Rob Hopkins
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Rob Hopkins | |
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Environmental activist | |
| Notable work | From What If to What Next |
| Website | robhopkins |
Rob Hopkins (born 24 June 1968) is an English activist and writer on environmental issues, based in Totnes, England. He is best known as the founder and figurehead of the Transition movement, which he initiated in 2005. Hopkins has written six books on environmentalism and activism.
According to Bill McKibben, "there’s no one on earth who's just done more [environmental] stuff – and inspired more doing – than Rob Hopkins".[1]
Biography
Early life and education (1968–1996)
Born in Chiswick, London, Hopkins grew up in London until the age of 12, when he moved to Wiltshire, attending
From 1988, he spent two and a half years living at Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Tuscany, Italy, working as the house manager. He then spent a year travelling in India, Pakistan (including a visit to the Hunza Valley), China, Tibet, Hong Kong and then back to India where he met Emma, who has been his partner since then. They settled in Bristol, where Rob earned a degree in Environmental Quality & Resource Management at the University of the West of England,[2] and also undertook his Permaculture Design Course.[citation needed]
Hopkins holds a first class Honours degree in environmental quality and resource management from the
Ireland (1996–2005)
In 1996, Rob and his family moved to south-west Ireland, to West Cork. He initially worked with An Taisce West Cork, writing and illustrating a booklet called Woodlands for West Cork!.[3] He began teaching permaculture, initially as short courses, and building up to running full design courses, initially as an evening class. Together with another family, he and Emma set up Baile Dulra Teoranta, a charity, with the intention of creating an ecovillage project. In 1999, with another family, they bought The Hollies, a farm near Castletown, Enniskeane. After a few years, they were granted planning permission for an ecovillage development.
In 2001, he started and taught the Practical Sustainability course at Kinsale Further Education College, initially as a one-year course, and later as the first two-year Permaculture course in the world.[4] Between 2003 and 2005, its students built the Wooden O Theatre, an amphitheatre using local materials.[5] The Hollies Centre for Sustainability ran a series of courses in natural building and built two new cob houses, using local materials.[6] In October 2004, Rob and Emma's house was destroyed in a fire.
In 2004, he became aware of the concept of peak oil, and set his students the task of applying permaculture principles to addressing this challenge. The output of this student project was the ‘Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan’, which was uploaded to the college website. It was downloaded by interested parties around the world. In July 2005, Kinsale FEC hosted Fuelling the Future, a conference on peak oil and solutions to it.
Transition Town Totnes (2005–present)
 | This section's use of Totnes Pound ; Totnes Transition Film Festival; TTT Film Club; Dr Bike; Caring Town Totnes; and Transition Tours.
TV presenter Nicholas Crane, in an episode of his series Town, visited Totnes and declared, "This is the biggest urban brainwave of the century. A visionary, practical blueprint that took root in a town and is circling the globe." Michael Portillo, in Great British Railway Journeys, visited Totnes and spent a Totnes Pound. Westlife once appeared on The One Show, showing each other Totnes Pounds. Rob Hopkins also presented the Totnes Pound in the documentary film Tomorrow (Demain) (2015). Transition Network (2007–present) In 2007, with Peter Lipman and Ben Brangwyn, Hopkins founded the Transition Network, a charity designed to support the many transition initiatives emerging around the world, inspired by the processes begun in Kinsale and Totnes. Transition Network is based in Totnes. There are Transition initiatives in over 50 countries round the world, in around 1,400 communities. Transition Network has run seven conferences: Nailsworth (2007); Royal Agriculture College, Cirencester (2008); Battersea Arts Centre (2009); Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2010); Hope University, Liverpool (2011); Battersea Arts Centre (2012);[9] and Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2015).[10] BusinessesNew Lion BreweryHopkins is a founder and a director of New Lion Brewery, a social enterprise craft brewery in Totnes.[11] New Lion Brewery is built on foundations of sustainability, profitability, community, and innovation. In 2015, its "Pandit IPA" was voted Britain's 17th Hottest Beer.[12] Atmos TotnesHopkins is one of the directors of Atmos Totnes, a community-led development initiated by Totnes Community Development Society.[13][14] Atmos Totnes is the redevelopment of the former Dairy Crest site in Totnes as a mixed use development in community ownership. It will be one of the first, and most ambitious, uses of a Community Right to Build Order, through a referendum due to take place in June 2016. WorksHopkins has written or collaborated in six Transition movement books:
Awards and recognition
See alsoReferences
External links
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