In Transition – the Movie
Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Consumerism, DVDs/Books, Eco-Villages, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor December 15, 2009
In Transition 1.0: from oil dependence to local resilience, available now!
The title says it all. Sit back and enjoy the latest work from the Transition Towns movement. You can watch in parts via YouTube below, or if you prefer, catch the whole thing in one hit on Vimeo.
‘In Transition’ is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun. – TransitionCulture.org
Part I
An Urban Gardener Feeds a Community
Bird Life, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Food Shortages, Markets & Outlets, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Sarah Gorman December 10, 2009
Bronwyn’s urban backyard is teeming with diversity. It is providing local families with nutritious food through her Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), but she doesn’t think she is doing anything exceptional. Students from Mulloon Creek Natural Farm’s Permaculture Design Certificate course recently visited Bronwyn Richards’ home in Braidwood, NSW, Australia. They learnt how an urban gardener manages to provide a constant supply of organic vegetables not only for her own family, but five others.
Comments (3)Letters from Sri Lanka – the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement and the ‘Third Way’
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Economics, Ethical Investment, Financial Management, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor December 6, 2009
Part III of a series – If you haven’t already, please read Part I and Part II before continuing. This series is part of my work for the Sustainable (R)evolution book project.
Fishing boats rest on the shores of a lake in Sri Lanka
Photos © Craig Mackintosh
Shattered Dreams
Anniversary celebrations for the fall of the Berlin Wall have just recently ended. It was twenty years ago that the most symbolic, and literal, barrier between two economic ideologies was pulled down by restive, festive spirits. But, the celebrations of November 2009 were tempered with a heightened sense of objectivity – in a way perhaps never seen before in modern history, and certainly not seen in 1989.
A recent BBC poll indicates widespread discontent with the now all-pervasive capitalist system. Global economic meltdown tends to dampen party spirits, and this is especially true when what you’re celebrating is a major milestone for the very system responsible for the collapse.
Comments (4)Letters from Sri Lanka – The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, and the Ten Basic Needs
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor September 21, 2009
Part II of a series – If you haven’t already, read Part I before continuing.
What do we really need?
Grandma and grandchild in their home garden, near Telulla village, Sri Lanka
All photographs © Craig Mackintosh
Civilization is not an incurable disease, but it should never be forgotten that the English people are at present afflicted by it. – Gandhi
Sarvodaya – ‘Everyone Wakes Up’
The word Sarvodaya, originally coined by Mohandas Gandhi from two Sanskrit roots – sarva (all) and udaya (uplift) – meant ‘universal uplift’, or ‘progress/welfare of all’. Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne also redefined it to reflect the Buddhist ideal – becoming ‘the awakening of all’, or (my preference) ‘everyone wakes up‘.
Gandhi created the term for the title of his 1908 translation of John Ruskin’s book Unto This Last, that, according to his autobiography was a major turning point in his life – and thus, in the lives of many millions of people….
Comments (4)Letters from Sri Lanka – Does Sarvodaya Hold the Secrets to Systemic Change?
Alternatives to Political Systems, People Systems, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor September 13, 2009
Note: Despite the title’s preamble, I’m no longer actually in Sri Lanka. Over the next weeks I’ll be writing a few posts on my discoveries there from notes and recordings, and will keep the ‘Letters from Sri Lanka’ label going to ensure these posts are easy to spot and search for. As I do so, I would also invite people that have had their own experiences with the Sarvodaya network, and who may have observations that they think I should be aware of, to send these to me [editor (at) permaculture.org.au] as the more viewpoints the better as we examine potential solutions.
Sri Lanka is a little smaller in land area than Ireland, but with five times the
population density. Millions of people in more than one third of Sri Lanka’s
villages are involved in what is effectively a large scale, non-violent,
bottom-up, democratic revolution – the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement
All photographs Copyright © Craig Mackintosh
Shramadana – a Gift of Labour
In 1958 a village of Rodiya social outcastes living in the tropical backwoods of Sri Lanka became the target of an attempt by concerned citizens to reach out and improve their lot. Villagers lived in ramshackled mud and daub houses, wore little or nothing in the way of clothing, and ate by plucking wild yams and leaves, hunting in the forest and from begging in neighbouring villages. These were Sri Lanka’s ‘untouchables’.
Comments (3)A Better Way of Making a Living
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, People Systems, Society — by Chuck Burr June 11, 2009
Making a living in our modern culture usually requires that you participate in the destruction of the world. We can’t go back to Homo hunter-gatherer. Is there another way forward?
There is an another way to make a living that enables you to do what you love and save the world at the same time. I call it the “middle way” of making a living between our modern industrial system and hunter gathering. This is a deep subject that deserves to have several books written about it.
Saving the World and Sustainability
What do we mean by saving the world? We mean humanity continuing in some fashion without taking tens of millions of species down with us. Today our culture is solely responsible for the greatest mass extinction since the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. I say, “our culture,” because humanity has lived in harmony with the earth for three or four million years. The problem is not humanity. The problem is our culture, our growth, and how we make a living.
Comments (10)The ‘Sustainable (R)evolution’ Book Project
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, DVDs/Books, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centres, News, People Systems, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 7, 2009
Have you ever wished, when explaining to someone about permaculture, you had a visual, easily accessible book that demonstrated what it is all about, and what the world could look like if permaculture design systems became mainstream thinking?
We’ll – we’re making that book.
The Permaculture Research Institute is getting behind a project that would see the creation of a large format book that profiles, with creative writing and quality photographs, some of the many successful Permaculture projects underway around the world. The purpose of this page is to solicit your help with the same.
The final version is unlikely to look like this, but it gives you an idea….
Osama Bin Lowrider: It’s All the Same Culture
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Economics, People Systems, Population, Society, Village Development — by Chuck Burr April 28, 2009
Our political discussions and media coverage are far too shallow to be useful. We must go deeper and much further back to understand the world today and learn how to get where we want to go.
Almost everyone misunderstands what culture is. Most think it is soda pop, pop stars, blue jeans, language, and TV. Some think it is capitalism, communism, or progressivism. Some see culture as Western culture or Eastern culture.
Look at the motorcycle picture. The motorcycles will fool you. All of the people above belong to the same culture, as does a soccer mom in a Chicago suburb. Keep guessing. This makes a huge difference in how we understand what is happening today and where we are going.
Comments (2)Norway’s Eco-Prison
Eco-Villages, People Systems, Society — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor February 22, 2009
Here’s an island prison that’s about as distant in principle from Alcatraz as is it in location. Bastoey Island, about 45 miles south of Oslo, hosts some of Norway’s worst offenders in what is effectively an eco-village working holiday camp. Instead of the traditional barred cells, prisoners, including murderers, rapists, drug dealers and thieves, live in separate, unlocked houses on the island. Although only one and a half miles from the mainland, prisoners are reluctant to escape, lest they get returned to the typical maximum security unit and lose the privilege of serving their time where they’re learning valuable skills, as well as gaining respect for themselves, each other, and the environment.
The island prison uses solar panels, is almost self-sufficient with food from its own organic garden, and operates a strict recycling system. This is an interesting experiment in eco-therapy — where reconnecting offenders with nature may well also help develop a noble sense of purpose, that in turn helps them reconnect with society.
Rediscovering Democracy
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Economics, People Systems, Society — by Marcin Gerwin February 19, 2009
Photo: Korean Resource Center |
Political and economic systems can be designed just like gardens. We can design them in such a way that they will allow simple, harmonious living with nature, without much bureaucracy. It is not written in stone that there must even be taxes. Taxes are very practical, but, for example, Native Americans managed to do just fine without them for hundreds of years. And they did create a country, the Iroquois Confederacy can be considered as one. I’m not suggesting we get rid of taxation, my point is only that it’s not an obligatory feature of a design. Many people see governments with ministers and presidents as the only way of ruling a country, even in democratic systems. It may seem that since all countries are now ruled by some form of government – parliamentary, presidential or monarchal – it must have always been like that. Well, it wasn’t.
Comments (4)Building a Sustainable Economy
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Economics, Financial Management, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Marcin Gerwin February 6, 2009
Editor’s note: Marcin’s post is very relevant as the world seeks an alternative to the current disaster of globalisation.
Democracy first
 Tiger’s nest in Bhutan Photo: Thomas Wanhoff |
In 1994 the government of Haiti lifted tariffs and allowed imports of cheap, subsidized rice and other crops from abroad. This policy was recommended by the International Monetary Fund and urged by the U.S. government (1). Over the years this tiny change in policy led to an estimated 830,000 job losses, it damaged food security and rural livelihoods, and eventually led to food riots and hunger in 2008 (2). If people in Haiti were to decide by themselves on their country policy, would they choose the recommendations of the IMF that brought them into starvation? Would people of Ecuador allow toxic pollution in the Amazon for the sake of Chevron Texaco profits? Would people in India accept genetically modified seeds of cotton that caused crop failures, spiral of debt and hundreds of farmer suicides? And would people in the USA support bailing out banks with their own money in a way that is not transparent and does not lead to the recovery of the financial system? They wouldn’t. These things happen around the world because we still don’t have true democracy, where people set the rules for themselves.
Comments (5)Cold, High and Dry: Traditional Agriculture in Ladakh
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Nick Wilson
PIJ #49, Dec1993 – Feb 1994
Manjushri, the embodiment of wisdom, hark!
The Gods, the Lhu, and owner spirits of the Mother Earth, hark!
May a hundred plants grow from one seed!
May a thousand grow from two!
May all the grains be twins!
- Ladakhi sowing song
Ladakh lies at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau, tucked north of the Himalaya between Tibet and Kashmir. The people are mostly of Mongol stock, with strong, weather beaten faces that are prone to crease into wide smiles at will. Administratively part of India, Ladakh’s culture is much more Tibetan, particularly in the practice of Mahayana Buddhism that infuses all aspects of life. Religious practices are pure Tibetan, and secular culture, though distinct, is similar.
Pushed skyward by the colossal force of India moving north into Asia, virtually all of Ladakh is above 3000m (the capital, Leh, is at 3500m). The Himalaya blocks nearly all the rains from the south, creating a desert in the rain shadow, with most areas receiving only about 100mm (4 inches) a year.
Comments (2)From the Bottom Up
Alternatives to Political Systems, Economics, Financial Management, People Systems, Society — by George Monbiot February 3, 2009
A new mobilisation could revitalise politics in the UK – but only if you get involved.
by George Monbiot – journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist
For the first time in my life I resent paying my taxes. Until now I have seen this annual amputation as a civic duty – like giving blood – necessary to sustain the life of a fair society. Suddenly I see it as an imposition. Its purpose has reverted to that of the middle ages: subsidising the excesses of a parasitic class. A high proportion of the taxes I pay will be used to bail out companies which, as the Guardian’s current investigation shows, have used every imaginable ruse to avoid paying any themselves.
I think that for many people this is the final blow: the insult which seals their alienation from the political process. The small Welsh town where I live, many of whose inhabitants are among the very poor, was once a haven of progressive politics, built from nonconformist religious sects and a long tradition of social solidarity. People from these valleys were transported to Van Diemen’s Land for demanding the vote.
Comments (1)Money as Debt
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics, Financial Management, People Systems, Society — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor January 11, 2009
Many of us are watching the current economic crisis with great interest (albeit with a lot of concern). A lot of us could also see it coming. Our modern economic systems are ultimately inviable, based on ever increasing debt and ever enlarging boom and bust cycles. Systemic economic collapse is inevitable, and painful (indeed, disastrous) though it may be, in many ways the sooner it happens the better it will be for the world. Our ecologies are running out of time, the rate of species loss is becoming exponential, the depletion of critical resources is moving ahead apace, and our human population continues to balloon year by year. We have formerly democratic nations heading towards fascism, and a massive consolidation of power giving money-motivated corporations the controlling influence over governments and media. Creating a whole new society will be excruciatingly difficult – but it will be impossible if we’re trying to do so without decent resources left to work with.
Watching the mortgage crisis in the U.S. is frustrating to say the least. We have thousands of defaulters becoming homeless, and yet, as you shall see in the clips below, the money they’ve borrowed to purchase their house was not even the banks – indeed, it didn’t even exist, but is essentially created out of thin air. The bank ‘loans’ money it doesn’t have, then when the borrower defaults, his home becomes the property of the bank – and yet the banks subsequently manage to secure massive bailouts from this same taxpayer.
Comments (6)A Better Way of Making a Living for Humanity
Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Consumerism, Eco-Villages, Food Shortages, People Systems, Population, Society, Village Development, peak oil — by Chuck Burr January 5, 2009
We are no more able to find our way forward living as Homo modern as we are living as Homo hunter-gatherer. Both ways are blocked. Living today on the infinite growth treadmill as Homo modern results in the death of our planet. Homo sapien has exploded our population to a level that we can no longer run back into the forest to make a living like the Mayan did. So what are we to do?
The question is actually, not “what are we going to do?”, but is “how are we going to make a living?” First lets rule out the obvious, we can no longer make a living as Homo consumer. Peak oil will put an end to our happy motoring and consuming lifestyle before we get the chance to consume the world.
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