Transition town is a term that keeps popping up when you start checking out alternatives. As it is something of an innovation, and perhaps rather mysterious one at that, today’s offering is the result of an attempt to find out what it is all about, for those not already familiar.
Transition Towns turns out to be a community based, bottom-up movement. Each community aims to develop an ‘Energy Descent Action Plan’ to prepare for and respond to the twin crises foreseen approaching – energy scarcity and climate change.
Much of the emphasis is on the concept of ‘Peak Oil’ – that we have lived through a period that started around 1960 in which energy supplies were more or less inexhaustible and at ever lower prices – which is now coming to an end.
The whole movement is conceptualised in Permaculture terms, so it is no surprise that both the solutions typically envisaged and the processes for arriving at them are conceived along those lines. Not that there is anything inherently wrong in that, as Permaculture is probably the most coherent response we have to the multiple challenges we now face.
These include a return to the local economy, moves towards sustainability and self-sufficiency, ecological building, low energy use, local food production and so forth.
Another key concept is ‘the great deskilling’. This refers to the fact that through socialisation and education society has produced a population of people very highly educated and incredibly skilled in all manner of extremely specialised things, all of which have only one thing in common – that they are all unfortunately absolutely useless from the point of view of survival – whilst simultaneously loosing almost completely in only a few generations their birthright of traditional skills, some of which have been passed down largely unchanged since the Stone Age or earlier, and that are indispensable to living harmoniously with the planet. How to grow and nuture, make and repair things, knowledge of the uses of the things of nature, how to live with the weather, the seasons, one’s own body. Things like that.
The ability to prepare food is the latest one phasing out, in favour of convenience foods and eating out, because people now consider themselves to be ‘too busy’ for such unworthwhile activities as cooking.
The net result is a population absolutely incapable of meeting any of its survival needs in any way whatsoever other than to buy them, and which is therefore totally dependent upon the system and condemned to a consumer lifestyle – in the true sense of the word – as a result. It therefore has no alternative than to work for money in whatever way the system requires.
It is a fundamental part of the problem, and has simply left people climbing over each other to get the most comfortable spots available within that model. For better or worse, from that point of view law has to be amongst the most desirable.
Transition Town status appears to be entirely independent of conventional local government, though there is great emphasis on the need to get it on side to get individual aspects of the plans put into practice, and hopefully to get the Energy Descent Action Plan endorsed and perhaps one day fully adopted. Only when there are sufficient local communities up and running in an area will the process be expanded on their backs to the regional level or higher.
It seems the movement started in Totnes, Devon, UK around summer 2006 and has gone on rapidly from there.
Within the UK, the site lists 22 places that have officially recognised as Transition Towns, and another 200 where initial processes are underway.
Elsewhere it identifies Transition Towns in France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Israel, Oz, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.
Oakland, California, USA is listed as the front runner to be the first Transition City.
The main site is a wiki still under development. It also links to the websites of the Transition Towns individually. The most useful page to start at is
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionNetwork
where the links top right lead to some interesting stuff.
There is a telling illustration of how money haemorrhages from the local economy if you don’t shop locally, quantified at
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/LeakyEconomy
Finally an article about the movement from the Guardian of 19 April 2007 is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/apr/19/energy.ethicalliving
END
Showing posts with label Websites of the day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Websites of the day. Show all posts
Friday, 28 September 2007
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Website of the Day: The World Land Trust
The feelgood factor from being an investor in Triodos Bank is marvellous, knowing that your money is helping only really inspiring organisations with a positive ecological and social benefit, and not arms dealers, the manufacturers of nuclear power stations and other unconscionable things.
But tops in this respect has to be The World Land Trust. It’s a charity that doesn’t just talk about things, it gets right on and does them.
Its purpose is to buy up habitats of major ecological importance that are under severe threat just as fast as it can. As there are a lot of these, it has a lot to do.
Since 1989, the WLT has helped protect over 350,000 acres (142 hectares) of tropical forest, coral reefs, arid coastal steppe, and ancient beech woodland.
Just £25 buys half an acre of rainforest that typically holds more than 220 species of tree. Compare that with the ‘singularly impoverished’ native tree population of the entire British Isles which consists of just 36 species. You can pump up the number to 65 by adding 8 ‘larger shrubs which occasionally reach tree size’ and 21 naturalised species if you are embarrassed, but its perilously close to cheating. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_of_Britain_and_Ireland
All due to the speed with which the North Sea filled up after the last Ice Age, apparently (Collins Tree Guide, 2004, p7).
Then you really feel you have done something extraordinarily worthwhile with your money. And that is before you take account of all the things that live in them!
If that doesn’t appeal, instead invest in a piece of a corridor for endangered Indian elephants to put their trunks in. Seems they are getting into big trouble with – you guessed it – humans, for doing no more than tramping the ancient migratory trails they have always followed, so there is a need to buy them up fast before the inevitable outcome plays out.
And the nice thing about elephants is that, unlike those two-legged animals, they are happy to share with all the other species, so everyone gains - with the exception of a few misguided people.
Patrons this time around are none other than David Attenborough, so you can have absolute confidence in science and the utility, and, for some reason, David Gower. Bill Oddie is also on board, and we even have a lawyer as one of the trustees. He is Simon Lyster, qualified in both the UK and USA, who is Chief Executive of LEAD International, an international network of folk whose shared mission is to inspire leadership for a sustainable world. He’s a former Director General of the Wildlife Trusts and worked for 10 years with WWF.
As the Wild Law workshop is currently in full flight, the proposition is that all participants should consider buying half an acre this weekend to do something positive, concrete and instantaneous that really makes a difference, and to help to offset the impacts that are an inevitable consequence of gathering together, no matter how worthy the cause.
Most of all for the sheer elation. To know that today you saved a big chunk of rainforest and all the things that live in it, for little more than the price of a round of drinks, has to be one of the best things you can do with money anywhere. The kids will love you for it, too.
http://www.worldlandtrust.org
END
But tops in this respect has to be The World Land Trust. It’s a charity that doesn’t just talk about things, it gets right on and does them.
Its purpose is to buy up habitats of major ecological importance that are under severe threat just as fast as it can. As there are a lot of these, it has a lot to do.
Since 1989, the WLT has helped protect over 350,000 acres (142 hectares) of tropical forest, coral reefs, arid coastal steppe, and ancient beech woodland.
Just £25 buys half an acre of rainforest that typically holds more than 220 species of tree. Compare that with the ‘singularly impoverished’ native tree population of the entire British Isles which consists of just 36 species. You can pump up the number to 65 by adding 8 ‘larger shrubs which occasionally reach tree size’ and 21 naturalised species if you are embarrassed, but its perilously close to cheating. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_of_Britain_and_Ireland
All due to the speed with which the North Sea filled up after the last Ice Age, apparently (Collins Tree Guide, 2004, p7).
Then you really feel you have done something extraordinarily worthwhile with your money. And that is before you take account of all the things that live in them!
If that doesn’t appeal, instead invest in a piece of a corridor for endangered Indian elephants to put their trunks in. Seems they are getting into big trouble with – you guessed it – humans, for doing no more than tramping the ancient migratory trails they have always followed, so there is a need to buy them up fast before the inevitable outcome plays out.
And the nice thing about elephants is that, unlike those two-legged animals, they are happy to share with all the other species, so everyone gains - with the exception of a few misguided people.
Patrons this time around are none other than David Attenborough, so you can have absolute confidence in science and the utility, and, for some reason, David Gower. Bill Oddie is also on board, and we even have a lawyer as one of the trustees. He is Simon Lyster, qualified in both the UK and USA, who is Chief Executive of LEAD International, an international network of folk whose shared mission is to inspire leadership for a sustainable world. He’s a former Director General of the Wildlife Trusts and worked for 10 years with WWF.
As the Wild Law workshop is currently in full flight, the proposition is that all participants should consider buying half an acre this weekend to do something positive, concrete and instantaneous that really makes a difference, and to help to offset the impacts that are an inevitable consequence of gathering together, no matter how worthy the cause.
Most of all for the sheer elation. To know that today you saved a big chunk of rainforest and all the things that live in it, for little more than the price of a round of drinks, has to be one of the best things you can do with money anywhere. The kids will love you for it, too.
http://www.worldlandtrust.org
END
Website of the day: Earth Jurisprudence Website
First up today has to be the brand new Earth Jurisprudence site launched earlier this week by the Gaia Foundation.
Visually stunning and nicely targeted, it already assembles a wealth of essential information in one place for the first time, and will no doubt be doing lots more exciting things in due course.
This excellent step forward must be obligatory viewing for all interested in Wild Law, so little more need be said.
http://www.earthjurisprudence.org/index.html
The site is still under construction, so the opportunity remains to make positive input – to Guy at the Gaia Foundation on
guy@gaianet.org
.
Visually stunning and nicely targeted, it already assembles a wealth of essential information in one place for the first time, and will no doubt be doing lots more exciting things in due course.
This excellent step forward must be obligatory viewing for all interested in Wild Law, so little more need be said.
http://www.earthjurisprudence.org/index.html
The site is still under construction, so the opportunity remains to make positive input – to Guy at the Gaia Foundation on
guy@gaianet.org
.
Friday, 21 September 2007
Website of the day: Indigenous People's Cultural Support Trust
Emily, Sue and Patrick, three of the trustees from the IPCST came along to Andy Kimbrell’s outstanding presentation at the Gaia Foundation on Wednesday 19 September.
It is a small and apparently very efficient charity which works for the Indian tribal people in Brazil in the catchments of the Xingu and Araguaia rivers in the States of Mato Grosso and Pará.
They are looking to Wild Law – and indeed any law – to help protect the integrity of the reserves and to protect the tribal peoples whose way of life depend on it.
Both are under severe threat to the extent of becoming unviable as a result of encroachment, logging, serious contamination of the catchment upstream, and conflicts with non-indigenous settlers.
The water problems are caused by a massive sediment load due to deforestation, to the extent it is no longer possible to see fish – the main food – to spear them.
In addition there is a health problem with sewerage carried in from settlements outside the reserve.
Patron of the charity is Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, Science Director of the Eden Project in Cornwall, and a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
Start here to get an overview, including bios on the interesting lives of Emily, Sue and Patrick, then browse from there for details of the projects, satellite photos showing the problem etc:
http://www.ipcst.org/about.htm#members
There is also a short document on the impact of climate change which is worth visiting for a graphic satellite image showing the desolation outside the reserve. It reminds us:
at:
http://www.ipcst.org/images/HoB_ClimateChange.pdf
IPCST’s work is featured extensively on the BBC’s Portuguese website which is highly recommended even for non-speakers for the stunning photos (em imagen). Find them at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/forum/story/2007/08/070808_projetoxingu17.shtml
Any legal expertise that might help with the predicament of these endangered peoples, a fast disappearing part of our global heritage and of the Earth community, would be greatly appreciated.
.
It is a small and apparently very efficient charity which works for the Indian tribal people in Brazil in the catchments of the Xingu and Araguaia rivers in the States of Mato Grosso and Pará.
They are looking to Wild Law – and indeed any law – to help protect the integrity of the reserves and to protect the tribal peoples whose way of life depend on it.
Both are under severe threat to the extent of becoming unviable as a result of encroachment, logging, serious contamination of the catchment upstream, and conflicts with non-indigenous settlers.
The water problems are caused by a massive sediment load due to deforestation, to the extent it is no longer possible to see fish – the main food – to spear them.
In addition there is a health problem with sewerage carried in from settlements outside the reserve.
Patron of the charity is Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, Science Director of the Eden Project in Cornwall, and a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
Start here to get an overview, including bios on the interesting lives of Emily, Sue and Patrick, then browse from there for details of the projects, satellite photos showing the problem etc:
http://www.ipcst.org/about.htm#members
There is also a short document on the impact of climate change which is worth visiting for a graphic satellite image showing the desolation outside the reserve. It reminds us:
‘Deforestation contributes 75% of Brazil’s total greenhouse gas emissions; despite Brazilian people having a relatively small individual carbon footprint, Brazil is the world’s fourth largest climate polluter.’
at:
http://www.ipcst.org/images/HoB_ClimateChange.pdf
IPCST’s work is featured extensively on the BBC’s Portuguese website which is highly recommended even for non-speakers for the stunning photos (em imagen). Find them at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/forum/story/2007/08/070808_projetoxingu17.shtml
Any legal expertise that might help with the predicament of these endangered peoples, a fast disappearing part of our global heritage and of the Earth community, would be greatly appreciated.
.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Website of the day: The Centre for Alternative Technology
The origins of CAT lie in the attempts of a visionary millionaire and a load of hippies to establish a entirely self-sufficient community in the arguably less than ideal setting of a disused slate quarry on the south edge of Snowdonia in 1975.
It quickly became apparent that this implied going back more or less to the stone age and, as this was not considered palatable, the direction was shifted into what was then called Intermediate Technology. It has been of Europe’s leading demonstration centre in sustainability every since.
For most of that time its was dismissed by decision-makers – as just a load of old hippies – with the one exception of overseas development, where the wisdom, applicability and economic efficiency of its solutions won respectability with government agencies.
Undeterred, CAT worked away steadily at developing workable solutions and educating the public in both the issues involved and their resolution.
Extraordinarily it become one of the top tourist destinations in North Wales, and established itself as the leading consultancy for small scale off-the-grid power installations – solar wind and hydro - eco-building, energy conservation in buildings and several other disciplines.
Almost overnight the situation flipped when governments woke up abruptly to the environmental issues CAT had been advertising for 20 years or more. It suddenly found itself at the centre of mainstream thinking, with numerous government departments scrambling over themselves to hurriedly reformulate policy in areas hitherto unknown to them, particularly with respect to wind energy which almost no-one else in the country knew anything about at that time, and energy conservation in buildings.
CAT is a more or less obligatory visit for anyone seriously interested in positive, practical solutions to our environmental crisis.
It has an excellent shop for sustainability items and an outstanding range of books on every aspect of sustainability, including many of its own publications. There is also a very good organic vegetarian restaurant.
CAT also runs a wide range of short and long residential courses on anything from blacksmithing to organic gardening, installing wind turbines – you can even make one out of recycled materials – to building your own eco-home. Even how to convert your car to run on chip fat – or biodiesel. These are perhaps the best way to really understand the breadth of vision of the place.
It also offers a number of MA/MSc courses related to architecture, energy, and environmental management.
Do try to visit if you have not already.
http://www.cat.org.uk/index.tmpl?refer=index&init=1
END
It quickly became apparent that this implied going back more or less to the stone age and, as this was not considered palatable, the direction was shifted into what was then called Intermediate Technology. It has been of Europe’s leading demonstration centre in sustainability every since.
For most of that time its was dismissed by decision-makers – as just a load of old hippies – with the one exception of overseas development, where the wisdom, applicability and economic efficiency of its solutions won respectability with government agencies.
Undeterred, CAT worked away steadily at developing workable solutions and educating the public in both the issues involved and their resolution.
Extraordinarily it become one of the top tourist destinations in North Wales, and established itself as the leading consultancy for small scale off-the-grid power installations – solar wind and hydro - eco-building, energy conservation in buildings and several other disciplines.
Almost overnight the situation flipped when governments woke up abruptly to the environmental issues CAT had been advertising for 20 years or more. It suddenly found itself at the centre of mainstream thinking, with numerous government departments scrambling over themselves to hurriedly reformulate policy in areas hitherto unknown to them, particularly with respect to wind energy which almost no-one else in the country knew anything about at that time, and energy conservation in buildings.
CAT is a more or less obligatory visit for anyone seriously interested in positive, practical solutions to our environmental crisis.
It has an excellent shop for sustainability items and an outstanding range of books on every aspect of sustainability, including many of its own publications. There is also a very good organic vegetarian restaurant.
CAT also runs a wide range of short and long residential courses on anything from blacksmithing to organic gardening, installing wind turbines – you can even make one out of recycled materials – to building your own eco-home. Even how to convert your car to run on chip fat – or biodiesel. These are perhaps the best way to really understand the breadth of vision of the place.
It also offers a number of MA/MSc courses related to architecture, energy, and environmental management.
Do try to visit if you have not already.
http://www.cat.org.uk/index.tmpl?refer=index&init=1
END
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Website of the day: Crystal Waters Permaculture Village
The impression often created is that Earth Jurisprudence is a recent thing, and that Wild Law dates from 2002 when Cormac Cullinan’s ground-breaking book of that title was published.
Whilst that may possibly be true of the consciousness of the legal profession as a community, I suspect that view is a partial one as a result of the rather artificial world that lawyers inhabit, which Cormac Cullinan was forthright and candid enough to acknowledge when he spoke at ‘Earth is Community’ on Saturday 15 September.
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk/
Meanwhile in the world as it actually exists, even leaving aside indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers entirely, small groups of people have been actively living according to Earth Jurisprudence for much longer, though often without the need for written law or statute to constrain them to do so.
The need for formal rules only seems to be felt when people form into communities established on an hierarchical, power-based system. These appear to arise when ownership becomes an issue – in other words when we cease nomadic existence and start to claim a quite imaginary right to the exploitation of a piece of land, almost inevitably on an exclusive basis.
Crystal Waters Permaculture Village is an example where this formalisation has taken place into an explicit set of by laws governing the human community intended to establish and safeguard its nature as a Permaculture community. Rights of a Wild Law character have been formally recognised for the entire Earth Community accordingly, with the exception of a few species of plant considered pests – groundsel in particular.
Although it had been an intentional community since 1975 (for a period of a rather dubious legal status), Crystal Waters began yet another incarnation in 1985 when Max Lindegger, one of the earliest and most committed movers of Permaculture (who has gone on to found the eco-village movement) was called in by the residents to redesign it as a Permaculture village.
This involved dividing the 259 hectares of exhausted farmland – originally cleared bush – and native eucalyptus forest into 80 residential lots arranged in clusters, each comprising of about one quarter of a hectare. The remainder of the land is held in common by a cooperative to which all owners and tenants belong and contribute to financially, in kind, and with their energy in various ways.
Legally this required the formulating an entirely new and quite complex legal structure, with a Body Corporate and a co-operative to which all residents belonged, and individual titles to the 80 lots.
The cooperative owns the land held in common and infrastructure, a number of buildings for community purposes, and a camp site. Residents requiring more land – for instance for growing crops commercially – can rent it from this body.
Physically it required the design of the site on Permaculture principles sympathetically handling the rights of existing beings – for instance trees – and the installation of the infrastructure – dams, access roads to the various clusters, drainage and a reticulated water supply.
The Body Corporate By-Laws, which came into force in 1987 (from memory) are clearly based entirely on Earth Jurisprudence principles.
They establish the primacy of the principles of Permaculture:
− ‘Care for the Earth and
− Care for the People and
− No use or activity upon any lot or upon the common property shall be performed or conducted contrary to such principles.’
In addition:
Dogs and cats are specifically prohibited because of the serious negative impact these animals have on the native wildlife.
The by-laws can be found at
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/history/by_laws.html
The population of the community seems to float at around 180 to 200 including about 60 children. One of the most valued features is the fact that the children can grow up in a natural environment in which they can roam freely and explore entirely unsupervised, without the usual preoccupations over safety and security, in the sure knowledge that they can seek out and be taken care of by supportive adults if need be. This also benefits parents, who are relieved of the unending pressure to supervise their offspring.
So successful have these by-laws been that Crystal Waters was awarded a UN World Habitat Award in 1996 for its "pioneering work in demonstrating new ways of low impact, sustainable living", and has won several other awards.
There are a number of web sites to browse. The overview at Max Lindegger’s EcoLogical Solutions site is perhaps the most authoritative:
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/overview/overview.html
This includes an interesting review of what has been accomplished over 15 years, though the photo links are somewhat disappointing.
A better visual impression can be gained by clicking on the photo caption links on:
http://www.squidoo.com/crystalwaters
There is no such thing as a typical lot at Crystal Waters, with house designs of every type and ecological construction. They range from tipis and a converted railway carriage through to rammed earth and mud brick, by way of timber-framed and straw bale. However an example is
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/real_estate/lot_73/lot_73.htm
A sample of businesses currently being run by community residents are
EcoLogical Solutions
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/index.php
Crystal Waters Guest House (nice photos)
http://www.waterbreath.com/welcome.htm
SEED International
http://www.crystalwaterscollege.org.au/sections/faculty/SEED_Int.html
The Village Organic Farm
http://www.thevillageorganicfarm.com.au/crystal-waters.html
Regrettably few of the images give a fair impression of this extraordinary, and extraordinary beautiful, place. But a nice account of a visit by someone from the Findhorn Community aptly entitled ‘Treading Lightly on the Earth’ can be found at
http://www.findhorn.org/forums/global/story.php?id=317
.
Whilst that may possibly be true of the consciousness of the legal profession as a community, I suspect that view is a partial one as a result of the rather artificial world that lawyers inhabit, which Cormac Cullinan was forthright and candid enough to acknowledge when he spoke at ‘Earth is Community’ on Saturday 15 September.
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk/
Meanwhile in the world as it actually exists, even leaving aside indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers entirely, small groups of people have been actively living according to Earth Jurisprudence for much longer, though often without the need for written law or statute to constrain them to do so.
The need for formal rules only seems to be felt when people form into communities established on an hierarchical, power-based system. These appear to arise when ownership becomes an issue – in other words when we cease nomadic existence and start to claim a quite imaginary right to the exploitation of a piece of land, almost inevitably on an exclusive basis.
Crystal Waters Permaculture Village is an example where this formalisation has taken place into an explicit set of by laws governing the human community intended to establish and safeguard its nature as a Permaculture community. Rights of a Wild Law character have been formally recognised for the entire Earth Community accordingly, with the exception of a few species of plant considered pests – groundsel in particular.
Although it had been an intentional community since 1975 (for a period of a rather dubious legal status), Crystal Waters began yet another incarnation in 1985 when Max Lindegger, one of the earliest and most committed movers of Permaculture (who has gone on to found the eco-village movement) was called in by the residents to redesign it as a Permaculture village.
This involved dividing the 259 hectares of exhausted farmland – originally cleared bush – and native eucalyptus forest into 80 residential lots arranged in clusters, each comprising of about one quarter of a hectare. The remainder of the land is held in common by a cooperative to which all owners and tenants belong and contribute to financially, in kind, and with their energy in various ways.
Legally this required the formulating an entirely new and quite complex legal structure, with a Body Corporate and a co-operative to which all residents belonged, and individual titles to the 80 lots.
The cooperative owns the land held in common and infrastructure, a number of buildings for community purposes, and a camp site. Residents requiring more land – for instance for growing crops commercially – can rent it from this body.
Physically it required the design of the site on Permaculture principles sympathetically handling the rights of existing beings – for instance trees – and the installation of the infrastructure – dams, access roads to the various clusters, drainage and a reticulated water supply.
The Body Corporate By-Laws, which came into force in 1987 (from memory) are clearly based entirely on Earth Jurisprudence principles.
They establish the primacy of the principles of Permaculture:
− ‘Care for the Earth and
− Care for the People and
− No use or activity upon any lot or upon the common property shall be performed or conducted contrary to such principles.’
In addition:
‘the flora and fauna are to be observed and enjoyed at all times and in such manner as will preserve the environment with full recognition of the environmental sensitivity of the area.’
Dogs and cats are specifically prohibited because of the serious negative impact these animals have on the native wildlife.
The by-laws can be found at
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/history/by_laws.html
The population of the community seems to float at around 180 to 200 including about 60 children. One of the most valued features is the fact that the children can grow up in a natural environment in which they can roam freely and explore entirely unsupervised, without the usual preoccupations over safety and security, in the sure knowledge that they can seek out and be taken care of by supportive adults if need be. This also benefits parents, who are relieved of the unending pressure to supervise their offspring.
So successful have these by-laws been that Crystal Waters was awarded a UN World Habitat Award in 1996 for its "pioneering work in demonstrating new ways of low impact, sustainable living", and has won several other awards.
There are a number of web sites to browse. The overview at Max Lindegger’s EcoLogical Solutions site is perhaps the most authoritative:
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/overview/overview.html
This includes an interesting review of what has been accomplished over 15 years, though the photo links are somewhat disappointing.
A better visual impression can be gained by clicking on the photo caption links on:
http://www.squidoo.com/crystalwaters
There is no such thing as a typical lot at Crystal Waters, with house designs of every type and ecological construction. They range from tipis and a converted railway carriage through to rammed earth and mud brick, by way of timber-framed and straw bale. However an example is
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/real_estate/lot_73/lot_73.htm
A sample of businesses currently being run by community residents are
EcoLogical Solutions
http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/index.php
Crystal Waters Guest House (nice photos)
http://www.waterbreath.com/welcome.htm
SEED International
http://www.crystalwaterscollege.org.au/sections/faculty/SEED_Int.html
The Village Organic Farm
http://www.thevillageorganicfarm.com.au/crystal-waters.html
Regrettably few of the images give a fair impression of this extraordinary, and extraordinary beautiful, place. But a nice account of a visit by someone from the Findhorn Community aptly entitled ‘Treading Lightly on the Earth’ can be found at
http://www.findhorn.org/forums/global/story.php?id=317
.
Website of the Day: The Centre for Earth Jurisprudence
My profuse apologies go to all at the Centre for Earth Jurisprudence, as this most inspiring example of the rapid penetration being made by earth jurisprudence was intended to be posted on day one. Please forgive the delay.
It will be well-known to many, as a sizeable party took an active part in Wild Law 2 in November 2006, just as it was getting off the ground.
The Center for Earth Jurisprudence is a joint initiative by both St. Thomas and Barry Universities in Miami, Florida, USA, and began formal teaching in the spring of this year.
Do check out the history page, which also has a link to an indispensible listing of fellow travellers on a global basis. Its at
http://www.earthjuris.org
END
It will be well-known to many, as a sizeable party took an active part in Wild Law 2 in November 2006, just as it was getting off the ground.
‘Its mission is to re-envision law and governance in ways that support and protect the health and well being of the Earth community as a whole.’
The Center for Earth Jurisprudence is a joint initiative by both St. Thomas and Barry Universities in Miami, Florida, USA, and began formal teaching in the spring of this year.
Do check out the history page, which also has a link to an indispensible listing of fellow travellers on a global basis. Its at
http://www.earthjuris.org
END
Friday, 14 September 2007
Website of the Day: Earth is Community
Most will already be aware that the life and work of Thomas Berry, ‘one of the greatest thinkers and visionaries of our time’ will be celebrated at this major conference in London tomorrow.
Thomas Berry inspired Cormac Cullinan to conceptualise Wild Law and was instrumental in its formulation.
Cormac Cullinan will be speaking on “The Transformation of Law”.
Other speakers are Matthew Fox, Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar and Peter Reason.
There will also be some eco-poetry, and some music too – eco or otherwise.
Tickets are available on the door @ £39.
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk
With apologies for short notice – computer crash.
.
Thomas Berry inspired Cormac Cullinan to conceptualise Wild Law and was instrumental in its formulation.
Cormac Cullinan will be speaking on “The Transformation of Law”.
Other speakers are Matthew Fox, Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar and Peter Reason.
There will also be some eco-poetry, and some music too – eco or otherwise.
Tickets are available on the door @ £39.
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk
With apologies for short notice – computer crash.
.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Website of the day: Triodos Bank
TRIODOS BANK
Hopefully this is old hat to everyone. But if not, what could be more inspiring than a bank which lends only to organisations which create real social, environmental and cultural value?
‘Each one is a practical and well-grounded initiative dedicated to social aims which benefit the community, care for the environment, respect human freedom and develop individual talents and capacities. As part of our commitment to transparency, our Project List shows all the activities we finance in the UK and Ireland at the time of printing. We publish details of all our lending because we believe you should be able to judge for yourself the claims we make about our ethical approach.’
And a very inspiring read it is, too.
Triodos offers a full range of services to businesses and charities, and a great range of savings accounts for personal banking.
Some accounts are targetted at a particular sector and support organisations championing it. The Earth Saver account is ‘a secure, flexible savings account for people who want to fight climate change’ which donates the equivalent of 0.25% of the average balance of funds held to Friends of the Earth. The Organic Saver benefits the Soil Association, and there are ones for the The Fairtrade Foundation, Wildlife Trusts, the World Development Movement, Quakers, Buddhists and more.
Minimum deposit £100. Everyone should have an account here, even if only for solidarity and the uplifting magazine!
http://www.triodos.co.uk
.
Hopefully this is old hat to everyone. But if not, what could be more inspiring than a bank which lends only to organisations which create real social, environmental and cultural value?
‘Each one is a practical and well-grounded initiative dedicated to social aims which benefit the community, care for the environment, respect human freedom and develop individual talents and capacities. As part of our commitment to transparency, our Project List shows all the activities we finance in the UK and Ireland at the time of printing. We publish details of all our lending because we believe you should be able to judge for yourself the claims we make about our ethical approach.’
And a very inspiring read it is, too.
Triodos offers a full range of services to businesses and charities, and a great range of savings accounts for personal banking.
Some accounts are targetted at a particular sector and support organisations championing it. The Earth Saver account is ‘a secure, flexible savings account for people who want to fight climate change’ which donates the equivalent of 0.25% of the average balance of funds held to Friends of the Earth. The Organic Saver benefits the Soil Association, and there are ones for the The Fairtrade Foundation, Wildlife Trusts, the World Development Movement, Quakers, Buddhists and more.
Minimum deposit £100. Everyone should have an account here, even if only for solidarity and the uplifting magazine!
http://www.triodos.co.uk
.
Website of the day: The Web of Hope
Pride of place goes to the Web of Hope in honour and celebration of the life and achievements of Anita Roddick. There is a nice tribute to her on the homepage.
Not many web sites that have a patron, but this one does. Its none other than Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Between the two you get a pretty good sense of where its is coming from.
Here’s what he has to say:
‘Everyone who makes contact with the web of hope becomes part of the solution. The result is an ever-widening virtuous circle of positive change - change achieved not by conflict, but by example; not by competition, but by mutual support.
‘The potential is mind-boggling. If you're interested, I would suggest a simple way forward - just stay in touch with the site, and watch it grow. The moment you feel inclined to bring something to it, don't hesitate. Your thought, however small or local, could be the vital link in a chain, completing yet another strand in the web.’
A natural home for Wild Law, clearly…
The link given is to a page entitled Engage, which seems to sum up what Wild Law is all about:
‘Although small actions all count, true systemic change within our political and economic systems will require a shift from individual to group or collective efforts. We all know that actions like going to the bottle bank will not save the world by themselves.’
Surf your way from there.
http://thewebofhope.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269
Not many web sites that have a patron, but this one does. Its none other than Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Between the two you get a pretty good sense of where its is coming from.
Here’s what he has to say:
‘Everyone who makes contact with the web of hope becomes part of the solution. The result is an ever-widening virtuous circle of positive change - change achieved not by conflict, but by example; not by competition, but by mutual support.
‘The potential is mind-boggling. If you're interested, I would suggest a simple way forward - just stay in touch with the site, and watch it grow. The moment you feel inclined to bring something to it, don't hesitate. Your thought, however small or local, could be the vital link in a chain, completing yet another strand in the web.’
A natural home for Wild Law, clearly…
The link given is to a page entitled Engage, which seems to sum up what Wild Law is all about:
‘Although small actions all count, true systemic change within our political and economic systems will require a shift from individual to group or collective efforts. We all know that actions like going to the bottle bank will not save the world by themselves.’
Surf your way from there.
http://thewebofhope.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=269
Websites of the day - Introduction
Introduction
Thought I’d post a just couple of websites a day for inspiration in the lead up to Wild Law 3. Fellow travelers, positive developments, vectors for change – things like that.
For when you need to kick back, veg out, or reach out to reality.
Feel free to add to the diversity.
.
Thought I’d post a just couple of websites a day for inspiration in the lead up to Wild Law 3. Fellow travelers, positive developments, vectors for change – things like that.
For when you need to kick back, veg out, or reach out to reality.
Feel free to add to the diversity.
.
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