There’s a new bottom-up force for tackling climate change and preparing for Peak Oil. It’s called, the Transition Towns initiative. Starting from the town of Totnes in Devon, over 100 towns, and villages, and even a Forest and a City, have already signed up. They all help one another through the Transition Network, but Transition is about communities on the ground bringing together their existing projects and skills to prepare for life after cheap oil.

World demand for oil is relentlessly climbing, driven by the booming new economies such as China. The people in these countries quite legitimately aspire to the same standard of living as people in the rich West enjoy. But world population is also rising, and will reach at least 9 billion before it possibly stabilises around 2050. Quite literally, the Earth is full. We have already used half the fossil fuel oil available - the planet is not going to be able to meet the growing demands for consumption from its human population.

Of course, burning all this oil is going to wreak havoc on our climate, and the poorest will suffer the most.

Transition is a hugely positive response to these crises. By re-building resiliant, vibrant local communities, we can greatly improve our quality of life without having to increase our consumption - our ’standard of living’ - to do so.

The first Transition City is Bristol. Now a diverse and loose coalition of people in Birmingham want to make a positive start on Transition for their city. If you want to find out more, please contact me - treaclemine [at] intranet [dot] org - Transition is about whole communities working together, and every single individual has something to offer, whether their memories of coping with rationing, their skills at setting up online communications, or their enthusiasm for bringing in future generations.

A draft flyer for this project is now available.

The final design for a “doomsday” vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.

The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.

The vault aims to safeguard the world’s agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.

Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.

The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

For more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6335899.stm

Is it possible for communities to become sustainable ‘from the bottom up’? It seems to be happening in Calderdale in West Yorkshire. A group of activists have formed the ‘Calderdale Climate Challenge’ to help people work together to reduce their personal contribution to climate change at home, at school, at work and at leisure.

The group was boldly launched last year, with an e-briefing sent far and wide, including to the staff of Calderdale Council. The challenge was launched at the end of last year via an email newsletter which was sent to, amongst many others, 3000 Calderdale Council staff. The project is co-ordinated by Anthony Rae explains that in the Calderdale area, ‘Streets, homes and workplaces have suffered from the flooding, along with the disruption and expense that go with it.’

Calderdale is a hot-spot of sustainable activity - Treesponsibility work on ecological restoration, and have already planted 60,000 trees and hedge plants in the area. Local businesses can fund local tree planting through Treesponsibilty’s CO2mmitment programme.

The Soil Associations conference a few days ago was called “One Planet Agriculture - Preparing for a post-peak oil food and farming future”

The conference focused on the urgent need to develop new models of localised food and farming systems. This is in anticipation of the central role that farmers and growers will play in averting climate change and delivering food security in an era of scarce and expensive energy.You can download ‘PodCasts’ (also known as MP3 audio files) of some of the key speakers who between them put forward the case that we have reached ‘peak oil’ and then look at ways some communities are preparing themselves (Transition towns) etc.

If you don’t have the time to listen to all of the speeches, the most notable ones are:

• Energy Shortages: How soon and how serious? - Dr Colin Campbell
• Climate change and peak oil: The two great oversights of our time - Dr Jeremy Leggett
• Energy descent plans: The Kinsale and Totnes projects - Rob Hopkins

The last one by Rob Hopkins is particularly inspiring!

Download & listen to them here: http://soilassociation.org/conference
Rob Hopkins website can be found at: http://www.transitiontowns.org/Totnes/

A round-up of the week in climate change from the Climate Change News blog.

“This week the blogosphere has been dealing with questions of transport, future energy solutions, negawatts as a source of energy, carbon offsets, weird weather, China’s development and environmental devastation, and continued business innovation.”

Includes concerns about the sustainability of biofuels,

“We need to stop the web of biodiversity being destroyed by monocultures grown in the name of climate change mitigation. And we need to speak out against anybody, no matter their scientific degree or qualification, who claims that monocultures can stabilize the climate”

a study of how to meet energy demands affordably through efficiency, and a look at carbon offsets offered by MyClimate. Many links to original news articles.

“Spiralseed and OrganicLea cordially invite you to the launch of ‘EARTH WRITINGS’ by Graham Burnett,

Sat 13 Jan 2007
4pm onwards

The Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, Walthamstow London E17
(near the Bakers Arms - 5 minutes walk from Walthamstow Central BR)

This event will be preceded at 2pm by a talk ‘Introduction to Permaculture’ by Mark Warner of ‘Naturewise’ All welcome! Please feel free to pass this message onto anybody who might be interested.

www.spiralseed.co.uk/earthwritings

–
Graham Burnett: Integrated Design for Local Environmental Resources”

Globalization of livestock markets biggest single factor in erosion of farm animal diversity

15 December 2006, Rome – Around 20 percent of animal breeds are at risk of extinction, with one breed lost each month, FAO said today. (FAO = Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations)

Of the more than 7,600 breeds in FAO’s global database of farm animal genetic resources, 190 have become extinct in the past 15 years and a further 1,500 are considered at risk of extinction.

Some 60 breeds of cattle, goats, pigs, horses and poultry have been lost over the last five years, according to a draft document presented this week in Rome, when over 150 participants from more than 90 countries met at FAO headquarters to review the report’s findings and to discuss priorities for action to reverse the loss of animal genetic diversity worldwide. Continue Reading »

Vast tracts of rainforest in Brazil are to get a new protected status.

The segments of land in the northern Para state together cover 16.4 million hectares (63,320 sq miles), an area of land that is bigger than England.

Thousands of wildlife species inhabit the pristine forest, including jaguars, anteaters and colourful macaws.

Campaigners say the decision made by Para Governor Simao Jatene is one of the most important conservation initiatives of recent years.

It will protect the land from the unsustainable logging and agriculture practices that have blighted many parts of the Amazon. Continue Reading »

A new technique for measuring the state of the world’s forests shows the future may not be as bad as previously feared, reports BBC News Online.

An international team of researchers say its Forest Identity study suggests the world could be approaching a “turning point” from deforestation.

The study measures timber volumes, biomass and captured carbon - not just land areas covered by trees.

Continue Reading »

From Science News: Sometimes, ecotourism hurts what it sets out to help. By Eric Jaffe

The island of Damas is a half-hour boat ride from the Chilean coast. On the island, it’s dry and rocky. The Humboldt penguins that live there have no ice slopes to slide down in their black-tie apparel. Instead, these desert penguins seek out caves to shade their eggs from the sun. If they can’t find a spot beneath a boulder, they may burrow into seabird dung. Sometimes, they nest inside a cactus.

To see these penguins, visitors usually begin in La Serena, Chile. They drive 40 miles north on a main highway and then cut toward the coast on a gravel road that leads to the fishing village of Punta de Choros. Local fishermen there charge a fee to guide the tourists to Damas by boat. On the island, people are free to walk into the caves where the penguins live. Anyone can watch a mother brooding an egg and snap a picture with a flash camera or a mobile phone.

What began in the early 1990s as a place with a few hundred curious visitors has now become a tourism destination that attracts 10,000 penguin peepers a year. Damas provides an example of ecotourism, defined as the practice of visiting sites where exotic landscapes and rare animals are the main attractions. Ideally, ecotourists learn about the habitats that they visit, provide donations to conserve them, and generate income for host communities. Continue Reading »