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Short takes by our regular writers on news, trends and happenings on the economy, politics, energy and culture from a Transition perspective.

#2: Views from the boonies

By December 30, 2011
reason2jpg

There's been a town-and-country gap in the industrial world for a century or more. But today, with most people living in big cities, the media gives precious little thought to people who live on farms or in small towns and villages. But you can't build resilience for a modern nation in Los Angeles or in London's Camden borough alone. The genius of the Transition movement in particular has been to empower people in places that the media has never heard of, from Sandpoint, Idaho to … [Read more...]

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#9: We stand up for freedom

By December 23, 2011
9reason

Some people who care about peak oil think that government doesn't matter. Washington, Ottawa, London and all the rest are so clueless and corrupt about energy depletion, why even bother with politics? Just wait for the whole house of cards that is industrial civilization to come crashing down and government will become a bad dream. We agree that too many government officials are on the corporate payroll. But we don't agree that plutocracy makes politics irrelevant. Even before the Occupy … [Read more...]

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#10: The camera doesn’t lie

By December 22, 2011
10reason

In the words of Stanley Kubrick's cult classic A Clockwork Orange, we like to "viddy well, my droogs." That means we like to watch the movies. And just as in our perks with books, watching movies comes with the territory of running a magazine because we need to — and want to — review documentaries (and other films) for you. It's always so exciting when a new documentary comes in the mail and we set aside the time to pop some organic popcorn, pour some local craft brews and settle in to … [Read more...]

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#11: The kids are not alright

By December 21, 2011
11reason

There are so many times that the plea to do it "for the sake of the kids" is trotted out that the phrase has lost most of its meaning. There was an election in West Virginia when the phrase was used by the coal industry to unseat a judge who ruled against mountaintop removal coal mining. The idea was that the few miners who were left with jobs after mechanization replaced most miners still needed to feed their kids. Never mind the kids who lived near the site or downstream, who were sucking … [Read more...]

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#12: Farm to fork

By December 20, 2011
12th reason

One of the bright spots in the whole peak oil and climate change narrative is that a pronounced relationship to nature may be returning to the Western world after too many years of alienation from the land, seasons, and cycles of life. It's been our pleasure over the last 15 months to bring you stories of back-to-the land movements in film reviews, recipes, community gardens, urban homesteading, and the low-tech work of our farmer friend Steven French in Tasmania. Everybody loves to eat. … [Read more...]

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#13: Putting technology in its place

By December 19, 2011
13reason

Sure, we publish exclusively on the Inter-webs. We use Facebook and Twitter and we feel guilty for not doing more with Google+ yet. And we see that technology can be useful, within limits. But we also don't worship the golden calf of the techno-fix. This causes us no end of spats with our friends. For example, friends with mainstream environmental groups who promote the green economy. Sure, we love solar panels. But we don't think any amount of clean energy can replace all the cheap fossil … [Read more...]

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#16: Eye candy

By December 16, 2011
reason16

One of the big motivators for starting Transition Voice was the desire to tell the peak oil story in a way that would resonate with a wider audience. We wanted to help people who care about the environment  and energy to see that there's not decades more of cheap oil as the deepwater drillers and shale boosters want everyone to believe. We wanted to make them care about transitioning to cleaner energy because it was the right thing to do for people and the planet. We wanted to get soccer … [Read more...]

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#17: Voluntary Simplicity

By December 15, 2011
new17

One of the most important objectives here at Transition Voice is our aim to connect the dots between economy, lifestyle, and the impacts in the world that are stressing our shared (common) systems as well as the ecosystems of the world in their own right. As advocates of clean energy, low-impact local living whenever possible, and personal conservation efforts, we encourage a way of life in line with Transition values, and the values of everyone who seeks a more human scale, healthy … [Read more...]

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#18: Telling the Transition story

By December 14, 2011
18reason

We're huge fans of the Transition movement. We love it so much, we even put the word in our name. And while many folks within and outside of the Transition movement proper are talking about a transition to the post-fossil fuels economy/society/culture, it's an idea that still needs more traction in the wider world if we're to avoid the worst fallout of the converging crises of peak oil, global warming and economic crisis. So transition in general is great. But in our view the Transition … [Read more...]

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#20: Readers’ writers

By December 12, 2011
Reason 20

One of the perks of running a newspaper or magazine is getting a bunch of free stuff sent to you to try out. The hopes of people who publish books, film documentaries and make stuff is that you'll try their product and give it a good write-up. On the one hand, of course, freebies are great. What we can't use for Transition Voice reviews, we're able to offer as door prizes at our local Transition Town events. On the other hand, if we want to be worthy of the freebies, we believe we have to … [Read more...]

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