The Bulletin - March 2008



In this issue of the TTL Bulletin:

Upcoming TTL Events:

Transition Town Lewes news:

Transition movement news:

Global news

Some things you can do this spring...

Upcoming TTL Events:

Film screening: What a Way To Go - Life at the End of Empire
A new documentary exploring the culture of empire and its coming demise.

All Saints Arts Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
Sunday 16th March 3.30pm £5 tickets on the door

There will be a post-film discussion for those who would like to stay on after the screening.

Described by Jan Lundberg, former oil analyst and founder of Culture Change as “perhaps the most important media message of our time”, What a Way to Go, features interviews with Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, Jerry Mander, Richard Heinberg, William Catton, Paul Roberts, Chellis Glendinning, Thomas Berry, Richard Manning and Ran Prieur. It looks head on at our present global predicament, as oil depletion, climate change, species extinction and population overshoot converge in a 'perfect storm' of cataclysmic dimensions.
"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

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

Tickets for this unmissable event are available from:
FoodFood, Station St., Lewes
Laporte’s, Lansdown Place, Lewes.

Richard Heinberg has a question for the world: “What will we eat as the oil runs out?”
We’re very fortunate to have leading academic Richard Heinberg coming to Lewes to talk about the very serious issue of food security. Richard Heinberg is a passionate advocate of the need to relocalise our food and farming in the face of climate change and peak oil, to build resilience and reduce CO2 emissions. He will explore with us what we can do individually and together as a town.

Professor 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.

Estates in Transition
Earlier on the same day Richard Heinberg will be talking to local farmers and landowners about peak oil and the best use of land in feeding the local population when cheap oil becomes scarce.
If you know of any local grower or landowner who has not yet been invited but would like to be, please contact Adrienne Campbell or Gilly Smith

Transition Town Lewes News:

TTL online forum
TTL website has an online forum where you can discuss peak oil, energy, climate change or other issues.
The forum is currently a little under utilised but a great place to make announcements and have discussions. Members of the forum can ask questions, offer advice and suggest good sources of information – or just pop in and say hello!

How to join the TTL forum in 5 easy steps
The final step in this process requires a password that you can obtain by email from Kate or Steve.

  1. Visit the TTL webiste and click ‘Online Forum’ on the navigation menu OR type www.ttlewes.co.uk into your browser.
  2. Click ‘Register’ at the top of the screen
  3. Register, creating your own username, password etc.
  4. Type in the ‘TT Lewes Password’ when asked
  5. Complete registration and submit – that’s it! You have immediate full access.


If you have any problems joining the forum, email Steve for help.


News from the groups:

New Venue for Oekos Group + Social
The Heart and Soul group, who have just hosted a very successful evening of talks and an Open Space Day, have new venue for their Oekos Group from March to July. The Oekos group is followed by a social gathering to which all are welcome; for full details see below.
Oekos Group
venue: Pelham House, St Andrews Lane, Lewes
times: 7.30pm - 8.30pm
dates: 12th March, 9th April, 11th June, 9th July
Invitation to all
After each Oekos Group come and join us for a social gathering in the bar at Pelham House from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.
ALL INVITED.

Is apathy going to kill us?
The Arts Group has just hosted a successful evening at Furniture Now! on 11th March entitled Is apathy going to kill us?
The second floor of the building was packed with an audience treated to comfortable seating (mainly sofas) and homemade cakes.
A screening of the animation Automania 2000 (made by John Hals in 1963 – a prophetic and humorous film about the state of the world at the millenium. Uncannily accurate in its prediction, the film shows the results of technology gone mad) was followed by a discussion.
The conversation - initially between Alex Kirby, former BBC environment correspondent and presenter of Costing the Earth and The Times weatherman Paul Simons, then moving on to include members of the audience - highlighted the urgent need for action to mitigate climate change.

The Plan begins to take shape
There is currently a high level of enthusiasm for and interest in the Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP). Following an EDAP Group meeting with representatives from all the TTL groups draft plans are being written and a second EDAP meeting with the goups is planned for 9th April. Anybody is very welcome to attend this meeting.

Readers, Writers and Song Group
The Readers, Writers and Song Group warmly invites you their inaugural event Stories and Songs from the Futureto be held by the fireside in the Red Room Upstairs at the Elephant and Castle Pub, White Hill, Lewes
Wednesday 19th March 8.00pm
Admission £3, to include a glass of mulled wine or juice
Bring your stories, musical instruments or just yourselves and we’ll dream our stories into being.
For more info please contact Roy Mullholland

Transition Movement News:

Transition Handbook Now Available!
The Transition Handbook:from oil dependency to local resilience by Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, has just been published.
Copies are available from the TTL office at £10.00 or £7.00 to people actively involved in TTL (rrp is £12.95).
The Transition Handbook is a guide for communities beginning an energy descent journey.

Reviews of the Transition Handbook:

The Transition concept is one of the big ideas of our time. Peak oil and climate change can so often leave one feeling depressed and disempowered. What I love about the Transition approach is that it is inspirational, harnessing hope instead of guilt, and optimism instead of fear. The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age and which offered a gentle helping hand in the transition to a more local, more human and ultimately more nourishing future.
Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association

This book by the visionary architect of the Transition movement is a must-read labelled, immediate . Growing numbers with their microscopes trained on peak oil are convinced that we have very little time to engineer resilience into our communities before the last energy crisis descends. This issue should be of urgent concern to every person who cares about their children, and all who hope there is a viable future for human civilisation post-petroleum.
Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid, and author of Half Gone

A more detailed review can be found here


Forest Row Unleashed!
A packed village hall on 12th March saw the official unleashing of Transition Forest Row.
The full story and pictures can be found here
Forest Row is the 41st official Transition Community. About 600 more communities are ‘mulling it over’ – see who and where the mullers are here

Global news:

Follow the links below for a selection of news stories, articles and videos on oil depletion, climate change, food security and more

Power Switch
Peak Moment TV
Oil Depletion Analysis Centre
Energy Bulletin
Peak Oil in the News
Peak Oil?
And here is another excellent resource from The Community Solution.

Some things you can do this spring:

Learn bike maintenence
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.
We can show you how to do:

  • puncture repair
  • brake adjustment
  • lubrication
  • cable replacement
  • wheel truing
  • adjustment of gears
  • bearing overhaul

Wednesdays 6pm - 9pm
March 19th and 26th, April 9th
The Open Space, 11a St Nicholas Lane, Lewes
* Come for one or all three evenings
* Tools and lubricants provided
£15/£10 unwaged for one session on March 19th or April 9th or £37.50/£25 unwaged for all 3 sessions
special offer! on March 26th HALF PRICE session only £7.50/£5 unwaged
Please call Danny for booking or further info on 07970556006

Become a Garden Buddy
Garden buddies is a new scheme launched last 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 by email Carolyn

Use better energy - how to find and compare green electricity tariffs
If you are thinking of switching to an electricity supplier offering a green tariff but are not sure which to go for it’s worth looking here here for comparisons of both green credentials and price.
Good Energy is currently the only company offering electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Get involved: contact hello [at] TransitionTownLewes.org.uk