Rob Hopkins

Environmentalist and founder of the international Transition Towns movement Rob Hopkins says true creative and positive thinking is in decline and communities need to revive it and reclaim it to bring about dramatic change for the better.

Increasing loneliness and anxiety, a rise in extremism, climate change, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity and fracturing communities all point to a grim future. Hopkins argues it does not have to be that way and there is plenty of evidence that cultures and communities can change things dramatically. He draws on the experience of his own town of Totnes where the community is becoming its own housing developer, energy company, enterprise incubator and local food network. Hopkins says we are failing to bring about dramatic change because we have allowed our imagination to languish.

Hopkins is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network. In 2012 he was named as one of the Independent’s top 100 environmentalists. He is a founder of New Lion Brewery in Totnes and a director of Totnes Community Development Society.