On 5 December Transition Norwich travelled down to London to take part in The Wave, the biggest climate march in history, when thousands converged on the capital to bring attention to the planetary crisis being discussed by the nations of the world at Copenhagen. It was a big march with 50,ooo people dressed in all shades of blue: royal blue dragons, sky-blue banners, turquoise wigs, indigo-striped faces. While MPs and campaigners spoke eloquently and passionately at Speakers' Corner, thousands gathered in Grosvenor Square before moving through the great shopping and political highways of the West End towards Parliament. Placards supplied by political and religious organisations declared an end to climate chaos, poverty and capitalism, brightly coloured homemade ones (including our own) from all round the UK declared Climate Emergency, Cardiff is Ready and There is No Planet B.
Along the way and as we circled the Houses of Parliament both sides of the Thames we met fellow Transitioners - from Ipswich and Bungay at Speakers' Corner, from Berkhamsted by the Houses of Parliament, from Brixton, who were carrying a banner over Westminster Bridge. At three o’clock Big Ben sounded and a great cheer went up from us all. Was anyone listening? Is this the time when ordinary people get to speak out about the 101 issues that climate change brings to light, rather than give the authorial voice to the scientists and politicians and the corporations who pay for them behind the scenes? It was a beginning. The event went almost unoticed by the media, but we were there resiliently nevertheless.(Charlotte Du Cann/Comms) You can find a full report on the day on http://www.transitionnorwich.blogspot.com/ (Dec 7 tag 'Climate action') and check out the big blue pictures taken by Josiah Meldrum on flickr (http://tinyurl.com/ye2xjvv)
Conversation Cafe on Cultural Change
Transition work is as much about how we do things as it is about what we do. So it was no surprise to find that the opening to this evening's event was in the form of a short play/narrative featuring Kerry, Eric, Mark and Alex. Kerry and Eric seemed very busy driving around doing their supermarket shopping and worrying about their next overseas holiday, while Mark was doing his best impersonation of Jeremy Paxman on them as they went about their business. Alex commented that they didn't appear to be listening.
The evening progressed, world cafe style, as we moved around the different themes in small groups and shared how we might see change in those themes - so how we might overcome the perceived obstacles. As we came together at the end there was no shortage of ideas as to how Norwich might look if even some of these ideas became reality. One new person to Transition commented: " I came along here not knowing what to expect, and nervous.... I am going away having enjoyed myself and learnt a lot". (Chris Hull, Core Group)
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