Southwest France Interviewees
Cédric Loy
Cédric Loy, in his early thirties, defines himself as an ‘engaged citizen’, committed to working to improve society and the environment. He came from a farming background, but worked in real estate, and points out that at one stage he realized he was overworked, and he questioned what the point of it all was. Above all he wondered what type of future he wanted to have and what trace of his own life he might want to leave behind him. He began going from school to school, and workspace to workspace to run the Climate Fresk workshop, intended to inspire people to realize the ecological threats of climate change that lie ahead, and inspire each participant to empower themselves to make changes to their daily lives.Pascal Bourgois
Pascal Bourgois is in his sixties and for decades now has been interested in doing something to change what is being done to the planet and the environment. He says that he has always been just a little bit ecologically minded, but it was fifteen years ago that he really took stock of the situation and realized something greater had to be done. He began organizing public debates and conferences, attempting to incite others to do the same. It was tough, however, to interest people. Interesting others in climate change, was tricky because generally people lacked information. But they were also somewhat disinterested. Now, something has to be done to make people change.Emmanuelle Favre
Emmanuelle Favre is now Mayor of her town. She stood for me to make changes to the way the town thought about and worked towards preserving the environment. She grew up in the French countryside and had always been interested in nature. But it was really with the objective of standing up for what was right and her own set of values that she wanted to live by that she little by little set up groups to work together in a form of solidarity, creating links between her and her neighbors, and the people around her. She got involved in the transition movement and things just went from one thing to another until she stood for mayor, and against all odds got elected. Since then, she has been making changes to the way the town looks at environmental issues.Cécile Lucas and Marianne Agraz
Cécile Lucas and Marianne Agraz are members of L’Isle-Jourdain en Transition movement, in the Gers, southwest France. They spoke about community, in the sense that their group was like a tribe, a group of people that expressed inter-member help due to solidarity. The word tribe kept coming back into the discussion, and the reference was once again made here to that group of people, almost a family-like gathering. Cécile and Marianne express their positioning towards acceptance, and just making sure that anyone can join their group, even if they have a whole diversity of backgrounds and ideas, underlining the constructiveness of being an eclectic group of people working together for the same objective.Philippe Le Goanvic
In 2000, Philippe Le Goanvic began his involvement in protecting the environment when he joined the Europe Ecology and Green political party. He felt that this was most relevant to his interests at the time. However, he began to consider how he could engage with local communities more directly if he focused on more localized movements such as the Transition Movement. Additionally, he felt that political parties were often partisan and weren’t the best way to promote involvement in the Transition Movement. As a result, Goanvic established and led a Transition Movement in his town.Marie-Pierre Cassagne
Marie-Pierre Cassagne, one of the founders of Toulouse en Transition, tells us how the association branch came into being. In November 2010, after a social gathering, a working group was created to discuss ways to lead the transition in and around Toulouse, a city in the south of France whose economic landscape is deeply shaped by its aerospace industry. Additionally, the SOFT Hub (Sud-ouest France en transition) was also created to facilitate networking among the various transition initiatives around Toulouse and in the Occitanie region. In these extracts, Marie-Pierre explains how the group she co-leads engages with people who do not typically take part in ecological or environmental initiatives, and she also discusses the initiative Transition intérieure (Inner transition) to address the emotional implications of climate change.
Frédéric Gay
Another co-leader of the French south-western branches of the movement, Frédéric Gay, discusses his personal and professional transition, that led him to change his life away from a demanding career. The social dimensions of life and a firm belief that collaboration leads to better outcomes than individual initiatives or competition, are at the core of Frédéric’s engagement in the ecological transition movement. This extract highlights Frédéric’s compassionate and supportive attitude, accepting people’s different levels of engagement in the ecological transition, with the right balance for everyone. Harmony and a “philosophy of care” are crucial in this sense.
Fabienne et Philippe Bornes
Balma en Transition began during a picnic in August 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic. Balma is a small town close to Toulouse in Occitanie, and Fabienne and Philippe were among those who decided to open the Balma branch of the Transition Movement. They describe some of the actions they put in place with their group, such as Zéro déchet (Zero Waste) and Café bricol (Repair Café). With a large family (seven children!) Fabienne and Philippe have been actively engaged in social and environmental causes throughout their life and when they retired they decided to devote most of their time and effort to the ecological transition. In these extracts you’ll hear about a close encounter with a wild bull in Corsica, and their sustainable road trip biking with a big dog.
Gaby Oriente
In her interview Gaby Oriente takes us through her own personal transition to a simpler way of life. To live in deep connection with nature was her childhood dream, and after working for 15 years touring with live performing companies, she was able to acquire a rural estate and create a self-sufficient farm in the Gers, west of Toulouse, which she calls Oasis de biodiversité (biodiversity oasis). She does everything on her own, from growing crops to building a house using what she calls architecture de cueillette (loosely translated as gathering architecture), with materials found on or around the land or recycled materials. In this extract she walks us back to the childhood memories of sounds and smells that have guided her dream, and she talks about how these countryside noises are inextricably connected to her emotions, with a calming power. Gaby also describes how the land is changing and becoming more alive in this place she proudly calls her oasis.This page has paths:
- Appalachia: The Interviews Serai'ya Crawley
- Appalachia: An Overview Serai'ya Crawley
- Southwest England: The Interviews Serai'ya Crawley
- Southwest England: An Overview Serai'ya Crawley
- Overview of Transition Activities Serai'ya Crawley
- Oral Histories of The Transition Towns Movement Serai'ya Crawley
- Southwest France: An Overview Serai'ya Crawley