Transition Towns group arrives in Sooke

The thinking behind it

by Mary P. Brooke

SOOKE. Dec. 14, 2009. Sooke’s plethora of organized groups counts one more among its number –- the Transition Towns organization placed its foothold into the community with a presentation at the Sooke Consciousness Café meeting December 3.

The promotional efforts of this group will focus on local lifestyle sustainability, climate change and reducing the carbon footprint of individuals and communities. How can people use less fuel (and/or more alternative fuels) for driving and heating? How can fewer plastics (made from hydrocarbons) make their way into the daily usage of individuals and businesses?

“This is a small town initiative. Sooke seems ready for this,” said local Transition Towns spokesperson Margaret Critchlow in an interview earlier this week. Readiness seemed apparent from the rapid and almost overwhelming response to an allotment garden offering and a garden mentoring project that were announced this fall.

Based on a concept that started in Ireland in 2007, Transition Towns targets smaller communities (or neighbourhood areas within larger cities such as Victoria and Ottawa) to make inroads into existing community organizations, seeking to raise awareness about ‘peak oil’ and reducing energy consumption in general. Critchlow, together with John Boquist and Andrew Moore, chose the Consciousness Café as a first group with which to float their ideas.

Peak oil refers to "that moment in time when the world will achieve its maximum possible rate of oil extraction; from then on, for reasons having mostly to do with geology, the amount of petroleum available to society on a daily basis will begin to dwindle," as explained in the book Peak Everything - Waking up to the Century of Decline, written in 2007 by Richard Heinberg.

“The success of transitioning to a more energy resilient lifestyle is based on doing the inner work,” said Critchlow at the December 3 Café meeting where the group members meet monthly to address ideas of an exploratory, leading-edge nature, bordering on the cosmic and ethereal. For a movement that seeks to make practical change regarding something as fundamental as petroleum-based products, it was an interesting venue at which to start.

Also interesting is the organizational model being followed by Transition Towns as well as the Consciousness Café – both groups aim to build momentum based on the leadership of their founders who in turn which to hand over the reins quickly to representatives from other established individuals and groups. Whether this sort of “we initiate and lead (and then we don’t)” style of leadership will work, remains to be seen.

“Deepening economic instability is certainly a driving force for change,” said Critchlow to the group of about 20 Consciousness Café members who she felt were doing the inner work psychologically in terms of world view and beliefs. “The outer work has to do with society, behaviour and institutions,” explained the part-time York University anthropology professor who lives the rest of the time in Sooke (and part of that time on a boat).

The Transition Towns model is fashioned “like a wheel that sees the people of the town as the hub, the various activities as the spokes, and Transition Towns as the rim that holds it all together”, said Critchlow. Encouraging people to shop locally dovetails with the goals of the District of Sooke and the Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce to enhance business activity in Sooke’s town centre.

Critchlow proposes that “all the groups can act together” so there are not “one-off initiatives but many that are spun together” within a “nurturing community”.

One of the proposed Transition Towns local initiatives will be a book drive to collect reading materials about climate change and other aspects of sustainability (such as food and energy conservation), for donation to the Sooke branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library.  MM

Candlelight vigil held in Sooke

Global action on a local scale

As part of a worldwide Climate Change Candlelight Vigil during the Copenhagen Climate talks, local Sooke Transition Towns organizers held a gathering in Sooke's town centre near the logger's pole, on Saturday evening, December 12, 2009. Left to right:  (left to right) Margaret Critchlow, John Boquist and Andrew Moore. [Photo credit: Ross Reid]

 

How Transition Towns got started

by Karen Laharty

A bold new idea about the challenges surrounding climate change and oil consumption is sparking interest in rural communities and urban neighbourhoods around the globe. In 2005 and 2006, Rob Hopkins, a permaculture designer in Kinsale, Ireland, put the students of Kinsale Further Education College to the test to come up with a way small communities could help change the face of global warming and reduce our need for gas and oil. The result? Transition Towns.

The intended purpose of the Transition Towns model it to provide exactly what its name means -– transition, not only in our way of thinking about climate change but providing a practical model for solutions on a small scale. The American Heritage Dictionary defines transition as passage from one form, state, or place to another. A key portion of the Transition Towns model known as the Energy Descent Action Plan, carries that definition at its helm. Hopkins’ students formed a ‘road map’ with this plan for a sustainable future by looking at making creative adaptations to energy production, health, education, economy and agriculture. The ultimate goal of this plan is to help communities become more resilient, more self sufficient and less dependent on external sources for things like food and energy.

The basic philosophy around Transitions Towns is to create a community that is appealing and exciting to live in not only because of its low impact on the environment but because of the cohesiveness of the community itself. “People should feel positive about their lifestyle”, says Margaret Critchlow, one of Sooke’s Transition Towns representatives. “We have already seen a change in people’s thinking around food. The demand for allotment gardens is a great indication that people are willing to be adaptable.”

But how do we embrace a seemingly archaic model of life? Home gardens went largely the way of the wind with the rise of the supermarket and suburban lifestyle. Does focusing so locally limit our trade with other communities? And what eventually becomes of our commerce on a national level? Many countries rely on trade with other nations as a way of helping to sustain their economies. Are we pulling the rug out from under ourselves in an attempt to make our stand on this planet more stable?

The task at hand may seem daunting but 255 Transition Towns currently exist throughout the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Italy and Chili and are following the model required to be an official Transition Town. One of the biggest hurdles around presenting this model and getting people excited about it has been the re-education of people’s basic way of life. Transition is not just an external phenomenon but a continual process that relies on revision and acceptance of goals and expectations.

Climate change is a hot topic and discussions are rampant from coffee shops to executive board rooms. The stumbling block seems to be the direction in which to go in order to make a real and obvious change.

Some Transition Towns have already taken steps toward change and promoting a sense of community. To help promote the growth of local commerce, a local currency was created in Totnes, England. Totnes was the first community outside Kinsale to come on board with the Transition Initiative. That means that Totnes is a community in the process of devising ways to create a future that addresses the challenges around gas and oil, our consumption and dependency of these peak resources and the complexities of climate change. The Totnes Pound is accepted at over 70 businesses in Totnes and is a firm step towards encouraging people to support local business and reduce the miles traveled for basic needs.

One of the driving forces behind the Transition Town initiative is resilience. The basic premises is to view our current resources in crisis as an opportunity to create something better in the guise of a thriving and abundant low carbon age.  MM