tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3863943547578024337.post2620139425944867450..comments2014-06-27T05:15:16.461-07:00Comments on Great Economic Transition - G.E.T. it?: TRANSITIONING THE TRANSITION TOWN MOVEMENT'S FOCUS TO LOCAL ECONOMIESMatrix Weaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633329709508503822noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3863943547578024337.post-24047995318115212972012-07-13T21:04:00.279-07:002012-07-13T21:04:00.279-07:00You make some good points about the next level of ...You make some good points about the next level of action following those of the first level however I think the materials for these steps exist within the Transition movement. You are right that experimental and successful models should be pursued and publicised,yet each progressive stage of transition needs to arise locally and as a young movement it is probably moving at its natural rate of development, though it may benefit from some pushing.<br /><br />The enlightenment, modern and post-modern periods have been characterised by oppositional critique and increasingly deconstructivist approaches to the transformation of knowledge and action, however this has produced perhaps more problems than solutions. If you were to join a Transition initiative and propose the second level of action, provided you didn't present with ambitions to be the helmsman I would think that your ideas would be well received and add to the body of Transition realisation.<br /><br />The period we are entering could lead our world in one of several ways, from the hellish to the realisation of everything humans really need to live well without treading all over ecology. <br /><br />Transition is about opening up a positive, open movement for concerned people to join. Non-participatory criticism will not help it move forward as successfully as involved visioning and acting.<br /><br />Are you part of a local transition group (not neccesarily formally carrying the transition name) working toward a local currency, encouraging interaction between artisan skilled groups and the flourishing of low input-food producers and developing the forum of cooperative community action... etc? These are significant components of economy B in utero, not as a master plan but organically growing as the earliest economies must have. Provided we use our intellect as involved joiners of this kind of movement we will achieve something, the age of non-active intellectual criticism is hurtling toward a reality where there aren't the resources to support it any longer. <br /><br />Trusting that you are a joiner!<br /><br />CraigAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3863943547578024337.post-35005273888460483082011-07-19T13:53:28.775-07:002011-07-19T13:53:28.775-07:00I'm fully on board with the idea that creating...I'm fully on board with the idea that creating local democratic economies is the most important step to transitioning to the benevolent, powered-down societies that will come out on the other side of the wreckage of the global capitalist system. I don't see the path forward as involving a lot of effort aimed at getting a critical mass of people in a "town" as currently understood to make the necessary changes. There is too much irrationality and selfishness, too much entrenched ideology and self-interest, in the area I live to hope people will suddenly see the light and move willingly to the side of personal/local responsibility and democracy. I think we have to start doing things ourselves (meaning individuals and most importantly, the new communities individuals create), and presume more people will join in when they see the old ways of life crumbling.<br /><br />'Doing things ourselves' includes creating local infrastructures for living off the grid of corporate-orchestrated consumer capitalism -- food, housing, transport, clothing, alternative energy, local currencies and banks and barter markets -- these are things people can start doing for themselves and their emerging communities ('neopublics') of like-minded people. For the time being, these alternative infrastructures can exist in the shadows of the capitalist society, which will, eventually, come down on its own. (We don't have to pull it down; we just have to make sure the people who orchestrated and derived a disproportionate amount of the benefit are not in a position to orchestrate and disproportionately benefit from the new societies we create.)<br /><br />I agree we need more energy devoted to the development of specific steps and strategies for creating our alternative infrastructures, and I am optimistic this website can help with that!Arthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01621371311866494392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3863943547578024337.post-82740071925536157192011-07-15T12:33:39.493-07:002011-07-15T12:33:39.493-07:00I love it!!! This is spot on. I would love to tak...I love it!!! This is spot on. I would love to take part in sharing my experience as a member of the Common Good Bank project. www.commongoodbank.com<br /><br />Every depositor is also an owner who steers the bank through a democratic process with other depositors. All bank profits are reinvested locally, regionally, and globally in other Common Good communities nonprofit and school institutions. All loans of money must be for sustainable enterprises. Bank executives never make more than 10x lowest paid employee.Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01330577745379887427noreply@blogger.com