Hello digital community! 

My name is Alex, and I’ve been a member on this website since near its inception, and aware of TransitionPGH for similar measures. I’ve not been particularly good at actively participating in the community, though, via running several other digital spaces, I should know better. I’m working on changing that. 

It’s worth saying that I’m an Engineer (we can discuss the validity of labelling others, but self-labelling has always seemed both valid and really important for initial interactions with people). I like energy and water infrastructure, and urban design, and looking at [sustainability] problems from a quantitative point of view. What drew me to Transition in the first place was the idea of local community action centered around the creation of an Energy Descent plan. I think there’s a strong role for government policy at all levels in creating a sustainable world, but just as important is planning and action at the local level.

I know that TransitionPGH (and many of its sister organizations) has a large focus on community development, healthy living, and spirituality. That’s great, but I don’t think that alone will solve the problems we (as a neighborhood, city, country or world) face. I’m interested in helping with some of the technical sides of Transition, whether that’s doing education, helping run some initial focus groups on actions and effectiveness, or building solar hot water heaters out of refrigerator coils. If there are others around this site who are interested (and managed to read this whole post!), leave a comment and we can start a group and/or plan something.

Cheers,

Alex D.

PostScript:

My background is in Engineering Physics and Nuclear Engineering, and my PhD work (current) is on the regional costs, impacts, and feasibility of energy and water supply scenarios. It’s a bundle of stuff, and I love discussing it. I also have thriving interests in urban design and transport systems.