I thought I'd finish these series of blogs with a few bits and bobs and mention a few more of those who made the day possible.Photos: Peter Lipman and Naresh Giangrande and participants between activities
But first I loved the story that Ben Brangwyn from the Transition Network told us about his youth and how he travelled and found people had already been there - so he sought more adventure and traveled more - but every place people had been. However now that he is part of the Transition Network every day is new territory - every day is going places people have not been before!
Photo: Duncan Law (Brixham) and Sara Drew (Ottery St Mary, Devon)
Photo: participant author David Strahan - see his excellent website: www.davidstrahan.com "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Buckminster Fuller
Photo: participants after the 'Whoosh' at the endMost people I've mentioned but also thanks must go to Ben Brangwyn, also for organising the day and lawyer Peter Lipman from Sustrans who is one of the Networks initial three trustees - and Naresh Giangrande who helped (see his article re Totnes here) - and Stories for Change for making the film about the day - and two freelance journalists who are doing an article for Resurgence - and the Tudor Trust - two of their staff were attending the day and in talking to Grants Manager Laura Bowman it was great to hear their positive endorsement of the project.
Photos: Jennifer Gray (Penwith, Cornwall)and Shadiya Kingerlee (Wolvercote, Oxfordsee Guardian article that she disliked about herself here) and other shot of coffee break in morning
Infact it is crazy trying to make a list - everyone who was there made the day what it was - this is the start of something very big.
Photo: Anne Solgaard, one of two people from Norway who hope to take the idea there and Teresa Anderson, food group coordinator in Totnes
1 comment:
Heres a long comment from one of the other participants:
Transition Network at Ruskin Mill
What a fantastic day!! So much crammed in and yet so much to come! It is clear that the Transition Town movement is a hugely contagious project that is grabbing communities across the country and abroad by its positive approach - i take my hat off to each and every person that is nurturing this beast into ever more palpable life.
After an introduction from Aonghus and then brief introductions from each representative in the hall, we were all thrown head first into Open Space. On the wall was a sentence around the question of the growing of the movement and how to bring people along with it. We were each asked to then come up with our own point for discussion, to pin it to the wall under a number, and then choose which topic to dig into and head for the relevant table.
OPEN SPACE
My group looked at leadership and responsibility which is one of the things at the forefront of my mind, especially in the aftermath of Wednesday at the Sub Rooms.
There were people from very different angles within my group – some coming from quite negative meeting processes that have generated lots of clashes of perspectives and egos leaving them with the question of how to identify leadership and then respect and take responsibility for it. The clearest message that emerged was that leadership MUST be born out of intention – leading from the centre, not the front (the 'lone hero' approach). The latter has the danger of nurturing ego above the cause and can put many people off. Another aspect of leadership we identified was the separation between STARTING and CONTINUATION: some people have the natural ability to trigger things but not necessarily to carry them forwards and onwards. This signals the need to identify the 'right' people for the right roles. One of the ladies in our group spoke of 'chaordic design' (literally coming from 'chaos' & 'order') which focusses on this idea of everything being born and led out of the 'intention' (which MUST be unequivocal) of the group and also identifies some design principles. She emphasised that the following principles have Intention as their 'plumb line' which i thought was a very tangible image:
1) purpose– do everything on purpose with purpose
2) listenwith compassion and without judgement
3) pause –MAKE a pause to gather thoughts (& self!)
4) give what you can and ask for what you need –looking after the well-being of the group
The 'unequivocal Intention' of the group must also then be accompanied by a set of 'How's' that MUST be in the present tense, constantly reviewed and held to account. She then pointed towards a very simple context for these 'How's' - Recognise the Reality (of Peak Oil & Climate Change), Raise Awareness, Engage in Action.
We closed this group with the recognition that one of the key aspects of leadership and how to nurture it lies in identifying tasks & functions as a group and then recognising the skills and strengths within ourselves from which to take responsibility for specific roles. This is no mean feat and we also identified the essential quality of respect that MUST be present in both the carrying of these roles and our relationship to others 'role playing'.
The second Open Space group I attended focussed on integrating the wider community. This felt again like a very pressing question for many people and there were some great success stories, my favourite being from Sarah Pugh of Transition City Bristol who described how a few years ago, she and some Permaculture buddies put an ad in the Gazette to announce an opportunity to learn how to plant, prune and care for a tree. They bought up a bulk load of fruit trees and held this workshop and sold the trees for a fiver to each participant who then planted them in their gardens. The following year many more than just the Usual Suspects turned up and the third year many more still. It is a subtle gesture that triggers awareness and provokes questions through the simplicity of the activity. You can then always have follow up info at the ready that many people accept happily after engaging in a small, fun task. So its about involvement without commitment... meeting people where they are... and revel in the chaos of processes like Open Space... hold street parties... At ALL costs, avoid us / them mentality.
The binary of us & them is very easily confused with the idea of branding. It emerged quickly that the Transition Town project acts like a brand working in association with partners. Ben Brangwyn also brought this up later, almost apologetically, as it is a hard thing for us No Logo-ites to take but actually seems to be something we need to explore and articulate. Perhaps it is that which will give the movement the credibility and public momentum it deserves...
And a nice phrase by someone whose name I can't remember –
pushed by circumstances, pulled by dreams
POST-PEAK HEALTHCARE
This was all about the impact of oil on Health & Medicine – health being conventionally seen as 'the absence of disease' instead of emphasising 'wellness & happiness'. She identified oil dependency in all four categories of Air, Water, Food & Environment and thus highlighted the need for low energy medical systems (Alternative & Complimentary). Then we got into How to set up a health & medicine group, the first step being to envision what would a vibrant, low energy health & medicine system look like? Then to BACKCAST to define the milestones that would need to be reached in order to achieve this over a certain specified period of time. Also, the need to identify & partner with existing systems was emphasised. The next step is to Audit so as to discover strengths and gaps. Also, set up healthy living programmes. And of course Rob Hopkin's favourite, reskilling & training.
One nice project emerged – identify top ten common maladies brought to the doc and then unearth the top ten herbal cures available locally. Apparantly one doctor has commented that the top ten cures are all oil derived and designed for illnesses that are oil fuelled (eg obesity, headaches etc). In short, setting up a Health & Medicine group is much like any other – create a central think tank/hub to filter ideas and maintain a constant awareness programme.
Denial of deathis a big part of why we have the system we do. So that's a topic we all need to dig into perhaps...
RELOCALISATION INITIATIVES WORLDWIDE
Heinberg began with a diagram of two axis (Proactive vs Reactive & Rapid vs Slow). A Slow & Proactive approach brings sustainable development; whereas a Slow & Reactive one results in burnout. A Rapid & Proactive response on the other hand leads to a lean economy via immediate powerdown; and Rapid and Reactive leads to collapse.
So, Strategies for Localisation are essentially born out of revaluing existing culture. There are many initiatives world wide, but he feels Transition Towns to be the most inspiring , positive and proactive he has come across! Links to his examples and places to learn from includewww.postcarbon.com,www.communitysolution.com,www.livingeconomics.com,www.portlandonline.com(for the Hirsch Report),www.powerdownproject.org,www.postcarboncities.net(written for policy makers so a useful one for our district councillors to get their heads round!)www.transitionculture.org(Rob Hopkins)
which brings me to the final talk
12 STEPS & Transition Town Totnes
Rob began with the importance of how we present things and proceeded to give a great analogy for what's happened to our food economy: we used to make the cake locally and import the icing and now we do the opposite. Street names are all that's left holding this history (coppice avenue or threshers lane etc) and we now have the dual role of 'hospice & midwife' to bring about the necessary impulses to turn this around.
The three main 'laws' of a Transition Project are to avoid Them & Us, Create a Sense that Something is Happening & a Vision of an Abundant Future.
And of the '7 Buts' that he brought, the one's that stood out (i was by now too saturated to take detailed notes!!) But we have no funding – there is sooo much that can be done without it!! be resourceful! But they won't let us – who are they anyway?! Do what feels right and find a way round, through and within the system... But what if we're treading on other people's toes – liberation and collaboration – same goal eventually... But i don't have the energy – create energy and it will be carried by those around you.
Other key messages
Ø create a steering group and then design its demise!
Ø watch out for info dumping. Take responsibility.
Ø Lay foundations– draw in existing groups
Ø Rob is also VERY keen on unleashing! Do we think Stroud is already past the need or could it be a barrel of laughs and very helpful?!
Ø Open Spaceis another thing that would be very useful to get into here in order to draw in more ideas and identify strengths and weaknesses, goals and needs. Also, training for group facilitation.
Ø Balance observation with action
Ø honour the elders!!
Ø facilitate the Great Reskilling!!!(skilling up for powerdown)
Ø create energy descent plan – it should be an exhilerating story!!
So much stuff I'm still digesting a lot, but I hope this has helped to bring across some of the excitement and inspiration that is so present in the movement.
Now here's some of my own thoughts, beginning with something that has emerged out of our work in the Food Group and our collaboration with existing groups. Stroud is already leading the way with all things food related and Transition Stroud Food Group is about drawing all these initiatives together to raise both profile and awareness. We have taken it upon ourselves to focus our energies on creating fun, stimulating and interactive events set within the context of existing and/or growing projects. Our aim is to wake up the district to what is really going on on a grassroots level and draw the wider public into a position of empowerment – we really can make things happen without relying on political systems and beaurocratic structures. Many of us know this and have known this for years, but many more still have not quite grasped it. This is why it is so essential that we build a coherent identity for what this beast really stands for. Transition Stroud Food Group is everything that is going on with food in the area. Thus it is at the same time the breath of life for many more projects and initiatives to come. I say this to highlight the importance of identifying who's hosting the party and why.
This then leads me onto my response to how Transition Stroud puts its self across in public. I would like to emphasise the fact the Transition Towns project is a process and not a product. It is a resource, a network of skills and ideas that is fed and evolved by new voices and ideas as they come into contact with it. We are not recruiting for a revolutionary army...
And lastly, the point I wanted to make (but didn't have the guts!) after Friday's talk at the Space focussing on Land and Agriculture: I would like to point out that supporting the relocalisation of agriculture does not mean we all have to suddenly become farmers. We still need photographers, technicians, writers, educators, facilitators etc... We simply need to realign all of our diverse skills to the absolute need of local and sustainable food production and by doing so we necessarily support all the lovely farmers out there to do that which they do best. Food is fundamental to EVERYONE and our attitude towards it is paramount to our survival.
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