TRANSITION SOUTH LIVERPOOL invites you to share ideas on practical responses to Peak Oil and Climate Change. Hear the latest facts and insights into the issues and discover how people are responding to them locally and nationally. Find out how we can unleash our creativity to shape Liverpool’s transition from energy dependence to a sustainable, resilient and positive future.
Come and help make Liverpool a city ready for climate change and peak oil in a friendly atmosphere!
Transition South Liverpool meets regularly at Aigburth Cricket Club, next to St Michael's station.
We are based in South Liverpool, focussed on the Sefton and Princes Park areas, but we don't draw tight boundaries. We would LOVE to hear from groups wanting to do things in other parts of Merseyside, and are happy to help set up other more local groups. We can offer advice and support, tell you what we have done, and lend the relevant DVDs. 'Transitioning' a whole city is too big a job for any one small group alone.
For more info contact Pete North P.J.North@liverpool.ac.uk
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Project Day: How can Liverpool rise to the challenges of climate change and the end of cheap oil?
Sunday 18 May 2008 - Unitarian Church, corner Ullet Road and York Ave, Liverpool 11am - 4pm (refreshments from 10.30am)
'where Liverpool anti-slavery campaign started off'
This is a chance for us to get some practical projects up and running. What kind of projects would you like to be involved in? Come along and exchange ideas! At the last meeting, there was a real sense that people are anxious to start actively doing something - not only talking and thinking about it - this is a chance to meet others who may be interested in working on projects together. Some key areas that might get projects going are: waste, working with local businesses, energy, a local documentary project, local currency, local food, local reusable bag project, and......??? your ideas!
For more project ideas have a look at some current projects in Totnes: http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/Central/Projects_list
Suggested donation to cover room costs: £3 employed, £2 unemployed. Bring contribution for lunch to share.
Peter Mulhall is organising a trip to Middlesbrough to look at their local food project on 9th June. If you're interested, get in touch with Peter: pmulhall_uk@yahoo.co.uk
A group of us are also thinking about taking over an allotment down at Otterspool. If you are interested, get in touch with Peter: pmulhall_uk@yahoo.co.uk
Jo Blackman is co-ordinating a 2-day Training for Transition here in Liverpool, on July 5-6. This is a foundation course for those wishing to know how to set up, run, and maintain a successful transition initiative. It is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of Transition. The training will be led by Naresh Giangrande & Sophy Banks from Totnes, who have delivered the same training in several communities across the UK and Ireland. Cost: £90 with £50 concessionary rate (please get in touch if this would bar you from participating). We can offer free accommodation to those coming from a distance and a great social event on the Saturday night! Come and join us! Contact Jo: jblackman@phonecoop.coop
10 April 2008 - We've become an OFFICIAL TT! Pete's talking to Transition Totnes, Leicester and Bristol to see if we can organise a talk about the next stages of transitioning now we are out of the 'awareness raising' stage.
Jo B has ordered another 10 copies of the Transition Handbook at £7.50 (£12.95 from Waterstones). Get in touch with Jo if you want one as they go like hot cakes: jblackman@phonecoop.coop
RECENT EVENTS:
Our most recent event was on 29 April 2008 - 'Growing Food in the City' with Liverpool Organic Gardeners Ruth Jacobs and Don Headley. This involved some excellent advice on growing, tips on cost-effective (and organic) ways to eliminate pests, and Don and Ruth came prepared with slides and freebies! A great informative meeting, which showed the depth of knowledge available to us on how best to grow food in the city.
On Thursday 27th March, we had a meeting on the theme of Contraction & Convergence as an approach to lowering carbon emissions on a global scale. Our speaker Tom Barker, an ecologist from the University of Liverpool, gave an introduction and we watched a short film on this topic before an energetic discussion in which the issue was explored from various angles.
Some people were concerned about the possibility of corruption undermining the process. Another person speculated that it may push countries to raise their populations, as higher populations would result in higher emissions allowances. Some expressed the view that C&C encourages "development" that may have the result of increasing emissions levels. However, there was also a feeling that the C&C framework would give hope for the future. One especially liked feature was the possibility it holds for achieving greater equality between nations than is evident at present.
Claire and Alan attended the Transition Network conference from April 11-13. We met lots of other cities in Transition and have arranged to meet in Nottingham in the summer to exchange ideas. More info when we know dates etc.
Transition South Liverpool has been meeting since November 2007. We have had several successful meetings and have watched some inspirational films such as:
The Power of Community: see http://www.powerofcommunity.org/
20th February
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.
An Inconvenent Truth: see: http://www.climatecrisis.net/
16th January
Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.
If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.
The End Of Suburbia: see: http://www.endofsuburbia.com/
13th December
Since World War II we have invested much of our newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the high mass consumption Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now. Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia? Transition Liverpool hosts a screening and discussion on how we can move Liverpool to a more sustainable future.
Launch meeting, 22nd November.
About 50 of us met to discuss a sustainable Liverpool, living within its means, without emitting unsustainable levels of CO2 or relying on cheap oil. We realised we had a big job on our hands, but decided to start out, hopefully.
LINKS:
Transition South Liverpool Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/transition-town-liverpool
Transition South Liverpool Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22099382640&ref=mf