Posts
http://edinburghcommunityenergy.wordpress.com/
Having been investigating community energy schemes further afield, it's nice to discover plans for a community energy cooperative in Leith.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Stop Press: Intro to Permaculture Course places in Brixton this weekend
The excellent folks at Transition Town Brixton are running an introduction to Permaculture course - led by Pippa Johns from the Brighton Permaculture Network. Saturday in the community greenhouses and Sunday on a nearby estate to start to think about putting the ideas into practice. There are a couple of last-minute places available...
More here:
http://www.site.transitiontownbrixton.org/
More here:
http://www.site.transitiontownbrixton.org/
Pleasure Principle 2 - reclaiming our own stories
Ps/ When I say pleasure principle, better be careful with my definitions, I don't mean just pursuing pleasure at the expense of all things, or abdicating all responsibility etc..
What I mean, instead, is 2 things: Firstly, being true to our experiences of what causes pain and what causes pleasure. It's when we share our stories that we can best reclaim our experiences and talk more honestly with each other about the kinds of lives and futures we really want. (Driving cars, for example, may sometimes be fun on an open road on a sunny day, but is not generally liberating for most people stuck somewhere around the M25. It's expensive, tedious, tiring and polluting.) And Secondly, that life is meant to be, at root, a joyful experience. As one Sanskrit teaching pronouces (and my own struggling meditation practice reminds me): Underneath all the boredom, underneath all the irritation, what remains is JOY.
What I mean, instead, is 2 things: Firstly, being true to our experiences of what causes pain and what causes pleasure. It's when we share our stories that we can best reclaim our experiences and talk more honestly with each other about the kinds of lives and futures we really want. (Driving cars, for example, may sometimes be fun on an open road on a sunny day, but is not generally liberating for most people stuck somewhere around the M25. It's expensive, tedious, tiring and polluting.) And Secondly, that life is meant to be, at root, a joyful experience. As one Sanskrit teaching pronouces (and my own struggling meditation practice reminds me): Underneath all the boredom, underneath all the irritation, what remains is JOY.
The Pleasure Principle as design ethic
Yesterday I read The Vagina Monologues for the first time - compelling reading from cover to cover. It's an amazing, moving, searingly honest and often funny series of first-person accounts from women about their experiences of their vaginas - from menstruation to sex to physical violence. Brings a taboo subject to the open with a spirit of love. Why should we feel ashamed of our bodies?
So - how is this relevant to what I'm working on? Well, I think it's all about celebrating the pleasure principle, and being grounded in our bodies. Reading the first-hand accounts of other people made me feel more grounded and connected to myself,and to my own experiences, and by extension to other people. More human, you might say.
In the afternoon, I also read a series of pamphlets on environmental economics written by the pioneering think-tank new economics foundation. Although undoubtably brilliant, they were dense, hard to read, and very intellectual: a bit like the prime ministerial debates on the telly.
In short - they made me switch off, physically contract, and get a slight headache, though I made a mental note to self: must get my head round this later, as an awful lot of good sense and clever thinking was contained therein.
Of course, the two books written deliberately in different styles, and for different reasons and occasions, but maybe it's just worth remembering the pleasure principle as a design ethic when we're talking about communicating ecology - after all, ecology is all about connection too...
So - how is this relevant to what I'm working on? Well, I think it's all about celebrating the pleasure principle, and being grounded in our bodies. Reading the first-hand accounts of other people made me feel more grounded and connected to myself,and to my own experiences, and by extension to other people. More human, you might say.
In the afternoon, I also read a series of pamphlets on environmental economics written by the pioneering think-tank new economics foundation. Although undoubtably brilliant, they were dense, hard to read, and very intellectual: a bit like the prime ministerial debates on the telly.
In short - they made me switch off, physically contract, and get a slight headache, though I made a mental note to self: must get my head round this later, as an awful lot of good sense and clever thinking was contained therein.
Of course, the two books written deliberately in different styles, and for different reasons and occasions, but maybe it's just worth remembering the pleasure principle as a design ethic when we're talking about communicating ecology - after all, ecology is all about connection too...
Growing your own with the Highgate Community Action Network
http://hican.wikispaces.com/
Another great example of a community initiative focused on tackling on climate change with lots of fun courses. Great to see my friends Rachel and George enjoying it - they originally got involved because they wanted to get to know their neighbours, and are now enjoying being part of the meadow project - and are helping campaign on the 10:10 project in local schools.
I'm off to a short workshop on 'Grow your Own'. Should be useful as I can't tell a turnip from a dandelion when they're underground.
Another great example of a community initiative focused on tackling on climate change with lots of fun courses. Great to see my friends Rachel and George enjoying it - they originally got involved because they wanted to get to know their neighbours, and are now enjoying being part of the meadow project - and are helping campaign on the 10:10 project in local schools.
I'm off to a short workshop on 'Grow your Own'. Should be useful as I can't tell a turnip from a dandelion when they're underground.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Order vs Tidiness - from a Permaculture Manual
I loved this: "Creativity is symptomatic of a whole brain... and is seldom tidy... "
"We should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain,and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder, you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy."
From Bill Mollison: An Introduction to Permaculture, Pamphlet 1
"We should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain,and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder, you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy."
From Bill Mollison: An Introduction to Permaculture, Pamphlet 1
Monday, 12 April 2010
Community Supported Fisheries
Radio 4 profiling their success in east-coast US today...
Bit like a veggie box - but for fish. You get local fish, in season. Good for fishing industry, and for consumers.
There were noises from the Transition Town group in the East Neuk of Fife that they would be setting up something similar last autumn. I look forward to investigating soon.
Radio 4 link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rvy23
Article from Boston Times:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/03/18/economy_of_scales/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)