Transition Towns
A new and interactive movement for Kelowna
3/24/10
Apocalyptic ideas and theories about how the world is being affected by peak oil and climate change are gaining popularity around the world, and with good reason. From the exploitation of oil and minerals, to the excessive plastic in our oceans, to the amount of CO2 emissions accumulating in the atmosphere, it’s no wonder the apocalypse seems near. Documentaries, lectures, and general opinions about these subjects are now commonplace. Although most people seem to understand some aspect of the negative effects of peak oil and climate change, acting on the information is still not transforming our current culture of waste and unsustainable plundering of resources. Many of us feel paralyzed with the information. We feel helpless and hopeless regarding a situation that seems so bleak. A global oil crisis, indeed, seems inevitable. An overwhelming sensation that we have to come to terms with the dread that faces planet Earth is more than one individual can bear. We tend to be immune and numb out information that comes our way in order to handle it. Just as a player of World of Warcraft remains isolated in the world of illusion, we embed ourselves in our protective, isolated and individualized worlds pretending that life will go on as normal. It will not go on as normal.
The Transition Town Movement has been gaining popularity as a way to increase community resilience and sustainability in times of apocalyptic threat. It is a positive response to a change that must take place but does not stem itself from the feeling of fear, burden, or duty. It is a positive response to the negative situation that confronts us. The concept from Rob Hopkins arises from social aspects of permaculture and has been rapidly growing since it was brought from Kinsale, Ireland in 2005 to the UK. A movement that now is thriving throughout much of the UK, it is now successfully expanding into New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada. In the last two years initiatives have started in more than 21 towns that are in transition throughout Canada. Last fall, Canada’s capital, Ottawa, became a town in transition. Kelowna will hopefully be added to the list with combined effort and action from its community members.
Transition Towns are where those interested in a more sustainable, more self-reliant way of living, can gather to share resources, learn from what others are doing, encourage each other, become inspired, and come together as part of the larger 'Transition' network. Most importantly, it lays a model for action that can be visible through short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals that the community can witness and celebrate towards a more sustainable end. The most unique concept of Transition Towns is how it includes two schools of thought and combines them to form something new. First, that there are people who solely believe that each individual has to change, and it is this and only this that will create change in agriculture, education, economics, and health. Essentially, a waiting period is dependent upon other people changing in mass in the hope that a paradigm shift will happen within our collective conscious. In the mean time, it places a sense of stagnancy on the action that can take place. The other school of thought is that we are all locked in an unsustainable system that a select wealthy few have created. We are locked in an ever-growing capitalist system where the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen. We cannot escape it, and we cannot create something new until that system changes.
The concern with this is that there will be a divide when addressing environmental issues such as climate change and peak oil. Those that are green (wealthy countries) vs. those that are not (developing countries) will drive the capitalist system all over again. Society will continue creating problems and offer the solutions in the hopes of gaining more economic ground and competition. Ultimately, this will affect developing countries and drive them further into debt from demanded infrastructure for the new green movement. Again, a sense of stagnancy occurs. Placing the sole responsibility on the individual creates a heavy burden upon that individual and it becomes paralyzing. Placing the sole responsibility on society removes the ability of the individual to create change, which also becomes paralyzing. The model of social response of Transition Towns removes blame and forwards a type of change that is manageable. It does this by addressing the internal and the external as concurrent themes, which enables action to take place locally in the way that is suitable and sustainable within each unique community. A town in transition looks different in every place because the places and people are different from each other and have different needs.
It is a social experiment through action and celebration of that action. It is time to focus on the positive and move ahead one-step at a time. No one has all the answers and it is important we admit this to each other, dropping the egoism regarding change and the correct and incorrect ways of going about it.
Transition Towns are effective in that every single person has something to contribute to the change, even if they think they do not. The amount of people or resources available is unique to each individual throughout the class strata. We need to come together to map out our assets and stop focusing on the deficits. For example, Kelowna has a large retirement community. This is an asset because the amount of knowledge held by our elders can help us in what Transition Towns terms “re-skilling”. Re-skilling is about re-learning the skills that our grandparents took for granted and using them more in our community. The elders have a vast amount of knowledge to draw from, and we need this knowledge in order to continue. They have ingenuity and resourcefulness; we tend to forget that what we can learn from them is invaluable. It is time we approach and learn from each other. It is time we built more connections. We should know our neighbors and interact with them, building emotional resiliency. If a feeling of community and connection is there then we are more likely to band together when the community is in need.
If you want to know more about the developing Transition Town Movement in Kelowna please e-mail kelownaintransition@hotmail.com. A website is in the process of being built. Meetings, workshops, and Transition info will be updated on the website when it gets up and running.
1 comment
vel on Mar 31, 2010 at 6:51am
We need to adapt. Take a look at this article The Great Transition: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21656220/The-Great-Transition-Navigating-Social-Economic-Ecological-Change-in-Turbulent-Times
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