Rob Hopkins | Plymouth University (original) (raw)
Papers by Rob Hopkins
Agriculture and Human Values, 2020
When I give talks, or facilitate groups, I do an exercise where I invite people to close their ey... more When I give talks, or facilitate groups, I do an exercise where I invite people to close their eyes and to join me in an act of collective time travel. I ask them to imagine that they are going 10 years into the future. The time they are travelling forward to is not Utopia, but those 10 years have been a time of the most remarkable social transformation in history. A mobilisation of people and movements, a cascade of positive change no-one in 2020 could even imagine. I invite them to explore it using their imagination with all its senses1. They share their experience. “There are no cars”. “There are no homeless people”. “Birdsong is so much louder”. “There are food gardens everywhere”. “There’s a strong sense of collective purpose”. It often moves people deeply. There are sometimes tears. As I write this, in Week 3 of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, I can walk out of my door and, remarkably, that world has, in part at least, arrived. Wildlife is returning to our towns and cities. Peo...
Who we are and what we do
The journal's logo represents the emergence of culture (dragons feat... more The journal's logo represents the emergence of culture (dragons feature in myths and legends from around the world) from nature (the DNA double- helix, or selfish gene). The dragon is a symbol of solidarity, especially the blood solidarity that was a necessary precondition for ...
Local food: how to make it happen in your community
... Chapters 2 to 14 discusses community projects falling under the following categories: reskill... more ... Chapters 2 to 14 discusses community projects falling under the following categories: reskilling; home garden growing; allotment provision and gardening for community groups; garden shares; community gardens; community orchards; community-supported agriculture; farmers ...
Energy descent pathways: evaluating potential responses to peak oil
The food producing neighbourhood
Sustainable communities: The potential for eco- …, 2000
Transition initiatives primer: Becoming a transition town, city, district, village, community or even island
Transition Network, 2008
The transition handbook: creating local sustainable communities beyond oil dependency
Geoforum, 2010
Despite continued uncertainty about the physical realities and political, economic and social imp... more Despite continued uncertainty about the physical realities and political, economic and social implications of peak oil, combined concerns about oil scarcity, climate change and globalisation has spawned an energetic relocalisation movement dedicated to achieving a comprehensive reduction in oil dependency through community-scale initiatives. This paper uses a discourse approach to examine the emergence, geographical spread and practices of the Transition Network, a UK-originated relocalisation movement now involving 186 local initiatives in the UK and other countries. We trace the movement's drawing upon, and innovation from, discourses and techniques used by other grassroots environmental movements to promote a spatial representation of peak oil as an inevitable and geographically undiscriminating problem, and its use of addiction metaphors and participatory techniques to promote personal and community-scale energy descent initiatives as a viable and necessary alternative to globalisation. We also analyse the spatial representations and techniques used in the Network's ''rhizomic" spread across multiple localities around the world and embedding in communities where relocalisation initiatives are established. We conclude by examining the future challenges these spatial constructions of peak oil pose for the relocalisation movement.
Central to the book is the concept of resilience. Resilience refers to the ability of a system, f... more Central to the book is the concept of resilience. Resilience refers to the ability of a system, from individual people to whole economies, to hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shocks from the outside. The Transition Handbook argues that in our current efforts to drastically cut carbon emissions, we must also give equal importance to the building of resilience...a culture based on its ability to function indefinitely and to live within its limits, and able to thrive for having done so.
Agriculture and Human Values, 2020
When I give talks, or facilitate groups, I do an exercise where I invite people to close their ey... more When I give talks, or facilitate groups, I do an exercise where I invite people to close their eyes and to join me in an act of collective time travel. I ask them to imagine that they are going 10 years into the future. The time they are travelling forward to is not Utopia, but those 10 years have been a time of the most remarkable social transformation in history. A mobilisation of people and movements, a cascade of positive change no-one in 2020 could even imagine. I invite them to explore it using their imagination with all its senses1. They share their experience. “There are no cars”. “There are no homeless people”. “Birdsong is so much louder”. “There are food gardens everywhere”. “There’s a strong sense of collective purpose”. It often moves people deeply. There are sometimes tears. As I write this, in Week 3 of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, I can walk out of my door and, remarkably, that world has, in part at least, arrived. Wildlife is returning to our towns and cities. Peo...
Who we are and what we do
The journal's logo represents the emergence of culture (dragons feat... more The journal's logo represents the emergence of culture (dragons feature in myths and legends from around the world) from nature (the DNA double- helix, or selfish gene). The dragon is a symbol of solidarity, especially the blood solidarity that was a necessary precondition for ...
Local food: how to make it happen in your community
... Chapters 2 to 14 discusses community projects falling under the following categories: reskill... more ... Chapters 2 to 14 discusses community projects falling under the following categories: reskilling; home garden growing; allotment provision and gardening for community groups; garden shares; community gardens; community orchards; community-supported agriculture; farmers ...
Energy descent pathways: evaluating potential responses to peak oil
The food producing neighbourhood
Sustainable communities: The potential for eco- …, 2000
Transition initiatives primer: Becoming a transition town, city, district, village, community or even island
Transition Network, 2008
The transition handbook: creating local sustainable communities beyond oil dependency
Geoforum, 2010
Despite continued uncertainty about the physical realities and political, economic and social imp... more Despite continued uncertainty about the physical realities and political, economic and social implications of peak oil, combined concerns about oil scarcity, climate change and globalisation has spawned an energetic relocalisation movement dedicated to achieving a comprehensive reduction in oil dependency through community-scale initiatives. This paper uses a discourse approach to examine the emergence, geographical spread and practices of the Transition Network, a UK-originated relocalisation movement now involving 186 local initiatives in the UK and other countries. We trace the movement's drawing upon, and innovation from, discourses and techniques used by other grassroots environmental movements to promote a spatial representation of peak oil as an inevitable and geographically undiscriminating problem, and its use of addiction metaphors and participatory techniques to promote personal and community-scale energy descent initiatives as a viable and necessary alternative to globalisation. We also analyse the spatial representations and techniques used in the Network's ''rhizomic" spread across multiple localities around the world and embedding in communities where relocalisation initiatives are established. We conclude by examining the future challenges these spatial constructions of peak oil pose for the relocalisation movement.
Central to the book is the concept of resilience. Resilience refers to the ability of a system, f... more Central to the book is the concept of resilience. Resilience refers to the ability of a system, from individual people to whole economies, to hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shocks from the outside. The Transition Handbook argues that in our current efforts to drastically cut carbon emissions, we must also give equal importance to the building of resilience...a culture based on its ability to function indefinitely and to live within its limits, and able to thrive for having done so.