Transition Town Tooting

Author: Transition Town Tooting

  • In Transition 2.0

    The Trashcatchers Carnival and Brixton e-currency featured in the premiere screening of Transition 2.0 at the Sivayogam Hall in Tooting last night alongside some very interesting and inspring stories of transition inner and outer from around the world. Fuelled by the excellent Pooja samosas and a classic Lucy fruit cake (that’s a food item not an individual), a crowd of 60+ enjoyed the film and a good natter afterwards around the thought-provoking issues raised.

    I loved the idea of interest on investment capital being paid in locally baked bread and the Italian transitioners who ran for public office and won!  What stories inspired you?  And what similar kinds of project could we initiate in Tooting?                                                              dt

  • World Premiere in Tooting!

    World Premiere in Tooting!

    We are delighted to announce that the World Premiere of the film Transition 2.0 will take place in Tooting in a simultaneous broadcast with Totnes and other Transition initiatives around the world on Thursday 2nd February.

    And look that’s the Upper Tooting Road taking centre stage on the poster, the day the Trashcatchers’ Carnival took over the streets!  Tooting features and so might you, so put the date in your diary!

    Film venue:
    Sivayogam Hall, First Floor, Sri Muthumari Amman Temple

    Address:
    180-186 Upper Tooting Road
    Tooting, London, SW17 7EJ

    Note: please use entrance on corner of Hebdon Road and Upper Tooting Road.

    Time: 7:30 for 8:00 pm screening prompt. Strictly no alcohol.

    Entry will be free, but donations are welcome.

  • TTT First Tuesday on January 10th: ‘Just Do It’

    For the first of our free monthly meetings in 2012, we looked at What are the actions you’d love to take this year to help build your own and Tooting’s resilience, sustainability, wellbeing?

    This took us into the territory of New Year Resolutions – maybe easily made, and maybe hard to act on?

    We shared some of our own hopes for action in 2012 – personal and / or communal.


    We looked at some
    meanings of resolution:
    making a decision…
    reaching consensus…
    and getting things into
    focus, as in ‘high-resolution’
    photographs.

    We all need inspiration to make bold plans, especially in a challenging period of complex change, when we often need to act without being sure what will take place en route. To encourage us, we shared two exciting stories where Tooting people took action when ‘what would happen next’ was not guaranteed.

    Liz described One Little Wheel, a cycle trip between Europe and Thailand last year.

    Jake described his own experience of non-violent direct action, as shown in the film Just Do It.

    Finally, bringing what you would love to do in 2012 back to the experience of the meeting participants, Belinda outlined a set of keys to happiness to explore what supports each of us to act.

    One Little Wheel:

    Woven into the Liz and Catherine’s cycle ride between Europe and Thailand was an extra goal, beyond getting there safely.
    They committed themselves to stop often and talk with people they met about the local experience and impact of HIV / AIDS, which is a challenging if necessary conversation.

    See their website at http://onelittlewheel.com/ for their experience of raising this subject in schools, in the street, with the groups they met all along their journey.

    Just Do It:

    We showed some of the new documentary Just Do It: see http://justdoitfilm.com/ It is a ‘Tale of Modern Day Outlaws’ which describes environmental activism from the insiders’ viewpoint. Jake is in the film, and talked about his own experience.  
    Jake also described the new campaign he is involved with now, which focuses on fuel poverty in the UK: see http://fuelpovertyaction.wordpress.com/ 
    There are events to join, planned from 27th – 30th January.
    Both of these vivid and very personal stories were worthy of much longer sessions of course – and we were really grateful to hear them and be able to chat with Liz and Jake about what they learned. At the same time, we are not all going to cycle through Asia, or superglue ourselves to the RBS head office…. Given that the example of these stories can prompt us to be brave when taking our own local action, on whatever scale, what can help sustain us as we act?
    12 keys to happiness:
    As one way of looking at our own prompts for action, Belinda offered 12 keys to happiness- a set of behaviours such as appreciating, being active, optimism derived from wellbeing research and practice sources including the New Economics Foundation and the NHS. Each of us selected and discussed a key which we felt would support us to continue to act in 2012 on the things we want to do.


    As a practical experiment, we’ll continue working with these keys thoughout 2012 at each TTT meeting as a way to measure the keys’ usefulness as a tool. We also hope to provide baseline information on community wellbeing.
    We’ll explain more about this idea soon.

    Happy New Year! 

  • Just Do It

    Tuesday’s Open event is called Just Do It!
    What are the actions you’d love to take this year to help build your own and Tooting’s resilience, sustainability, wellbeing? What do you really want to do?  There isn’t a ‘right answer’ to this question, so it’s exciting & inspiring to hear others’ ideas and visions, share yours, get some tips, plan to act.
    At the event we will:
    Ø Hear examples of recent ‘just do it’ actions by local colleagues – including a cycle trip last year between Thailand and Europe
    Ø Watch and discuss some of the new documentary film ‘Just Do It’, which explores the Climate Camps, creating Transition Heathrow, and non-violent direct action over the past 2 years.
    Ø Do some blue sky action planning together
    Ø Share your views, and hear others’ ideas too
    Ø Share Transition Tooting’s plans for 2012 We’re looking forward to a great evening, and a year of change…

    Tue, 10th January, 7pm, Mushkil Aasaan, 220 Upper Tooting Road

    Meanwhile, this weekend the Tooting pound team will be on the streets on Saturday and the Community garden team will be planting willows on Sunday.  Feel free to join in with either activity!

  • Two London meetings in December emphasising community resilience

    TTT members took part in two recent London meetings:
    London Transition Groups Gathering

    On Dec 1st, 100 participants from over 25 London Transition groups – and beyond – met at City Hall, by Tower Bridge on the Thames.
    As well as meeting new people and following up links and ideas, we heard quick updates from 4 speakers:  on the London Low Carbon Communities Network, from two of London’s funded Low Carbon Zones, and from the founder of Project Dirt. All these talks mixed humour, honesty about mistakes and celebration of successes with encouragement for the rest of us in our diverse community projects.

    The main part of the evening was led by Rob Hopkins, who founded the Transition Movement seven years ago. His new book ‘The Transition Companion’ has just been launched: developed over 2 years of listening to and collecting stories about many Transition groups. (Yes, there is a lot in the book about Transition Tooting…have a look!).
     
    Rob facilitated the ‘audience’ to participate by exploring a new

    Transition tool – a set of cards illustrating the 40-plus ‘Ingredients of Transition’ which groups are using to support their projects and communities – and which he describes in the new book.

    Photo: Rob looks on as TTT’s ingedients are mapped by many hands using the picture cards
    Different groups in the gathering used sets of these cards to look at their own activities, history and plans – laying them out on the floor as timelines, or as maps.

    It was fun, and easier to do than to explain. We had great ‘show and tell’ discussions as we went round the room, seeing what sense different groups have made of the ingredients.

     
    Photo: Jeni describes TTT’s journey 

    If you would like to know more about these ‘Ingredients of Transition’, have a look on line at http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ingredients

  • City University Food Symposium


    On December 13th, City University hosted its second Food Symposium, bringing together over 150 people from community and consumer groups, farmers and food producers, wholesalers and retail chains, unions, universities, the NHS, local authorities, and the government.
    The overall topic was the direction, roles and challenges facing UK food policy – influenced of course by change across the globe.
    The day was convened by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, who has supported several Transition Tooting events and lives locally.

    After a morning of talks from a wide range of experts, the group divided into three (‘Civil Society’; the ‘Food Supply Chain’; the ‘State’) and addressed these questions: “what are the current challenges facing the UK food system from your perspective?”, and “what can be done about those challenges, and who will do it?”



    Some of the practical points that came up which are very relevant to communities such as Tooting included:

    Ø  How can consumers have more direct involvement with food production?
    Ø  How can we find delicious and nutritious food in a time of austerity, when processed food that’s high in sugars and fats is the cheapest to buy, and available everywhere?
    Ø  How can we integrate the health benefits of good diet with other factors that promote wellbeing – exercise, keeping active, connecting with other people?
    Ø  How can we reduce waste in food (<50% of disposable income is spent on food, and <30% of food is wasted).
    Ø  How to use good food well, and also ‘cut carbon’ – in the home, and in procurement by large purchasers such as hospitals?
    Ø  How can we establish ‘Fair Trade’ locally in the UK?

    Practical advice & feedback from these sessions will be shared soon, and we will post a link on the TTT blog.

  • Footfall on our High Streets (plus some webbed feet too…..)

    It’s a fact: a local economy needs to take account of Peak Oil and Climate Change. We cannot ‘grow’ our economy without recognising we live on a finite planet. Our fiscal ‘crisis’ is tagged to these two reality-checked ‘barriers to growth.’  How exciting to see the new government Mary Portas report on bringing life back onto our High Streets talk of community well-being and sustainability  –  though she explains it in terms of building social and cultural capital to build economic capital – bringing human footfall back onto our High Streets to create vibrant centres.
    To join the dots between what Transition’s been exploring for 4 years and what Portas herself is saying,  do look at this recent Transition Culture blog by  Rob Hopkins. ‘Another world is not only possible..she’s opening a bakery around the corner’.

    ‘The national chains and large stores can increase our oil dependency rather than reduce it, and this is not a time when that is a smart thing to do.” A resilient, thriving, sustainable living local economy instead takes account of ‘plugging the leaks’ in our local Tooting economy and recognises how much MORE small and medium businesses contribute to local resilience than large brand companies who relocate at the drop of a hat.  Smaller businesses are the ones that actually build a community’s resilience.  We do hope Wandsworth Council are taking note..

    Portas’ idea of local people as ‘co-creators’ of town life rather than simply consumers came alive during the TTT/BATCA re-envisioned High Street excercise back in March 2010 Let’s Make Tooting Better . A vision was conjured with more people-friendly streets,  facilities for arts and learning and safe and easy places to meet,  a redeveloped Tooting Market and much more..As we all move brilliantly down the road together in that direction, let’s not forget to take account of the real barriers to growth – peak oil and climate change.  
    And doing just that, see Tooting’s own contribution to Transition in 10 Objects – spot 2 Trashcatching Carnival Ducks, Bertie and Gertie adding to the footfall on July 4th 2010 along with 5000 others…now that’s what we call footfall!

    Watch this space for work on Tooting’s community currency and more footfall action in 2012. A good season to all.
    TTT


  • Festive Making & Social II

    An interesting evening learning new craft ideas and chatting was had by all on Tuesday evening. Wreath making from Community Garden unwanted ivy (great idea Maddie) and wrapping paper printed from polystyrene sheets (thanks Gillian) were particular hits alongside Mal’s poms-poms! Is Hilary still knitting that pink thing? What will it be?

  • Festive Making & Social

    Tuesday sees the return of the TTT Festive Making & Social event which last year saw many of you unleash your creative skills making greeting cards, wallets from juice cartons, paper and even mincemeat!

    This year, we have a plethora of talented creative types taking part with decorative pom-poms, origami and recycling of unwanted gifts already on the agenda.

    Why not come along on the 6th December and get involved? Perhaps you would like to teach others a new skill or simply join in and learn something new yourself? Or both!

    Things You Might Bring:

    • An unwanted gift to swap
    • Colourful wool for pom-poms
    • Any old wrapping paper, junk mail or magazines to recycle into something artistic

    It’s suitable for all the family. There will be a (non-alcoholic) fruit punch and something to eat, but do bring any food you can to share. The event runs from 6pm till 9pm at Mushkil Aasaan 222 Upper Tooting Rd

  • Vision & Pathways Reflections

    A few reflections sent by participants after the Vision & Pathways day which took us from Where has TTT come from? via Where are we now? Where are we going? and How are we going to get there? to How will we know when we get there?

    “I stepped through a leaf circle into a very different space … a really great thought provoking day”

    “I loved being in the cemetery – it was a gorgeous spot to be on such a beautiful autumn day”

    “Wow … thanks all for lovely day and your company”

    “A comfortable and enjoyable day spent with friends planning and thinking about life. If I had stayed at home I would have been busy sanding, painting and cleaning, this was much better!”

     “My highspots of the day were where everyone talked about when they first encountered TTT and the what their highlight had been – it was lovely to hear how what felt sometimes like small events or moments had rippled out and caught people’s imaginations”.