Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

The other thing that was very much the trend maybe 10 years ago was the Transition Town movement with a few places like Totnes in Devon and Lewes in Sussex even starting a local currency scheme and producing and promoting the Totnes Pound. Seems to have gone off the radar a bit as there has been a move to discredit the concept of 'Peak Oil' from quite a few 'experts'. The movement also began planting edible trees in the towns in transition, fruit and nut trees with the view that they would feed the people in the event of problems occuring and places like Reading even installing a wind turbine which you can see from the train when you come in to the station from my direction. Wind farms are also very unpopular aren't they? I guess if generated from fossil fuels energy gets too expensive though even those would be viewed less badly. I get raised hackles though when wind farms are objected to by people who say it will spoil the lovely view from out village so you can't build them there, so self serving and not a thought for the future and future generations Grrrrr!

nuatha

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

places like Reading even installing a wind turbine which you can see from the train when you come in to the station from my direction. Wind farms are also very unpopular aren't they? I guess if generated from fossil fuels energy gets too expensive though even those would be viewed less badly. I get raised hackles though when wind farms are objected to by people who say it will spoil the lovely view from out village so you can't build them there, so self serving and not a thought for the future and future generations Grrrrr!

I've always thought the alternative to having a windfarm would be not having electricity - or am I over-simplifying things?

[Deleted User]

It's not hard to figure out is it? but apparently some people wouldn't mind as long as the pretty view was untouched. Let there be light eh? and not just the generated kind!!!

greenbee

Don't forget the positive side of electronic payments. Mobile phone micropayments are changing lives in developing countries. It's only with the advent of mobile phone technology that communication has been made possible for some remote communities as the cost of fixed line infrastructure was unsustainable, but mobile infrastructure is less problematic. Combined with solar technology (for power) and micropayment systems modern technology is finally bringing benefits to populations that have been sidelined for generations.

Lyn - the wind turbine in Reading is part of a sustainability initiative in a business park. There are other community wind turbines in other parts of the country, where locals have invested in wind farms. Where these things are done by communities for communities you tend to get buy-in. Where vast numbers of wind turbines are being built in areas as if they were a powerstation, and no link made to the local community, it tends to meet resistance.

I suggest, given the area you are in, you ask them to choose between wind turbines and fracking...

lillibet_dripping

GreyQueen wrote: »

Have just finished Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, which could be described as a considerably post Apocalyptic novel. This was the first of his that I have ever read and I was blown away, both by the quality of the writing and the intelligence of the storyline. I would heartily recommend it. I shall read more by this author, and not wait too long about it, either.

On your recommendation a few days ago that you were about to read this book, I ordered it from the library and read it in one hit. Thought-provoking indeed. I would also highly recommend a read.

charlie96pg

Light without electric - gravitylight dot org - uses weight and a sprocket/drivetrain (other things I can't remember). Originally designed for abroad to combat health problems caused by use of kerosene (sp?) but might be of interest to peeps on this thread?

GreyQueen

Glad you enjoyed the book, lillibet.

[Deleted User]

GREENBEE my dear to ask them the question in the first place would require the removal of so many heads from buckets of sand that it might create enough collective energy to power a lighthouse for a few days.....what??? something of that nature in OUR village, never heard anything like it, what on earth would the visitors think, how would the sailing club ever manage if they had distractions like that, harrumph harrumph harrumph.....these incomers with thier outlandish ideas, the very idea etc. etc. etc..........besides that I like my head where it is, still on my shoulders and I feel it might not be if I suggested either option!

greenbee

Bet the sailing club is mostly incomers

Often they're the ones that resist change most vociferously, whereas the locals are happy for things to change if it means they get to stay, their lives will be easier (and ideally the incomers go away...)

mardatha

I'm surrounded by windfarms up here and I don't mind them at all - far prefer them to a nuclear power station..