One of the best responses to climate change and peak oil, the Transition towns movement, has featured in New Scientist.

I have been accused of not talking about positive solutions to our society's problems. Contrary to what some of the hysterics here may think I have little faith in centralised government. I think that projects at the community level can move quickly where national government is stuck by inertia and corruption.

The transition idea started in Kinsale in 2005 and has gone viral since then, being picked up most in the UK.

Here is the article itself:
Rob Hopkins: Getting over oil, one town at a time - opinion - 07 February 2010 - New Scientist

and Rob Hopkin's response to it
Transition Makes the Hallowed Pages of New Scientist Transition Culture

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"But do 'climategate' revelations justify the sceptics’ claims that this is “the final nail in the coffin” of global warming theory? Not at all. They damage the credibility of three or four scientists. They raise questions about the integrity of one or perhaps two out of several hundred lines of evidence."

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Groan..... So you are an anarchist No wonder you were too embarrassed to admit it.

Yes, saw that one - interesting idea.

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Never let the best be the enemy of the good.

No, I believe that there is a role for governments. I just don't think that they lead, I think that they follow.

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"But do 'climategate' revelations justify the sceptics’ claims that this is “the final nail in the coffin” of global warming theory? Not at all. They damage the credibility of three or four scientists. They raise questions about the integrity of one or perhaps two out of several hundred lines of evidence."

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Ceratinly they do in our case - waft a few banknotes under their noses and they'll follow you to hell...and drag the country with them.

That's often going to be the case with democratic politicians. At the end of the day, the politician who espouses unpopular ideas is not going to be re-elected - those politicians of yesteryear who did so successfully were often the beneficiaries of 'pocket seats'.

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Never let the best be the enemy of the good.

Argument for a (partial) List System?...

Well said. That would make a very good signature quote!

I would be very supportive of Transition Towns, but it seems to be a difficult concept to get off the ground. Well, it sounds good in theory, but in practice, not many people want to participate. (I would be happy to be proved wrong on this). It seems to work better in England, as the English were always much better at a community level, in thrifty economies, and in skill sharing - a carry over from the war times. The Celtic Tiger seems to have imbued in the Irish psyche a notion that greed is good, and that wealth (and the luxuries it can buy) will return.

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"To be is to do"-Socrates; "To do is to be"-Sartre; "Do Be Do Be Do"-Sinatra

At this stage of the game, I'm beginning to welcome almost anything that shakes up the existing system. I suppose we'd need to look at those countries that do operate a list system, and see whether their politicians are any braver than ours.

The advantage of our method is - theoretically - the Independents, and - very theoretically - the independence of TDs from central party control, although having looked at TD voting records, that latter really is purely theoretical.

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Never let the best be the enemy of the good.

What would concern me more is that they're very close to being a survivalist approach. They're appropriate for a collapse of modern economic life, but such a collapse in a modern country like England is going to be so ruddy awful that it might well be more appropriate for Transition Towns to cut to the chase and start drilling their pikemen in the main square.

So, as a model that can be scaled up and connected together, they're a good thing, although there will be features that won't scale or connect - but as a model to be followed in isolation by individual towns, they're not really such a good thing.

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Never let the best be the enemy of the good.