Sherwood Forest Transition: April 2011

April 2011 Transition Network Newsletter

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-04-01/april-2011-network-newsletter
CONTENTS

~ Transition Network 2011 UK conference

~ March News Round Up

~ Transition Network Diversity and Inclusion Newsletter March 2011

~ Somerset Council Transition Reversal Raises Questions Over Localism Agenda

~ Otesha Project UK: young people's cycle tour

TALKS & VIDEOS

~ A New World View - Naomi Klein in Totnes

~ The End Of Growth - Richard Heinberg in Totnes

~ Confronting Change

~ Beyond the Brink 

~ Film Review: The Economics of Happiness

ENERGY

~ UK First Community Owned Solar Power Station 

~ Ten reasons why new nuclear was a mistake – even before Fukushima

~ Nuclear: We get the power but future generations get the waste 

~ Nuclear power’s last ditch effort 

RESOURCES

EVENTS

And Finally....
Transition Network 2011 UK conference: 

8th - 11th July, Liverpool, UK
The  Network conference this year will be at Hope University in Liverpool on  the Hope Park campus. Most accommodation is onsite, with self catering  an option. No onsite camping - we asked and cajoled, but they wouldn't  budge. Provisional timings are registration opens on Friday evening with  the main conference programme starts Saturday morning and finishes  Monday lunchtime. Planning has started for a full programme of  workshops, themes and events. More details will be announced soon  starting with full accessibility info next week.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-23/transition-network-2011-uk-conference-8-11-july-liverpool

March News Round Up
This  month there is a report from Colombia where they recently held their  first Transition Trainings; in Japan there was an all-Japan Transition  Town meeting plus they’ve started a bilingual wiki site called  ‘Transition Town in Asia’. Meanwhile down in Australia Riddell launched  with a local food fare. Projects around the UK include refurbished bikes  in Grangemouth, a ‘Big Green Day’ in Abbots Langley, South Ribble  clothes swapping party, and a light bulb amnesty in Andover. In North  America, there was a 2-day Economic Summit in Putney and a conference on  localised food systems in Colorado. Transition Guelph held a Resilience  Festival combined with their Great Unleashing.

Details on these and many more:

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-04-01/march-round-whats-happening-transition

Transition Network Diversity and Inclusion Newsletter March 2011
This  month's newsletter includes an in-depth resource on 'Islam and  Environment', a report from the recent 'Interfaith Seminar on  Environment and Sustainability' and listening to the community in  Lockerbie.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-28/transition-network-diversity-newsletter-march-2011

Somerset Council Transition Reversal Raises Questions Over Localism Agenda
In July  2008, Somerset County Council passed a resolution supporting its local  Transition initiatives. Since then it has become clear that what started  so boldly and with such great promise has since fallen away. In the  spirit of learning from such reversals, this piece explores what we can  learn from recent developments in Somerset, and also what we might draw  from them in relation to the government’s current ‘localism’ agenda.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-11/somerset-transition-reversal-raises-questions-over-localism-agenda
Otesha Project UK: young people's cycle tour

Two groups of 18-28 year-olds will be cycling across the UK this  summer, living as a sustainable, consensus-based community, delivering  workshops and performing a play in schools and youth clubs. Check out  their route in case they are coming near you plus there are a few spaces  left to join them.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-29/otesha-project-uk-young-peoples-cycle-tour-workshops-and-plays

TALKS & VIDEOS
A New World View - Naomi Klein in Totnes

Author of 'No Logo' and 'The Shock Doctrine and activist Naomi Klein  recently visited Totnes to find out more about the Transition movement.  She gave a talk looking at the various crises going on around the world,  the challenges ahead and the opportunities that you can see online  here:

http://transitionculture.org/2011/03/25/naomi-klein-in-totnes-the-movie/
At the end of Klein's visit Rob Hopkins interviewed her. In part one  she says that our “… world view is killing us and needs to be replaced with another world view…”  while in part two she emphasised that “we must address inequality if we’re going to deal with climate change”:

[1] http://bit.ly/fFhxL0  [2] http://bit.ly/gAavHt

The End Of Growth - Richard Heinberg in Totnes

Author of "The Party's Over" and leading peak oil educator, Richard  Heinberg recently gave talk in Totnes about the future of our 'growth'  society. The talk can be viewed online:

http://transitionculture.org/2011/03/11/something-for-the-weekend-richard-heinberg-in-totnes/
During  his visit, Heinberg was interviewed jointly by Rob Hopkins, Ben Brangwyn  of Transition Network and Frances Northrop of Transition Town Totnes.  “I think 2011 is going to be an interesting year… in the Chinese sense…”   he said.

Interview part one: http://bit.ly/heinberg-part1

Interview part two: http://bit.ly/heinberg-part2  

Confronting Change

An inspirational event last December on the South Bank with Polly  Higgins, Michael Meacher MP and Rob Hopkins has now been released on  film and written up on Rob's blog here:

http://bit.ly/ConfrontingChange-blog 

and videos of the talks can be viewed here:

http://bit.ly/ConfrontingChange-videos

Film: Beyond the Brink

18-year-old Ross Harrison spent a year chasing up experts, studying the  news and filming to create a short documentary that answers the  ever-pressing questions: are we really causing climate change, and who  cares? The result is a 40 minute film available to download about the  knowns and the unknowns of the science, about the risks, and about being  hopeful for the future too.

www.beyondthebrink.org

Film Review: The Economics of Happiness

The film covers eight arguments against globalisation and explores some  of the less tangible benefits of localisation. Rob ponders on  whether it is the film we need to raise the issue to the next level of  the debate.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2011-03-28/film-review-economics-happiness

ENERGY
UK First Community Owned Solar Power Station

Transition Town Lewes's energy company, Ovesco, is planning to build  Britain's first community-owned solar power station this summer. It's  launching a share issue at Lewes Town Hall on 19 April to raise £306,000  from investors to pay for 544 solar panels on the warehouse roof of the  town's favourite brewery, Harveys. They need raise at least £250,000 by  9 May in order to get the scheme installed and registered for the full  FITs by 1st August. Your chance to invest in renewable energy.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-04-01/uk-first-community-owned-solar-power-station
Three views on nuclear power:
Ten reasons why new nuclear was a mistake – even before Fukushima

It’s hardly a surprise that building nuclear power stations on seismic  fault lines, as Japan has done, turns out to be a foolish thing. In the  pause for reflection about the safety of nuclear power that the  Fukushima disaster is bound to create, here are ten reasons why it’s a  mistake to build a new round of nuclear power stations in the UK.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2011-03-15/ten-reasons-why-new-nuclear-was-mistake-even-fukushima-guest-post-alexi
Nuclear: We get the power but future generations get the waste

We should always act to avoid harming all living beings, not only those  living now but especially those who will live in the future, who will  be far greater in number. Nuclear energy is a uniquely risky enterprise  precisely because its consequences are so long-lasting and so difficult  to deal with if catastrophe ever strikes nuclear power plants.

http://transitionvoice.com/2011/03/we-get-the-power-but-future-generations-get-the-waste/
Nuclear power’s last ditch effort

The industry began generating electricity as a side business to its  main political role of creating the material for nuclear weapons.  Neither the public nor the markets were involved. In communications  terms the nuclear industry has to do two things: make sure that the  public does not get to decide AND create the impression that renewables  don’t work.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/transition-voice/2011-03-24/nuclear-power-s-last-ditch-effort

RESOURCES
Community Energy Group Tools

The Cente for Sustainable Energy has developed a series of tools and  guidance for community groups thinking about installing their own  community owned renewable energy systems.

This includes a fairly extensive set of films which are available free online

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources/community-energy-group-tools

Resources added recently to the website include:

~ Hythe thermal imaging

~ Ealing Transition Initiative Local Food Distribution Project

~ People of Tottenham Street

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/resources

Recent Forum discussions include:

~ Chesterfield Libary looking for recommendations of transition-relevant books;

~ What strategies are working in big cities?

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/forum/recent

EVENTS

~ Quaker and Transition Conference

~ 9th International Peak Oil Conference of ASPO - Brussels

~ EarthHeart Weekend (The Work That Reconnects) with Chris Johnstone

These and more details here

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/events

And Finally....
Gort and Klaatu's blog

Our poor specimen earthling continues his adventures into possible futures.

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/gort-and-klaatu

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The crisis of human ecology is much greater than either the nuclear or carbon issue."

Paul Mobbs (responding to George Monbiot's nuclear conversion)

http://www.fraw.org.uk/f.html?monbiotcritique

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http://twitter.com/#!/transitiontowns
Find previous editions of the newsletter here

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/tags/transition-network-newsletter

This newsletter is published on the first Friday of each month.
Newsletter Editor: Mike Grenville, from Transition Forest Row

Contact: transitionnetworknews@googlemail.com
Sherwood Forest Transition

Pages

Friday 15 April 2011

Greenwood Community Forest Nottinghamshire Handbook

Saturday 2 April 2011

Sherwood Forest Transition Network Newsletter April 2011

Friday 1 April 2011

Sherwood Forest Thynghowe Birklands BBC Radio 4 Open Country
