Transition Town Tooting

Category: Other stuff

A place to gather things that have no category!

  • What Are Transition Towns? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and why families get involved

    Kate Birch’s article for Families South West magazine looks at Transition Towns including TTT and TTBrixton. Click the image below to read in full.

  • Rob Hopkins at Mirch Masala

    Rob Hopkins, the creator of the Transition Town concept, made a flying visit for a late afternoon snackette at Mirch Masala last night, the table cunningly adjacent to our Foodival poster, before being ferried to the Brixton Pound launch in Lucy’s van!

    Also, a whole hour was devoted to Transition Towns and the B£ on LBC yesterday courtesy of Jeni Barnett who thinks Rob is a visionary hero! She’s right of course.

    Now what shall we call the Tooting currency when it arrives and who shall we put on it? Just thumbing the Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People for a decent mugshot of Tōta, the c.6th century Anglo-saxon, and his people the Tōtinges, from whom the name Tooting apparently descends. dt

  • The Psychology of Climate Change

    In a surprise first for this “correspondent”, a whole meal was created from the bounteous produce of our postage stamp garden this week (see below). It IS possible! OK we didn’t “grow” the fish but … an ocean is made of many raindrops. And doesn’t that carrot look like a well known Tooting resident? Answers on a postcard please.

    Out in the ether, todays’ Ecologist has an article entitled “The psychology of climate change: why we do nothing” which is an interesting read. The article cites Renee Lertzman a PhD Research student in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University who, looking at the unconscious motivations behind many people’s responses to climate change, reckoned that:
    “more participant-led models such as the Transition Town movement where people were encouraged to bring there own ideas rather than being lectured at, were more likely to succeed”.
    Let’s hope so! The positive outlook of the Transition Movement, its open framework and inclusiveness do seem to engage the “man or woman in the street” on climate change and peak oil issues better than beating us about the head with scenarios of impending doom!

    Meanwhile back in South London’s vibrant melting pot, TTT are busy signing up the town’s restaurants to cook local produce for the Foodival next month and looking for more growers to pledge food to be cooked and served to the public on the day. Can you help? Surely you can do better than my lookalike carrot? Contact Giles Read HERE to join in the project.

    Finally, if you just can’t get enough of TTT in your life, you could join our Facebook group or follow TTT on Twitter. Whatever next?! DT

  • What Might Trashcatching Look Like?

    A few excerpts from June’s Trashcatching Procession at the BATCA Funday

  • The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan Announced!

    Here is Rob Hopkins‘ excellent as ever analysis of The Government’s new UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, announced in the House of Commons by Ed Miliband the day before yesterday. Exciting that there is a (6 out of 10) Plan of sorts breaking down the practicalities of carbon emission reduction. But how half baked that, as Rob says, no mention of Peak Oil – rather like ‘the drunken ex-partner who turns up at the wedding, who everyone tries to ignore, but their being ignored doesn’t mean that they aren’t there’. With the role of community initiatives like Transition Towns being given increasing recognition, the balls are all back in our courts to come up with versions of what Jeremy Leggett has called the ‘scaleable microcosms of hope’. Positive, local examples of projects happening on the ground that make us all see, feel, believe deep workable change could come our way.

    Down Tooting way, Foodival vegetables are positively humming their earthy tunes; Trashcatching for Carnival 2010 is on the road and we say an affectionate cheerio to Sara who has worked tirelessly over the last year and takes up a scholarship to study ecology in Sweden and India over the next year. Cheerio Sara, be back soon, and deepest thanks. LN

  • A Few Interesting Things

    Here’s a free guide to Urban Fruit Harvesting which looks good.

    Here are some showings of climate films at the London Bridge Festival next week.

    And here is a an Earthwatch debate in November called “From Tsunami to Drought” where they are looking for an extra speaker aged 18-30.

    Meanwhile, Giles still needs your pictures of all things growing for the Foodival site and, demanding as he is, he now also wants pledges of what you will bring at harvest time … so please get pledging here !

    And Giles look >>>> these are going crazy! DT

  • Tooting Goes To Town!

    A Tooting team travelled up to town last night to hear the final results for the TippingPoint Commission on the roof terraces of the National Theatre on The South Bank. Out of 178 applications nationally the Trashcatchers’ Carnival in Tooting was one of 4 awards presented by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, pictured here with (standing on the right of the picture, Lucy Neal, Hilary Jennings, (co-Chairs TTT), Indrajit Patel (Chair of the Tooting Partnership Board/Tooting Business Network), Audrey Helps (Tooting Town Centre Manager), Deb Mullins (Emergency Exit Arts), Faye Mayer (Tooting Community Programme Co-ordinator for Tooting Schools), Fabio Santos (Project Phakama), Ines Tercio (Project Phakama) and to Ines’ immediate Regis Gnaly (Project Phakama). Taking this picture was Mike Grenville who came up from Forest Row to represent the Transition Network, thankyou Mike.

    The award is thrilling. It gives £20,000 to Project Phakama and Emergency Exit Arts to lead a year long project in Tooting to use art, carnival, celebration and the collective ingenuity of all the community to create a large scale promenade on the 2010 summer solstice – from Trash! Using recycling as a metaphor, (and as piloted at June 13th Funday) we can build a vision of a low-energy future for Tooting and have a lot of fun in the process. We will post here soon national news about these prestigious awards, created by TippingPoint to encourage artists to introduce audiences to the imaginative thinking necessary to contemplate and inhabit a world dominated by climate change.
    Yes, that’s us! All would-be sewers, beaders, makers, designers, dancers, musicians, recyclers, cyclers, performers, costumiers, hairdressers, puppeteers and carnivalistas please step forward!
    LN

  • Trashcatching Pics

    Here are a few more photos of the Trashcatching and making at last weekend’s BATCA funday. Thanks to local photographer Neila (neila@hotmail.co.uk) for these.


  • BATCA Midsummer Funday

    This afternoon at the BATCA Midummer Funday, TTT helped Project Phakama, Emergency Exit Arts and a small army of Tooting kids turn TRASH into great CARNIVAL COSTUMES for a’Trashcatchers’ Carnival procession!

    There are grand plans for 2010 but in the meantime here is a selection of photos from today. We should be able to post some film up too shortly.

    Imagine if you saved every bit of rubbish for a year what you could make at the end of it?!!! Hmm now there’s an idea!

  • Tooting helps pull off National TT Conference!


    Need to pause to take stock of the last few weeks before getting ready for exciting summer of events coming up….. The National Transition Conference held at Battersea Arts Centre 2 weeks ago was a spectacular success.

    Transition initiatives from all over the UK and those from further afield. Our own Sadiq Khan was heard to declare in this interview that ‘Transition has legs’ – that’s good! It was Sadiq with help from local Councillors and Transition team Tooting that were responsible for getting the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Milliband, to make an appearance at the Conference on Friday May 22nd. Milliband duly joined the 350 transitioners present to discuss over 100 issues – from the current state of oil depletion to building resilient local economies to how to run food growing workshops.Listen to his interview with Rob Hopkins and Peter Lipman here.
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    Sounds like he’s pretty interested in the Transition experiment. Team Tooting then pulled out all the stops for the 2 Hour Energy Descent Action plan which with help from a total team of 40 dramatised the ’12 steps’ of transition around the Grand Hall.
    Film coming shortly. There was SO much to learn from others present at the conference about how other communities are managing this extraordinary process of changemaking at grass roots level. It was affirming to read Madeleine Bunting’s views the next day on how the Transition movement is a positive force to be reckoned with looking peak oil and climate change squarely in the eye…
    Tooting’s next steps for a summer of events over the next few weeks are ready to go: the piloting the Trashcatchers’ Carnival at the Midsummer Funday in Tooting on June 13th 12-4.30pm; screenings of Age of Stupid (7pm on June 18th, The Bedford on Balham Hill; June 29th at Springfield Hospital and July 3rd Tooting Graveney School). And hurray we finally have a leaflet to hand around. The Tooting Town Centre manager has also asked us to take care of one of the Town’s noticeboards so people can pick up on what’s happening as they stroll around….Lots going on and elderflowers to be picked for cordial making next weekend as well..