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  • From: Nicholas Roberts <nicholas@themediasociety.org>
  • To: John Shiel <jshiel@westnet.com.au>, permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc: kt-b@comcen.com.au, William Vorobioff <wvorobioff@optusnet.com.au>, pil members list <pil-members@lists.permacultureinternational.org>, Tom Toogood <ecoed@dodo.com.au>, ross Brown <ross@darksidemasks.com>, Ben Henley <Ben.Henley@newcastle.edu.au>, Katie & Errol Moyle <errolkate@yahoo.com.au>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Transition Australia - Ning-based cousin for Transition USA ?
  • Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 14:50:25 +1100

there are network effects by using an already existing social network
platform - Ning is exploding and it would make great sense to
cross-pollinate with Transition USA

I have created 2 Ning-based Australian focussed websites
http://transitionau.ning.com and http://transitionaus.ning.com/

they are empty containers... someone from Transition movement Au should take
this on and build up the sites


--
Nicholas Roberts
[im] skype:niccolor



On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 2:16 PM, John Shiel <jshiel@westnet.com.au> wrote:

> Nick,
>
> Transition Towns is a fairly big movement, and they are already creating a
> world Web2.0 site - see http://transitiontowns.org/forum/forum.php?id=30,
> and
> http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionSoftwarePlatform
>
> I think they are using an open source platform, and I am sure they would
> welcome assistance - they have been going for a couple of months, but not
> sure where its at.
>
> Locally, you are welcome to attend the TT Newcastle mtgs (next one
> tomorrow, this Tues), where we are just putting up our website and
> populating it at the moment.
>
> Best,
> John
>
> Nicholas Roberts wrote:
>
> hi Tom
>
> in the short-term 1-2 years, in my view, the Transition movement offers the
> best bet on democratic and community-wide permaculture activism ...
>
> I understand the UK founders of Transition Towns are in Australia now..
>
> I reckon we could organise using online social networks ..the US Transition
> movement are using a social network called Ning, which is commercial but
> still pretty good... it can integrate with Facebook, WiserEarth, YouTube etc
>
> http://transitionus.ning.com/
>
> there doesnt seem to be an Australian cousin
> http://transitionus.ning.com/main/search/search?q=australia
>
> Au, UK and USA are in very similar positions relative to the rest of the
> world - both leaders and laggards
>
> makes sense to fold all these ideas into the Transition movement- I think
> other permaculture cooperative projects can grow within this evironment -
> such as permaculture TV etc... I have created a permaculture coop Ning
> website, but am keeping it low profile for the moment..
>
>
> what do you think ? should I create a Transition Ning space ?
> to run alongside Transition US ?
>
> cheers
> -N
>
>
>
> --
> Nicholas Roberts
> [im] skype:niccolor
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 10:29 PM, Tom Toogood <ecoed@dodo.com.au> wrote:
> > The news below is hugely important. Gaia theory (the glove that the
> > Permaculture hand fits so well) founder James Lovelock says Carbon
> Trading
> > is a complete CON,
> >
> > And that the only climate change solution is for all farmers to start
> making
> > & burying BIOCHAR now !!
> >
> >
> >
> > Great stuff, so logical, thanks Nicholas, your determination, current
> > training and consistent sending of updates strengthens my view that you
> &
> > your plans
> >
> > should be strongly supported (wish I could find some $$$$- Mercy Fndn has
> > advised their grants are only for local community projects rather than
> > global/national impact)……and I agree your vision is too much work for one
> > guy unless spread over more years than the planet can afford to wait
> >
> > So…If u like I could prospect for 1/2/3 helper/s for you, e.g. keen,
> social
> > justice sensitive, postgrad student/s in community economics/free trade
> > alternatives,
> >
> > in Faculty of Economics here (I did some part time lecturing in their
> dept
> > of management, at the Indigenous centre Wollotuka)….at any of several
> levels
> > of engagement, from just networking & information building right thru to
> > admin/clerical/editorial/media assistance.
> >
> >
> >
> > I had planned to contact Cheryl Kernot at UNSW to tentatively discuss, &
> > get advice on possible keynote speakers for the Other Money Show /
> Community
> > Finance or Small is Beautiful show, which I'd envisaged before knowing
> you,
> > so I'll do that and also tell her of your goals, I'm certain she'll be
> > interested in coops Aus, and of course she and you could communicate
> > directly. I may be able to come to Sydney with u to meet her sometime.
> When
> > does your course finish, i.e. when are you coming this way again?....we
> need
> > to start thinking re broad time frame for the show, from experience is
> needs
> > minimum 2 months, better with 3, planning & promotion.
> >
> > I'll also inform the aus assn for economic reform & the society for
> > ecological economics organized by a keen lecturer at Uni New England,
> about
> > all the above
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards, Tom
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: niccolo.roberts@gmail.com [mailto:niccolo.roberts@gmail.com] On
> Behalf
> > Of Nicholas Roberts
> > Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 4:59 PM
> > To: permaculture; Robyn Francis; Tom Toogood; Jack Heimsoth; Peter Wood
> > Subject: Biochar - Gaia Permaculture
> >
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126921.500-one-last-chance-to-save-mankind.html?full=true
> >
> > One last chance to save mankind
> >
> > 23 January 2009 by Gaia Vince
> > Magazine issue 2692. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
> > For similar stories, visit the Interviews and Climate Change Topic Guides
> >
> > With his 90th birthday in July, a trip into space scheduled for later in
> the
> > year and a new book out next month, 2009 promises to be an exciting time
> for
> > James Lovelock. But the originator of the Gaia theory, which describes
> Earth
> > as a self-regulating planet, has a stark view of the future of humanity.
> He
> > tells Gaia Vince we have one last chance to save ourselves - and it has
> > nothing to do with nuclear power
> >
> > Your work on atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons led eventually to a global
> CFC
> > ban that saved us from ozone-layer depletion. Do we have time to do a
> > similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate
> change?
> >
> > Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic
> scam.
> > Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance
> and
> > industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change,
> but
> > it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of
> > reckoning. I am not against renewable energy, but to spoil all the decent
> > countryside in the UK with wind farms is driving me mad. It's absolutely
> > unnecessary, and it takes 2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt -
> > that's an awful lot of countryside.
> >
> > What about work to sequester carbon dioxide?
> >
> > That is a waste of time. It's a crazy idea - and dangerous. It would take
> so
> > long and use so much energy that it will not be done.
> >
> > Do you still advocate nuclear power as a solution to climate change?
> >
> > It is a way for the UK to solve its energy problems, but it is not a
> global
> > cure for climate change. It is too late for emissions reduction measures.
> >
> > So are we doomed?
> >
> > There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive
> > burial of charcoal. It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural
> > waste - which contains carbon that the plants have spent the summer
> > sequestering - into non-biodegradable charcoal, and burying it in the
> soil.
> > Then you can start shifting really hefty quantities of carbon out of the
> > system and pull the CO2 down quite fast.
> >
> > Would it make enough of a difference?
> >
> > Yes. The biosphere pumps out 550 gigatonnes of carbon yearly; we put in
> only
> > 30 gigatonnes. Ninety-nine per cent of the carbon that is fixed by plants
> is
> > released back into the atmosphere within a year or so by consumers like
> > bacteria, nematodes and worms. What we can do is cheat those consumers by
> > getting farmers to burn their crop waste at very low oxygen levels to
> turn
> > it into charcoal, which the farmer then ploughs into the field. A little
> CO2
> > is released but the bulk of it gets converted to carbon. You get a few
> per
> > cent of biofuel as a by-product of the combustion process, which the
> farmer
> > can sell. This scheme would need no subsidy: the farmer would make a
> profit.
> > This is the one thing we can do that will make a difference, but I bet
> they
> > won't do it.
> >
> > Do you think we will survive?
> >
> > I'm an optimistic pessimist. I think it's wrong to assume we'll survive 2
> °C
> > of warming: there are already too many people on Earth. At 4 °C we could
> not
> > survive with even one-tenth of our current population. The reason is we
> > would not find enough food, unless we synthesised it. Because of this,
> the
> > cull during this century is going to be huge, up to 90 per cent. The
> number
> > of people remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion
> or
> > less. It has happened before: between the ice ages there were bottlenecks
> > when there were only 2000 people left. It's happening again.
> >
> > I don't think humans react fast enough or are clever enough to handle
> what's
> > coming up. Kyoto was 11 years ago. Virtually nothing's been done except
> > endless talk and meetings.
> >
> > I don't think we can react fast enough or are clever enough to handle
> what's
> > coming up
> >
> > It's a depressing outlook.
> >
> > Not necessarily. I don't think 9 billion is better than 1 billion. I see
> > humans as rather like the first photosynthesisers, which when they first
> > appeared on the planet caused enormous damage by releasing oxygen - a
> nasty,
> > poisonous gas. It took a long time, but it turned out in the end to be of
> > enormous benefit. I look on humans in much the same light. For the first
> > time in its 3.5 billion years of existence, the planet has an
> intelligent,
> > communicating species that can consider the whole system and even do
> things
> > about it. They are not yet bright enough, they have still to evolve quite
> a
> > way, but they could become a very positive contributor to planetary
> welfare.
> >
> > How much biodiversity will be left after this climatic apocalypse?
> >
> > We have the example of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum event 55
> > million years ago. About the same amount of CO2 was put into the
> atmosphere
> > as we are putting in and temperatures rocketed by about 5 °C over about
> > 20,000 years. The world became largely desert. The polar regions were
> > tropical and most life on the planet had the time to move north and
> survive.
> > When the planet cooled they moved back again. So there doesn't have to be
> a
> > massive extinction. It's already moving: if you live in the countryside
> as I
> > do you can see the changes, even in the UK.
> >
> > If you were younger, would you be fearful?
> >
> > No, I have been through this kind of emotional thing before. It reminds
> me
> > of when I was 19 and the second world war broke out. We were very
> frightened
> > but almost everyone was so much happier. We're much better equipped to
> deal
> > with that kind of thing than long periods of peace. It's not all bad when
> > things get rough. I'll be 90 in July, I'm a lot closer to death than you,
> > but I'm not worried. I'm looking forward to being 100.
> >
> > Are you looking forward to your trip into space this year?
> >
> > Very much. I've got my camera ready!
> >
> > Do you have to do any special training?
> >
> > I have to go in the centrifuge to see if I can stand the g-forces. I
> don't
> > anticipate a problem because I spent a lot of my scientific life on ships
> > out on rough oceans and I have never been even slightly seasick so I
> don't
> > think I'm likely to be space sick. They gave me an expensive thorium-201
> > heart test and then put me on a bicycle. My heart was performing like an
> > average 20 year old, they said.
> >
> > I bet your wife is nervous.
> >
> > No, she's cheering me on. And it's not because I'm heavily insured,
> because
> > I'm not.
> >
> > --
> > Nicholas Roberts
> > [im] skype:niccolor
>
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