Rob Hopkins
Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and of the Transition Network. This grew out of many years experience in education, teaching permaculture and natural building, and setting up the first 2 year full-time permaculture course in the world, at Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland, as well as co-ordinating the first eco-village development in Ireland to be granted planning permission.
Rob is author of The Transition Handbook: from oil dependence to local resilience, which has been published in a number of languages, and which was voted the 5th most popular book taken on holiday by MPs during the summer of 2008, and more recently of The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times, published in October 2011. He publishes the blog www.transitionculture.org, recently voted ‘the 4th best green blog in the UK’(!).
Environment |
May 16, 2013
Why I’m marking passing 400 ppm by getting back on an aeroplane
I refuse to accept that the lurch to 500ppm, 600ppm, 800ppm is an inevitability. I refuse to accept, as Nigel Lawson tried to argue in his debate with the remarkably patient Kevin Anderson on Jeremy Vine’s radio show recently, that doing anything about climate change would impact on economic growth so we shouldn’t bother. I refuse to agree with Peter Lilley that the only way to …
Economy |
May 12, 2013
WEBINAR: ‘Local Economic Blueprints: pioneering or pointless?’
Join Rob Hopkins, Molly Scott Cato, Tony Greenham, Fiona Ward and Nigel Jump for a live discussion.
Economy |
May 10, 2013
An interview with Prof. Calvin Jones: “Economics is a child of the oil age”
The other day I read an excellent piece by Calvin Jones, Professor of Economics at Cardiff Business School (see right) called Technology Cannot Tackle Climate Change. Having argued that, due to a range of issues, economic growth is no longer possible, he writes: “Faced with these issues it is easy to withdraw into either a belief in an economic growth fairy, or into passive, nihilistic …
Society |
May 7, 2013
Announcing the Power of Just Doing Stuff!
There are now just over six weeks until the publication of The Power of Just Doing Stuff: how local action can change the world. I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell you a bit more about it and why you might want to start building into a fever pitch of excitement. It will be published second week of June, will have 160 pages, will sell for £7.95, will be a thing of great …
Environment |
Apr 26, 2013
“I’m sorry … what?”: a visit to the Met Office Hadley Centre
The other day a friend and I took our young sons on a tour of the Met Office’s centre near Exeter. The Met Office is home to the Hadley Centre, one of the foremost centres where climate modelling and research into climate change takes place. It was to turn out to be an event I left both angry and puzzled, and with some reflections I’d like to share here. The tour itself is of …
Society |
Apr 17, 2013
Six resilience “aha!” moments
Usually when I go to events I tend to be the ‘resilience guy’, or one of a handful of people who work with and think about resilience who tend to gather at the back of other events and bemoan the fact that no-one has talked about resilience yet. So I was fascinated when I saw that the British Red Cross was hosting a one-day conference on resilience, the first that I’ve been …
Economy |
Mar 28, 2013
Local Economic Blueprint highlights potential of community resilience
Today sees the publication of what may well turn out to be one of the most important documents yet produced by a Transition initiative. Over the next few weeks we will be returning to it, to hear a range of perspectives on it, and hope it will generate debate and discussion. The document is the ‘Totnes & District Local Economic Blueprint‘, and you can download it for free here. …
Food & Water |
Mar 19, 2013
A visit to Edible Landscapes London
I recently went to visit Edible Landscapes London, a project started a couple of years ago by Transition Finsbury Park. The project describes itself as: “a volunteer-led project which aims to help Londoners grow more of their own food. We propagate edible plants which are then used on local growing projects. We teach people how to recognise plants, which parts are edible, how to …
Economy |
Mar 13, 2013
The Ghosts of Shoppers Past: why assumptions matter
Regeneration’ is one of those terms that is like motherhood and apple pie. Everyone wants regeneration, right? You’d be mad not to, surely. Yet all too often regeneration is about sweeping away the economy of local independent businesses and replacing it with big chains and brands. I’m sure if I found old photos of the centre of Manchester before it was …
Food & Water |
Feb 20, 2013
Garden as catalyst: the story of Crystal Palace Transition Town’s prize-winning garden
Here’s a great story about the power of just doing stuff, from Crystal Palace in London. I heard recently that Crystal Palace Transition Town (CPTT) had won the People’s Food Garden Award in the Capital Growth Grow For Gold awards late last year, and I was intrigued to know more about their Westow Park Community Garden and how it came about.MORE ARTICLES +
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