Transition TV

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Tim Cope and Chris Hatherly spent 14 months cycling recumbent bicycles from Moscow to Beijing across Siberia... frostbitten toes, vodka, and hospitality were just some of the things they encountered along the way living their dream.

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I saw this film at a Transition Nelson event a month or so ago, and was quite touched to know that I have been one of so many people, who have contributed to the growing Transition movement here in New Zealand. A big thank you to the makers, for having created this film and now for having the courage to make it available in its entirety on youtube.

Watch all six videos in sequence:

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Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Extraordinary! Where is this going? !

Zopa peer to peer banking as it has grown from an attempt to vision the future.

"We discovered a group of [people] we termed Free formers, a group of people best described by their own personal self-reliance. These people have given up on the institutions of society to look after them, and they want to be more individual, they want to be more authentic, they want to live a more fuller life for themselves."

Here is another part of the Us Now film, I posted a few weeks ago.

I can imagine versions of this sprouting up all over the world, and becoming an integral part of building vibrant resilient communities.

The videos posted in the last few days have focused on wisdom at a deep level. Deepak Chopra's observation of the move from "me" to " we", and Adyashanti's suggestion that "waking up" may have become a biological necessity. This video brings this wisdom home to a practical level, with some examples of where wisdom demonstrated and where it is sometimes forgotten.

Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

"Let's Do It!" - a grassroot initiative to clean up the country from illegal waste in just one day. There was over 10 000 tons of illegal waste lying around all over Estonia and it was an outrageous plan -- to clean it all up on one day! More than 600 volunteers were working to make it all happen with only 3 full-time employees. On May 3, 2008 with help of 50 000 volunteers more than 10 000 tons of garbage gathered and Estonia was cleaned up from illegal waste.

A friend sent me this and I unsuspectingly clicked play. I grinned, chuckled, laughed, cried and wept to see the power of imagination and collective action. 50,000 people coming together for one day to achieve something great. Sure beats sitting in front of the TV!

Some friends who coordinate Grey Lynn 2030, a Transition Towns initiative in Auckland. This kind of action epitomises the guiding principle they use for all their meetings:

"We're running out of options other than to wake up. It's starting to become, possibly a biological necessity of survival. And when it gets to that point, it really starts to get people's attention."

Thank you Eleanor, for sending me the link to this - in the perfect time. One I will come and revisit again.

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If we stopped burning carbon now, you and I, as Rapley points out, would starve to death in a week. Burnt carbon is our money, our lifestyle, our sense of who we are.  
via timesonline.co.uk

I felt excitement that as a global human species, we could be evolving from a "survival of the fittest" world view, and a disposition of "me", to an appreciation of the interconnectedness of all of life, and the disposition of "we".

I also felt, again, that everything is not well in the world, and was struck by the reality that the practice of hunting and killing Bears for sport still continues. I felt daunted at the implications, when I saw again, that the way we view nature is causing a dangerous loss of valuable diversity, of which we are a part and on which we depend.

I hope we are able to pass onto the coming generations, a planet that is deeply and actively in the process of regenerating the systems needed to allow the flourishing of human life. Anything less than that, and I will have been part of the failure, by thinking small, and not honouring my power to be the change.

I feel urgent, because the signs are not good. Things are deteriorating, and at rather an alarming rate. And I feel afraid, that my efforts will not be enough. Then I have to resort to philosophy and resignation, and I'm not quite ready for that. So I do what I can and suspect I can do more, much more.

And at the same time I resonate with the analogy of the forest and the idea that a number of the big trees are falling, and as they crash to the ground shaking us at our roots, there is the flourishing of new life that was waiting for the opening in the forest's canopy. Now bathed in sunlight for the first time, the seeds of new ideas and ways of being, are sprouting in numbers to fill the gap left by the old structures that are in the final stages of decay, and no longer needed.

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Something remarkable is happening in the fields and orchards of the Pacific Northwest. Family farmers are making a comeback - growing much healthier food and lots more food per acre while using less water and energy than factory farms. www.goodfoodthemovie.org

Architect Carolyn Steel looks at food and how our cities were originally designed around it, and how we have disconnected from food as the core organising principle.

Every day, in a city the size of London, 30 million meals are served. But where does all the food come from? Carolyn Steel discusses the daily miracle of feeding a city, and shows how ancient food routes shaped the modern world.

Stunning photos and an explanation of the rise of cities and of the Roman Empire which has clear links to the patterns of expansion of today's empires. Big changes needed - or coming.

Her descriptions of how our relationship to food has changed, reminded me of Geoff Lawton's admonition that we can solve all your pollution problems, and all your supply line needs, in a garden. It left me feeling more urgent to help build resilience into our local food system, and to getting back to my garden again. We have been living in another house, than the one where I established a garden a couple of years ago, and I'm looking forward to returning next weekend.