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What is Transitioning:
Transitioning is the process of moving as individuals and
communities from an unsustainable and therefore ultimately
destructive structure, to a long-term, resilient, sustainable
condition.
A
Transition Initiative is a community working together to look
Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this
BIG question: "for all those aspects of life that this community
needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we
significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak
Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the
effects of Climate Change)?"
After going through a comprehensive and creative process of:
* 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 in the community
* building bridges to local government
* connecting with other transition initiatives
* forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food,
energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics &
livelihoods, etc)
* kicking off projects aimed at building people's understanding
of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement
* eventually launching a community defined, community
implemented "Energy Descent Action Plan" over a 15 to 20 year
timescale.
(Download and read the primer for a more
detailed overview.)
Transitioning Values and Ethics:
Awareness (of self, others and our living environment)
Inclusion (of all peoples and ideas – tolerance and mutual
respect)
Trust (in the individual and the process)
Resilience (to shocks and change)
Why Transition?
• Coming Peak Oil (and Peak Everything!) – Decline of the
‘modern’ way of life.
• Coming Climate Change
• Coming food and water shortages around the world.
• Exploding World Population Growth (50% increase in the next 40
years)
• Destructive and psychopathic nature of Globalisation and
international finance, especially on trade and commerce, and thus
shared wealth and equality.
• Spiralling cost of housing, and unhealthy housing at that.
• Spiralling cost of living in general, the need to work together
to get through this.
What do we need to do?
Build resilience. This is the core task of transitioning. It is
achieved by:
1. Reskilling – learning the skills needed for the future,
especially those we are loosing.
2. Strong Local Communities – Build and support local communities
and networks of communities and groups that do not rely on
governments or corporations to get things done. Decentralised
leadership, shared responsibility.
3. Personal Growth and Attitude Change – Raising the individual and
group consciousness level of all participants beyond ‘Magical’,
‘Imperial’ and ‘Socialised’ to ‘Cultural’ or ideally
‘Integral’.
What is “consciousness level”?
Magical – Living in a fantasy ‘Other World’ and placing faith in
magical protectors (or technological saviours). Blind or extreme
religious followers.
Imperial (common) – Live in ‘My World’, play up to the powerful,
and exploit the oppressed. Power of the few to control the many
though violence and ‘fear of others’. Empire comes first, people
last. Only my group is right, everyone else is wrong.
Socialised (common) – Live in a ‘Small World’ as “good
citizens”, expect a fair reward for following the rules. Includes
the ‘swing voters’. Rational, objective and autonomous within a
social “norm”.
Cultural/Pluralistic – Live in an ‘Inclusive World’ and see the
possibility of creating inclusive, life-affirming societies that
work for all (as opposed to Self or Empire). Realise there are no
absolute truths – all is partially true.
Integral – Live in a complex, evolving ‘Integral World’ in which
they engage as evolutionary co-creators. Understand the
interconnectedness of all things.
How do we transition?
Through Transition Initiatives, providing grass-roots action
group/s to take ideas from visions to delivered realities, for the
benefit of the local community. The steps are:
1. Find what is most important to you.
2. Find others who share this vision.
3. Start a ‘Transition Project’ using the Transition Initiatives
methodology (12 step program).
4. Complete the project and repeat.
What are some of the tools:
Different tools will prove useful and different stages of the
transitioning process, but some of the general concepts, linked to
the ‘why’ reasons, are:
Energy: Alternate, truly renewable energy sources. ‘Powering
down’. Human-powered. ‘Slow’ movement.
Ecosystems: Preservation and restoration of ecosystems.
Food Supply: Permaculture, Organics, Food forests, Local
production and markets.
Population: ?
Globalisation: Trade and exchange systems, barter, LETS systems,
local currency, true co-ops, micro-finance.
Housing: Low cost natural building, healthy homes, passive
design, self-build, local building materials.
Community: Transition Initiatives, Earth Charter.
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