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September 2009: NEW for this month:

50 new members, 25 extra events, 8 forum topics,
3 podcasts, 50 photos, 3 videos, and 15 blog posts ...

Dear <<Name>>

If you haven't checked out the 'member' lists on FierySpirits recently, have a look when you have
time - we are an impressively diverse and interesting crowd...

Announcement: Carnegie Rural Convetion November 23-24th 2009 (Kendal) - book now
This year, the Carnegie Rural Convention follows on the heels of the launch of our 'Rural Manifesto',
opening up some of the big issues for progressive rural development - from climate change to food and
farming, from community action planning to building local resilience ... to a radical take on asset
development. Come along! More details here.

Guest Editorial: Paul Allen, CAT

Accelerating the Transition
Climate science now demands a peak in global emissions by 2018 and for the long industrialised nations
to head to zero emissions as fast as possible. In addition, global fossil fuel reserves are now
approaching their geological production peak, and will begin an inexorable decline.

The speed of the transition required to meet these challenges is at the very boundaries of what is
‘politically thinkable’, and is as much a challenge for our democracy as it is for our technology. Dealing
with such a challenge requires a degree of urgency that is lacking in current UK social attitudes and
organisational targets.

It is not too late, and solutions do exist, but we must reverse the current drift towards de-stabilising
communities with energy hungry technologies, inappropriate, oversized retail parks or supermarkets and
predation on community held assets. Many organisations and individuals are now aware of the dire
urgency of the challenges of climate and energy security – what they urgently need is access to
solutions that can meet both the scale and speed required.

A great deal of experience on dealing with fossil fuel dependency already exists on a range of different
scales and from different regions; exploring the complex interaction between land use, planning, energy,
food production, buildings and transport. Through the FierySpirits network, we can assemble a critical
mass of organisations and individuals across the UK to be able to offer real-life working examples and
case studies illustrating how we can make the necessary transition. These new narratives can tell not
just the technology story, but also the human stories; those who kick-started the projects, what were the
barriers, how they were overcome, what were the costs and how people benefited. From my recent
exploration of best practice in the US, I have up-loaded a series of case studies as FierySprits blogs,
and welcome your feedback.

Our challenge is to make all sectors of society aware not only of what the UK and Ireland must actually
do to meet the exacting challenges defined by the science of climate and energy security, but also the
exciting additional benefits they bring. We must harness all our networks to take these contemporary
narratives beyond the current ‘green’ activists to the ‘harder to reach’, non usual suspects, who have
every bit as much to gain from taking control of their energy and other resources, but do not normally
see this as part of their sphere of activity.

I hope you enjoy this September NewsBurst, please let us know what you think. FierySpirits is your
network!

Paul Allen
External Relations Director
Centre for Alternative Technology

Nick adds: next month, Lisa and Lars are taking the helm - get in touch with them with suggestions
for items to include...

Media catch up: new and exclusive podcasts and videos

TV Show: The Powerdown Show Episode 8: ‘Transition Towns and Energy Descent Pathways’
The Powerdown Show is a ten-part TV series that takes a fresh
and engaging look at the community solutions to the converging
challenges of climate change and peak oil. The programmes,
directed by Davie Philip of the Cultivate Centre in Ireland, aim to
inform communities on the context and responses to the
challenges ahead. If you like this 'taster', contact Davie at
Cultivate to order the full DVD and for details of the powerful
'powerdown' course. Also essential viewing is Chris Martenson's
Crash Course - "seeks to provide you with a baseline
understanding of the economy so that you can better appreciate
the risks that we all face".

Conference Video: Will Coleman - Carnegie 'Ambassador for

Place Based Learning’
Will Coleman, a Cornish storyteller, film-maker and
educationalist, talks at the Carnegie Convention in Cashel, 2008.

Feature Short: ClayFutures- effective community consultation

The team at the Eden Project and Sensory Trust give an overview of the ClayFutures consultation they
are currently running in the Clay Country in Cornwall.

Podcast: Resilience conversation starter (click to download)

Nick Wilding at Carnegie UK Trust kicks off a conversation about community resilience with a
podcast edited together from interviews with attendees at the recent Sense of Place event in
Cornwall. Join the conversation in the new Resilience group.
Podcast: Protected LandScapes: do they deliver? (click to download)
This 90 minute podcast was recorded at Carnegie UK Trust's Festival of Politics - Chaired by Lesley
Riddoch, participants debated the value of national parks and friends from Harris set out their
reasons for going down this route....

Recent Blogs of note

The World's 1st Carbon Budget?
Mike Small writes: "The Scottish government is claiming another world first for its climate policies. After
setting the first legally-binding targets for cutting CO2 emissions in its climate act in June, the Scottish
finance secretary John Swinney has published a "carbon budget" yesterday which estimates CO2
emissions for all the main spending areas.

Colombia Eco-Village – The Community Condominium Model

Paul Allen writes: "You live in a busy city, but you are surrounded by flourishing mature fruit and nut
trees, rows of grape vines, vegetable beds and a flock of chickens. Trees shade your path to the
common community house, where you can sit with your neighbours for a home-cooked meal, made with
ingredients from the community-supported agriculture farm. Your home, has been fully renovated for
energy efficiency, rainwater harvesting and by local prices is affordable to buy and to run..."

Is asset "ownership" the right approach?

Kathy Riley writes: "Here at the Rural Livelihoods project we have been continuing our thinking about
assets in rural areas. In our latest paper we suggest that "control" and "access" are the most important
issues to be thinking about in terms of assets in rural areas. Our concern is that the language of
"ownership" makes it difficult to talk about (or even think about) non-physical assets - all those things we
know are so important which are based on relationships, connections, and essentially people.... We
would really like feedback on this: Do you recognise the stories told from your own experiences? Is there
anything we are missing? Are control and access useful ways to think about asset?"

Welcome to new Members:

Events... join otherFierySpirits at:

Focus: on Power & Place Conference (2 - 4 October 2009 Centre for Alternative Technology)
The most recent scientific evidence on both climate security and energy security reveals a situation
more urgent than had been expected. However, it’s not too late, and solutions do exist. A great deal of
experience on the transition from fossil fuel dependency is available to share, on a range of different
scales and from a range of different regions. This conference will explore ‘good energy practice’ case
studies, looking at not just the technologies, but also the human stories, how the projects got off the
ground, what the barriers were and how they were overcome, and how people benefited.

Top Tip: Mind like a sieve? With one click, export event details to your computer or iphone calendar!
Click below the event listing to export event details. (October 24-25th, Dunbar)

Diary of an event organiser: how do we walk our talk better?

Mike Small writes: We’re looking back at Big Tent 2009 and our big question is how do we walk our
talk better in future? For example we still are reliant on too much diesel to power our lighting, music
stage and other equipment and many of our visitors are too reliant on cars to get here.

Next we are asking - how can we make our festival a transformative experience rather than just
another summer event? FierySpirits friends - if you have ideas, please let us know...

Within this there is the challenge of working with all ages – we want to do more work with and for
teenagers - and looking at how to use new technology’s to monitor and capture the event. For
example on our flickr stream we captured a father and daughter enjoying the (off-site) horse logging
experience that formed part of the new Wild About Wood Zone.

Like all events management the main issues remain: the loos, the food and the campsite. We are
trying to make all as good as they can be and embarking on a programme to make the build of the
site infrastructure part of our year-round programme, for example building tree bogs for the campers.
But the questions that remain for us as event organisers are: what’s the right mix of populism
versus specialism? How do we build strength and solidarity within the environmental movement and
at the same time draw people into that movement who are not currently motivated?

We have an annual winter series of ‘food system awareness’ talks coming up starting in November
but before that we have Scotland’s First Annual Local Food Gathering – Building the Local Food
Movement (October 24-25th, Dunbar)

Mike Small

Reminder: Blogs and Groups

Blogs continue to be the place to share news, and Group hosts focus work on specific outcomes
(such as planning events, hosting inquiries, running seminars or writing publications together).

Welcoming new members ... who needs an invitation?

This newsletter puts you in touch with the latest action on the FierySpirits site - it's a good way to
find out what you've missed, and what's coming up in the next month. Share it with others you think
might like to join FierySpirits - or invite them direct. Once they join, drop them a welcome note on
their profile page. They should read the 2009 Rural Programme guide for an overview.

New to Fiery Spirits? Catch-up here:

Introducing ... the Carnegie Rural Programme and Fiery Spirits Community of Practice
This 7 minute intro features the Rural Programme staff giving an overview of our work and focusses on
the Community of Practice. An EXCELLENT way to quickly get up to speed with FierySpirits.com

Poem for September: Night Mail by W H Auden

This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient's against her, but she's on time.
Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.

Dawn freshens, the climb is done.

Down towards Glasgow she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes,
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green sea lochs
Men long for news.

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,

Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
Receipted bills and invitations,
To inspect new stock or visit relations,
And applications for situations,
And timid lovers' declarations,
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled in the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Notes from overseas to Hebrides,
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring,
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Thousands are still asleep

Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston's or Crawford's:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
And shall wake soon and long for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

Paul writes:
I love this W H Auden poem, as it reminds me just how differently we did things, just a short time ago. It
also inspires me to think we could change things again, and the never-ending drama of human
interactions would continue un-abated….

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