Key words :
future energies,
localization
,reading
,peak oil
,transition town
,globalisation
,localisation
,globalization
,happiness
Author
Author
Biography: Chris Rhodes. www.fresh-lands.com Professor
Chris Rhodes is a writer, speaker and researcher who became involved with
environmental issues while working in Russia during the aftermath...
Transition Town, Reading,
18 Nov, 2011 09:54 am
The Transition Town movement has spread across the United Kingdom and there is one based in Reading, in the south east of England. In the face of peak oil, global economic failure and climate change, TT aims to provide resilient local communities that can weather such assailing forces and provide ultimately a more satisfying and humanly balanced way of living, setting apart from the delusion that "happiness" can be found in the unbridled acquisition of consumer wealth.
I attended a meeting of "Transition Town Reading" last night. Reading is
the town in which I live in the south east of England, or specifically it is the Borough which
incorporates the village of Caversham, which is where I actually do
live. I met a few members of TTR after a talk I gave to Cafe'
Scientifique in Reading back in March, but this is the first actual
meeting of the group I have attended.We were asked to express our "personal vision" for TTR and when the guy chairing the meeting said that at the outset, my instinct was to make it for the door! However, there were some interesting ideas and emotions raised and I explained that my interest began with some research I was doing back in 2005, to try and understand the origins of petroleum. Then I read about Peak Oil, was both transfixed and horrified by the whole scenario, and began writing a blog (http://ergobalance.blogspot.com), which lead to my being invited to write columns on Scitizen.com and on Forbes, and some reviews that were published in the scientific literature. As the writing took-off more and a wider audience of people read what I had written, some of them invited me to give various talks on the subject, both to the general public and in universities, which I still do.
Following the TTR meeting, I am left with a sense that there is a body of people in this town, as undoubtedly in many others, with pretty much the same values and concerns: what to do about peak oil, climate change, the out-of-kilter Capitalist system based on unlimited growth that we are desperately and unhappily clinging to, trying not to drown in the global torrent, in the perceived absence of any other craft to keep us afloat.
Of course this one sinking rapidly and it would be better to start swimming to the shore as soon as possible!
Why was I attracted to the "Transition Town" movement rather than say to Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth? The answer is simple: that while I can obliquely envisage some future horizon where we are all living in smaller communities using less energy and not driving and generally travelling less, because it is the loss of cheap liquid fuels for transportation that will go first of all fossil energy resources, the "transition" from here to there is not obvious and if we don't plan it and get it right we will descend into anarchy tearing each other apart to grab what resources are left.
So that's why I am attracted to "Transition Towns" and that I am interested in my local region. I have volunteered to help devise an energy descent plan, i.e. how to put together a set of actions that steadily use less oil say by 5% per year until in 20 years we don't need it any more. Now this is naive mathematics, and actually doing it another story altogether.
Key words :
future energies,
localization
,reading
,peak oil
,transition town
,globalisation
,localisation
,globalization
,happiness
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By the same author
- “Peak Oil” is Nonsense… Because There’s Enough Gas to Last 250 Years.
- Threat of Population Surge to "10 Billion" Espoused in London Theatre.
- Current Commentary: Energy from Nuclear Fusion – Realities, Prospects and Fantasies?
- Shaky Foundations for Offshore Wind Farms
- Global Warming is No Threat?
- Transition Town, Reading,
Transition no.2 Dont drive any more, ever.
Simples. All the rest is just middle class posturing,
I live in the middle of London and I don't go in a car for weeks. The future is here, now,but just doesnt feature in 'escape to the country'. Energy descent in Caversham, life without a car? you are joking right?.
Disingenuous beardy woffle.
All the best
Stewart
Regards,
Chris
TT indicates the anxiety of a section of the middle class attempting (in vain) to retain their privileges. How many non home-owners are on your organising committee?
Supply lines: History shows that when the cities dont get their supplies, they organise 'requisition' sorties into the country side (think 'chaps in uniform with pieces of paper'). Little town militia's (or even local green self interest groups) cannot resist due to their size.
Provide what you will at local level by all means, but the large urban cores will take it from you when they want. Anyway the reason these little places sustain any kind of population at all is due to unbridled car use. Take it away and even Reading (sprawling- no real centre) becomes unsustainable and the population will drift to London for a crust of bread/work.
The point being that we need to look at Transition Countries, before it makes sense, Cuba is a good example, North Korea a bad one. You cant ring fence your small region unless you live on an island.
Stewart