Please note: we are absolutely full at 150 people, with a waiting list of over 40 people. Bookings are closed. We’re sorry, but we will not let people without actual attendee bookings in (ie not waiting list people). You are welcome to come and add yourself to the waiting list on the night, but it is already at 50 so the odds on getting in are against you. However, you may meet other waiting folks who have come to talk about it as well, so could make some new friends in Canteen?
We recommend, if you are interested in these issues, that you come along to the Big Shift Event on Sunday 28/11 where more of this will be discussed and activist-ed.
Are we in a recession, or just coming out of one? Is Ireland really at the point of economic meltdown? How will our national debt levels affect us? Why are the government making whopping cuts across society and telling us we can do it ourselves, while phone companies don’t have to pay £6BN in tax? Where did all the money go? How does Peak Oil fit into this? How will communities respond? How will we as individuals cope with all the change?
Nicole Foss photo
Will someone please help make some sense of this please? We’re baffled, and expect others are too.
We are delighted to say that Nicole Foss (senior editor, aka ‘Stoneleigh’ of the Automatic Earth blog) will be talking in Bristol on Friday 26th November. All are welcome to join us.
Nicole’s talk points out the significant problems in the financial system, its relation to Peak Oil, how close we are to a mega-crash, and how important community groups will be to weather the incoming storm.
She spoke at this year’s Transition Network conference. It had an enormous effect on everyone there (Rob Hopkins is still shaking) and the ripples are being felt wider and wider across Transition. The talk was so popular that she offered to come and visit groups when she was next back in the UK, and here she is. It’s an epic talk and we really couldn’t recommend it more. It’s also quite a tough talk, so we’re going to have some discussions afterwards, and a chance for groups to say what they are up to.
Event details
- Date: Friday 26th November
- Time: 18:30 talk starts. Followed by discussions and local projects information sharing.
- Venue: 5th Floor Hamilton House
- Booking: Recommended: use the form below (or go to the booking page)
- Cost: free. Donations cordially accepted; all on the night will go to Nicole and Hamilton House
Poster:
Please download the poster and put it up somewhere – help us spread the word!
Thanks:
A massive thank you to Nicole for kindly offering to do this gig on a donations only basis. Transition Montpelier is a volunteer-run organisation so we pay our (and Nicole’s) costs via donations. We will be shaking a bucket vigorously and will appreciate you coughing up.
Here is a bit about Nicole:
Nicole M. Foss is senior editor of The Automatic Earth, where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament.
The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and real politik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was previously editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.
Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.
The ‘Stoneleigh effect’:
The ripples at the Transition Network conference were so strong, they gained a name for themselves.
Nicole’s message is very serious and, to be honest, really rather upsetting. Receiving difficult news in a vacuum of support is very hard indeed and can lead to despair. That’s why we spend so much of our time trying not to think about what on earth is going on.
So we are following the talk with group discussions and will provide opportunities for Bristol’s activist groups to represent themselves on the night.
We will also be going down to the Canteen bar afterwards for some cheerful live music and local food and ale.
As well as this, we recommend you go to The Big Shift event in the Council House, which will be a chance to learn about and discuss community led responses to these issues with a programme of talks and workshops on creating local resilience, including how we deal with food, transport, land ownership, sustainable land use, economics and health. We will have a stall there too.
Further links and some reports from Nicole’s talk at the Transition Conference
- The talk available to purchase online
- Any questions for Nicole (Rob Hopkins and Pete Lipman are interviewing her)
- Shaun Chamberlin’s (author: Transition Timeline) review of the talk
- Amelia Gregory’s (author: Amelia’s magazine) review of the talk
- Sophy Banks’ (Transition Training and Inner Transition) conference report
- Videos from the Transition Conference
Here’s a video of Pete Lipman (Transition Network chairman, Sustrans Policy Director) and Rob Hopkins (Transition Network co-founder) talking about ‘The Stoneleigh effect’:
