Green World Trust - creative help for a world in crisis -
to help plan a civilized transition to sustainability

This website is to promote public awareness of the true nature of the major threats to the survival of the human race. This includes cutting-edge information about Climate Change, Peak Oil and the dwindling supply of other materials and fuel sources. We address the need to change the way we live and use these precious resources, and the ways we can support each other in making this change.

We believe that if people grasp the full truth of this, most will realize that this is a "War Effort" situation. They will do everything in their power to help. They will clamour for the real news, for understanding all the factors of true sustainability, for help in reorienting at depth, for developing education for transition to sustainability, and for the tough legislation we need. They will change their attitudes, interests and lifestyle radically, and prepare for more change. They will help to wake up everyone, for the sake of what's coming very soon with Peak Oil, and for their children having any real future.

Humankind has never seen anything so big. Not even the great flood of Noah's Ark (often considered these days to be a mere legend). Nobody is an expert in the face of this, but everyone has ideas, feelings, wisdom, skills, and intuitions that can help.

This huge paradigm shift is not easily accepted though the situation is urgent. The wake-up is often experienced as shocking and deeply traumatic. There is a minority, often in high places, who know but are working selfishly, using violence, hiding the truth - like the Nazis did. These people also appear to fund many maverick scientists who enjoy being the "only ones" who know "the truth" - but have a remarkable ability to ignore key evidence when it suits them. There is another minority of scientists at the real cutting-edge, beyond the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), who say that things are even more serious than IPCC has acknowledged so far. There is another minority who may have keys for help that are not yet recognized or known - or they may be mistaken.

It takes precious time to wake up.

The US are squandering resources they will need themselves very soon, on the warfare that arises from selfishness. They are spending billions of dollars on war - dollars that could easily fund the establishment of a global programme of education for sustainability, and of planned transition to true, holistic sustainability. So building cooperation is essential and urgent. Humankind simply has no future unless the truth is sought, valued, and made transparent; unless we see how deeply we need to change, and how quickly, and how little we can afford to spend our last cheap energy on warfare and denial, if we and our grandchildren are to have any future. We need to give people the opportunity to change, even if only in enlightened self-interest, from selfish ignorance to cooperation and awareness. We may be facing a lot of hardship in a damaged world that cannot sustain us as it has done and needs time and help to recover and readjust.

But in all this, we have a tremendous opportunity to rise to the occasion. We need to envision, and develop the structures of true sustainability, surviving meanwhile as best we can. The problems may appear to be physical, environmental - but they cannot be solved at this level. The solutions must ultimately come from Great Spirit. We all know this in our heart of hearts. The more of us that work with this "war effort", the better we can plan creatively for energy descent in cooperation with government and large organizations, in ways that are fair to everyone and that use our diminishing resources of materials, food and energy, to enable this change to happen positively and creatively.

		"What can I do?" Learn - Research - Participate - Help!
Peak Oil means that we have used up more than half of what's available; what's left will cost more and more to extract; prices will spiral. Global economy has come to depend on oil. But Peak Oil means we cannot continue as we have been living. One gallon of petrol drives a car for 20-30 miles; pushing it that far is several weeks' labour. Climate Change means that extreme weather patterns are happening more and more, both droughts, hurricanes, and floods. Taking Peak Oil and Climate Change together, it is clear that we have no alternative but to plan for a "lean energy" future where we will use far less energy altogether. Alternative energy sources can only meet part of our present demand, likewise hydrogen, coal, and bio-fuels, which have other problems as well; and even if the waste problems were solved, nuclear energy is not a sustainable alternative. The Big Melt - far more serious than Government figures show: The Big Melt and the Hansen Report show far more ice melting than IPCC predicted. Melting Polar ice from Greenland and Antarctica means that sea levels may rise considerably - 5 metres or more. If all the land ice melted, sea levels would rise 80 metres. IPCC are currently revising their estimate upwards. The longer we stay in denial of the effects of oil depletion and climate change, the harder we make it for coming generations. We still have a "window of opportunity" to use the tiny amount of cheap oil left to strategize and plan for energy descent in a creative, civilized way. Transition Towns are developing the most natural creative way forward - facing the real facts - involving everyone. Plan energy descent. Plan for energy rationing. Plan to relocalize. Do an "oil vulnerability audit" on your business. Build resilience to cope with coming energy shocks. Recognize our creative abilities. Relearn old skills. Keep bees. Grow vegetables. Research alternatives. Support each other. Seek help from the highest sources.

This website - We keep on returning "back to basics", to build a holistic sustainability awareness.

• Urgency - the sudden wake-up call is the prime News. The challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change are behind all the significant news. People are doing huge, noble turnabouts on learning the facts - examples: here - here - here.
• Welcome - (1) our mission (2) The challenges + "What Can I Do?" - (3) Key introductory videos (4) Website guide (5) Support. If you have problems with what we say, please tell us. If you like what we do, please tell others.
• Build Community - (1) The Power of Community - How Cuba Faced Peak Oil; (2) Urgency - the sudden wake-up call; (3) Strategy - evolving as the Transition paradigm shift evolves; (4) Transition Community - what's needed / possible
• Forum - we are holding it for future use as we believe strongly that something will emerge to focus urgent interests for which this Forum will be ideal. Could be around developing "A Vision for Somerset" into a national/global document.
• Local Group (Highbridge And Burnham In Transition) - we've started a local Transition initiative in Somerset, UK and set aside this portal page for the local group - it's a start.
• Transition Towns - Climate Change + Peak Oil = Transition Towns. Read about this tremendous fast-growing practical, positive, grassroots initiative to relocalize, reskill, and build resilience in the face of coming energy shocks, and join in.
• Awakening - we've put together earlier personal and spiritual material, with material for the "inner Transition" - often a journey from despair to empowerment. Some will relate to these pages more than others.
• Links - almost an encyclopedic annotated list of links to many vital organizations, approximately grouped by subject with those of greatest importance at the beginning. It's difficult to keep this source uptodate!
• Key Information - "snappy facts" starting with Peak Oil and The Big Melt - each topic a paragraph summary with key hyperlinks. Absolutely essential, and pretty well as uptodate, concise, and well-referenced as you will find.
• Solutions..? - just a start. Find a starter for Permaculture here; also an integrated plan to squeeze out private transport and phase in public transport; also "bright ideas" new proposals for energy generation.
• About Us - this incorporates our history and "welcome" page as GWT, before we encountered Transition Towns. See how tiny a group we really are!.

Key page - last updated 24th April 2008

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