These are reviews of all the books in the Library. These books are available for borrowing by all members of the Association.
Rob Hopkins is the founder of the Transition Network. He is a Permaculture Trainer and developed the original Energy Descent Action Plan as an exercise for his class at Kinsale TAFE because he had just found out about Peak Oil. When he returned to England he established the first Transition Town at Totnes in Devon and then, with the help of his colleagues in Transition Town Totnes and others, he developed the Transition Network which is now a world wide organisation.
Rob Hopkins is much in demand in many countries as a presenter at many high level meetings and conferences which are concerned with saving the world from the damaging effects of Peak Oil and Climate Change.
The Transition Handbook is essentially a text book for all those of us who are intent on pursuing the Transition Initiative in our own communities. It describes all facets of the Transition and contains lots of very helpful advice about the setting up a Transition Initiative.
This is a version of the original Transition Handbook (see above) which uses examples taken from the Australian Transition Initiative to help us adapt to the differences between the English situation and the Australian situation.
Shaun Chamberlin has been involved in the Transition Network since its inception and is a member of the Steering Group of Transition Town Kingston. He is a specialist in the technical aspects of the study of Climate Change and Peak Oil.
He has written this book to provide an update on Climate Change and Peak Oil and an analysis of the realistic and practical details of the Transition Vision. Rob Hopkins has contributed important content to the book.
It will be a very helpful book for those embarking on a Transition Initiative.
Harrison Owen has an academic background which focussed on myth, ritual, and culture. His working life has focussed on facilitating effective meetings in a wide variety of situations and he has developed Open Space Technology as a method of achieving highly effective consensus building and group decision making. He now runs a company which is used by many public and commercial organisations world wide to maximise the effectiveness of their meetings.
Open Space Technology is a meeting methodology which has no preset agenda and which relies on the input of all the interested participants to reach group decisions. The book is a very useful and thorough handbook for those who plan to run Open Space Technology meetings.
David Holmgren is the co-founder with Bill Mollison of Permaculture, a technique for self sustaining gardening and farming.
Permaculture has enjoyed tremendous success world wide since its inception 25 years ago and has many many adherents.
The book is a about facing the challenges of Climate Change and Peak Oil using the principles of Permaculture to determine a path to a sustainable future.
It provides a very suitable and usable handbook for those of us who wish to devise ways of achieving future sustainability and resilience for our communities.
Another book by Richard Heinberg which addresses the issues of Peak Oil and resource depletion and suggests strategies for dealing with these problems.
It is another valuable book for a TransitionLibrary.
Richard Heinberg has been writing about energy resources issues and the dynamics of culture change for many years. He is a member of the core faculty at New College of California in Santa Rosa.
This book presents an up to date account of the state of world energy supplies and the future decline in these supplies. It also discusses the effects of this decline and suggests appropriate work arounds.
It is a very worthwhile read for those who are concerned with the future of our societies. and is an important part of a Transition Library.
Another book by Richard Heinberg which addresses the issues of resource depletion and its potential effects on our future.
This book discusses the universal ecological dilemma we all face due to the combined effects of population pressure, resource depletion and habitat destruction. It discusses the cultural changes we will have to achieve to future sustainability.
It is another valuable book for a TransitionLibrary.
Charles Birch is a world renowned zoologist who has been Emeritus Professor at Sydney University and has worked in many other Universities and other scientific establishments.
He proposes that if humanity is to survive, a fundamental transformation must take place in Western thinking. The developed countries of the world cannot continue to grow while the developing struggle and fall further behind. The resources of our planet are finite and answers must be found for the global problems of soil degradation, pollution of air and water, disappearing forests and species of plant and animal life, economic and social growth for some and deteriorating quality of life for others.
This book provides a good insight into the problems that we face and is a valuable addition to the Transition library.
Ian Lowe is another world renowned Australian scientist and his book describes in detail the problems we face and suggests solutions to all the problems.
Mark O'Connor believes that the debate about population which is suppressed by all those in power and by all the media is vital to our efforts to make Australia sustainable and resilient. He argues the case for a new population policy from every relevant angle and he provides many citations to support his views.
Anyone interested in the future of our society should give the population debate a good place in their public discourse. We already understand that we don't have enough water to support the present population and this book details all of the significant problems which will arise in the future if we do not constrain our population within the limits of the carrying capacity of our continent.
Tim Flannery is another world renowned Australian scientist and his views are a result of a lifelong study of the Australian ecosystem. He shows how the impact of humanity, starting with the aboriginal first wave immigrants and followed by the European second wave immigrants have changed the continent in dramatic ways.
This ground-breaking ecological history of Australasia will enrich the understanding of anyone who wonders what the future holds for humanity.
Tim Flannery tells us that he ignored the science of climate change through much of his career because it seemed too complicated. Later on he absorbed much that other scientist were writing and he came to the conclusion that we must all appreciate what causes climate change and what we need to do about it.
After some reviews of "The Weather Makers" which claimed that the book we too technical for the lay audience, Tim Flannery decided to rewrite the book in different language so that the non scientific audience could appreciate what he was saying.
Three and a half decades ago, a group of eminent European businessmen formed an organisation called the Club of Rome with a view to determining what the future would bring to our societies.
One of their efforts was to recruit a team of scientist led by Donella Meadows who could do a scientific analysis of the future.
The first output of this effort was "The Limits to Growth" which analysed the potential results of consumption of non-renewable resources. Their conclusion was that "business as usual" would inevitably lead to many insuperable problems in the future. Their conclusions were not totally specific as to when and how much these problems would be but they showed that some degree of catastrophe was inevitable some time in the 21st century.
Many public figures became deniers of the book and its reputation was tarnished.
Like Tim Flannery, Donella Meadows felt that "The Limits to Growth" was a very technical piece which could be hard for the lay audience to read, She decided to write a book which described the methodology of their study and the conclusions they had drawn in language which was entirely readable by the non-scientific audience. That is the origin of "Beyond the Limits".
As a follow up the "The Limits to Growth" Meadows and her colleagues tracked the changes they had suggested would take place and three decades on they published and update which showed that many of their pervious predictions had come true and they believed that their original conclusion were reinforced by this.
Tamzin Pinkerton is a member of Transition Town Totnes who was involved with some of the early projects. She has an academic background in Social Anthropology and is passionate about the importance of "local. organic" food. Rob Hopkins helped her with the writing of this book and has contributed some of the content.
This book draws on the practical experiences of various Transition Initiatives and offers an inspiring and practical guide to what can be achieved by people who get together to re-localise their community's food sources.
Peter Andrews is a famous thoroughbred house breeder who has experience from an early age in farming practices in Australia and other countries.
He believes that the Australian ecosystem was always self sustaining before humans arrived in the country and he recommends farming method which are aimed at re-establishing the original balance of nature to achieve future sustainability and resilience.
While he doesn't claim scientific certainty about his theories, the book is a useful tool for those who would like to see changes in the way we treat our ecosystem.
Asa Wahlquist is an award winning environmental journalist who has worked with many eminent scientists to ensure that she writes accurate stuff about environmental problems. One of the scientists suggested that she should write a book containing all the knowledge she had collected from the scientists so that lay people would become well informed about these issues.
This is a very good book about all of Australia's water problems. The information is supported by references to strong scientific papers.
This is a book of essays on a whole host of topics concerning the future sustainability of the planet. The writers of the essays are technical experts in the appropriate subjects. The book will encourage an enthusiastic appreciation of all the issues relating to sustainability and resilience.
This book is a sequel to his other books in the Transition Network books (see above). He is still concerned with the problems of overuse of non-renewable resources and this book addresses the effects on our economies and shows with some good evidence, that many governments and Businesses do not concern themselves with sustainability and resilience.
This book was written because Dick's daughter asked him about the problems of population growth. He did lots of research and has shown how important it is that these problems are resolved.
This is a new text book for those of us involved in the Transition Network and is very helpful.