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Living through the transition from the Petroleum Age to a Sustainable Future.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Buckminster Fuller

Transition City Manchester

posted by Naresh 1.10.07

Manchester a Transition City ? Many at the evening I spoke at a few nights ago were not so sure. They can list the discussions and plans for socialist Manchester that go completely in the wrong direction.

This old mill town, one of the jewels in the crown of the British industrial age, is rapidly undergoing the sorts of changes that are happening the world round when heavy industry vacates in the globalised march of capitalism, our system, the industrial growth society whatever you want to call it. Mill buildings such as these, in the city centre, that have been derelict for decades are now being turned into city centre flats and office buildings. Cranes and building works are happening all over the city and transforming Manchester into a ‘ knowledge economy ', whatever that means. There are apparently more students per sq mile in Manchester than anywhere else on the planet.

Flying Zombies

posted by Naresh 13.8.07

My uncle just died and I felt a pull to go back to the States to be with my family, but there was also something else.

The desire to fly. There is no doubt in my mind that flying is an addition, and I am feeling the pull to get on a plane just like the vast majority of my fellow air travellers, 65 million over sea air journies every year from the UK alone. That pull goes on somewhere in the background, like a low level hum, and enters into our decision to fly even though many of us have got it: that flying and preventing catastrophic climate chaos isn ' t a match made in heaven.

A short piece on Climate Change and Transition Town Totnes

posted by Naresh 29.607

This was our first forray into using video as a means of engaging those that don't want to sit down and read something boring about cliamte change. It was an enlightening experience. Enlightening because the technology was so accessable, and also because it is an easy way to get a message acorss using few words and creating lots of impact. The old story a picture, especially a moving one, is worth a thousand words.

Climate Change and Transition Towns

posted by Naresh 6.5.07

Although we don ' t have details yet of the government ' s Climate change (CC) bill it seems likely that it will have important and wide ranging effects on the social and economic landscape of the UK . The Transition Towns (TT) movement should take advantage of this as a strategy to extend the TT model. This paper is written in anticipation of having to make important decisions in how and with whom we work.

Reith lectures – a Half Learned Lesson

posted by Naresh 13.4.07

I listened to Jeffrey Sacks deliver the first of this years Reith lectures, ‘Bursting at the Seams' on BBC radio 4- and we are in bigger trouble than I thought. You can listen to it or read a transcript here . Jeffrey Sacks is billed as one of the world ' s foremost economists – director of the Earth Institute at Colombia University . “ He is widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation. For more than 20 years Professor Sachs has been in the forefront of the challenges of economic development, poverty alleviation, and enlightened globalization, promoting policies to help all parts of the world to benefit from expanding economic opportunities and well being.” goes his bio on the Colombia University web site.

Even Former US President Bill Clinton Agrees, Transition Towns are the Solution

posted by Naresh 19.3.07

Former President Bill Clinton's Landon Lecture the Friday before last at Kansas State University contained some ‘ Is he really saying this? ' moments. My surprise and admiration – yes admiration -for his clarity of thought and analysis was mirrored in disbelief at my equally counter intuitive feelings of how can think this and at the same time have occupied the job of US president for 8 years?

H5N1 Gaia speaks -who listening?

posted 6.2.07

It took me until this morning to wake up and realise that something new was happening. Another outbreak of Avian flu, this time in Norfolk , England had occurred and was widely reported in this Sunday ' s papers . A nother farming crisis, it seems only a short time since the last massive farming crisis; foot and mouth disease, in the UK . And we are again being told that large numbers of birds, this time, will have to be slaughtered- an eerie echo of foot and mouth where up to 8 million animals were slaughtered. Now again we face something similar, The Observer reported “ All 159,000 turkeys at the hub of Bernard Matthews's business empire were due to be placed into crates, … . and gassed to death. ”

Bad luck? Another predictable crisis? Revenge of Gaia? No I don ' t think any of those are in fact what is happening to our agricultural system.

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Have you ever stopped to consider what supports the shopping you do , your job, your car and your foreign holiday?

Have you ever had cause to ponder the food in your fridge or your electricity supply, the plastic bottle you have just thrown away, your television, computer - or do you just take it all for granted?

Fossil fuels have been central to our lives for over a century - they are the irreplaceable components powering our wealthy lifestyle - we have grown used to them and take them completely for granted - very few people even realise how hopelessly dependent they are on these non-renewable resources.

But we can no longer take fossel fuels for granted. For starters, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we are running out of cheap oil and natural gas. The implications of this are immense.

"The time when we could count on cheap oil and even cheaper natural gas is clearly ending."

David O'Reilly chairman and CEO of ChevronTexaco

We stand on the edge of an unprecedented crisis. Without parallel in history.

We are living on the cusp of a momentous economic, environmental upheaval. This web-site will tell you what you need to know about the end of cheap fossil fuels and what you can do to help yourself and the community you live in.

There are a number of interesting a topical articles in the article section.

Get started, join in, enjoy the process. Even though much of what you might read and absorb might be distressing and frightening. I believe in enjoying the process, and wherever that might lead you. Its a journey!

Naresh

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Living through the transition from the Petroleum Age to a Sustainable Future. Copyright© 2005-2007 Living on the Cusp, all rights reserved. Articles may be copied and reproduced freely provided the authorship is acknowledged, the article is reproduced in full, and a link provided to Living on the Cusp.

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