Oil depletion, Ecovillages and Transition Towns

September's 'Community Solutions' event will be on the topic of exploring the design of low energy communities, and will look at models of Eco-Villages and the movement of Transition Towns which has taken off recently with great success in the UK. This event will take place in the Bantry Christian Fellowship Hall on Tuesday 18th September at 8pm, with a 5 euro admission charge and will feature international speakers who are visiting Cork for the Association of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference 17-18th Sept.

A screening of the film "End of Suburbia" which highlights the pressing realities of communities reliant on oil in America, by Gregory Greene, who will also be present at this event, will take place on Tuesday 11th September in The Bantry Bay Hotel, Wolfetone Square, Bantry at 8pm with debate and discussion to follow.

Albert Bates is an influential figure in the intentional community and ecovillage movements. A lawyer, author and teacher, he has been director for the Institute for Appropriate Technology since 1984 and of the Ecovillage Training Centre at The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee since 1994. Bates has played a major role in the ecovillage movement as one of the organisers of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), and served as GENs' chairman of the board from 2002-2003, and president from 2003-2004. He was also the principal organiser of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas and served as its president from 1996-2003. In 1994 he founded the Ecovillage Training Centre, a "whole systems immersion experience of ecovillage living". He has taught courses in sustainable design, natural design, permaculture and technologies of the future to students from more than 50 nations. Bates is author of many books on law, energy, history and environment including "Climate in Crisis"(1990), "Voices from The Farm" (1998) with Rupert Fike, and the Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook 1999. His latest book is the "Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times 2006". In it Bates examines the transition from a society based on cheap abundant petroleum to one of "compelled conservation". The book looks at the ways of preparing for this transition. He regards the coming changes as an opportunity to "redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each other".

Rob Hopkins is a permaculture designer and teacher, who until 2005 lived in West Cork. Since his return to the UK he has initiated the Transition movement, communities beginning the practical preparation for life beyond the age of cheap oil. He founded Transition Town Totnes, the UKs' first such project, which built on work he had done in Kinsale, where he taught permaculture at Kinsale FEC. It has now inspired hundreds of other communities around the UK to begin their own Transition projects, from villages to cities, and from peninsulas to islands. He now co-ordinates the Transition Network, a national body supporting all these initiatives. He is the author of the forthcoming "Small is Inevitable: the coming transition from oil dependence to local resilience". His talk will explore the Transition concept, and will argue that the end of the oil age has the potential to be the best thing that ever happened to us.

Davie Philips is part of Cultivate, Dublin; a sustainable living and learning centre, dedicated to inspiring healthy, balanced and creative cultural change. There, the emphasis is on integral approach focused on improvements we can make in our own lives, in our communities and in the world. Cultivate is seen as a hub for a community of people and activities. By providing the tools and facilities that support peoples' efforts to become more sustainable, Cultivate aims to be an engine for local economy, community building and Cultural renewal. Davie is also a founding member of The Village in Cloghjordan, N. Tipperary. The Village project is an innovative sustainable community project which will demonstrate best practise in green building, renewable energy and eco design as well as in land use, agriculture and woodlands. It is located on a 69 acre estate adjacent to the village of Cloghjordan, North Tipperary and site work has began with contractors putting in the services for the 132 houses and the 4 community buildings. It aims to connect and help regenerate the village, which like most rural towns and villages has been in decline with the trend of urbanisation. The Village is development with a difference. Unlike most housing developments, The Village is being created by a community of people who are committed to ecological, social and economic sustainability. It is a timely project as it gives local response to global issues such as climate change and oil depletion and will act as a model for other communities in Ireland to act in a sustainable way.

Gregory Greene, who produced the film "End of Suburbia" which highlights the pressing realities of communities reliant on oil in America, will also be present at this event, and a showing of the film will take place on Tuesday 11th September in The Bantry Bay Hotel, Wolfetone square, Bantry at 8pm with debate and discussion to follow.

     
All people interested and involved with Community Development work are urged to attend this meeting - a truly unique opportunity for the West Cork community.