Transition Network top stories

Free tools to help communities become zero carbon

Laura Whitehead — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:28:07 +0000

BioRegional has developed a new free tool and research to help local authorities, housing associations and community groups work out the best options for retrofitting buildings to produce low or zero carbon emissions. The resources are part of the major Zero Carbon Hackbridge project where this 2,400 home London suburb is working to retrofit all buildings to zero carbon by 2025.

The Energy retrofit tool for buildings allows users to model the outcomes of different energy retrofit strategies on building stock in an area. It can be used for projects of any size, from one building to a whole town or city. The tool shows costs, carbon savings, payback periods, value for money and remaining carbon emissions. The project was funded by the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts Climate Change Collaboration.

You can access the tool and the reports from the Zero Carbon Hackbridge study on the BioRegional website here ›

Growing Communities seeks social entrepreneurs

Laura Whitehead — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:58:06 +0000

Free introductory workshop being held in Hackney, East London UK on 4th July.

Are you fed up with the supermarkets dominating our food system? Do you want to help the environment by changing how and what we eat? Would you like to create jobs for local people?

Growing Communities are looking for people who are interested in setting up a not-for-profit business to bring more sustainable food to their community and will be holding a workshop on the 4th July to explain how to get involved.

May 2012 - Transition Network newsletter

Mike Grenville — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:52:28 +0000

NETWORK NEWS & NEWS FROM THE NETWORK

April Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition

Laura Whitehead — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:19:12 +0000

Let’s start with something I came across on YouTube, the caption just says “We are students from 4th of ESO and we are in a project about Transition Towns. Hope you like it :) !”
Turns out it is the students from the High School Joan Segura i Valls, in Santa Coloma de Queralt (Catalonia) (see right) who did a project on Transition (they talked to Rob Hopkins by Skype), set up Transition Santa Colomba, and are going great guns. After they finished their school project, they were given a video camera. What did they come up with?

Wiser.org celebrates its Fifth Anniversary with an Online Photo Competition

Laura Whitehead — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:40:15 +0000

Wiser.org (also known as Wiser Earth) the social network for sustainability, has grown to become a global community of over 70,000 members since its founding back in 2007.

On Earth Day (22^nd April), Wiser.org celebrated its fifth anniversary with the launch of an online-based photo competition. The Earth Day Living Contest lasts until May 14th. The contest is just one of several anniversary events ongoing at Wiser.org.

Peak money and economic resilience: event report

Ben Brangwyn — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:37:02 +0000

A report on ‘Peak Money and Economic Resilience’, a Transition Network one-day conversation (by Rob Hopkins)

(Read original article on Transition Culture site)

In Transition 2.0: review by Charlotte Du Cann

Ben Brangwyn — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:17:45 +0000

For full details about the movie - screenings, getting hold of a copy, previews - go here: www.intransitionmovie.com]

People of the Butterfly by Charlotte Du Cann for STIR magazine

In an abandoned lot in Pittsburgh a boy is selling lettuce. Down Tooting High Street a carnival is in full swing. In a village in Portugal two men are walking in a field beside horses. In a fire station in Moss Side a film preview is taking place: “There was silence. You could have heard a pin drop. And then a sound, kind of like a pin dropping. There it is again. And again, many times in rapid succession. Then silence. Nothing.” This is Joel Prittie, writing about his experiences previewing the film, In Transition 2.0, simultaneously with eleven other initiatives worldwide in February. He’s telling us how the machine jammed, how he resolved the dilemma, and how everyone cheered at the end.

Transport: questions for local politicians re cycling

Ben Brangwyn — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:50:21 +0000

Getting politicians to thing hard about bikes, money and safety.

Just saw a very impactful set of questions from Sustrans designed to raise cycling issues to local politicians canvassing ahead of the Welsh local elections. There's something here for all of us.

The Challenge: help for Transition Initiatives in the UK

Ben Brangwyn — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:55:50 +0000

Submit your expressions of interest now for support in September 2012

[Note: this just came in from a Transitioner in London]

Announcing the Festival of Transition

Ben Brangwyn — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:07:23 +0000

We are delighted to be able to announce today the Festival of Transition, an initiative of new economics foundation, Transition Network, the Ramblers, the arts charity

April 2012 - Transition Network Newsletter

Mike Grenville — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:20:42 +0000

The 2012 Transition Network conference

14-16th September

“We’re thrilled to announce that the 2012 Transition Network conference will be held at Battersea Arts Centre in London in September.

March Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition

Laura Whitehead — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:37:31 +0000

Our thanks to Gerd Wessling, co-ordinator of the German hub, for the following story from Germany:

“Sunday May 13th 2012 will be declared “In Transition 2.0 film and information day” in Germany, Austria and Switzerland! We kindly ask all German, Swiss & Austrian Transition initiatives to self-organize screenings of the movie at that date in their regions/towns/cities. More info for the organizers (in German) & about the coordination here.

A screening in Bielefeld is already fixed; see details here. We would love to generate a lot of broad, positive reviews and excitement about the movie and Transition in general at that date in the German-speaking region(s) of the world”.

Researching Transition: making sure it benefits transitioners

Ben Brangwyn — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:58:54 +0000

You can help make sure that Researchers are doing work that benefits transitioners. Here's how.

Here at Transition Network we get a regular flow of research enquiries - all the way from student projects that have to be in the next day to PhDs with multi-year, multi-country, multi-dimensional proposals. Some of these are purely extractive research - ie the researcher gets a grade or qualification while the transitioners get nothing for the effort they've been asked to put in. Others understand that the benefits should flow in both directions and that the research work must be designed from the outset to help transition move forward.

There are a number of activities in progress right now to ensure that transition and research form a symbiotic relationship, such as the newly formed Transition Research Network that will help shape the frameworks to make that a reality. Another key element - and that's what this posting is about - is some preliminary research to find out what approaches work best for Transition Initiatives.

Fostering Active and Collaborative Learning - a five day course for adult educators

Laura Whitehead — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 13:21:08 +0000

A five day course (free if you are in the European Union) which may be of interest to Transitioners in Europe who are involved in adult education, training or facilitation.

“Fostering Active and Collaborative Learning”
A Five Day Course for Adult Educators in Cloughjordan Ecovillage
October 15 - 19 2012

Transition Town Berkhamsted - What On Earth Should We Do About Climate Change?

Laura Whitehead — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:53:27 +0000

To help raise awareness as part of the recent national Climate Week (which ran from the 12th -18th March), Transition Town Berkhamsted held a successful Question Time style debate 'What On Earth Should We Do About Climate Change?' event on the 14^th of March which included a wide range of specialists in the area of climate change as the panelists.

Over one hundred people attended the event, and you can visit their round up post on their website which includes links to videos of questions from young people and the post event ad-hoc debate, and links to the Climate Change TV interviews with some of the panelists. The event was recorded by their local tv channel.

Read the follow up post from the event on the Transition Town Berkhamsted website with links to videos and interviews »

Resilience Festival 2012 in Guelph

Laura Whitehead — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 07:08:02 +0000

Transition Guelph is holding it’s second annual Community Resilience Festival from 24th - 31st March. The festival, a collaboration of Transition Guelph and several partnering community groups is a week-long community gathering offering a wide range of events to explore progressive ideas around community planning, local re-skilling and empowerment.

A musical tour of Transition Towns

Laura Whitehead — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:16:32 +0000

Musician Michael Holt, based in Toronto, is planning for a forthcoming musical tour. He's aiming for 40 participatory, community building events to Initiatives as part of his ‘Transition Culture Tour’ which will take place from June 7 to July 22, 2012 across parts of Europe.
So far, Michael has some events booked in parts of Sweden, Germany and Belgium and is hoping to connect and collaborate with many more Initiatives too.

You can find out more about the planned tour, locations and dates, links to his music and more about Michael and how to contact him here - Transition Culture Tour Project page; and below is a brief introduction to the tour.

In Transition 2.0

Laura Whitehead — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:30:13 +0000

You can now order the DVD here, orders start shipping at the end of this week!

Caspar Walsh reviews ‘In Transition 2.0′ for Positive News

"In Transition 2.0 takes the viewer through an emotional journey that effectively charts the evolution of the movement from its humble origins in Kinsale, Ireland, to an international movement that now attracts the attention of politicians and world leaders."

Energy Security For Whom? For What? - A report

Laura Whitehead — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:08:26 +0000

The Corner House has recently published a report on 'Energy Security For Whom? For What?' that may be of interest to Transitioners.

March 2012 - Transition Network Newsletter

Mike Grenville — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:21:39 +0000

March 2012 - Transition Network Newsletter

February Round-up of What’s Happening out in the World of Transition

Laura Whitehead — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:34:41 +0000

This month’s round-up adds in a new dimension for the first time. Thanks to the newly established network of international Transition hubs, we have a number of international stories sent in especially for this roundup. We’ll start in Canada. Here, sent in by Jennifer Rice, is a speech by Lee Brain, a young man in the community of Prince Rupert, BC.

Social Entrepreneurs event (UK)

Ben Brangwyn — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:52:52 +0000

Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurs to Gather in Totnes for REconomy Project Local Entrepreneur Forum

Totnes has a lot of transition-y things going on, and one of the most interesting involves looking at what kind of economic fabric we'll need to create to establish a range of local employers that can be successful through volatile ti

Calling all food growers!

Laura Whitehead — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:49:43 +0000

Are you interested in composting and growing your own? Saving money, being involved with community activities and eating really good food?
The Community Composting Network has received funding from Local Food for a two and a half year project called Community Composting for Local Food the aim of the project is to help local communities grow their own food crops and to make and use their own high quality compost.

Brixton: community owned solar energy project launched (UK)

Ben Brangwyn — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:49:12 +0000

First inner city community owned solar power station

Following fast

Transition Network chosen as one of ‘Britain’s 50 New Radicals’!

Laura Whitehead — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:50:20 +0000

Transition Network was announced by NESTA and The Observer as one of ‘Britain’s 50 New Radicals’. We’re honoured, and are in some great company.