What are Transition Towns?

 Community  Resilience  Independence  Permaculture  Sustainability  Local initiatives

What are Transition Towns? Transition, also known as Transition Towns, or the Transition Movement, is a grassroots network of communities, working to build local resilience in response to global economic collapse, peak oil and climate change.

What are Transition Towns?  Following its start in Kinsale, Ireland the Transition movement moved to Totnes, England where Rob Hopkins and others worked up the concept during 2005 and 6.  It now emphasises the building of community through the localization of finances, equipment and infrastructure, away from dependence on big systems and the peaking resources on which they depend.  In 2007 Janet Millington and Sonya Wallace set up Transition Sunshine Coast.

What are Transition Towns? A Transition Initiative is a community-led response to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and increasingly, economic contraction. o There are thousands of initiatives around the world starting their journey to answer this crucial question: o For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive how do we significantly rebuild resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil and economic contraction) o and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?

How do Transition Towns start?

How do Transition Towns Start? Several Crucial Points to consider :  to a certain degree, we all experience a life disconnected from our living environment, disconnected from our communities and disconnected from our landbase.  that our energy-profligate ways of living have depleted our resource base to critical levels  that we used 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  that we have to act now, rather than wait for the government or “someone else”.  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 than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

How do Transition Towns Start?  It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: How can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil, Climate Change, and increasingly, economic stagnation?  They engage a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a Transition Initiative that is asking this big question.

How do Transition Towns Start? They then usually do a few activities:  awareness raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon  connecting with existing groups, including local government, in the community  forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics & livelihoods, etc)  kicking off practical projects aimed at building people’s understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement  engaging in a community-wide visioning process to identify the future we want for ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to create a future that we won’t like  eventually launch a community defined, community implemented “Energy Descent Action Plan” over a 15 to 20 year timescale

Why are Transition towns important?

Click to edit the outline text format  Second Outline Level Third Outline Level  Fourth Outline Level Fifth Outline Level Sixth Outline Level Seventh Outline Level Eighth Outline Level Ninth Outline LevelClick to edit Master text styles – Second level Third level – Fourth level » Fifth level Transition towns:  focus on the positive - on ideas, solutions and action strategies from and for the community.  link a community with local businesses, government and other key industries.  bring people together with a common goal of doing something significant and positive about climate change and peak oil.  empower people by positive visioning,  help people access good information build resilience trust people to make good decisions, being inclusive and open, sharing and networking, address both inner and outer transition (not just the hands on things we need to do, but also the world views and belief systems we carry with us), enable and support people to do what they are passionate about, are a decentralised organisation where everyone is empowered and decisions are made at appropriate levels.

Click to edit the outline text format  Second Outline Level Third Outline Level  Fourth Outline Level Fifth Outline Level Sixth Outline Level Seventh Outline Level Eighth Outline Level Ninth Outline LevelClick to edit Master text styles – Second level Third level – Fourth level » Fifth level Transition towns:  Organise working bees to set up food gardens  Car pool  School walking buses  Start food co-ops  Seed save  Care for neighbours  Hold street parties  Welcome people to the neighbourhood  Plant food trees on public land  Set up community compost centres  Community supported agriculture Rain water tank bulk buys Solar and wind energy bulk buys Electric bike bulk buys Dried organic food bulk buys Publish ‘buy local’ guides Run soil workshops Set up Transition sections in public libraries Run free film nights

Click to edit the outline text format  Second Outline Level Third Outline Level  Fourth Outline Level Fifth Outline Level Sixth Outline Level Seventh Outline Level Eighth Outline Level Ninth Outline LevelClick to edit Master text styles – Second level Third level – Fourth level » Fifth level Transition towns:  Support programs like walk against warming  Build eco-villages  Hold creative writing workshops  Help neighbours build things  Get invited onto regional planning groups  Cooking workshops  Hold swap days – for clothes, tools, & materials  Recycle in their communities Work with government to change legislation Work with existing groups in their communities Create Energy Descent Action Plans Celebrate harvests, have parties Contribute to the international Transition Network Network, workshop and inspire each other Teach others how to do it

How can I get involved?

If you live in the Sunshine Coast region,. contact us and we can let you know of any transition activity that might be happening near you  Talk to us: at the Big Pineapple on Saturdays  Call us : +61(7) (Jeanette)  us: through our website  Google us:  Visit our blog:

Useful resources  The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience (by Rob Hopkins)  Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability (by David Holmgren)  