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A page collating the latest stories from the Transition team in Paris for #COP21

Filipa Pimentel on talking to students in Levallois, Paris

Filipa Pimentel speaking at Levalois School.
Our Transition team had been very busy running around in Paris for almost a week covering various official and fringe events of COP21. In spite of the constant running around, I accepted an invitation from Olivier, a member of the Transition InitiativeLevallois en Transition (a neighborhood in the outskirts of Paris) to talk about Transition to a group of high school students.
Published on December 11, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Reflections on a week in Paris at COP21

Rob and Emilio.
On the way back from COP21, after a very bleary early morning start, I arrived at Paddington station with Emilio Mula, who had travelled with me to make a film about our week there. As we waited for our train, Emilio recorded a short interview with me about how the week had been. Here is our conversation:
Published on December 11, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Corinne reflects on COP21 in Paris.

Corinne selling copies of '21 Stories of Transition'.
We are at the end of the two weeks of the COP 21 Climate talks here in Paris. I never thought I would get so much out of this event. A year ago, I thought, “Oh, great, another set of Climate talks. It will probably be like Copenhagen, a lot of hot air, huge amounts of CO2 emissions, and extremely disappointing results.” 
Nevertheless, since I live in Paris and knew loads of people, including Transitioners, would be converging on Paris for this occasion, I got involved with the Transition Paris efforts to organize events, get-togethers, and couch-surfing. I was sure we would have a great time meeting new people and hearing about their initiatives and projects. 
Published on December 11, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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'A Moveable Feast': Chris Bird reflects on COP21

Chris Bird
If Ernest Hemingway was still alive he might well have said: “If you are lucky enough to have been in Paris for the past two weeks and been part of the movement against climate change, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it will stay with you, for Paris is now a moveable feast.” 
Published on December 11, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Rob reports from COP21 in Paris: Day Eight.

books
The Solutions COP21 event at Grand Palais that I had visited the previous day was, thanks to its paucity of actual solutions, potentially liable to being sued under the French version of the Trades Descriptions Act.  Anyone wandering its halls would have been hard put to find much th
Published on December 7, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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COP21: the View From Totnes

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A guest blog from Naresh Giangrande: I am not in Paris. I have been following events there in the mainstream and alt media and via Transition Network’s coverage, and our own internal Silent Skype feed.   Over here, in the UK, it feels like madness to be negotiating the most important treaty in history amid planning for a new war.  George Monbiot wrote a good article in the Guardian noticing the incongruence of the Tory government’s haste in war planning alongside their tepid  engagement with COP21. I would say its even more. It’s distracting on a national scale. It is like we are staging the Hunger Games. 
Published on December 5, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Rob reports from COP21 in Paris: Day Seven.

Today was the most thought-provoking day, at times viscerally so.  The logo for COP21 says 'Tous ensemble pour le climat', or "all together for the climate" (see right).  Yet today was a day when the battle lines felt clearly drawn, or rather the two extremes on display here came into stark, and alarming contrast.  Out at Le Bourget, the negotations continue.  Big disputes a
Published on December 5, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Rob reports from COP21 in Paris: Day Six

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I spent the morning at Place to B doing interviews, one for National Geographic France, and the other with an online magazine who wanted to know what my ideal house would be like in 2050.  Enjoyed that.
Published on December 3, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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The most beautiful song about Transition yet created?

I'm now over half way through my time here in Paris, and it is pretty hectic really.  It can feel like being pulled in many different directions and really quite intense and tiring sometimes.  It is useful then, in such moments, to reconnect with what it is that we in Transition are doing, and why we do it.  I have written before about the brilliant musical about Transition that is currently being created, 'Something Wonderful In My Back Yard'which is a musical that follows a community through the process of creating Transition in their town. 
Published on December 3, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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Rob reports from COP21 in Paris: Day Five

Le Bourget
This shouldn't take so long as today was, compared to past days, relatively uneventful.  Its first half was dominated by the Transition Network website going down, leading to lots of scrabbling around and my being unable to upload various things that I needed to upload.  I got to Le Bourget at about 11, and found a corner where, once the website was back up again, I got various things up onto the site.  I also sat and wrote a letter to my MP, asking her to vote against bombing Syria (although she clearly will), the last paragraph of which was:
Published on December 2, 2015, by Rob Hopkins
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