Life-skilling, Talks

Active Hope

Sunday 1st December, 7.30pm: ‘Active Hope’ with Chris Johnstone

We live at a time of uncertainty when the future might seem scary and the challenges we face overwhelming. How then should we rise to the challenge and play our part in the story of creating the future we hope for? This evening’s session introduces the practice of Active Hope, exploring how we can be nourished, energised, empowered and inspired in the transition to a sustainable, life-affirming society.

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Chris Johnstone is an author and coach specialising in the psychology of resilience and positive change. He has been involved in the Transition Movement since its early days, contributing to the chapter on the Psychology of Change in The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins. His books include Find Your Power – a toolkit for resilience and positive change, and, co-written with Joanna Macy, Active Hope – how to face the mess we’re in without going crazy.  He runs a distance-learning centre in Scotland and edits the free email newsletter The Great Turning Times. His website is http://chrisjohnstone.info

This promises to be an inspiring evening. As ever the event takes place at St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Road Ealing W5 5RH. Entry is free but we will ask for donations to help us cover the cost of staging the event. Please join us for warm beverages, cake and discussion after the event.

Energy

Green Energy

The news has been full of outrage about recent raises in energy prices, with the ‘Big Six’ suppliers hiking their prices by between 8-11%, just as the winter heating season starts.

As usual, there’s been a lot of dis-information in the media, an in particular ‘green taxes’ are getting the blame: of course this is a gross distortion of the truth.

Dual Fuel Breakdown
Source: OFGEM

The so-called ‘green taxes’, which include energy efficiency measures for the poorest households, as well as incentives to help encourage renewable technologies, make up less than 9% of the typical fuel bill rise since 2004, and just £10 of the overall rise in energy bills in 2013.

Most of the £520 rise in fuel bills since 2004 is actually due to the increase in whole-sale gas prices, because gas is used both to heat most homes, and to generate electricity. Remember that ‘peak oil’ thing? Yeah, that.

In fact, this year’s relatively large energy price rises are just the beginning of what will happen if we don’t move away from fossil fuels, and towards more renewables; remember that once you build a wind-turbine, your fuel is free, for ever, whereas for gas and other fossil fuels (and nuclear), building the power station is just part of the cost of producing energy, and fuel costs are out of your control.

Add to this the externalities of fossil fuels, such as the so-called Death Print (e.g. the 170,000 deaths per trillion kWh for coal), and it’s clear that the small fraction of ‘green taxes’ is worth paying.

Ealing Transition has entered into partnership with Good Energy, a green energy supplier whose electricity comes from certified renewables like sunshine, wind and rain. They’re not only developing new wind and solar farms across the country, they also support a growing community of over 52,000 independent renewable generators across the country, who are making the most of the natural elements around them. And they’re normally cheaper than the Big Six’s standard tariffs. Switch to Good Energy with Ealing Transition, and they’ll pay £25 to us, helping us continue our work .

Community, Events, Reskilling

Reskilling Day Saturday 19th October

We are delighted to invite you to Re-skilling 2013 on Saturday 19th October, 1:30pm to 6pm at The Polygon, St Mary’s Church, Ealing W5 5RH.

Reskilling is an important part of the Transition model, enabling us to become more self-reliant. This is the third such event we have run and they are always a lot of fun (read our report on last year’s event).

This year’s workshops include bike maintenance, making and saving electricity, managing food waste, eco jewellery, massage, pilates, natural cosmetics, bread making, jam making, beer can chicken, beekeeping, chicken and pig keeping, knitting, sewing, and food fermentation.

At 5pm a meal made from local produce will be served to the sounds of a local band.

Entry and workshops are free however we would be grateful for donations to help us cover the costs of staging the event.

Below is the schedule for the day: click on the image to make it larger. Some sessions are open to drop in on the day, however spaces are limited on others. Pre-booking is advised – e-mail reskillingday@gmail.com or 020 8133 5259. Most workshops are suitable for adults with younger children; older children may attend unaccompanied, with parental permission.

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