An ancient idea whose time has come?

The Guardian had a very interesting piece this morning about a resurgence in the ancient idea, common to many cultures and religious traditions, that usury (charging excessive rates of interest on loans, above a legally-sanctioned maximum rate) is wrong and should be prohibited.

This has a real resonance at the moment, I think - in the middle of the worst economic depression since the 1930s, with unemployment rising sharply, government finances in a terrible state, people's pensions being undermined by low interest rates and asset prices, the news headlines are now becoming tiresomely full again of bankers and the enormous sums of money they are paying themselves again as bonuses. And with base lending rates at an historic low of 0.5%, the fact that banks and credit card companies are in many cases still charging interest rates of 20% or more on personal loans and card balances is wholly unacceptable from any sort of reasonable ethical standpoint.

Perhaps it is time that we looked for ways to democratise the financial system, so that the benefits from money circulating round the economy are more widely shared and not just scooped by a small number of bank executives in bloated personal bonuses. There are a number of new ventures such as Zopa which offer a promising alternative to traditional bank savings and loans - maybe these are the way forward?

The transition to action

We held the second public event of our local Transition Towns project, Transition Westcombe, this week. It built on the ideas for specific projects and actions which came out of the discussions during our launch event and it was great to be in a room buzzing with the energy of people energetically discussing setting up food stalls for locally grown produce, training sessions in a wide range of skills, mapping locally available expertise, a community cafe and much much more. It was a great reminder that, in an age of great cynicism about "conventional politics" and a widespread feeling of powerlessness in the face of global issues like climate change, people DO respond with great energy and inventiveness when they see that there is something they can practically do to change things, that is within their control.

Renewable energy..what IS going on?

So..let's get this straight...

• Peak oil is arriving any time soon, we are told..
• Crude oil prices last summer were briefly at $150 a barrel before the demise of Lehmann Brothers pushed the world financial markets into meltdown and the economy into recession...
• Scientists are issuing ever-more dire warnings about the rate of global warming and the likelihood of "non-linear" climate change
• The UK government has committed to a target of 20% of our energy being generated from renewable sources by 2020
  
• Domestic energy bills in the UK remain at historically high levels despite the recent retreat in oil prices and yet....

Shell and BP have both recently announced major cutbacks in their renewable energy investment plans and manufacturing capacity, in Shell's case stating that they think the only forms of renewables they see as being commercially viable are biomass and carbon sequestration.

What is going on here? Normally, companies will invest in new technologies and products they see as having a long term future even if the initial investment costs are high and they know that it will take some time to reap the full benefits through building up economies of scale as the market for the products develops.

So..are two of the three largest global energy companies really saying that they think wind power, solar and hydro have no part to play in meeting the world's energy needs over the coming decades? If so..why? Do they think that the technologies to produce energy from these sources are so constrained by physical and social limitations that they will never be technically efficient? And if so...are the government and the renewable energy sector deluding themselves and the rest of us in claiming that they CAN be an important part of the solution?

Or are the energy majors just the wrong companies to be looking to to take renewables forwards, unable to make an effective transition from a world in which "big oil" has powered decades of unprecedented global economic growth to a world in which big may no longer be beautiful and culturally incapable of the sort of imaginative and creative innovations which could make renewables viable even on a domestic scale?

I think we should be told!

Why don't we...?

I was talking yesterday with a group of friends about schools and the seemingly endless agonies of choice which parents have to go through to find the right school for their children, be it junior or secondary school. State or private? Local or out of borough? What's the reputation like? How did they do in the latest league tables? How many places do they have? what is the admissions process? etc etc etc

A common problem is that once a school gets a bad reputation (whether deserved or not), parents no longer want to send their kids there if they feel they have a choice. So a lot of the brighter children with better, more supportive home environments don't go and the schools concerned then have a much higher concentration of children from more difficult backgrounds. So the school's reputation and league table performance then suffer even more..and a vicious circle is established.

So why don't we do what they do in France and much of the rest of Europe and simply say that children will go to their local schools and remove the exhausting and frequently illusory process of "parental choice"? And..if a school is not performing to an adequate standard, ensure that there are clear mechanisms by which parents, teachers, governors and students can rectify matters so that it DOES perform? And while we're at it, let's insist on ALL schools teaching emotional intelligence and communication skills to their students at all levels. Some do this already and it makes a great difference for the better to the school's atmosphere and culture and to the confidence and behaviour and attitude of the students - so why not all?

Transition Westcombe is underway!

The Transition Towns movement continues to grow nationally and internationally and last night was the first public event of our local group, Transition Westcombe. Nearly fifty people came to watch a really interesting and inspiring film about how Cuba has coped with its own version of "peak oil" following the break-up of the former Soviet Union and to participate in a discussion afterwards about what we can do in our area to prepare for the inevitable transition to a low carbon economy.

It was great that so many people turned up and took part enthusiastically in the discussion. We've got a follow up meeting planned for 8th April which will hopefully start to turn the ideas and suggestions made into some tangible projects that will have a material impact on our bit of SE London