Tools (or an example) for working toward an EDAP

[Angela MacLeod]

Hi friends,

The following is an excerpt from the article by Rob H. recently posted on the Energy Bulletin. I thought this part could be a useful starting place for assessing our community/region for the EDAP:

 

Link to the article

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-12-16/ingredients-transi...

 

Here's the section from the article Ingredients of Transition: Strategic local infrastructure:

So what new businesses, buildings, livelihoods and infrastructure might a Transitioned community need? Here is a list I came up with in order to get your Transition initiative started with coming up with its own…. just a few initial thoughts… you will notice that actually there are lots of things, lots of opportunities for local economic development, that actually require very little in the way of infrastructure, or perhaps it shifts our thinking away from a nuts and bolts interpretation of the word ‘infrastructure’:

Employment Sector	Industry Type	Opportunities for Economic Development	Infrastructure needed
Food Production/Land Use	Organic Farming	Farm workers, research and innovation, value adding and processing, retail, Community Supported Agriculture initiatives	Farm buildings, packing houses,
	Textile Production	Farming, processing, manufacturing	Factories with facilities for washing, scouring, retting, grading, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing
	Organic Food Production	Training, freshwater aquaculture, organic gourmet mushroom production for food and medicines, intensive market gardening, food preservation	Glass houses for aquaponic fish production, sealable buildings for mushroom cultivation, greenhouses, composting,
	Forestry	Timber for construction and a variety of uses, sawdust for mushroom cultivation, charcoal, wood gasification, coppice products, saps, tannin, bark mulch, education, training, food crops, fibre	Mobile sawmills, wood gasification equipment, shredders, drying kilns, covered working space, timber storage space
	Urban Agriculture	Co-ordination, land access provision, edible landscaping consultancy, online tools for linking growers and consumers, large potential for commercial production, plant nurseries and propagation	Greenhouses, tools, access/deliveries by cycle, horse or electric vehicle, space for storage, packing and processing
	Gleaning	Apple harvesting and pressing, hedgerow drinks and other products, education
	Agroforestry systems	Design consultancy, planting and ongoing management, selling of wide range of produce, long term enhanced timber value, courses, publications, research	Tree nursery beds, nut harvesting equipment, processing,
	Schools	Edible landscaping, teaching, Education for Sustainable Development, food growing training, apprenticeships, bespoke Transition training programmes	Polytunnels, garden infrastructure, tools and equipment
Manufacturing and Processing	Recycling	Salvaging building materials, processing and reclaiming materials (bricks, timber etc), making insulation from waste paper, glass bottles into insulation	A yard or industrial space with covered area, the various appropriate equipment for the relevant tasks
	Sustainable Industry	Renewable energy technologies manufacturing and installing, technology systems,	Workshops with specialist equipment, office space
	Repair	Extending the life of machinery, building for durability	Covered space for working on machinery, appropriate equipment
	Scavenging	Materials reuse, refurbishing, resale to low-income families
Services	Healthcare	Holistic healthcare, research into effective herbal medicines, local herb growing and processing, training for doctors, apothecaries, nutritional advice	Glasshouses/polytunnels,, laboratory, bottling,
	Energy	Home insulation advice, energy monitoring, energy efficient devices, investment co-ordinators, sale of energy to grid or decentralised energy systems, producing wood chip/pellets for boilers, Energy Resilience Analyses for businesses
	Compost Management	Collecting, Managing, Training, Distribution, Education, potential links to urban food production
	Information Technology	Creation of effective software systems for energy management, carbon foot printing and much more	Office space?
	Hospice services / bereavement	Hospice services, supporting families who keep relatives at home, green burials
	Financial Investment	Credit Unions, local currencies, mechanisms whereby people can invest with confidence into their community, Green Bonds, crowd funding
Government	Councils	Opportunity to organise efforts throughout region, and parishes
	Researchers	Opportunity to gather information from the many projects and enterprises underway.
Education and Design	Educators	Wide range of opportunities for supporting ‘The Great Reskilling’, developing Distance Learning programmes, training for professionals
	Sustainable Designers	Landscape architects specialising in edible landscaping, zero carbon buildings
	The Arts	Art projects documenting the Transition, installations, exhibitions, public art workshops, local recording studios, storytelling
	Transition Consulting	Working with businesses on energy audits, resilience plans, a range of future-proofing strategies
Personal / Group Support	Counselling	Personal ‘Transition Counselling’, group support, community processes
	Citizens Advice	Debt advice, housing advice, financial management skills, debt scheduling
	Outplacement/Redundancy Support	Support, retraining, ongoing support and training
Media	Print media	Local newspapers, small print run books on different aspects of the Transition
	Internet	Online retailing systems for local markets
	Film media	Online TV channels documenting inspiring examples of Transition in Action
Construction	Reskilling	Retraining builders to use local materials and green building techniques, improving awareness around energy efficiency in building, setting up local construction companies, rainwater harvesting systems, design and installation	Demonstration site where people can learn by doing, storage for natural building materials, a shop where people can buy them,
	Materials	Creating local natural building materials, clay plasters, timber, lime, straw, hemp etc. Growing, processing, distribution, retail etc. Locally made wallpaper.	Hemp processing equipment, sawmill, limekilns and roller mixer, yard and covered space, equipment for processing, bagging and storing clay plasters,
	Architects	Specialists in passivhaus building, local materials, retrofit advice
Transportation	Low energy vehicle fleets	Marketing, maintaining, renting, chauffeuring	Garage space for repairs, recharging points
	Bicycles	Selling, servicing, maintenance training, rental	Bicycle workshop for repairs
	Rickshaws	Importing, servicing, taxi service, weddings etc.	Garage space for repairs, fuel processing
	Biodiesel	Sourcing, processing, selling, training and advice	Simple equipment for processing biodiesel
	Biomethane/Electric vehicles	Fleet management, sales, leasing, car clubs

[Laura J Sellens]

Thanks, Angela.  Reading down farther in the article, I like this bit:

"The Solution

Make one of the key focuses of your Transition initiative’s work and thinking the practicalities of stimulating the infrastructure required by a more localised future. Ideas as to which will be the key pieces of infrastructure will emerge from the EDAP process. Ensure that thinking is strategic and connected, and that it is based on considering the viability of each enterprise."

 

I'm really finding the Transition Culture posts useful.  And I hope he's right--that working on the EDAP will inspire some of these projects.

[Judith Culver]

Laura, what are the Transition Culture posts you referred to?

[Laura J Sellens]

http://transitionculture.org/

This is a website where Rob Hopkins identifies and links patterns, or "ingredients" of Transition which he collects from anecdotes from people all over doing Transition, as well as his own experience.  I signed up for email updates and every few days or sometimes more, he posts a little bit.  What I like is that it's just bites at a time, but with enough regularity that it starts to weave together in your brain.