SING ALONG WITH THE WORM GANG!

I hope to bring a smile to your face although this is a very serious subject. Actually it is James Machin who will wiggle your facial muscles and not me.

I first met James many moons ago at GBC, Gibraltar’s broadcaster, when he was producing a series of science films for schools.

Some years later and I met James again when he arranged to send me some information on “peak oil” which he was promoting on the Costa del Sol and in Gibraltar. At that time “peak oil” was a potty theory promoted by batty environmentalists of which James was proud to be one.

Times have indeed moved on and “peak oil” is one of the current buzz phrase used by financial analysts and politicians. “Peak oil” has gone from being an ecologists’ rant to the mainstream of political and economic thought and has been joined by “Peak food” and no doubt “Peak water” is lurking in the wings.

James has also been behind the movement to form Transition Towns in Spain creating with members of Ecologistas en Acción “Estepona – Ciudad de Transición’.

Now James has a new and rather exciting project the YouTube Channel Win, Win TV. He told me: “I launched a YouTube channel recently that is promoting “Transition” and is featuring Coín in Málaga province. It is also offering participatory food growing projects - primarily to city dwellers. The first project - Working with a Worm Gang is up.”

Indeed it is and if you are up for it – click here! I promise you will smile!

If you are interested in learning more about the important Transition Towns project which will become a main steam political theme in the future you can visit the UK website – click here

TRANSITION TOWNS – A SERIOUS SUBJECT

If you have read my blogs over a long period you will know that I am very supportive of the Transition Towns movement.

I have to thank my good friend James Machin for keeping me fully abreast of many environmental issues. We marched together against the Cepsa refinery at Campamento in San Roque. He kept me in touch with the work of the Bucket Brigades in Gibraltar and the bay zone. He was briefing me on Peak Oil in the days when it meant little to a few – now Google ‘Peak Oil’ and you’ll see its one of the hot topics of our age debated from Wall Street to Wallsend.

The same is true of the Transition Town movement. It started in Ireland in a town that is very close to my heart and soul - Kinsale. There Rob Hopkins had worked with the students of Kinsale Further Education College in writing an "Energy Descent Action Plan" and one of them, Louise Rooney, set about developing the Transition Towns concept and presented it to Kinsale Town Council. This resulted in the historic decision by councillors to adopt the plan and work towards energy independence. There are now at least 100 such communities in the UK, Rob started the first in Britain in Totnes and James was instrumental in forming the first group in Spain – Ciudad de Transición Estepona.

Indeed the real challenge for our age is not that we have reached Peak Oil but also possibly Peak Food. Therefore in the coming decades our communities will have to cope with the decline in our conventional oil powered lifestyle and our ability to produce sufficient food to feed our people.

This is a serious issue that involves all the communities spread throughout the world. Communities within the Transition Town movement are encouraged to seek out methods for reducing energy usage as well as increasing their own self reliance. In short this is a matter that should concentrate all our minds – and depending on our ages the implications will impact on us, our children and our children’s children.

So why my concern? I have just visited a website – no names, no pack drill – that promotes the Transition Movement but at a coming festival offers workshops on giving hugs, music improvisation, body consciousness and magic – so you can visualize the transition.

Fine. I have no problems giving hugs but I find it easier to visualize a world that hasn’t made the transition than one that has. I also have nothing against festivals and am as happy to dance around a May Pole as the next man!

However my real point is this I believe the transition movement is a serious movement for everyday people and mustn’t be hijacked by those whose dreams are more important than reality.

If our communities are to make the transition, if the concept is to capture people’s imagination and more important inspire them to action then it has to be as a broad-based popular movement – one we can all identify with, one that deals with the real issues and not the abstract.

THE TOTNES POUND COMES TO ESTEPONA

Totnes was the first transition town in the UK having started three years ago. Hence it was appropriate that Guy Chapman from that group should travel to Estepona to give a talk on Monday night to the Ciudad de Transición Estepona (CTE) – the first such group in Spain.

Regular readers of my blog will know the transition town movement was started in Ireland but now over 100 Transition Communities in UK have followed Totnes lead with this group probably being the most advanced. Most of the initiatives that are under way are relevant to the economy of Estepona as like Totnes it is a coastal tourist resort.

CTE organiser James Machin told me: “High on the priority list is energy usage, and much effort is being expended on this issue. Guy explained how Totnes undertakes Oil Vulnerability Auditing, an innovative approach that helps small local businesses to assess and quantify their risk from rising/fluctuating oil prices, then understand potential solutions and take timely action. There’s also a solar water heating initiative underway that involves the bulk purchase of systems on behalf of participants, resulting in a significant reduction in cost.”

With the currency markets in turmoil it was perhaps appropriate that Guy took from his pocket a ‘Totnes pound’. The ‘Totnes Pound’ is the ‘local’ currency that was launched in March 2007. ‘Economic Localisation’ is considered to be a key aspect of the transition process, and local currency systems provide the opportunity to strengthen the local economy whilst preventing money from leaking out. They have also received an unforeseen bonus, in that the ‘Totnes Pound’ has become a tourist attraction, with visitors buying the pounds and taking them home as souvenirs. Businesses can also assess their supply chains to see how they can buy locally and thus support the resilience of the local economy.

Another part of the Totnes experience that is of keen interest to Estepona is the Food Group. James explained: “it is working to strengthen the resilience of Totnes and the surrounding district in the area of food. They work closely with the farming and business community to develop a re-localised food infrastructure as well as encouraging individuals and communities to grow their own food. One scheme that is proving to be highly successful is the ‘Garden Share Project’. The Project matches keen, enthusiastic and committed gardeners and local garden owners who want to see their gardens being used more productively.”

Guy Chapman added: “A core theme is for a community to come together around the challenges of Climate Change and Peak Oil (world oil production capacity declining). The full implications of these two factors are huge and mean a very different future ahead. But we can approach this as an opportunity to create a vision of what kind of world we want in say 2030, for ourselves and our children. Then what steps can we take towards that, what projects can we start now; in education, agriculture, with local government, businesses etc. The knowledge of our elders who lived with low energy needs and low carbon output has much to teach us, especially in local growing methods.”

ESTEPONA: TRANSITION TOWN

I have written recently about Peak Oil and Peak Food. These are both linked to Transition Towns. This movement started in Ireland 4 years ago and now numbers some 600 communities throughout Europe. On November 4, Spain’s first Transition Town will be launched in Estepona.

Pioneering local environmentalist James Machin is very much the inspiration behind the launch of this project. He and others have been warning for some time that we are living at a crucial stage in human history.

James explained: “Humanity is at the point of a quantum structural change. This change will commence when the worldwide demand for oil exceeds supply. This moment is immanent, due to the phenomenon known as ‘Peak Oil’. Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.”

“The decline in oil availability will lead inevitably to a lower-energy, more localized future, in which we move from being consumers to being producer/consumers, where food, energy and other essentials are locally produced, local economies are strengthened, and we start to live within our means.”

During the transition period there will be problems, and so to prepare for these times, the ‘Transition Towns’ are coming into being. Hence James and other environmentalists have organized the ‘Transition Towns’ initiative in Estepona. The inaugural meeting will be held at the Centro Cultural Padre Manuel on November 4 at 20.00. (For further information contact James on 952 796124 or email machin@ya.com)

The primary objective of Transition Communities is to develop an ‘Energy Descent Strategy’ for the community. To achieve that three questions will be asked:

1. How will we experience oil shortfall in our community?
2. What does our community have that will work for us in a future with less oil?
3. What can we do as a community to prepare and respond?

James said: “I’m promoting the event using my donkey cart, which I've modified temporarily to be pulled by the bike. I'm leaving it in various key places around Estepona with the press release and a poster displayed. I ended up at Tolones in Ciudad Real the other evening when I chatted to the kids. They love the idea of Transition Town coming to Estepona.”