World Café discussions at last years Convergence Festival in Cultivate

A weekend of talks, workshops, presentations and films is planned at Cultivate for the second Irish Transition Gathering to be held the 25th and 26th April as part of the 14th Convergence Festival.

For anybody involved in a transition initiative or hoping to start one this symposium is a one stop shop to kick start or re-energise your project. The program is jam-packed full of practical workshops ranging from “Starting a community garden” to “Setting up a local currency” and is the best place to meet, hear and experience how other transition groups are developing throughout the country.

So if you want to be inspired, learn more, build your transition capacity and be part of of the fastest growing social movement the world has ever known then book yourself in. Full program and details below the fold or link to the Cultivate website here.

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Glass Eye have given us a great leg-up by documenting the launch of the 400 Fruit Tree project and editing it into a fantastic web video which you can watch below.

In just over 6 short minutes Nuala Roche and her team have magically captured what I believe transition is all about. That is, community groups coming together with Local Authority, Schools and Businesses to implement a practical project that reduces carbon in the face of climate change, builds resilience in the face of peak oil and, as an added bonus, strengthens community and is fun to do !

Admittedly the project is a small step, but a step in the right direction none the less. As Malcolm Noonan points out in the piece, there is no reason why projects such as these couldn’t be rolled out throughout the country.

Imagine an Ireland where every town is replanting orchards, developing community gardens, setting up local energy supply companies, re-establishing coppice woodlands for a world without oil and re-skilling ourselves for a low-energy, resource-lean world.

Although the economy has fallen of a cliff and all is doom and gloom this positive future is ahead of us should we choose to accept it. localisation is the inevitable outcome of peak oil. The only question is whether we embrace the opportunities and manage the transition creatively and with foresight or keep our heads in the sand and let it unfold as a series of chaotic and tragic crisis.

But enough of the transition talk – I hear you say. Sit back and enjoy this lovely intro to the 400 Fruit Tree Project.

You can read more on the project here and download the brochure here.

How can we continue feeding humanity in a future of declining resources and environmental crisis? A new publication by Post Carbon titled “The Food and Farming Transition” explores the growing vulnerabilities of the current food system, and the steps needed to transition to a post-carbon food system.

This new system will require more farmers, smaller and more diversified farms, less processed and packaged food, and less long-distance hauling of food. Governments, communities, businesses, and families each have important parts to play in reinventing a food system that functions with limited renewable energy resources to feed our population for the long term.

We can begin the transition to the new system immediately through a process of planned, graduated, rapid change. The unplanned alternative reconstruction from scratch after a collapse of the current system would be chaotic and tragic.

The publication is available for download here and is a good companion to the recent Soil Association publication “An inconvenient truth about food” and the recent BBC documentary “A Farm for the Future”. Excellent resources for raising awareness of the growing need for a food revolution.

Get Ireland Growing

Making the future together

Ormonde Hotel, Thursday April 2nd

Kilkenny community and voluntary forum will host a one-day conference on Thursday, April 2nd in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel for all those involved in the community and voluntary sector. The forum is made up of representatives from the community and voluntary sector and feeds into the Strategic Policy committees and County Development Board. The conference is called “Making the Future Together” and will focus in the importance and influence of local government and the challenges for community and voluntary groups.

“Agriculture for the “Futures”. Banking futures or our futures?”

Camphill Ballytobin, Friday 3 April 2009  8 p.m.

Speaker, Michael Miklis from Irish Seed Savers and the Biodyamic Association of Ireland.

Masaru Emoto

Lyrath Estate Hotel, Monday 1st June, 7 p.m.

Internationally renowned Japanese researcher, independent thinker and author of several books including “The Secret Life of Water”, “The Hidden Messages in Water” and “The True Power of Water” will present a lecture at Lyrath Hotel followed by questions and answers.

You can download the flyer for the event here. To make a booking contact Ann Dack at 087 6490463 or anndack[at]eircom[dot]net

And of course don’t forget our own events!

“Story of Stuff” this coming Friday, Lunchtime, Rothehouse – all welcome

“Organic gardening for Beginners” this coming Saturday, Camphill Ballytobin – booking required

Here is a great BBC documentary on how Peak Oil will effect farming in the UK. It follows Rebecca Hoskin’s journey as she realises how the decline of fossil fuels will impact her small family farm in Devon. She travels to Ireland to learn about peak oil first hand from Colin Campbell and then links up over the internet with Richard Heinberg to hear what it means for agriculture and for her livelihood.

Without graphs, pie-charts or dire predictions she tells the story of how our food system has become hopelessly dependant on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and that we have very little time to engineer a transition to sustainable local food systems. I particularly like the piece where she is on the way back to Wales by ferry and, taking apart a ham sandwich from the Deli, goes through the ingredients and explains how each one is totally dependant on cheap energy. Very simply, yet terribly effective.

The documentary continues with explorations of alternatives to industrial agriculture including permaculture, no-till farming and forest gardens. What is great about her approach is that she keeps it mainstream with comments like “yes – but we cant eat wood” but then goes on to explore how we might incorporate what she has seen into more “traditional” farming methods. Above all, through her clear passion for the farming way of life, she presents a positive vision of how we might farm in the future without fossil fuels.

The documentary is being repeated on BBC2 this coming Saturday 4th April at 5.20pm. You can also watch it below.