Open Thread - April 6, 2015 - Transition Movement
Back in early 2012, Occupy Tallahassee hosted speakers who introduced us to the Transition Movement, sometimes called Transition Towns. It was my first introduction to this movement which originated in Great Britain. Since then, this movement has intrigued me as it has many varied facets to it, all of which are intended to make communities more resilient as we experience the negative effects of peak oil, climate change, and economic instability.
Resilience - in Transition terms goes beyond the accepted idea of resilience as being about ability to adapt to shocks, instead seeing it is a desired state; the rebuilding of which could be hugely economically advantageous to our local communities.
In practice, Transition works by inviting people to take ownership of the process; by not claiming to have all the answers but encouraging creativity, and by building networks with other organisations.
As a retired land use planner, one of the things that most attracted me to the idea of Transition Towns is how the techniques employed by these towns build a greater sense of community and sharing among the inhabitants.
The Transition Movement began in Kinsale, Ireland. Recognizing that the world was near peak energy and that climate change was real, permaculturist, Rob Hopkins challenged his students at Kinsale College of Further Education to apply permaculture principles for future resilience to the great changes our world was facing.
This looked at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of energy production, health, education, economy and agriculture as a "road map" to a sustainable future for the town. Two of his students, Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne, developed the Transition towns concept. They then presented their ideas to Kinsale Town Council. The councilors decided to adopt the plan and work towards energy independence.
Soon after, Rob Hopkins moved back his hometown of Totnes, England where he and a co-collaborator, Naresh Giangrande began to implement the transition concepts which led to Totnes becoming the first transition town.
In reality Transition is about a lot more than that. It is about people taking a greater interest in their present and future needs; being more aware of the world in which they live; thinking about the way they really want to live, about who is impacted by the current system and how, and about getting stuck in to make those positive changes happen, from the bottom upwards.
They soon began the Transition network with the aim of teaching others around the world the concepts of the Transition Movement.
The Transition network was founded in 2005, as a response to the twin threats of climate change and peak oil. Unlike other campaign groups, the Transition network never set out to frighten people, but seemed resolutely upbeat, determined to find opportunity in what most regard with dismay.
One of the movement's most fundamental ideas was to ask what the world might look like in the future "if we get it right" – then work out backwards how to get there. Generally speaking, the Transition vision is of a move towards self-sufficiency at the local level, in food, energy and much else, but the specifics of what "getting it right" might look like were never handed down from above.
Below is an early video in which participants speak about the Transition Movement.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuYSDUflfts]
I recently checked the site for Transition Tallahassee and have not seen any new posts since early 2013. I am not sure of its status although it does have a Facebook page. However, another city in Florida has a very active Transition program, Transition Sarasota. They have many activities and ongoing programs. Please check out their website linked above.
If anyone here is aware of or participating in a local transition program, I would love to hear about your experiences with it. As always, this is an Open Thread, so feel free to post whatever is on your mind.
Comments
My knees
get weak just looking at this photograph. Heights are definitely not my thing. I never go above the third rung on a ladder.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I call my friends by their first names...
Clinton is not my friend.
I see no reason to treat her like friends or family.
--
Bernie or Burn!
Improve the Resilience Resource Library by adding your links.
Vote Smart - Just the Facts - 40,000 politicians by name or zipcode
Reuters is in on the Bernie Blackout too
Was just shopping around for a HuPo replacement. Not a peep about Bernie's win last night.
HuPo, fuckwads of the first order, had this
With Headline
PRIMARY RESULTS: Cruz, Sanders Take Wisconsin
I mean, what? Cruz was in drag?
Improve the Resilience Resource Library by adding your links.
Vote Smart - Just the Facts - 40,000 politicians by name or zipcode
Resilience: Pres. Jimmy & Mrs. Rosalynn Carter Win Green Award
My favourite American President and First Lady evah! No American troops died on his watch & he promoted green energy from the Oval Office in 1976. I rest my case. Blessings be upon them both forever.
The Earth Month Network in honor of the 46th Anniversary of Earth Month has bestowed upon the former President Jimmy and First Lady Rosalynn Carter the prestigious Life Time Achievement Award.
http://pressreleasejet.com/news/jimmy-and-rosalynn-carter-of-the-carter-...
The Award states in part:
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Hiya & thanks, gg. A great essay and topic. I think along these
now and then, having dabbled in community gardens, buying co-ops and such what in the sixties. (Growing up impecunious, I learned early about re-use, salvaging & recycling, too.) Viewed organically, as an ecosystem or organism, participants can sometimes ez better see what I puts need tweaking. That in turn leads, imo, to the design differences between building a new community, mod ding a small one and mod ding a big one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Ty, enhydral, for this: "Growing up impecunious...":=) We used
to tell our kids when they were little and asked, "We're not poor! We just don't have any money!"
We tried to say it with as much joy as we could muster. The kids would immediately perk up and go and belt that out to whichever little tormentor at school had sniffed at them. :=) It became our family battle cry. Whenever we couldn't afford some urgent damned thing just yet, we'd belt that out and feel better immediately. I've now, chipmunk-like stored up your "impecunious" to teach the grand kids one day, so they have a new swear word for school. Cheers!
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Robert Reich: We need a new Voting Rights Act
Robert Reich says we need a new Voting Rights Act to replace the law the right-wing partisan Supreme Court rendered useless.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
*whistles*
prog - weirdo | dog - woof
hi, gg
I am glad this essay is not about dying. Apparently, people, they do not die any more; instead, they "transition." And then, they are not dead, but, rather, "passed."
Also, it seems they have "transitions" in preschool. Not involving dying, thank jeebus, but more herding the tots, from one activity to another. Sometimes this herding, it involves ants.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjw2A3QU8Qg]
Are the herded tot's evolving?
Perhaps on their 'play dates' they are plotting their escape. The parents on the cul de sac where I lived as a kid, let us roam free range. We did have territory boundaries but our activities we're of our own making. We had some great times being lumber jacks and building forts in the wild Yukon circa 1800 that was located in the undeveloped field behind our block.
i dont know
that a lot of evolving is occurring among tots herded by robots who describe ant songs as "transitions."
If some parents today, they were to allow their children to roam free, lumberjacking and building forts, exploring undeveloped fields, the true-believer child services screechers, they would Find Out, and they would Come, and they would take the children, and they would put the parents in the penitentiary.
Wonderful OT gulf gal
I've been thinking a lot about community these days. This OT expresses my current thinking. When we moved to SE Portland 20 years ago it was like a small town within a city. Now my community is by design and planning becoming a big city urban nightmare. Can a transition movement be organized, work, and grow in a booming urban center that's goal is to transition to a market driven upscale urban center?
We took out our lawns front and back on our small 100x50 plot when we moved in. There was a huge pile of rubble mostly rocks and cement in the back yard and I spent several years using the rubble to build a large raised organic veggie bed. Most of the houses on our block took out the lawns and transitioned to gardens with native habitat landscaping or vegetables in their front and back yards.
A lot of these old houses are being bought and flipped as this is now 'hot, desirable' real estate. I'm sad to see the lawns coming back. It's hard to fight city hall as we're finding out. All of this is being done under the guise of being green and density. It's looking more and more like Dubai with huge high rise toxic condos and apartment building going up at an alarming rate.
Maybe my neighborhood can adapt and stay green and local inside the urban growth but it's going to be a struggle. We shop local stores that are within walking distance, but the small shops and merchants are finding it hard to afford the rent which has skyrocketed. We have great community gardens, farmers markets and food co-op's but they are getting squeezed out as the land is now valuable and growth as in a free market sense is 'inevitable' and a good thing.
I'm going to do some research and see if there is a transitional movement here in SE Portland. . Thank you so much all of you for the inspirational OT. Maybe we will sell our house which in this market is now obscenely priced and move to a small town somewhere out side Portland. For now however we're hanging in here stubbornly. If I can find like minded people here that are working for a transition movement it would make it easier to stay.
Here's a picture of my back yard vegetable bed built with cement rubble pile that was here....
Shaz, those sound like wonderful dreams. We're working on
a similar plan. Best wishes for yours, eh. Cheers,
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
Hi Shaz!
You are a victim of capitalism gone amuck. Quite honestly, when I worked as a planner, we were directed to prepare for future growth. I never bought into that because all it seemed to do is create more "growth," most of which was artificial. I believe humanity is on the verge of no growth or even negative growth. There are many unused spaces in our urban areas that could be converted to community gardens and meeting places. I remember trying to get our bosses to buy into taking vacant lots, which were owned by the city, in very depressed neighborhoods and using them for community gardens. I thought that would be something that could be used to build a sense of unity in the neighborhood.
I have been thinking about how the Transition movement could be applied in a large city and I believe it is possible. It would mean taking areas that have commonality and a central focal point, either an elementary school or a community center or even a public park and working within what I would say is a walkable distance (perhaps one mile in all directions). And then getting a buy in of the residents because the Transition movement is from the ground up, not top down. What you and your neighbors were trying to do was definitely in keeping with the Transition principles. The problem still seems to be the profit motive at any costs.
The profit motive is what is destroying our earth and similarly destroying our sense of community. This is what I truly love about this movement. It is not a cure all, but it is a way to bring us together and make us more resilient to climate change and everything associated with it.
I love what you have done with your yard. It is both beautiful and functional. Here in NC where I spend most of my time, front yard vegetable gardens are very common. They are almost a status symbol because it means you have enough light to grow stuff. I have two neighbors who have beautiful vegetable gardens in their front yards.
Here is the link for Transition PDX. I do not know how active it is, but it is a start.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thanks that's a great link
I bookmarked it and will use it. I belong to a fb group called stop demolishing Portland but most of it is all online with very little real world activity. SDP members do publish city meetings to attend but we seem to be scattered through out the city and are focused on stopping the bulldozers, saving buildings and houses and getting them to stop cutting down the trees. cutting. The Transition PDX even has a calendar for up coming events. I'm thrilled to have this resource. It will make me get off my computer and go forth into the community that is not part of the official city government. Thanks again for the link.
How to do it wrong
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2016/04/juicero-start-up-silicon...
"Here's the value proposition (to employ VC-speak): You fork over $700 for a shiny new juicer; order some pre-cut fruits and veggies at $4 to $7 a pop, bundled in "next-level packaging" and delivered via Fedex; stick the pack into the juicer, which then checks (via wifi) if the veggies are still fresh; and then, violá, you get an 8 ounce glass of "cold-pressed" juice, with no cleanup other than discarding the fancy packaging (reportedly soon to be compostable)."
Stay on track. Stay in lane. Don't throw rocks.
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