“What does a car-free neighbourhood sound like? Go to Vauban in Freiburg where 3,000 people live in a neighbourhood with no cars – incredible place.” [Rob Hopkins]
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There’s so much negativity out there – so it’s good to be able to turn to the regular ‘Positive News’ publication:
We report socially relevant and uplifting stories of progress – ranging from the global boom in renewable energy to cities that are solving homelessness – joining the dots between how people, communities and organisations are changing the world for the better.
Its founder is the broadcaster Martyn Lewis – who back in the 1990s launched a campaign to have more positive stories included in news bulletins.
The latest edition leads with an interview with Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town movement – and a look at some heartening visions of the future:
What if everything turns out OK? The power of imagining a better future
The year? 2030. Just seven years away. How did he get there? Well, the writer and activist has – whisper it – a time machine. It’s hidden in a secret laboratory under Totnes Castle in Devon, near to where he lives, along with a “disbelief suspender” and a “cynicism overrider”. At least that’s the yarn he spins when he’s invited to give talks on what he believes is a curiously underrated tool for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises: our imaginations...
It doesn’t require a huge leap of the imagination to visualise it because the future is already here, it just hasn’t caught on yet. Hopkins travels around to experience it, not in his time machine but by train. And he records the sounds he hears for Field Recordings from the Future, a collaboration he’s working on with musician Mr Kit.
“What does a bicycle rush hour sound like? Go to Utrecht at eight o’clock in the morning and stand by the train station. What does a car-free neighbourhood sound like? Go to Vauban in Freiburg where 3,000 people live in a neighbourhood with no cars – incredible place. What would it sound like if beavers rewilded our landscape? Go to Cornwall to Woodland Valley Farm – again incredible,” he says.
