Transition Towns Thread

shabs100 · February 20, 2008

Transition Towns Thread / (was called "Transition Towns Primer")

An initiative to relocalise our communities

(combined with, Steve Netwriter's):

Transition Towns, An NZ initiative to relocalise our communities

===========================================

Hi, I am a university student studying about Transition Towns. I have been set an assignment to obtain feedback from those people who have read the Transition Towns Primer, would you please comment on whether you think that it is an easy read? Do you need to read it all to understand the message? Does it get boring? Does it help? Could it be improved?

I thank you all in advanced for your help and reply.

(Added later):

What is a Transition Town (or village, city, forest, island)?

A Transition Initiative is a community that seeks to face up to the dual challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change and to discover ways to address this BIG question:

For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive (e.g. food, education, business, environment, community, etc.) how do we significantly increase resilience (to reduce the effects of rising oil prices) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to reduce the effects of climate change)?

+ + + + +

:

: 12 steps

Rob Hoskins, Founder of the Transition Network

NOTES - from his Nov. 2007 presentation at Oxford:

The Principles of a Transition Town / City

==============================

1) Building Local Resilience (referenced the film "The End of Suburbia" as a call to arms)

2) Visioning: creating an enticing vision to enthuse people about a post oil future. In Totnes they interviewed local children about their visions

(see "Transition Tales" on You Tube / LINK:

)

3) Inclusion: drawing parallels with a "wartime effort" philosophy; that we need the collective strength and skills of all sectors of a community

4) Awareness Raising: to develop support / context for a locally specific transition.

5) Psychological Insights: that sometimes facing climate change and peak oil can be depressing and scary, that one of the best antidotes to this is to do take actions as a community

6) Credible & appropriate solutions: as opposed to apocalyptic doom mongering and then suggesting that people replace their light bulbs!

The 12 Steps Towards a Transition Town

==============================

1) Form a steering group and plan its demise!

2) Raise awareness of Peak Oil, Climate Change and the alternatives, through films, etc. In Totnes the "Totnes Pound" generated a lot of publicity and awareness, as well as encouraging people to support their local economy!

3) Lay Foundations: work with businesses and local landowners, in particular help them to analyse their "Oil Vulnerability".

4) Official Unleashing: an event that commemorates the historic nature of turning away from fossil fuel dependence.

5) Form working groups: such as Arts, Food, Energy, Economics, Local Government, Psychology (of change), Health, Housing, etc.

6) Use Open Space Technology: where participants involved in the working groups can create their own agenda for sessions, allowing diverse and/or large groups to participate effectively in planning the transition.

7) Develop a visible manifestation: nut trees were planted in Totnes as a symbol of the future appearance / function of their towns spaces.

8) Great Re-skilling: disseminating and expanding the towns skills in both old and new technologies.

9) Bridge to Local Government: LG seen as a supporter of the TT movement rather than a driver of it.

10) Honour the Elders: tap into pre-fossil fuel dependence experiences.

11) Let it go where it wants to go: there are an almost infinite number potential projects such as renewable societies, youth festivals, garden swaps, lending libraries, business waste swap shops, etc.

12) Develop an energy descent plan: use the learning experiences from steps 1-11 and make it an attractive and achievable vision.

R. Hoskin's : Slide presentation-Nov2007

/source :: http://climatex.org/articles/lo-carb-commu...s-oxford-event/

drbubb · February 21, 2008

Hi, I am a university student studying about Transition Towns. I have been set an assignment to obtain feedback from those people who have read the Transition Towns Primer,

Do you have a link?

Tell us more about the purpose of the primer, and the purpose of your project, please.

Frankly, I think you have a bigger issue:

How popular is this subject? Those who care about the topic will need to find a way of convincing others that it is important.

== == ==

(in edit);

Transition Towns have become highly popular - Just look at this map of how many there are:

source: http://www.idea-porting.com/2009/10/07/transition-towns/

Transition Towns start off when a small collection of individuals within a community come together with a shared concern.

They begin by forming an initiating group with the intention of engaging a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a Transition Initiative. A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look at problems squarely in the eye and address them.

After going through a comprehensive and creative process of: awareness raising, connecting with existing groups in the community, building bridges to local government, forming groups to look at all the key areas of life and kicking off projects aimed at building people’s understanding of resilience, 15-20 year projects are formed.

This results in a coordinated range of projects across all areas of life that strives to rebuild the resilience towns have lost as a result of problems such as cheap oil and carbon emissions.

The communities also recognise two crucial points: that they immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there’s no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope, if we collectively plan and act early enough there’s every likelihood that we can create a way of living that’s significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment.

Examples of existing Transition Towns can be found here. From the UK to Australia to New Zealand to Italy to Japan, Transition Towns are currently evolving everywhere.

http://www.transitiontowns.org/

== == == == ==

OTHER LINKS

=========

Chris Martenson's website :: http://www.ChrisMartenson.com

CM's Crash Course videos ::

Rob Hoskins interview ....... ::

End of Suburbia Film ......... ::

Active Group, in Oxford..... :: http://climatex.org/

Transition in Oxford, UK..... :: http://www.transitionoxford.org.uk

shabs100 · February 21, 2008

First of all, thanks for replying. The Primer can be downloaded from the following website:

http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwo...nNetwork#primer

The purpose of the primer is to get local communities to adopt a strategy to fight the rise in energy and carbon dioxide and the decline of oil resources.

The purpose of the project is subjected towards those people who have read the primer. It is an assignment to obtain feedback of how easy these people think it is to read the primer and implement the strategies suggested within their respected communities.

drbubb · February 22, 2008

"We're hoping that through this work, communities across the UK will unleash their own collective genius and embark on an imaginative and practical range of connected initiatives, leading to a way of life that is more resilient, more fulfilling and more equitable, and that has dramatically lower levels of carbon emissions."

A noble effort - but at an early stage, perhaps.

A community that is doing something similar, but may be further along...

- Is this one : http://www.southlandsintransition.ca/

I especially like their use of videos: http://www.southlandsintransition.ca/media

This one, really captured my interest:

= =

BTW, I doubt that filling in a survey would appeal to many individual investors here.

(I may be wrong, if so, great.) It looks like you need to hook in with those involved

in town planning. have I got that right?

TRANSITION

This may be a "buzz word" that is not familiar to people unless they are currently in an academic or a town-planning setting. Maybe you should start by giving a definition- unless you are only interested in catching the interest of those who are already "in the know"

How broad is "the transition"? Are people ready to "write off and restructure" their suburban investments? Personally, I think many will need to do that. They will need to reorient their lives, and living arrangements AWAY FROM regular use of private automobiles. Are the "transition people" talking about something this radical yet?

BTW, my own effort to educate people about the need to do so, can be found in an article:

RESTRUCTURING AMERICA'S SUBURBAN DREAM:

The root cause of rising oil prices must be addressed

if we are to provide a Sustainable Future for Our Grandchildren

HollandPark · February 22, 2008

Transition - there's a whole industry riding on this new wave...

Title: The Green Transition Conference:

Sustainable Practices for a more Profitable Future

Date: April 3 & 4, 2008

City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Location: Toronto Botanical Garden

Description: Get ahead of the GREEN WAVE! Attend this event and learn to apply sustainable development strategies and build an environmentally sound business.

SOURCE: http://www.enlightenedevents.ca/

##

BOOKS:

Sustainable Development: The Challenge of Transition By Jurgen Schmandt, Calvin Herbert

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id...Ee9r3k#PPA17,M1

Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id...jgUjyl06knyuGlM

= = =

In seeking a definition for "TRANSITION" in Answers, I didnt find much.

But under "SUSTAINABLE", I found this excellent passage:

Barriers to achieving ecological sustainability

Despite the arguably growing evidence that the human species is set on a population adjustment course of immense proportions, and despite long-standing and widespread public awareness of the seriousness of the consequence (e.g., Nelson, 1986; Yankelovitch, et al., 1983; Diamond, Jared (2005) ), it seems impossible to many that we could alter the course of our destiny.

Unruh (2000, 2002) has argued that numerous barriers to sustainability arise because today's technological systems and governing institutions were designed and built for permanence and reliability, not change. In the case of fossil fuel-based systems this is termed "carbon lock-in" and inhibits many change efforts.

Others, particularly Thwink.org, argue that if enough members of the environmental movement adopted a problem solving process that fit the problem, the movement would make the astonishing discovery that the crux of the problem is not what it thought it was. It is not the proper practices or technical side of the problem after all. Any number of these practices would be adequate. Instead the real issue is why is it so difficult to persuade social agents (such as people, corporations, and nations) to adopt the proper practices needed to live sustainably? Thus the heart of the matter is the change resistance or social side of the problem.

This is generally attributed to “change resistance” (see, e.g., Thwink.org), viewed as involving change in individual values, whether at personal, corporate, or collective levels (see e.g., Stafford Beer). Unfortunately, it has been frequently demonstrated, e.g., in the studies cited, that people’s values are, in general, in the right place. The problem is to enact them. This has led to the preparation of numerous “wish lists”—such as that compiled by Shah, H., & Marks, N. (2004)—drawing together many recommendations for government action.

Government and individual failure to act on the available information is widely attributed to personal greed (deemed to be inherent in human nature) especially on the part of international capitalists. But even Karl Marx did not suggest this, instead highlighting sociological processes which have been in operation for thousands of years. If fault is to be found with Marx's work it can be argued that it lies elsewhere. Because he believed that the collapse of capitalism was imminent, he never discussed how to run society in an innovative way in the long term public interest.

Two things seem to follow from this brief discussion.

+ It is vital to follow up the study of the sociocybernetic, or systems (see also systems theory), processes which, it seems, primarily control what happens in society.

+ We should use the social-science-based insights already available to evolve forms of Public management that will act on information in an innovative way in the long term public interest.

SOURCE: http://www.answers.com/sustainable?cat=technology

shabs100 · February 23, 2008

your replies are much appreciated. DrBubb, in response to your question, I think its more of a way to see how many people have read the primer, and if so, whether they think it is easy enough to read so that they may implement the strategies it shows within their own local communities. Once ive collected the relevant data ill be writiing up a report, based on the number of replies I recieve, on whether I think the primer is actually the right way to advertise the message emphasising the various changes we are being subject to now and the foreseeable future. At the moment, it seems that people are either not interested or they have not heard of it.

drbubb · February 23, 2008

At the moment, it seems that people are either not interested or they have not heard of it.

You could be right.

I believe it needs to be promoted better. There's simply not enough awareness about it IMHO

shabs100 · February 25, 2008

DrBubb, in an earlier post you said "A noble effort - but at an early stage, perhaps." with regard to the mission statement on the Transition Towns website. Would you please provide more clarity on this.

drbubb · February 25, 2008

The canadians (on the site where I provided a link) seem to have taken this idea further.

Have you looked to see what they are doing?

Also, there doesnt yet seem to be widespread understanding and support from the public.

Perhaps that will come eventually

Steve Netwriter · August 25, 2008

Transition Towns

An NZ initiative to relocalise our communities

==============================

I've just come across this.

If we are to respond to peak oil and climate change by moving to a lower energy future and relocalising our communities, then we’ll need many of the skills that our grandparents took for granted. One of the most useful things a Transition Town project can do is to reverse the "great deskilling" of the last 40 years by offering training in a range of some of these skills.

http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/taxonomy/term/173

http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/

This seems to be the opposite to the great American suburbs.

I wonder whether there are other initiatives towards more sustainable living.

The one thing about that, and I suspect Chris Martenson, is that IMO they are including climate change (meaning a rising temperature) incorrectly.

I think that's unfortunate, although the changes needed are very similar anyway, so it's not such a bad mistake to make.

I think we have just peaked on temperature, and unfortunately we will now be seeing ever colder years. The reason that is important is that it means we'll be suffering from lower food production, which will compound the problem of peak oil & food shortages.

Don't you think that is far more likely, simply because a colder climate a peak oil would be the worst thing to deal with. I invoke Murphy's Law

drbubb · August 26, 2008

I've just come across this.
http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/taxonomy/term/173

http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/

A good idea.

But I hate the name., "transition towns".

It sounds like something very temporary, and experimental:

"Each transition group networks with their local community on a coordinated range of projects designed to transition from high energy to low energy lifestyles in a positive and creative manner. Our aim is to re-localise our communities, making them vibrant, resilient and truly sustainable"

Sensible steps forward, like this one:

#8. Facilitate the Great Reskilling

Give people a powerful realisation of their own ability to solve problems, to achieve practical results and to work cooperatively alongside other people.

drbubb · August 26, 2008

#8. Facilitate the Great Reskilling
Give people a powerful realisation of their own ability to solve problems, to achieve practical results and to work cooperatively alongside other people.

I am trying do do this where I live.

Here are some excerpts from postings that I have made on the chatboard of my local community:

= 1/

That was quite a blow last night !

The typhoon no.9 warning was followed by some very strong winds last night, and we seem to have lost over one dozen 20-30 foot tall trees within the perimeter of Caribbean Coast.

This happened because the strong winds came before the newly-planted trees had properly rooted. The only support many had was a rooted section less than 2-3 feet wide, and some inadequate support in the form of props and guide wires. I hope the trees will be better supported in the future.

My immediate concern is saving the trees that are half fallen.

I think this can be done, by re-digging the holes where the roots are to go, and pulling the trees back into an upright position.

=2/

THIS IS SERIOUS === HK$300,000 per Tree !

That's a figure that someone quoted as the likely cost of replacing each tree.

If we lost 10 trees, that's $3 million to be added onto the management fees:

about $700 per flat !

I would rather save them. But I cannot do it on my own.

I visited the Management Office again today, and the ever-helpful, Amanda Lam, toild me that she has been in touch with both the CC Gardening people and the TC government office about the trees. She took me out to point out that many of the trees were outside the property boundary of CC, and so were the responsibility of the government. Nevertheless, she has asked the gardeners to water the roots. (That's a good suggestion, but it didnt look like they hade been watered.)

I thanked Amanda for her efforts, but as I continued my jog, I saw many fallen trees that look as if they are within CC boundaries.

I still think we should do something about this.

/see: http://caribbeancoast.org/forum/index.php/topic,608.0.html

HERE's the kind of nonsense that I am fighting:

for those whose properties are affected by the current strong wind/rain, and you believe the damage should be beared by developers, please contact your MO and security office for photo taking and insurance claim. If anything I can assist, please feel free to PM me too, thanks.

Steve Netwriter · August 26, 2008

There's a local group near me !!!

Sustainability in Christchurch, NZ

http://www.sustainablechristchurch.org.nz/home/

* For our children and grandchildren to have a healthy future they will need clean air, reliable fresh water supplies, productive nearby farmland, employment opportunities and a supportive society. We are concerned that present directions or trends will not guarantee these basic needs are satisfied. Are you worried too?

* Future global challenges need to be imaginatively met at the local level. Such challenges include very high petrol prices for NZ when global production and reserves fail to meet growing demand (Peak Oil Production), and also rising sea level and more storm events from climate change. We will be forced into energy efficiency and reduced fossil fuel use sooner or later. Would you prefer to see action soon?

* There are alternatives emerging that deserve encouragement through our choices made at home and work. We can support organic food production, for example, and renewable energy generation from sunshine and wind, facilities for safer cycling and walking within the city and social innovations such as farmers’ markets, community gardens and co-housing. When advocating and educating for sustainability, we are optimists. Do you want to seek local solutions instead of feeling you are a part of the problem?

Steve Netwriter · August 26, 2008

Transition Towns is a global thing

http://www.transitiontowns.org/

drbubb · August 26, 2008

I like those big objectives, but sometimes they are hard to pull together

SAVING TREES is simple, immediate, and possible.

If only I can get the cooperation of our project's gardeners.

Once we have show we can work together on a small project like this,

our owners and residents can cooperate on bigger projects.

drbubb · February 14, 2010

bump.

Perhaps I should combine this with the newer thread

Silent reader · February 14, 2010

bump.

Perhaps I should combine this with the newer thread

Dr B, Please feel free to combine the new thread in with this one. maybe with Steve N's other thread as well. Keep it all in the same place.

I think I might need to get my eyes tested again, I couldn't find this in the search..... Thanks for digging it out, Much appreciated.

SR

drbubb · February 17, 2010

From Chris Martenson's UK Travel schedule

Overnight in Bristol
Tuesday Feb 23

Meeting with Rob Hopkins, Transition Towns (10am). Private event.

Travel back to London for early evening session

Talk, All Parliamentary Party Group on Peak Oil. Free and open to the public. More info here. (6:30pm – 8:00pm)

I need to look into what Rob Hopkins is doing in the Transition Towns movement

+ + +

Rob Hoskins, presenting at a 2007 event in Oxford

NOTES - from his Nov. 2007 presentation:

The Principles of a Transition Town / City

==============================

1) Building Local Resilience (referenced the film "The End of Suburbia" as a call to arms)

2) Visioning: creating an enticing vision to enthuse people about a post oil future. In Totnes they interviewed local children about their visions (see "Transition Tales" on You Tube)