Building Community

The Trillium Patch: wine, local food, and local resilience, part 3

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Gene Logsdon writes that his inspiration for home wine making is not the large industrial-scale wineries of California or the commercial cellars of Europe, both of which produce high-quality wines, but the back yards of German and Italian immigrants in American cities from the late 1800s through much of the 20th century. They would make wine out of “everything from rhubarb to dandelions, but especially Concord and Delaware grapes” (Logsdon 78). I believe Logsdon has observed something valuable and useful that will allow the production of quality wines to continue in eastern North America after cheap energy is no longer available. I want to explore this idea here in Part 3.

An inside view on the 2010 Transition Network conference, by Sophy Banks

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Many of those who attended the recent Transition Network conference remarked on how well facilitated the event was, and on the group process run on the Sunday. Although the event was designed to feel as self-organised as possible, there was a great deal of intentional design behind the event, much of which was the work of Sophy Banks (see left). In the following piece, Sophy explains the thinking behind how the event was facilitated, and offers tips for those wanting to organise similar events.

A pathless land

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As peak oil moves from the fringes toward the mainstream, the dream of shaping a mass movement around it has caught the imaginations of a growing number of peak oil activists. Is creating a mass movement toward sustainability the best hope we have, or a blind alley that could negate any hope of managing the challenges ahead of us?

The lost civilization: Finding a reality-based frame of reference in the age of delusion

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We are a lost people. Here in the frantic, waning days of industrial civilization, we have almost completely lost our bearings. We no longer know who we are, what we are, when we are, where we are, or why we are. And as we prepare to embark on a harrowing descent from our civilization’s peak, it would behoove us to find an honest, reality-based frame of reference. So let’s get out our navigation equipment — it’s time we ‘found’ ourselves!

Eat less meat, eat better meat

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The list of Meatless Monday supporters continues to grow across the globe, and surprisingly to some, many of the latest enthusiasts make their living either cooking meat, such as chef Mario Batali or producing it, like rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman. What makes Meatless Monday so successful is its simple and inclusive message which promotes moderation with the goal of improving public health and the health of the planet.

Introducing the “Post Carbon Reader”

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In 2009, Post Carbon Institute recruited 29 of the world’s leading sustainability thinkers to answer one fundamental question: How do we manage the transition to a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable world? Like us, our Fellows see five key truths:

  • We have hit the “limits to growth.”
  • No issue can be addressed in isolation.
  • We must focus on responses, not just solutions.
  • We must prepare for uncertainty.
  • We can do something.

Less is more

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Within the body of Transition movement literature, I don’t often see references to the Simple Living or Voluntary Simplicity movement.  Perhaps the Voluntary Simplicity movement is less active in the places that Transition founders Rob and Naresh have lived. Perhaps it is because at its origins, Voluntary Simplicity focused more on individual choices and individual changes than on community-centric and societal-transformation ones. I can only speculate.

The death of sprawl: designing urban resilience for the 21st century resource and climate crises

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In April 2009–just when people thought things couldn’t get worse in San Bernardino County, California—bulldozers demolished four perfectly good new houses and a dozen others still under construction in Victorville, 100 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.