Join the Transition Bedford email group
See also this article about the Transition Network within a regional context.
Below is a proposal for how we should proceed at the first TT meeting, this is also a call for counter proposals and/or comment and changes to this proposal.
Do you think this proposal is plausible???? if not, why not? please be vocal, all opinions are needed!!
TT Bedford meeting
Dates – Proposed dates for first big meeting- June 16, 17, 18, 22, 23 or 24
Time – Event starts at 7pm – 9.30pm, although doors open at 6pm with refreshments and networking (invite people to bring/contribute drinks and nibbles)
Proposed content -
6pm – Networking and refreshments – Informal 7pm – Introduction (to transition towns) 25 mins – Presentation/ questions
7.25pm – Introduction (to each other) 25 mins – 30 second presentations or group discussions or world cafe
7.50pm – Energy decent planning – Open space – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology
Location – (must be free) Friends meeting house or Priory park centre or ??
Content proposal – Effectively the first meeting asks two overarching questions, independent of the specific content;
How can Bedford transition to a sustainable, vibrant and resilient community? and What can we (representatives of groups and core community members) do collectively to best achieve the transition?
In my mind the best starting point, given all the current Bedfordian ingredients is to set three targets;
A. Start working together; It is essential at this stage that we (community, religious, political, charity, resident and affinity
groups) engage in a process of supporting and collaborating with each other. There is a huge pool of resource that will multiply in strength. We started funding bid so we can include a book with the invite to key people.
B. Develop an EDAP; an overarching Transition Bedford document the “Transition Bedford – Energy Decent Action Plan (EDAP)” This document should not only be a driver for us to work together but should ultimately influence and guide community groups, political parties, affinity organisations etc
C. Develop a website; and social networking platform to portray our joint identity, while providing a space for continued collaboration.
Objective – Collectively these targets have 1 joint objective; Inter group cross pollination seeding 10’s of actual food, energy, waste, environment, wildlife, greenspaces, economy, health and community projects and improvements.
It would be good if we could use this email group to beat out the detail of the three targets, giving them some simple, measurable goals.
A. Start working together; As far as detail; we’ve started to add names of groups to invite
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/transition-bedford/web/who-to-invite…, there’s a discussion on geographical boundaries http://groups.google.co.uk/group/transition-bedford/browse_thread/thr…, the first meeting is in planning, the website as a collective home needs to be discussed and the EDAP as a working together driver. We
could add much more detail to this in terms of process and structure.
B. Develop an EDAP;
Writing a document “Transition Bedford – Energy Decent Action Plan” See background information – good information on energy decent planning; http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/edap/home
http://transitiontowns.org/Lewes/EnergyDescent
http://transitiontowns.org/Brixton.EDAPfirstvisions
see the first EDAP here – http://transitiontowns.org/Kinsale/Main/KinsaleEnergyDescentActionPlan
Bedford’s EDAP – A suggestion of the document’s core sections/chapters include;
1. Introduction
2. Waste
3. Food
4. Energy
5. Transport
6. Schools
There are no limitations to the sections/chapters but each section has a series of stakeholders that need to be consulted, as part of the working together but also to create a document that taps into the relative local experience and consiquently has wider ownership and buy in.
Please discuss the validity of the core section, change at will and add sections – Other sections that may be up for consideration;
7. Local government/governance
8. Community/culture
9. Economy
10. Wildlife/greenspaces
11. Healthcare
12. Youth and community
13. Business
All sections are dependent on people volunteering to write them and bring together the perspectives of varying groups.
Section content details; Each section is only 2 or 3 pages of A4 and repeats the same content
under the titles;
- The present
- The vision (this is in the from of a loose framework rather than a detailed plan)
- Practical steps
- Local and national resources
EDAP Process;
1. May 1st to May 14th – Through email and group discussion, define and agree upon which are the core sections.
2. May 14th to June 14th – Before June meeting find 1 or 2 editors and 1 or 2 authors to write each of the core sections (i.e. a total of about 7 to 14 author/editors). Each author only has to write 3 to 5 sides of A4.
3. May 14th – June 14th – Before june meeting Identify all the relevant groups and individuals within the community that could offer insight into each section.
4. At june meeting have break off discussions facilitated by the authors
5. July to Sept – Authors then draft their section and send it to all relevant groups requesting feedback and asking them to promote the document development process and send the draft to their networks for feedback
6. Sept – Dec – Redraft final version
Processes for consideration but for simplicity are not deemed as a requirement.
7. Authors may or may not want to organise an open debate/series of meetings about the issues covered in the section they are writing.
8. some organisations could champion the development of certain sections specific to their interests.
C. Develop a website;
The ZCC wordpress and buddypress system provides a good example of how we can do this. Wordpress allows for an easy user driven content website and the buddypress section is a social networking, project planning platform. We need funds to set up the website and If agreed, i can put in a proposal to ZCC for us to join them on the social
networking part of the site, were any group can develop it’s own threads, profiles and discussions etc