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Category Archives: community

Whole Earth Discipline

Book Review: Whole Earth Discipline An Ecopragmatist Manifesto by Stewart Brand Atlantic Books 2009 316pp “Civilization is at risk, but civilization is the problem”. Stewart Brand is one of the iconic founders of the environmental movement, an original old hippy whose influence on the boomer generation should not be understated. With his latest book Whole [...]

Davie Philip on Transition and The Good Life 2.0

Via Transition Culture My long-time Permaculture and peak oil colleague Davie Philip gave an inspirational talk for Feasta in Dublin last summer. He includes a nice account of the origins of the Transition movement in Kinsale with the Energy Descent Plan by Rob and his Permaculture students, and his own personal journey with Peak Oil [...]

Cuban Ambassador visits Cloughjordan

On Saturday 29th August the village of Cloughjordan was visited by the Cuban Amabassador, Noel Carillo Thia was the first visit of an ambassador to the village, and came about through a Cuban connection between a family member of one of the founders of the Cloughjordan Eco-village. The Ambassador had been intrigued by the eco-village [...]

The Transition Timeline

Book Review: The Transition Timeline for  a local, resilient future Shaun Chamberlin Forward by Rob Hopkins 190 pp pbk Chelsea Green 2009 The follow-up to Rob Hopkins’ seminal The Transition Handbook uses the method of “backcasting” from an envisioned  future from which we create a timeline of how the transition to a more local, resilient [...]

Permaculture at The Village

Last weekend saw 17 participants attend a 2-day Introduction to permaculture course I gave at The Village in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. Workshop participants practice forest garden design… …now they are planting and mulching for real… It was a great weekend, despite the truly wintry weather on the Saturday, and a great opportunity to see how [...]

Powerdown Toolkit #10: Communicating Transition

Where do we go from here? Communicating Transition by Graham Strouts and Davie Philip This is the introduction to the 10th and final episode  of the Powerdown Toolkit 10-week community learning course created by the Cultivate Center in Dublin. It has an accompanying TV show with a 30-minute episode accompanying each week of the course, [...]

Powerdown Toolkit #7: Shelter

Shelter- Future Proofing Our Homes and Buildings This is the introduction to  week seven of the Powerdown Toolkit 10-week community learning course created by the Cultivate Center in Dublin. It has an accompanying TV show with a 30-minute episode accompanying each week of the course, soon to be aired on Dublin Community TV. Energy and [...]

Powerdown Toolkit #4: Rethinking Energy

This is the introduction to  week four of the Powerdown Toolkit 10-week community learning course created by the Cultivate Centre in Dublin. It has an accompanying TV show with a 30-minute episode accompanying each week of the course, soon to be aired on Dublin Community TV. Rethinking Energy: Conservation, Curtailment, Efficiency and Appropriate Technology by [...]

Powerdown Toolkit #3: It’s All Connected

This is the introduction to the third week of the Powerdown Toolkit 10-week community learning course created by the Cultivate Centre in Dublin. It has an accompanying TV show with a 30-minute episode accompanying each week of the course, soon to be aired on Dublin Community TV. It’s All Connected: Whole Systems Thinking and Permaculture [...]

Powerdown Toolkit # 2: The Power of Community- Social Capital, Resilience and the Local Community

This is the introduction to the second week of the Powerdown Toolkit 10-week community learning course created by the Cultivate Centre in Dublin. It has an accompanying TV show with a 30-minute episode accompanying each week of the course, soon to be aired on Dublin Community TV. Subject: “Community powerdown”. “Community” is often dismissed as [...]