them last June I mentioned I’d downloaded the Transition Initiatives Primer pdf here. It is something I need to remember to refer to often.

Today I see that Treehugger covered the recent London Times article on Transition Towns.

One of the points I have been thinking about and I shared in a comment yesterday, the first stage of transition is to educate. This can be frantic or friendly. The bold is my own emphasis in the Times article:

“In Sandpoint, Idaho - birthplace of Sarah Palin, who really wouldn't approve - residents have prepared the community garden for its first winter and plans are under way for a local biomass-fired power plant. In Bell, a district of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, they are making wood-fired pizza ovens in each other's gardens and have negotiated bulk-buy discounts on solar power equipment for local residents. They have also planted more than 150 trees in a push to become the “fruit and nut tree area of Geelong”.

Viewed in isolation, these well-intentioned community efforts are laudable, yet insignificant. But Sandpoint and Bell are two examples of something much bigger - the Transition Initiative, a movement barely two years old that claims to have the answer to sustainable living in a world without oil. In some 700 towns, villages and cities worldwide, Transition is under way, and more communities are signing up every day. Most of the groups are “mulling” - Transition-speak for gearing themselves up - but 114 have launched publically, or “unleashed”.”

The Times Online, via Transition Culture

Further Reading on Transition Towns
Transition Towns and Cities Emerge in the US
Transition Towns New Zealand Gains Strength
Transition Towns Reach Japan
Transition Towns Reach New Zealand
Transition Town Plants Up Nut Trees for Food Security
Interview with Rob Hopkins, founder of the movement
Transition City Bristol
The Transition Handbook
Transition Towns Reach Australia
The Virtual Orchard Project

K261: Kindness

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind”. ~ Henry James

A critique by a British author a couple of weeks ago stated, “So much of it, in the vast morass of ‘reality TV’, is about engineering situations where people will be rude to each other. “ And what seems to follow is that it becomes a habitual to view things from the vantage point of what is different, opposition, us and them, tit-for- tat , blame and disrespect.

Meanwhile, what’s universally shared gets ignored. All we have in common that is valued is overlooked. It’s like TV producers, political pundits, hate radio hosts and corporate marketers are constantly poking us (in our emotional bodies) to keep us at odds and rude. More importantly, it divides us. We are less resilient when we are fractured, alone.

Sometimes it is better to just act with civility even when we aren’t feeling it. Because being rude and cruel to each other doesn’t benefit us in any way. And this vulnerability to manipulation is creepy.

Of course openly dealing with issues up front and directly beats backbiting. Okay, sometimes we don’t get this right. *sigh*

Even so, we need each other more than in any time in generations, if we are to survive. It matters that we show each other respect. It is practical—besides being right.

This was the lead article in the community newsletter I just distributed in the park this week. I used the concept and opening sentence from Why Civility Matters [. . .] I am still in awe this early afternoon at what I witnessed last night in my neighbors' kindnesses.

First of all, we had a party to welcome back a neighbor who was in New York all summer and just got back. We were also celebrating the Autumnal Equinox. Last weekend I’d asked one woman, a really gregarious registered nurse, to collect money for food and she zoomed around and collected almost $200 in just a couple days. Astonishing.

Then we had three people shop, cook and set up most of yesterday. Very exhausting. And a bunch of us made things to bring (that will be another post) to the party. Now, this is all pretty standard for any group get together. There are several event planner types and the ball gets rolling.

What really touched me and impressed me last night was a remarkable atmosphere of good will. A couple of neighbors who have lived here 16 years, who had just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary came and we toasted them – because they are leaving. Their son wants them to live closer to his home, 22 miles from here. Very heartwarming. And, the woman who bought their place came to the party with a friend. They joined in and I was impressed with the way they were made to feel welcome.

Another couple of times during the party I had two different neighbors suggest making a plate for people who didn’t make it to the party. One older Mexican couple was apparently embarrassed about having not donated. They were really surprised when their neighbor (who speaks Spanish) followed through with her own suggestion and took them food. BTW, she had injured her foot so she hobbled over with the help of a cane loaned by one kind guy and on the arm of another kind guy. It was contagious, this kindness. It feels like I am just being gratuitous, but I need to also add that this woman got another Spanish speaking neighbor to the party by persuasion.

The R.N. not only gathered money, set up tables, invited the new tenant and her guest – she ran home and brought paper plates. She knew I was the one pushing the neighbors to bring their own plate and fork, so I continued to harass her. She also made a plate and took it to my closest neighbor who had contributed to the party, but just wasn’t into the crowd scene. In fact this nurse and another neighbor checked twice at this home. Heartwarming. And yes, another spontaneous gesture very late in the evening was bumping into our Mexican family and convincing them to come, despite Mom being so shy. Her teenage son translates and it grows easier.

This Autumnal Equinox gathering brought out half of the community (a new record), a victory with the Spanish-speaking family (one of our main goals) coming, every single bite of food was eaten, courtesy and goodwill prevailed and the conversation was varied, lively and engaging (and in two languages). The weather was perfect and the firelight under the stars was magical.

Even so, the night took a frightening turn when one of the primary event planners, a man who'd shopped all day and cooked the chicken and grilled eggplant all evening had a fall. He had gone into his home adjacent to the picnic area and had a misstep that sent him flying into a door frame shoulder first. He laid there screaming out to us all. It took at least 10 minutes (he thinks) for someone to respond. But, then our true heroes stepped up. The RN was there immediately stopping the blood flow from his face cuts where he’d hit a glass pane and broken it with his head in the fall. Two men, one a former fire fighter / marine and another who is inarguably the most thoughtful guy in the whole park. Between these 3 they stabilized a broken shoulder, staunched the flow of blood and got this man to the VA hospital for further treatment.

I just got a call from him this morning and he sounds good despite a broken arm bone. He filled me in about his no-work, his canceled clients for his second job (catering meals) and the kinds of medication he was given. Apparently he'll need an operation this next week. He said the hero nurse returned this morning to wash all his dishes, to give him a sponge bath and to help him into clean clothes. She even fixed the butterfly bandage on his nose. He is so overwhelmed with the outpouring of everyone on his behalf.

This is what I envision as community. I am awed. Next to the generosity lavished by my neighbors, I feel I am dragging my feet. There is much to do. And as my last post stated in the Brian Eno quote,

. . . The dream becomes an invisible force which pulls us forward. By this process it begins to come true. The act of imagining somehow makes it real . . . And what is possible in art becomes thinkable in life”.

Consolation, Joe Rosenthal

Joe Rosenthal's art, the human figure is presented with impressive weight. The solid rounded shapes of Consolation display a substantial inner fortitude, what some critics have called "enduring universal toughness." The artist does not portray the human form as fragile or teetering on the edge of collapse. Instead, Rosenthal's heavy sculpture seems able to hold its own ground against the chaos of conflicting forces.

D204: Design for Resilience - with Drama & Style

I can count on Inhabitat to bring me design concepts that apply to sustainable living. This one by designer Mattieu Lehanner was an art exhibition and hasn’t been priced for production. Mr. Lehanneur also created home air purification designs using plants. But, I derive my pleasure from exploring my own imagination, my own notions of how it would fit or not in my own life and thinking about this as a design solution for some population. I hack, if only in my imagination.

For me the real appeal is that I relate it to my own daydreams of retrofitting the acres and acres of grocery stores into local hydroponic food growing centers.

Yes, it is a big stretch if you are a literal thinker. I suspect I have lost most literal minded blog readers with my many design offerings. See, it never occurs to me to think of most of these products as something to buy. Sorry, designers . . . I don’t have income or inclination to get more stuff, unless it can really transform my life. But, I am always interested in problem solving.

And the heart and soul of design for me is problem solving. There is no reason that a good idea in sustainable living has to be executed without consideration to scale, connections, proportion, maintenance, balance, relationship to surroundings, cohesion, texture, finish, color, etc.

Look at these gorgeous pieces and forget about the eels. Sheesh.

Watch a video here at Gear Crave.

But imagine the future. Here is the simple concept of living in a small urban space without any yard, balcony or place to grow food. With a room where there is only space for the couch and coffee table, voilà! A garden and a fish supply. Okay, grow lights may be required if this poor person also has no sunlight. With a bit more design and development the concepts can all lead to at-home water purification, food growing, oxygen producing, carbon dioxide reduction and fish for supper. And, it needn’t look like a set for Blade Runner.

Y170: YouTube

I admit that I have leaned more heavily on YouTube this year than I'd imagined I would. Sometimes it is simply fluff, filler . . . a substitute for my own material or research. Then again, I am so impressed by this medium. Just a couple of years ago videos on the internet were slow to load, choppy and largely a pain. Now it had changed for the better and I am awed by the ease of of exchanging information.

This month the Transition Towns piece in particular, and it was one of a myriad on this theme, ranked high as video education, guidance and inspiration It is a good example of something that is better to see and hear directly than my summary or analysis of the information.

If this format is negative for my visitors, I am curious. Let me know if viewing YouTube is preferable or not whether it is comic relief, video education or guidance-inspiration. Now here is something that is definately comic relief.



H/t Todd @ Shakesville

W155: We’re Way, Way Behind

Saturday I read for hours about the UK Transition Towns. All of the information seems to be freely available. This movement is well under way with at least 50 towns involved and many 100’s more beginning across the UK and other countries. Never think that one individual can’t do much alone. Rob Hopkins speaking here for about an hour in an interview from the past.



And go hear a rousing song, The News, that is a joyous version of what this movement is about – IMHO. You will recognize the vocalist’s voice because Carbon/Silicon is the project of Mick Jones (formerly of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik). They make politically astute, current-sounding punkish rock, much of which is free to download from their website.

I have searched and googled for the blog where I first learned about Transition Towns. I remember distinctly a commenter praising the blogger for turning her on to the information about Transition Towns. I remember that I googled Transition Towns and got a WIKI link and scanned the concepts and downloaded the Transition Initiatives Primer pdf here.

Well, I sat on this for a few days and proceeded to forget my source, but didn’t forget to go back to this primer and read it. This is the most fruitful document I have come across this year. I am not done with this movement.

H/t to Ethicurean: Chew the Right Thing for the music link.