This page is a collection of links to articles in the media about issues of interest to the Transition Movement, in Austin and the world. It will, of course, grow as articles are published. New articles will be added at the top, so the older ones slither downwards toward the bottom. This is where things from the "News" column on the home page go when they get kicked off there by newer articles.
If you see an article you think ought to be included here, please send us a message with information about it - including its URL on the web.
May 15, 2010:
10 Reasons to Be Alarmed About Our Catastrophic
Oil Addiction
Well, other than the fact that addiction is self-destructive
in the first place, what other reasons are there?
Try war, terrorism, economic instability, and a lot more
in this insightful article from
Alternet.
April 5, 2010:
Austin Heat : Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet?
Research by the U.S. Global Change Research Program shows that
"Austin (Central Texas) normally has 12 days of 100-degree-plus
heat per summer based on temperature records that go back to 1854.
In the next 80 to 90 years, Austin is projected to average
between 90 and 120 days of 100-degree plus heat every year. ...
The Sonoran Desert Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, only averages
87 days over 100 degrees."
February, 2010:
The Oil Crunch: A Wake-up Call for the UK Economy
This is an update of the 2008 report of the same name;
both reports are available from this site.
The 2010 document reports that "... oil shortages, insecurity
of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic,
political and social activity potentially by 2015."
Of course, everything the report says about the UK is
equally true in the US - and maybe even more so.
February 1, 2010:
How Can We Talk About Transformational Change Without
Losing Hope?
This article is a summary of the Transition movement by someone
who was about ready to give up hope for the future altogether
until she heard about Transition.
She says, "The father of England's Transition Initiatives,
self-described as 'the fastest growing community scale
initiatives in the world,' aimed at reducing carbon emissions,
building resilience and strengthening local economies,
Rob Hopkins disagrees with environmental tactics that attempt
to shock us into action like helpless Pavlov dogs. ...
He believes the Great Turning that has been shifting our
identity from mindless consumers of the planet's resources
to conscious protectors 'offers the potential of an
extraordinary renaissance - economic, cultural and spiritual.' "
January 26, 2010:
Economic Black Hole: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy
Is Dying
This interesting article is about the third of the three
upcoming problems with which Transition is concerned.
The title is deliberately provocative, but it's hard to
argue with the content - each of the 20 points is well
argued and documented.
In other words, this is also a transition we have to be
prepared for.
January 4, 2010:
The Meaning of Copenhagen
In his "Museletter" Richard Heinberg gives a balanced view
of the results of the 2009 Copenhagen conference, discussing
its successes & failures and where we go from here.
Whether you believe Copenhagen went too far, or it didn't go
far enought, Mr. Heinberg's analysis is worth reading.
December 14, 2009:
The Future is Now : Mother Earth and Our Great
Green Leap
Quoting from the article,
"Mother Earth demands that fossil/nukes be transcended. ...
But climate chaos and financial ruin do not stand alone.
Green gadgetry aside, we don't get to 2030 unless we confront:
*
The power of the corporations;
*
Social justice and ballot-based democracy;
*
Ending waste and war;
*
Growing food that's truly organic;
*
Empowering women while harmonizing population growth."
November 25, 2009:
The Great Turning : From Empire to Earth Community
Quoting from the article,
"David Korten, long-time global justice activist, co-founder
of Yes! Magazine, and author of such books as When
Corporations Rule the World, lays out the fundamental
crossroads facing the world in his 2006 book The Great
Turning: From Empire to Earth Community ....
In response to global climate change, war, oil scarcity,
persistent racism and sexism and many other mounting
crises, Korten argues we must recognize these as symptoms
of a larger system of Empire, so that we might move in a
radically different direction of equality, ecological
sustainability, and cooperation, which he terms
'Earth Community.'"
November 16, 2009:
If Nothing Else, Save Farming
In this analysis by environmental and political activist
George Monbiot, he discusses the implications on farming
of the coming oil crisis.
Converting from the British units used in the article, he
says that currently, cultivating 2½ acres uses
10½ gallons of gasoline and 20 gallons of diesel fuel.
In summary, he says,
"Unless farmers can change the way it's grown, a permanent
oil shock would price food out of the mouths of many of the
world's people."
Novmber 1, 2009:
Transition: Meeting the Challenge of Energy Descent
Quoting from the article,
"Where we are now is at the beginning of a transition from
an industrial growth culture to a culture of descent.
This transition will be characterized by much cultural
chaos, and then we will be declining or descending to a
far more sustainable low-energy culture.
Regarding this, David Holmgren says, 'We have trouble
visualizing decline as positive, but this simply
reflects the dominance of our prior culture of growth....
The real issue of our age is how we make a graceful
and ethical descent.'"
October 12, 2009:
Humanity's Rite of Passage: A World Tended by Adults
This is a long article, and though it's all interesting, the
sections "What Developmental Disability Looks Like" and "What
Does Developmental Durability Look Like?" are especially
pertinent to Transition.
October 8, 2009:
Era of cheap, easy oil is over, warns study
This report from the UK Energy Research Council says that the
estimates that peak oil will hit in around 2030 are wrong.
"The peer-reviewed research looked at 500 studies from around
the world and took into account the difficulty of accessing
new oil fields as well as growing demand.
It predicted oil will begin running out before 2030 and
there is a 'significant risk" peak oil will be reached
before 2020."
(That's 10 years away !)
September 9, 2009:
Preparing for Peak Oil:
How Our Lives Will Change Forever
This article gives a realistic view of "peak oil" and what it
means to us - graphs and all.
A quote:
"We worship oil - and while an impressive 70% of crude oil
is refined into transportation energy, a whopping 98% of
transportation energy comes from oil. And if all the
predictions are correct, the impact on our economy and our
civilization is such that any delay in our response is
only going to magnify the coming cataclysm. Imagine an
asteroid hitting the planet in slow motion."
October 1, 2009:
How to Sustain a Local Economy: From PB&J
to Regional Currencies
How can we do things more locally?
Or even completely locally?
Ann Arbor, Michigan, is looking at exactly that.
This article describes a forum held there entitled
"Michigan's Economic Situation: Crisis or Opportunity?",
in which the entire city looked hard at the opportunities
and implications of true localization.
September 27, 2009:
Cassandras of Climate
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman says in this article
"These days, dire warnings aren't the delusional raving of
cranks. They're what come out of the most widely respected
climate models, devised by the leading researchers.
The prognosis for the planet has gotten much, much worse
in just the last few years."
September 25, 2009:
Planetary Boundaries and the Failure of Environmentalism
"Planetary boundaries are the natural limits on humanity's use
of the planet. Strikingly, until recently, no one had made a
serious effort to quantify these limits in measurable ways.
That's why
a new report
from the Stockholm Resilience Center, attempting to give hard
numbers for most of these boundaries, is so crucial."
June 25, 2009:
Austin Eco-Change Exchange
"Fresh off an election in which their preferred candidates
swept the City Council races, Austin's environmental-activist
groups are calling for a far-reaching 'green' agenda to be
adopted at City Hall."
May 15, 2009:
Energy Depletion Risks
This PDF file is a report by Austin Energy, the City of Austin's
electric utility, about the risks to the city posed by the
coming depletion of oil and natural gas resources.
The report states, "Even a modest decline in (oil) supply could
cause profound shifts in the social equity and economies in
Austin and Central Texas."
April 16, 2009:
The End Is Near! (Yay!)
This article from the New York Times describes the
Transtition effort in Sandpoint, Idaho, and goes into quite
a bit of detail about what Transition is all about overall.
Here's a quote from the article by Rob Hopkins, the founder
of Transition, that serves as a clarion call to action: