From Lynn Serafinn on Thu, July 23, 2009

Hi Mark,
Great to find your blog (found it via LinkedIn) and read this entry.

Here in the UK, I have recently become involved in the Transition Town Network (I am Chair of the local Transition Bedford Initiative). The Transition Town Network is actually a grass-roots network of communities around the work that addresses the issue of climate change and peak oil by encouraging community-driven solutions to these challenges. As you rightfully point out, government initiatives can look nice on paper, but really the underlying issue is not only the way we live (externally) but the way we interact with the planet. Something as basic as food production is so far removed from the experience of the average urban and suburban individual in the so-called “developed” nations, that far from being “advanced”, we are actually quite “primitive” in terms of our own survival skills. I myself am no exception! While my carbon footprint is well below the average person. I haven’t owned a car in 10 years, I am vegetarian and try to buy from local producers as much as possible, I barely fly anymore and I haven’t even owned a TV for the past 18 months. But ask me to grow a tomato plant and I will scratch my head in wonder.

Nonetheless, people such as myself (I am a transformation coach) have a place in this great movement called “Transition” because there is a vital need to resensitise the population to a different way of thinking and living… in other words to return to being human. And to do this, we need to help to ease the fears and overwhelm of the public at large, and inspire them to a greater vision of the future, instead of the bleak one that is so often projected in the media. For that reason, I have inaugurated my brand new web portal with a blog post called “Awareness Raising and Inner Sustainability.” I hope you will check it out and offer a comment. You can find the article at: http://lynnserafinn.com/life-coaching-certified-coach-transformation/awareness-raising-and-inner-sustainability/ 

AND please let’s stay in touch. The Transition Bedford movement is only in its seminal stages, but we have some great permaculture and zero-carbon experts in our ranks who have already done much to bring awareness to the town.

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
Transformation Coach
Author of “The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self”
Web portal: http://www.lynnserafinn.com

From Pamela on Sun, January 31, 2010

A good way to help curb the footprint of the city even more while healing mental health inmates would be to begin permaculture food gardens at the hospitals. Right now they are being fed the worst kinds of GMO foods, this combined with their meds are destroying their internal organs. GMO’s were never tested for safety due to high level officials in the FDA being Monsanto employees that moved between company and FDA. There was no way to conduct testing as the company refused to give seeds to scientist. REcently the first studies have arrived, and the results are horrifyingly breathtaking—within only 90 days of consumption, animals were experiencing organ failure in the heart, liver and kidneys amongs other problems, and death.
We must save our people and begin gardens now—any one with ideas please contact me. There is also a petition that has begun to recall GMO foods. Here is the link. http://www.change.org/actions/view/get_organ-damaging_monsanto_corn_off_the_market