A Local Transition Hub
Under Development for Westchester County, New York
About Transition
REBUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND SELF-RELIANCE
Tackling Climate Change and Peak Oil
Bringing the head, heart and hands of communities together
in the transition to life beyond oil.
“The uncertainty of our times is no reason to be certain about
hopelessness.”
(Vandana Shiva)
MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME
The two toughest challenges facing humankind at the beginning of the
21st century are climate change and peak oil. While climate change is
well documented and very visible in the media, there is much less public
awareness around the issue of peak oil. And yet, the imminent decline of
fossil fuel availability that peak oil refers to may well prevent the
economic and social stability that is essential if we are to mitigate
the threats posed by climate change. Transition Initiatives, designed to
achieve relocalization at the community level, currently represent one
of the most promising ways of engaging people and communities in
strengthening themselves against the effects of these two monumental
challenges, resulting in a life that is more fulfilling, socially
connected and resilient.
THE END OF THE AGE OF CHEAP OIL
The impact of burning fossil fuels on our climate is now obvious to all
except a few die-hard skeptics. Our streets are choked with cars. We are
fed, clothed and warmed not by the produce of the land around us but by
food, goods and fuel transported hundreds and or even thousands of
miles—a system which is entirely dependent on abundant supplies of cheap
oil. While a few optimists still talk about 10-20 years, a growing
number of experts say cheap oil could be gone within just two or three
years. With oil so deeply embedded in our way of life from
transportation and food production to consumer products, the end the age
of cheap oil will have a severe impact on the lifestyles we have become
accustomed to.
“Fifty years ago, the world was consuming 4 billion barrels of oil per year and the average discovery was around 30 billion. Today we consume 30 billion barrels per year and the discover rate is approaching 4 billion barrels of crude per year.” (Asia Times, May 4, 2005)
WHY TRANSITION INITIATIVES?
The Transition approach empowers communities to squarely face the
challenges of peak oil and climate change, and to unleash the collective
genius of their own people to find the answers to this momentous
question:
For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to
sustain itself and thrive, how are we going to drastically reduce carbon
emissions (in response to climate change), significantly rebuild
resilience (in response to peak oil), and greatly strengthen our local
economy (in response to economic instability)?
Transition Initiatives make no claim to have all the answers, but by
building on the wisdom of the past and accessing the pool of ingenuity,
skills and determination in our communities, the solutions can readily
emerge. Now is the time for us to take stock and to start re-creating
our future in ways that are not based on cheap, plentiful and polluting
oil but on localized food, sustainable energy sources, resilient local
economies and an enlivened sense of community well-being.
THE VIRAL SPREAD OF TRANSITION
At the forefront of this new approach is a growing band of communities
who are adopting the Transition Model as they devise an entirely new way
of thinking, living and working together to make our local communities
more resilient and more abundant.
Since the “unleashing” of Transition Town Totnes, England (the first in
the UK) in the summer of 2006, the Transition concept has spread rapidly
around the world. To date, there are about 80 officially designated
Transition Towns (or cities, districts, villages, or islands) in the UK,
Ireland, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S.;
Transition Boulder County became the first Transition Initiative in
North America in May 2008. There are some 700 additional communities who
are in various stages of becoming Transition Initiatives or considering
whether they’re ready for this journey, and more join their ranks nearly
every day.
PREPARING FOR ENERGY DESCENT
The aim of a Transition Initiative is to pull the community together to
explore the practicalities of rebuilding local resilience and reducing
carbon emissions. Typically, solutions involve rebuilding a community’s
capacities to meet its own essential needs in food, energy and economy,
and together these strategies will form the backbone of the local Energy
Descent Action Plan. This timetabled roadmap will define the strategic
steps leading towards a life that has minimal reliance on fossil fuels
and dramatically reduced carbon emissions, and one that profits from the
abundance of resources and capabilities within our communities.
FIRST STEPS TO TRANSITION
Transition is an empowering collaborative process, designed to engage
the entire community. Here are some of the initial steps:
-
Set up a steering group
Establish a core team to drive the project forward during the initial phases -
Awareness raising
Films, events and talks by experts can alert the community of the potential effects of both peak oil and climate change—the former demanding a drive to increase community resilience, the latter a reduction in carbon footprint -
Lay the foundations
Build connections to existing complementary initiatives and network with existing groups -
Organize a Great Unleashing
A memorable event that announces the Transition Initiative to the entire community -
Form sub-groups
Set up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of local life, tapping into the collective genius of the community -
Use Open Space
An innovative meeting technology that brilliantly encourages and captures all the creativity, intelligence and problem-solving ideas of the participants -
Develop visible manifestations
Demonstrate to everyone that your Transition Initiative has the determination and skills to implement practical solutions -
Facilitate the Great Reskilling
The Transition Initiative can reverse the “great deskilling” of the last 40 years by offering training in the vast range of lost practical skills—repairing, constructing, growing, etc. -
Build a bridge to local government
Get the local council on board, and they’ll provide significant support -
Honor the elders
These may be the only people in the community who know what a lower energy life is like; their involvement is crucial -
Create an Energy Descent Action Plan
After about a year, you’ll be ready to develop the strategic plan…and then the real work of transitioning to a life beyond oil can begin
Credit - Transition Colorado