At some point you will hopefully just want to ignore all the processes, governance, and regulations, and just get out there and do stuff! This work can be considered part of a general application phase of your Transition journey, and we have grouped it under the following topics:
Practical projects - the power of just doing stuff
Inner Transition - connecting and healing
Scholarship - teaching and learning
Practical projects - The power of just doing stuff
Practical projects are one of the main things that Transition plays an active part in, be it
a organising, facilitating or negotiating role. They are often the aspects of a Transition University that attract people at first, engage the most people, and produce the most visible results. Besides, they are good fun!
There is of course a wide range of practical projects you can do, and each project will look different depending on its specific context. For more in depth exploration of the nature of particular projects we encourage you to visit the websites of the different Transition Universities in this guide, or to get in touch with them directly. Here we will just share a few experiences
You should be able to use the different sections and ingredients of this guide, also when you are planning your specific practical projects. Most Transition Universities report that food growing is a very successful project as it embodies many benefits at once, such as:
• Establishing links between students, staff, and Estates/Facilities Management teams
• People learn food growing skills that are valuable even after having left university
• People get fresh, local, organic veg to eat immediately
• They also help with mental health as being outside is de-stressing
• In St Andrews, a student group set up a community garden with the help of Transition who supplied the training, and negotiated with the Grounds management team, etc. A more detailed description of this process can be found here
Planning projects
Which practical projects should you do? When deciding this it can be useful to look at your university and ask some questions. Answers to these questions will help you to define your people based projects.
Doing
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