Transition towns are where local people band together to become ‘resilient’. This means that when (not if) the oil runs out (and it’s getting more expensive by the day, hence higher energy bills), you and yours are not affected. Transition towns tend to focus on local food (no need for petrol to ferry food to supermarkets) and community solar panels on roofs of big buildings (like schools). So then the buildings can generate free energy for the town, and sell excess back to energy grids, which funds ideas like indie cinemas, tree-planting and launching local currencies.
It’s fun and empowering, because rather than listen to local MPs talk about bring a new supermarket or Amazon warehouse into town, you can focus on car-sharing clubs, enjoying walking and cycling, and not bother about politics at all! Co-founder Rob Hopkins (a permaculture gardener) has likely done more to help England’s environment in the last 20 years than all politicians combined.
If growing local food, know pet-toxic plants, trees and mulches to avoid. If sharing seeds the same applies (lupins are toxic to pets).
How Did Transition Towns Start?
This is interesting. Rob Hopkins returned to England after working in Ireland, and heard that the then Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) was concerned that England was ‘days away from having no food’ due to lorry strikes. He thought this was daft, as we are fertile and rich land. A similar thing happened recently, when some MPs suggested we would starve, without Brexit imports. How have become so reliant on supermarkets that we can’t feed ourselves, without help from Tesco?
So he and others set up the first Transition Town in the quirky ‘hippy’ town of Totnes (Devon). It began with a local currency, solar panels for community energy, food-swaps, garden-shares and growing free food for the community. It now even has an indie cinema above a pub. Today there are Transition Towns worldwide, each one independently-run, ofting borrowing and sharing ideas from others. You can download their Grown in Totnes Toolkit to get going! There’s also a Skillshare project (where people swap skills, no money involved – mend someone’s sticky door and get someone bake you a cake in return! Other Transition Towns in England are Lewes (has its own currency), Liverpool (‘Scouse Veg’!) and Kingston (delivers unused food from supermarkets to local charities).
To learn more Visit Transition Network where you’ll find Rob’s blog and also read his book. The site includes details of how to set up your own town, if you don’t have one. We can’t go on the way we’re going, so communities often need a little positive nudge, to make the leap to do something different. The great thing about the TT movement is that it’s fun and interesting. Who wouldn’t like to pick a free organic apple from a street tree, meet up with friends at an indie cinema, and not pay any energy bills?!
If we wait for the governments, it’ll be too little, too late. If we act as individuals, it’ll be too little. But if we act as communities, it might be just enough, just in time. Transition Network
I’m not afraid of a world with less consumerism, less ‘stuff’ and no economic growth. I’m far more frightened of the opposite. Rob Hopkins
Ultimately, we all have to decide what our own life is for. I will die one one day. And whether my day is near or far, I choose to look back on my time, and know that I walked through the doors that inspired me. Shaun Chamberlin
All of the easy oil is gone, and what’s left is requiring more energy and money, and this has an effect on everything. Our problem is that we’ve created an infrastructure that’s so dependent on oil. So we really need to start building an alternative economy, before we get caught in a trap of our own making. Richard Heinberg
