Nonetheless, large royal cities of the ancient world attracted millions with enticements and promises, while draining their farmlands and farmers. It was not a petroleum economy. It was though highly centralized through a power hierarchy, generally a King as the godhead, where the greed factor eventually would disenfranchise many or create/inspire wars.

It is not hard too understand that if we move into a new era of greater decentralized energy, that the need and desire to alter the urban and rural geography might reverse. These new forms of self reliance and off grid technologies as well could make it possible to live comfortably in areas that have never been inhabited – yet stay very much connected with the world and reduce alienation or disenfranchisement. Yet, what is stopping us from non petrol trains taking us where we want to go.

The history of socialism and anarchism has never had a tradition in environmentalism ever. In the US it was up upper class Republican woman who was your typical environmentalist, outside of your well financed intellectual naturalists, some who were known as the American Transcendentalists. Throughout US history, it is Republicans who were responsible for the biggest environmental initiatives in history. Even Silent Spring was written by a Republican. Nixon signed the Wildlife Protection Act, and Teddy Roosevelt is responsible for National Parks. So what happened?

Labor and the common man were not interested in the luxury known as the preservation and conservation of nature, his concern was higher wages and better working conditions. The pollution his work might cause was of little interest to him. This clash can still be seen, for instance, in northern California between lumber jacks and environmentalists. This is a bridge Judi Bari, a former IWW organizer, sought to build. So, when, where and how did the environmental movement become equated with Socialism and the Left? Of course, we understand as environmentalists that we too have anti-corporate sentiments, but for different reasons.

We still need progressive informed leadership because primitive tribalism, the tendency to shoot first and ask questions later, is going to be with us for awhile. Look what happened after the USSR dissolved. Children’s toys and video games feed this proclivity, and ensures its survival. Perhaps we will see a time where real wisdom, knowledge and learning will be cherish and respected, and ignorance and brutality reviled, but we are not there yet, and the lest suited people seem to be having most of the children. There are so many important issues for humans to organize around – yet, so little motivation at this time to solve them. Please, if there any sign of the scale tipping, wake me up! Because I am so tired of pushing this cart uphill.

I’m a webmaster for Transition Bristol in, well, Bristol, and it’s good to see more critique of TB. So far this has come from the Climate Camp um, camp, where ecological initiatives have been much more extreme, and have been going on for much longer, with more of a thrust towards self organisation and direct action against capitalism.

This was presented in a recent Anarchist conference in Bristol and in a report by the Trapese Collective, which was then blogged about in turn by our glorious leader, Rob Hopkins. (bow please, in His presence) (ok that’s a joke!!)

http://transitionculture.org/2008/09/05/wading-through-various-critiques-of-transition/

From what I read of Arnold J Toynbee’s studies of civilisation collapse (very basic stuff – it’s probably much more complex than this) – when civilisations collapse, there is always a tendency towards decentralisation, and that in turn leads to parochial, inward looking tendencies, distrust of outsiders and rivalry between different groups.

As a webmaster then, as an information technologist then, I feel it’s my duty to encourage links between transition groups in different areas, and with other kinds of sustainability/descent organisations (in Bristol I can name about 4 of them), through use of telecommunications. I know it has many faults and the IT industry at this point is not very green at all, but it’s what I can do, and by getting involved I can help people realise that decentralisation is not a holy grail but just another structure with it’s own pros and cons.

It’s important to get critiques though. TT is an experiment, we don’t know if it will work or if we’re on time, and we are learning and making mistakes as we go along, so these critiques are crucial to that. We need links and input from outsiders to ecological movements as well as insiders. As TT moves beyond england’s villages and towns, we are seeing it grow and adapt, and it’s an important time to inform it.

Ale