Rick S.: I have a real sense that they've started to show they’re a force for environmental change, show that they are a force for actually creating beautiful green spaces that work, and leading towards discussions of a green belt in Wellington alongside more recently over the last two, three years, the community farm project. Also through the fact that they now produce a weekly What’s On listing activities that are not only happening through them, but in neighbouring places. Producing a kind of excitement around what can be done. Some of the things I've been involved with them being improving and clearing green spaces on housing estates in Wellington and fields nearby housing estates. Getting the community involved. They seem to have quite an increasingly large group of people who get involved. They do summer fête type events that bring in the wider community. I think there's always room to expand that, but I know they also do talks. Helen [Gillingham], who's also a huge force of nature in all senses, do talks at schools and with other groups…I would definitely say they are helping with people's physical and mental health, people's awareness of environmental issues, the need to protect our environment, to act positively, in a world which in many ways seems to be turning its back on the realities of what needs to be done. I wouldn't say I'm a cynic or a pessimist, most people like to think of themselves as realists, but whatever one person's realism is another’s unrealism. But, I think whatever the situation is, if you've got the opportunity to make a positive contribution, you should take it. That's why fundamentally I hugely approve of what they're doing.
Marie Pierre: Il y a une chose dont je ne vous ai pas parlé jusqu'à présent, mais en fait, il y a beaucoup de gens, c'est vrai, qu'ils sont dans un moment difficile pour eux avec le réchauffement climatique. C'est quelque chose qui peut déprimer profondément. En particulier, beaucoup de gens sont vraiment dans une situation où ils disent : mon monde est foutue, qu'est-ce que je fais là? et donc on a aussi un groupe qui s'appelle le groupe de Transition Intérieure, parce que pour pouvoir faire des actions, en fait, eh … avec ses mains, il faut être en accord entre ce qu'on a comme pensée et ce qu'on a au fond de son cœur, comme envie. Et donc, on a ce groupe de Transition Intérieure qui permet de mettre les gens en mouvement quand ils se sentent tellement déprimés qu'il n'y arrive même plus. Voilà. Donc … il y a aussi eh ce groupe de Transition Intérieure qui, pour moi, est vraiment important, parce que c'est vrai que on peut se retrouver par moments tellement submergés par les difficultés devant lesquelles on va aller. Il ne s’agit pas non plus d'être bisounours et de se dire : vous inquiétez pas les papillons et tout ça va aller bien. Il y a des grosses difficultés devant nous, mais comment on fait pour que on ait envie d'y aller et que ce soit quelque chose d'agréable, de, de constructif ? Et et de paix, vraiment, qui enrichisse.
English Translation:
Marie Pierre: There is one thing I haven't told you about until now, but in fact, there are a lot of people, really, who are finding it hard to deal with global warming. It's something that can be deeply depressing. In particular, a lot of people are really in a situation where they say: well the world is screwed, what am I doing here? and so we also have a group called the Inner Transition group, because to be able to take action, in fact, eh ... with your hands, you have to be in agreement between what you have as a thought and what you have deep down in your heart, your wishes. And so, we have this Inner Transition group which allows people to get moving when they feel so depressed that they can't even do anything anymore. There you go. So... there is also this group of Inner Transition which, for me, is really important, because it is true that we can find ourselves at times so overwhelmed by the difficulties we are going to face. It is not about being a softy and say to oneself: don't worry the butterflies and everything, they’ll be fine. There are big difficulties ahead of us, but how do we make ourselves want to go there and how do we make it something pleasant, something constructive? And at peace, really, which is enriching.
Jessica Cohodes: What I hope for the future is that the movement itself, a movement and an organization, are two completely different things. Because a movement, the power is not held in one centralized location. A movement literally means like boots on the ground. If you are able to connect the why of the movement and clarify that, people are going to do it for them, that's a movement. To go back to what had happened at the national level, there's some really questionable ways in which this new executive director operated and essentially kicked people out involuntarily and cut them off completely so that this equality would have a voice. And so I hope that regardless of an organization, the movement will survive, even if it has to be two different or many different organizations. And that the movement can remember that you are in partnership with other people, and there are other people in organizations, they are actually working in the same sphere as the movement and how can we pluck them and bring them together. How can we curate the circles that are capable of working together without wasting energy?