There were many transition town groups present at Cultivate’s recent weekend intensive “Community Powerdown” workshop – including two of us from Kilkenny.

The course is sub-titled “training for leadership, livelihoods and resilient communities”. A bit of a mouthful and daunting at first but what it really boils down to is three simple themes:

Leadership

Anyone who is willing to engage with the challenges of peak oil, climate change and sustainability issues and to work towards the goal of sustainable living both in their own lives and within their communities.

Scenario planning for a positive lean energy future

Livelihoods

Creating and nurturing a lean local economy that is an inevitable outcome of peak oil and a pre-requisite for tackling climate change and resource depletion.

Resilient Communities

First recognising that we currently lack the ability to withstand the shocks that are coming down the line and that we need to become more self-reliant and resilient in terms of energy supply, food security, transportation and local economic activity.

Course Content

The course is divided into ten distinct modules. The first module outlines the challenges ahead whilst the remaining nine focus on the solutions – especially community solutions that are practical, low-tech and can be implemented at a local level.

World Cafe exercise - planning for local resilience

This is a big difference to most approaches to peak oil and climate change that tend to focus on the doom and gloom with little in the way of solutions except a resignation that it is up to politicians and scientists to ‘solve’ it for us. Cultivate aim to fill the information gap between understanding the issues and finding local solutions.

Powerdown Modules:

#1 The Challenges Ahead
#2 The Power Cf Community
#3 It’s All Connected
#4 Rethinking Energy
#5 Getting Around
#6 Deconstructing Dinner
#7 Shelter
#8 Energy Descent Pathways
#9 Global Citizenship
#10 Where Do We Go From Here?

Comment wall - networking resources, suggestions and contributions

Creative Learning

The course is presented in an upbeat participatory style with a focus on the collective intelligence that is in the room rather than that of the person on the podium. Sharing the learning and developing facilitation skills are learnt alongside the methodologies and understanding required to bring sustainability thinking into our work whether that be in development NGOs, local authorities, community organisations, education, transition initiatives or simply our family lives.

Powerdown Kilkenny

The community powerdown course is to be highly recommended and a great foundation for anyone wishing to incorporate sustainability thinking into their professional and/or private lives. Inspired by the content and the delivery, Future Proof Kilkenny, in co-operation with Cultivate hope to offer this course in Kilkenny City sometime in 2009.