For more about this website and what is all about take a look at the page Why Transition Culture?. This section is to tell you about who I am, and how I have ended up doing this website. My name is Rob Hopkins, and I just turned 38. I did my permaculture design course in 1992, and around the same time saw Bill Mollison lecture in Stroud, and both of these things dramatically changed my life. I became involved in the Bristol Permaculture Group, and at the same time did a degree in Environmental Quality and Resource Management at UWE Bristol. You can find my dissertation, ‘Permaculture - a new approach for rural planning’ on this website. I then moved with my family to Ireland, where I began teaching permaculture and laying the groundwork for the ecovillage development we wanted to undertake.