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The Transition Town Movement: Taking Root in America

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The Transition Town Movement: Taking Root in America ILLUSTRATION BY JENNIFER JOHNSON The Transition Town Movement: Taking Root in America t was a sunny, breezy autumn day on Green County Speed Skilling” event. our farmstead as people from across Working towards making Transition Green County is among I our county came with their canning the more than 1,000 citizen-led groups jars, dried herb blends, and blacksmith- “Resilience” and throughout the country and around the ing tools. Our 10kW Bergey wind world that are building community turbine generated electricity while our “Energy Descent” resilience through a “Transition Town son’s farmstand overflowed with leeks, Initiative.” Like the other initiatives, beets, and potatoes from our organic household terms. many existing without any formal growing fields. We had just finished structure other than a loosely defined setting up the second floor of our steering committee, our group sought greenhouse, an old chicken coop, and to build resilience by addressing com- an outside shed for half-hour-long pre- By John Ivanko munity needs from many perspectives, sentations that would go on all day as a including energy, food, transportation, part of what we dubbed the “Transition commerce, and affordable housing. 28 www.BACKHOMEMAGAZINE.COM Transition Town’s Start in the UK feeling with seemingly insurmountable Transition Town idea and the growing crises and about which they may see interest from outside his community, The Transition Town movement few alternatives. Hopkins went on to author The Transi- grew out of the first project spear- The “transition” in Transition Towns tion Handbook. This best-selling book headed by permaculturist Rob Hopkins is the process by which communities was followed by Transition in Action in Totnes, England, in 2005. At the proactively evolve from oil depen- and The Transition Companion, each time, Hopkins and Naresh Giangrande dency to collaboratively building local extending the resources and exploring recognized the need and hunger among resiliency based on natural systems. how the movement gained traction community members to reclaim com- According to Hopkins in The Transi- around the world. The movement is munity cohesiveness and build re- tion Handbook, “Resilience refers to kept current by the Transition Network, silience through building a stronger the ability of a system, from individual an organization he cofounded. Our local economy and food system, and people to whole economies, to hold Transition Green County is one of the a lifestyle not addicted to fossil fuels. together and maintain their ability to many mullers on the list. They organized presentations and function in the face of change and film screenings to raise the awareness shocks from the outside.” Transition among other community members. Town Initiatives are grouped into Then, with their launch event called two groups: “mullers,” those a “great unleashing,” they helped co- communities where residents found Transition Town Totnes in 2006, are coming together to use the the first in the United Kingdom. Transition model in their com- By focusing on the possibilities of munity, and “official,” formally abundance (think: cherry blossoms that designated by the Transition turn into cherries) and the elation that Network or its representative comes with sharing a cherry pie with organizations because the groups Totnes, friends, the Transition Town movement have the organizational abilities to England, was sidesteps the guilt, fear, anger, or apa- undertake the Initiative. the first community in thy that many people find themselves Recognizing the potential of the the Transition Town movement. The 12 Ingredients to Transitioning Regardless of the size or location of nity at large. Many unleashing events take 9. Build a bridge to local government. a Transition Town Initiative, each fol- the form of celebratory festivals. Push on the open door of local government lows a process set forth in The Transition 5. Form working groups. With more officials, since local policies can foster the Handbook and detailed in The Transition community involvement, residents attracted changes needed, not hinder them, and build Companion and various Transition Initia- to the Initiative can focus on issues that healthier and more resilient communities. tive hub organizations. The ingredients address any number of Transition Initiative 10. Honor the elders, and the youth. By are descriptive and evolving, with the themes, including education, food, energy, reaching across age groups, there’s plenty Transition Towns approaching many steps housing, waste, and transportation. to be learned and shared from young and in ways that the community itself defines. 6. Use Open Space Technology. This old alike. Tap the creativity and idealism of 1. Form a steering committee. This in- is a presentation format for participative the youth and the wisdom that comes with formal group helps guide the development citizen interaction. It allows everyone to be years of experience, especially those who of a Transition Initiative. Because it’s made heard, provides written documentation, and knew how to live in times where energy and of citizens, not elected community officials, encourages networking among participants. food were rationed. change comes from the grassroots. 7. Develop physical manifestations of 11. Let the Initiative go where it needs 2. Raise awareness. Engage the com- the Initiative. Move beyond talk and wish to go. Allow the collective community to munity in a series of awareness-raising lists. Some manifestations take the form of decide how to design a local, low-energy presentations, from movie screenings to local community gardens, a local currency, tomorrow. hosted speakers on related topics. or starting or expanding a local food system 12. Ultimately, the Initiative should 3. Lay the foundations. Forge partner- with farmers’ markets and community sup- result in a dynamic, evolving, and com- ships with existing organizations sharing ported agriculture operations. prehensive Energy Descent Action Plan similar interests and amplify how working 8. Promote the “great re-skilling.” Help (EDAP) that provides a positive vision together can build community resilience. community members relearn the craft and for the future where everyone in the com- 4. Organize a “great unleashing” event. art of greater self-reliance through cooking, munity is recognized as having worth and This “memorable milestone” is designed to energy conservation, putting up produce, value and that is connected to the health and establish the Initiative among the commu- saving seeds, and planting kitchen gardens. well-being of all. BACKHOME MAGAZINE MAR/APR 2012 29 The Transition Process Initiative is the Energy Descent Action Transition Town Plan (EDAP)—“a powered-down, re- The Transition Town movement silient, relocalized future,” according to is conceptualized in simple, but not Transition US, the “hub” organization A Positive, Grassroots Focus simplistic, terms. The 12-step process for the movement in the United States. (see page 29) is a procedure in which The EDAP taps into the collective A large part of the appeal of Transi- the community itself decides what to problem-solving of those residents who tion Towns is its positive, nonconfron- include—the timeline, and the order. live in a community where an initiative tational approach to change. It searches The “7 Principles” that guide the is taking place. For more advanced for ways to build bridges and cultivate process focus on clear and practical Transition Initiatives, there are “work- commonalities among people, not drive visions filled with possibilities for a ing groups” for every aspect that a com- wedges between community members. community. The “7 Buts” of Transition munity might need to sustain itself. As Each Transition Town Initiative offers Town Initiatives recognize the barriers examples, groups might include food, community-scaled responses to the that sometime prevent an initiative energy, waste, education, local eco- issues of rapidly accelerating energy from initially moving forward, such as nomics, housing, transportation, water, costs and increasing signs of climate the feeling that it must first be a well- youth, and local government. change in the form of extreme weather funded organization. events such as floods, tornadoes, and For those familiar with or practicing Mulling a Start in America, wildfires as well as the challenges of permaculture, Transition Initiatives or Making It Official growing economic instability. share an uncanny resemblance. The Instead of “doom and gloom,” how- movement is, in fact, an outgrowth of Transition Green County, defining ever, self-organizing residents recon- permaculture design principles and our initiative on a countywide level, nect and build community relationships ethics. As with permaculture, the cur- started in September 2010. The group’s to solve these problems on a local level. rent growth and consumption model day-long Speed Skilling educational And we have some fun learning some- of working and living is replaced by event held at our Inn Serendipity Farm thing new while doing so, often sharing a gentler, more creation-oriented one and Bed & Breakfast was the fourth a potluck meal together. For anyone based on sustainability. Both models in a series of activities and awareness- who grew a crop of tomatoes or on- recognize that the present approach to building events that included a movie ions for the first time in their backyard economic growth demands an increase screening of Food, Inc. at our library, gardens, they can attest to the feeling in energy use, and, as a result of most several potlucks organized around vari- that doing so is both empowering and energy being fossil fuels, increased ous sustainability topics, and a women powerful. Eventually, these initiatives carbon dioxide emissions that are rap- in an agriculture group that tours vari- reach out to and include local and even idly leading to an unstable and extreme ous farms in the area to share informa- state governments, but that’s not where climate around the world. tion about how these farmers provided it starts. The culmination of a Transition food for the community.
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