With thanks to the Norwich Transitioners' blog...

All the colours of transition culture are all here on This Low Carbon Life: the unfiltered contributions of a group of people who are DOING transition, conveying the kind of heart and soul that a conventional bulletin or news service can't. It's a phenomenal document full of great writing and photography. It's vibrant, intelligent, humourous, courageous, reflective, heartfelt and inspiring.

As a community venture, it's a binding force too. Knowing most of the TN bloggers personally to some degree, it's a joy to share the thoughts, feelings, news and exploits of fellow transitioners when in real life we don't always get a chance to meet. And even when we do, sometimes there are facets we express in writing that aren't always conveyed in person.

For instance, Tully's post My Life As An Antibody: that this most ebullient and resourceful person felt some of the same feelings of despair and despondency as me and dared to express them here really connected us. I am glad to see also that things have moved on so positively for Tully and the CSA scheme he has worked so hard to create since that time; another great community venture.

I welcome the extension of these personalities into my life and I've found it fascinating to learn more about some of the folks I've met. My respect and affection for them all has certainly grown as a result of the blog. Lots of the posts make me laugh out loud. Natural wit and wry observation abounds here, and I'm always glad for that. The quantity and quality makes it hard to choose just three to mention but these are some that have stuck in my memory...

Kerry's document of her amazing Otesha cycle trip from Lands end to John O'Groats - I am in awe of your energy and the Challenge of Community Living was a very insightful post.

And then there's Erik's posts; dense and intense, and it's one of these that I've chosen to reproduce below. An all too rare conjunction of spirit and science...

Viva This Low Carbon Life: long may it continue, many and far may it reach!

Alchemy 2 by Erik Buitenhuis - 1 september 2010

My father came to visit last week. When I said that now that I grow 12 months per year of fruit and vegetables, I've started growing carbohydrates, he asked why. I was tempted to quote the dào dé jīng:

"The dao that can be expressed is not the eternal dao."

But that is the first sentence of the dào dé jīng, so what I said instead is because of the way it connects me up. To the circle of life (find the common element in the picture above and the Alchemy picture). I could also have said because I signed up to 10:10, and I thought this would be both the nicest and easiest way to decrease my carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. Or because it eliminates waste. A word or two about this connecting. Reconnection to Nature is the most talked about topic on this blog. What I like about these posts is the implicit recognition that the spiritual side of this reconnection is inseparable from the practical side. To paraphrase Robert Pirsig: Talk about spirituality can get very confusing unless the topics with which spirituality is concerned are also included. So in this series of posts I would break a lance for talking more about closing the elemental cycles (carbon, nitrogen, etc.). This is one of the strengths of home gardening. My vision for the year 2100 is that there will be no more flush toilets.