Brian Carpenter's Blog (7)

Greetings friends,

Over the weekend I had the intriguing opportunity to take part in a Radical Democracy seminar. It was exciting, educational, and somewhat frightening - much like the experiences I usually find through Transition!

I would summarize the message of the seminar thusly:

• Our country's foundational documents proclaim Democracy - power in the people, but our legal history has instead given the power to…

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http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/publications/p-ee1-01.pdf

I just found this article and will soon comment on it. For now, other people can start reading it, too.

Cheers,

Brian

The greatest revelation for me while tabling at the Bham Farmers' Market was coming into contact with a group of

sympathizers who haven't gotten very involved with Transition Whatcom

yet: burnt out hippies. Obviously we all know they're around - this is

Bellingham after all, but as a group they are conspicuously absent from

our active membership. Just to be clear, I'm talking about the folks

from the 60s and 70s who poured all their heart and soul into that… Continue

It was market day today, and I got to spend some time with Rhys and Raven promoting The Great Unleashing! This was my first time tabling, and I really enjoyed getting so many

people to smile and greet me. A good time was had by all, despite the weather, and I think we did a pretty good job of connecting with our community.



Most common quotes overheard:

• "What the [heck] is The Great Unleashing?!"
• "Ooh, I've been reading about this!"
• "We'll be there!…

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(Hello. This blog entry is copied from my response to a discussion on the WWU student forum http://forum.wwu.edu/node/11528#comment-29451. I'm not sure if that's visible outside the school, but I put a lot of effort into this, and it is relevant to our work here, so here you go:)

First off, the Venus Project site is down right now, so I'm having…

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I have emitted 32 tons of CO2 this year. Yikes! Next year I expect to reduce that to 18 tons. An average American emits 27 tons; the average citizen of the world emits just 5.5. (http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/)



According to an IPCC report cited by Rob Hopkins in his Handbook, within 20 years we need to be emitting 80% less than now, and within 40 years we need to be sequestering… Continue

“In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer, 1972



This quote comes from research into experiential education and service learning. I feel these words will become progressively more prescient and relevant as the future unveils.



More literally, the quote reminds me of a discussion I had with a friend the other day. I told him of… Continue