First things first

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Thursday 20 August 2009

Motivation for Inner Transition

“As the planet is poised at the tipping point of irreversible climate change, we struggle to conceptualise this potential catastrophe and its consequences. Too awful, perhaps, to deeply contemplate the consequences of inaction, we bury this awareness in order to re-establish the emotional comfort zone of denial. Believing, perhaps, that we are individually helpless to impact on this terrifying escalation, this helplessness is often felt as despair and moral confusion. Could an enriched sensibility to our place in nature enable us to shift from passive anguish to psychologically-healthy problem solving and greater emotional health?  Can we creatively harness our awareness of our relationship with nature – rather than suppress it?”

This theme for a conference at the Eden Project in Cornwall challenges our inertia in the face of the global threats to the environment. How can we motivate ourselves to change our habits? We know that there is an economic motivation for living more energy efficiently, wasting less and recycling more. There is also satisfaction as well as good health and fun in growing some of our food, in walking more, and in getting to know our neighbours. These things require us to slow down, maybe for an hour each day, a day each week, and are part of a richer lifestyle that we should be teaching our children. We need to have more confidence that small steps taken by many people in a community can really change things, and to start them ourselves. One mitigating action we can take is to donate money to tree-planting organizations to offset some of the damage we are doing with our high-carbon lifestyles.  Two such organizations are www.treesforlife.org.uk  and www.woodlandtrust.org.uk. The tiny remnants of our ancient forests remind us of the countless generations of ancestors who have gone before, and forest replanting would be a tangible sign that we mean to pass on the environment in better shape to all our grandchildren.

Edward and Irena Hill

 

Friday 7 August 2009

Inner Transition Subgroup - Initial Meeting

The initial meeting of the TW Inner Transition subgroup will be held on Monday 17th August at 7.30pm in the bar at Mycenae House, Mycenae Rd, London SE3. Everyone is welcome!

What does "Inner Transition " mean? For me, it means the process of changing attitudes, at both an individual and community level, to how we live in relation to one another and in relation to nature. In part, this is needed to enable the practical aspects of moving to low-carbon, sustainable ways of living to be accomplished more easily, quickly and effectively; and in part, I think, because the mass consumption lifestyle that has been fostered by cheap energy has not in any event been accompanied by greater overall levels of human happiness and fulfilment.

So, as one way of starting to look at these issues, I've drawn up the following list of questions which I shall be giving some thought to before the meeting. Feel free to do the same or suggest your own questions/ issues if you feel they are more relevant!...
  1. What aspects of my life as it is now do I value the most?
  2. What aspects of my life as it is now would I most like to change?
  3. What aspects of my community as it is now do I value the most?
  4. What asepcts of my community as it is now would I most like to change?
  5. What do I find exciting about the idea of society moving to a low-carbon economy?
  6. What do I fear the idea of society moving to a low-carbon economy?
Look forward to seeing you on 17th.

Andy Chapman

Monday 3 August 2009

TW Subgroup Meetings

Monday 3rd August

There were 3 subgroups set up at the TW meeting last Wednesday, and they have arranged to meet in the Bar of Mycenae House, Mycenae Road at the following times:

Food   8pm Tuesday 11th August
Inner Transition  7.30pm Monday 17th August
Energy  7.30 Wednesday 19th August

All welcome!

Saturday 1 August 2009

Hornbeam Centre and barbecue

Hi all

There is a community place in Waltham Forest which I think is really worth visiting, as they are already doing so many of the things that we have been discussing and that we would like to start, such as a community cafe, a local veg food stall every Saturday, skill sharing and lots of other initiatives.

The place is called the Hornbeam Centre and they are holding a (vegetarian) barbecue in the cafe on Saturday 15th August. Also, on Saturdays between 2:30 and 4:00 there are people involved in the local Transition Town who meet there.

I think it would be ideal if a group of us could visit, share some nice veggie barbie food and then make contact with the local TT, also to ask the centre what they did to start this amazing community set-up.

If anyone thinks it is appropriate for us to contact them in advance and say that a TT group would like to visit and exchange ideas etc, please let me know and I shall contact them.

Here is the link for the Hornbeam Centre: http://www.hornbeam.org.uk

Caterina