The Bulletin - February 2008



In this issue of the TTL Bulletin:

Transition Town Lewes News:

Upcoming Events:

Global news:

New initiatives:

More exciting stuff:

Get involved ! :

Transition Town Lewes News:

Part of a fast growing Network
Transition Town Lewes is one of the communities in the Transition Network.
Transition Network now comprises almost 40 communities, which is impressive when you consider that the first transition town (Totnes) only came into being about a year ago.
In addition to the formally designated Transition Towns/Cities/Districts, there over 600 communities in communication with the Network as they consider the possibility of kicking off their own Transition Initiative.
Transition Network is holding its second annual conference in April.

Setting the Compass - A vision for the Energy Descent Action Plan
The EDAP Group, which exists to facilitate the creation of an Energy Descent Action Plan for Lewes, held a visioning day in January. Read more about Setting the Compass here.

Storytelling - Transition Tales and Stories from the Future.
These two events evolved from a session at the Energy Descent Plan Open Space about creativity. It dawned on the people at that workshop that the Great Turning we are entering is as much about a transformation in our hearts and minds as What We Do. It’s about rewriting the story, the dream that is the life and civilisation we’ve created.
Transition Tales brought about 25 people to hear five local storytellers. At the end of the evening local storyteller Patrick Collinson announced he’s relaunching the Lewes Storytellers group. \\ Stories from the future was a free professional storywriting workshop led by local author Susanna Waters. It has led to a new group being formed: Transition Readers, Writers and Song. The contact person is published author Roy Mulholland; he intends to collect stories, poems and songs about a future in which we’ve made a successful transition. These will illustrate the Energy Descent Plan, and may be published.
The Readers, Writers and Song Group’s first meeting is Wed 25 March 8pm at the Red Room in the Elephant and Castle.

Seedy Saturday
Seedy Saturday an annual event for swapping seeds and learning about gardening, wild birds and local food, took place at Southover Grange on 2nd February. More about Seedy Saturday 2008 here.

News from the groups
The Food Group re-launch
Our Meeting on 31st January was a great success with 11 active people contributing to the discussions. With lots of support from Pete Burden from the Business Group, we wrote the first draft of our principles and purpose and were all agreed on the importance of really frequent meetings in these early stages of re-forming. And no, you don’t have to come every week! We know that some will come and work together and everyone will keep in touch! The group is still young and there is already a strong feeling of commitment and passion. We have now completed the second draughts of principles and purpose, have reviewed our current projects and are settling down to working collaboratively on future plans. Our principles are there to hold us in a good place while we find out more about each other and where we are headed. Keep in touch here.

You are all invited to come along to our next meeting at 7.30pm on 13th Feb upstairs at the Lewes Arms Contact Polly at pollysenter@hotmail.com for more information.

Support your local traders!
A Lewes Local Food label is being developed as a pilot by the Food Group. From 5th February, look out for the black and white logo in two Lewes shops: Full of Beans by the bottle neck and Lansdown Health Foods in Cliffe High Street. The pilot will run for about 10 weeks and then the scheme will be offered to the other independent food shops. During this time, Jiffa and Polly will be in regular contact, collecting feedback from customers and traders. The project is designed to raise awareness of locally produced foods and give them a higher profile. The media coverage will encourage interest too. Some shops may only have a couple of items which fit the criteria initially and we shall be encouraging them to seek out new and local suppliers. This, in turn, will help to secure a market for local producers. In the longer term, this local branding could be extended to non food items as the realisation that the financial and environmental costs of transporting essentials like can no longer be justified. This pilot project has been sponsored by Graham Love – more sponsorship will be needed for the next stage. We intend that the scheme will become self financing as the benefits become evident to the traders of Lewes.

Introduction to the Dream Life Project!
First meeting weds 5th March 7.30pm Elephant and Castle Pub, White Hill.

The Dream Life Group invite you to discuss design principles and possible models for a sustainable housing project with guest eco-architect, Nicola Thomas.

For more information on The Dream Life Group join our google group here or contact Charley Haward charleyx@homecall.co.uk

New Water Group The Water Group is re-launching. The new contact is Deborah Cook, who has valuable experience of the water industry and is also currently the coordinator of the Lewes Farmer's Market.
Deborah is looking for people to join her in forming this important group. Please contact her at deborahg.cook@hotmail.co.uk

Upcoming Events:

An evening of inspirational talks: Survive and Thrive in Times of Transition Subud Centre, 26a Station Street, Lewes
Friday 29th February 7.30pm £3 tickets on the door

Three talks entitled: Resilience and Change; In the Eye of the Storm - staying sane in an insane world; Does Happiness Have to Cost the Earth?

Is Apathy Going to Kill Us?
Furniture Now! Unit 1, Phoenix Works, North Street, Lewes
Tuesday 11th March 8.00pm £3 tickets on the door

TTL Arts Group presents a conversation about the urgency of lifestyle change between former BBC Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby and The Times weather man Paul Simons.

Film screening: What a Way to Go - Life at the End of Empire
All Saints Arts Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
Sunday 16th March 3.30pm £5 tickets on the door

A middle-class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American lifestyle. Disturbing, compassionate, sometimes humorous personal essay about coming to grips with climate change and resource crises. Its ruthless assessment challenges the audience to face terrifying times with courage and integrity.

"It is a great feat for one movie to serve as an entire wake-up call and a complete analysis of our global dilemma. "What a Way to Go" delivers as few films in the history of documentary cinema do." Jan Lundberg

Talk by Richard Heinberg: What will we eat as the oil runs out?
All Saints Arts Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
Tuesday 25th March 7.30pm £5 tickets on the door

Richard Heinberg has a question for the world: “What will we eat as the oil runs out?”
“Our global food system faces a crisis of unprecedented scope … This crisis consists of four simultaneously colliding dilemmas, all arising from our relatively recent pattern of dependence on depleting fossil fuels.”
This is a stark message, but Richard does not deal in doom: “By sounding this alarm, I believe I’m the ultimate optimist.”

Leading academic Richard Heinberg is one of the world's foremost oil depletion educators and a Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. He is also the author of eight books including Peak Everything, The Party’s Over, Powerdown and The Oil Depletion Protocol.
Watch this 3 minute video for a great introduction to what Richard Heinberg's talk is about.

Global news:

Why the price of 'peak oil' is famine
Vulnerable regions of the world face the risk of famine over the next three years as rising energy costs spill over into a food crunch, according to US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Biofuels from grain, oil seed and sugar are plugging the gap, but drawing away food supplies at a time when the world is adding more than 70m mouths to feed a year. Read more here.

Links to inspirational initiatives around the world
For truly inspirational stuff focusing on solutions to the problems of oil depletion, climate change etc. you can look at Peak Moment TV, Global Public Media and the Post Carbon Institute. For other networks of communities making the energy transition see The Relocalization Network in the US and the Dynamic Cities Project in Canada.

New initiatives:

Garden Buddies
Garden buddies is a new scheme being launched this month.
Would you like to be on a contact list with other gardeners in Lewes? Successfully growing plants as a community by sharing our gardens, experience, skills and time and, in the long term, increasing the amount of food grown in our gardens?
You can make new friends and discover how to:

  • grow our own food in our ‘back gardens’
  • know people with no gardens who want to garden
  • know who can’t garden their garden at all/ want help
  • know how to grow herbs in large or small spaces
  • know about the nutritional and medicinal value of food
  • know how to sprout beans, seeds indoors
  • know how to prune trees and store/preserve produce
  • know who has fruit trees with excess fruit in autumn
  • know what fruit and nut trees to plant and where
  • know how to grow winter greens
  • know how to sow seeds successfully
  • know how to compost
  • know how to test soil and get it in balance, fertilisers
  • know about pest control/companion gardening
  • know where best to buy plants / locally
  • know who are expert horticulturalists in Lewes
  • produce a little local handout that gives all the above info.


If you would like to be on the list or want further details please contact Carolyn Piets on 01273 471758, or email carolyn_piets@hotmail.com

More exciting stuff:

Bicycle maintenance courses
Learn to keep your bike safe, efficient and a pleasure to ride.
Lewes LIFE Cycle, in association with TTL, offer bike maintenance courses in Lewes. Suitable for all abilities and all types of bike.
Start with the basics:

  • puncture repair
  • brake adjustment
  • lubrication

Move on to:

  • cable replacement
  • wheel truing
  • adjustment of gears
  • bearing overhaul

Wednesdays 6pm - 9pm
February 20th and 27th, March 12th, 19th and 26th, April 9th
The Open Space, 11a St Nicholas Lane, Lewes
* Come for one or several evenings
* Tools and lubricants provided
£15/£10 unwaged per session or £75/£50 unwaged for all 6 sessions

Please call Danny for booking or further info on 07970556006

Get involved ! :

Finance person needed
Calling people wanting to get involved in TTL – now is your chance! We need another person to join the finance group, ideally with some experience.
In our (short) monthly meeting we:

  • make financial decisions and discuss options
  • oversee the grant funding
  • check the work of the book-keeper

It’s easy - but it needs to be done.
Please ring Julia Waterlow on 476742 if you can help.

A thank you
A very big thank you to Will Taylor of Lucraft, Hodgson and Dawes who is generously offering some of his time to TTL as our accountant.

Get involved: contact one of the Group contacts on the Groups page