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As part of the Strong Communities, Local Economies conference in Kilkenny this week we are delighted to have the chance to host two stimulating talks in the evening at Butler house for the general public. The talks will be given by David Engwicht and Cyril Dion , two speakers who are presenting at the conference.
David Engwicht - Creative Communities
Wed 26th May, 8pm, Butler House, Patrick Street, Kilkenny
David Engwicht is an artist, social innovator, street philosopher and is considered one of the world’s most innovative thinkers on traffic, community life and urban design.
He is author of several books including Reclaiming our Cities and Towns: Better Living through Less Traffic (1993), Street Reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities (1999), and Mental Speed Bumps: The smarter way to tame traffic (2005).
His writing can be seen as describing a major dilemma of technics-out-of-control in the second half of the 20th century. His workshops and talks are rich with ideas and inspirations for communities to reclaim control over the abandoned public realm.
David is also a mask maker and sculptor and teaches courses on creativity and innovation. He is co-founder of Creative Communities International, an incubator for social innovations. When not traveling, he lives in Brisbane, Australia.
Cyril Dion - The Colibri Movement
Thursday 27th May, 8pm, Butler House, Patrick Street, Kilkenny
The aim of Colibris movement is to empower people who want to create new society models, based on autonomy, ecology and humanism. It is similar in many ways to the Irish and UK transition networks and indeed supports many “transition” type groups in France.
Colibris strongly believes that change will come from a bottom-up, organic process, where citizens, business holders, politicians, farmers and teachers will take action locally, taking responsibility for their own destiny, as individuals and communities.
Some of the projects they are involved in include creating local agriculture, establishing local or free currencies, advocating for ecological governance models, building ecological homes and neighborhoods, creating new schools based on non-violent and ecological approaches, building climate plans to reduce CO2 emissions and dependency on fossil energies.
Cyril Dion co-founded with Pierre Rabhi - one of the pioneers of agroecology worldwide - the COLIBRIS movement in November 2006. He is presently the Manager of the organisation working with 50 groups in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec.
Thursday 26th and Friday 27th May, Parade Tower, Kilkenny
This conference will focus on how local economies can become resilient in the face of peak oil, climate change and global economic uncertainty. The conference will bring together experienced campaigners, educators and economists from France, the US, Australia, the UK and Ireland.
The conference is divided into three themes:
“The Big PIcture” will take a look at the challenges that Ireland will face as the world reaches the limits in production of many non-renewable resources and asks what impacts the last few decades of globalisation has had on local communities.
“Building Local Resilience” will highlight the desperate need for communities to become more self reliant and that taking on the challenge could make for a better, fairer world.
“The Way Forward” closes the conference with a look at some communities from around the world that are “re-localising” in the face of economic and energy uncertainty and making the transition to a more sustainable future.
Throughout the two days there will be workshops and world cafe discussions interspersed between the presentations. These more informal sessions will go into the subjects in more detail and allow ample opportunity for participants to bring their own experience and perspective to the conference. It is hoped to use the ideas which emerge to help counties like Kilkenny adapt to a changing world.
For speaker profiles, more information and to register visit the official conference website here.
An illustrated public meeting on Wednesday 5 May 2010 at 8.00pm in Butler House, Kilkenny, by Professor John Sweeney President of An Taisce, and member of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Admission 5 euro
An Taisce
The National Trust for Ireland
with Dee Sewell of Greensideup
Saturday 24th April & Saturday 8th May, Ballyline, Callan, 2pm-4:30pm, 20€ per afternoon.
A course for those who have dabbled in growing their own food but need a bit of expert advice and lots of questions answered to improve their gardening skills. The course will take place over two saturday afternoons from 2pm - 4:30pm in Ballyclovan Cottage, Ballyline, Callan. Some of the topics covered will include:
- Preperation, bed layouts and soil types.
- Composting, green manure, mulching and crop rotation.
- Cloches & supports, polytunnels, cold frames and containers.
- Seed sowing, modules, watering, potting on and handling.
The tutor for the afternoon is experienced gardener Dee Sewell of Greenside-Up. The fee per afternoon is 20€ but it is recommended to book for both dates. Tea & Coffee & snacks provided.
Contact Brian on 0567725913 to book a place or text 0870665859. You can find directions to Ballyline here.
Congratulations to the Clonmel group for putting together this fantastic clip of the transition work they are doing. The recording is an ongoing project to document their work over the next five years and the changes society will experience through the eyes of the Clonmel Transition group.
Clonmel: A Town in Transition - Rough Cut from MOEVO on Vimeo.