Transition Towns
by Josephine Laing
The Transition Towns Movement is a ground swell of grassroots action for locally based self-sufficiency with increased self-governance and food security. It began in Ireland and England during the last decade in response to a growing awareness of the massively centralized production and distribution of goods and governmental services. In other words, in typical communities through out the western world, our food comes from far away, most governmental decisions affecting local lives are made in distant places and clothing, building materials and other goods are produced and shipped long distances and come from other countries. This occurs at great environmental and social expense and to the loss of local economies and results in a loss of control over our lives.
Even our money system which represents our personal energetic output is often created, managed and distributed far from home. So far away, in some cases, that many people don't even know which financial entity is holding the mortgage for the deeds to their homes. The result has been that people in local transition town community groups have gotten together around the world to change this in their home towns and reclaim some local functionality and autonomy.
The world at large is a very uncertain place these days and those at the helm of these unwieldy operational structures seem less than connected. In fact most of the time they are completely disconnected from the web of life that sustains us all.
Mineral mining corporations act with impunity on the basis of antiquated laws put into place two centuries ago. They blast open mountains with total disregard for wildlife, water quality, fisheries and human populations downstream.
Petroleum monopolies sabotage alternative energy solutions and surround us with products creating false dependencies on everything from hand creams and cosmetics to car parts and gasoline. This dependency continues into the transport of all goods and most services. And from production to transport, petroleum monopolies lay a wide trail of air, water and land pollution resulting in environmental destruction, (i.e.: tar sands, ocean oil spills and climate change.) Our massive dependency is like an addiction and keeps a very few families extremely wealthy while leaving the rest of us craving for more.
But it's not just corporate pollution and environmental destruction that concerns transition town folk. Our money system is as precarious as a high wire act with out tethers or nets. And it too is world wide now. If one part falls as a few banks in France did in 2007, then the whole cookie crumbles from Canada to New Zealand and it's local folk, as usual, who suffer the results.
So, local folk are the ones who have decided enough is enough and have started to take the helm in their own communities through the Transition Towns movement. And this isn't so extreme really. It was not all that long ago that little villages and townships throughout this country had a fair degree of independence. They created and traded their own foods stuffs, sewed their own clothes, raised barns together, and taught their own children in one room school houses.
Here in San Luis Obispo, our Transition Town movement is working so we can begin to reclaim some of our own autonomy on a local level. A number of sub-groups address different aspects of our disconnected urban lives.
There is a group for local economies considering micro lending for small local businesses to unburden ourselves from the overbearing and often uncooperative mega banking systems. They are also exploring local time swap systems. These time banks allow someone who walks a dog for a neighbor to receive a hot fresh meal cooked by another person which may then be delivered to their house bound grandmother.
There is a political action group helping to get local government officials, who are more closely aligned with interconnected values, into city and county government decision making positions. Their current focus is on our County Board of Supervisors.
There is an education and outreach group who helps children and adults to understand the potentially devastating implications of business as usual, (i.e.: fast food burgers destroy rain-forests which create our atmosphere and the air we breathe.) And they give options for local alternatives that are more holistic, for instance they might suggest getting lunch at a locally owned vegetarian restaurant, because the head chef uses only local and organic produce. The web of life is interconnected.
There is also a community group. They tend to the cohesiveness of the transition town meetings themselves so that the members and attendees can feel a growing sense of community and feel supported in their visions for positive change. This group also helps to create a celebratory atmosphere of closeness in the meetings. We all do better when we are having fun.
There is the self governance group that is working to prevent the havoc that large corporations can impose on local communities when they invade an area for economic advantage and leave behind a trail of pollution or urban sprawl or environmental destruction for locals to grapple with in their wake. Fracking comes to mind. And there is the energy group working to conserve energy and create renewable resources on the local level so we can be more energy self sufficient.
So if you don't already have a transition town group in your area, consider forming one and enjoy the company of a delightful group of people working together for positive community-supporting change. Check out the world wide web for information on how to get the ball rolling.
© 2012 Josephine Laing
The Transition Towns Movement is a ground swell of grassroots action for locally based self-sufficiency with increased self-governance and food security. It began in Ireland and England during the last decade in response to a growing awareness of the massively centralized production and distribution of goods and governmental services. In other words, in typical communities through out the western world, our food comes from far away, most governmental decisions affecting local lives are made in distant places and clothing, building materials and other goods are produced and shipped long distances and come from other countries. This occurs at great environmental and social expense and to the loss of local economies and results in a loss of control over our lives.
Even our money system which represents our personal energetic output is often created, managed and distributed far from home. So far away, in some cases, that many people don't even know which financial entity is holding the mortgage for the deeds to their homes. The result has been that people in local transition town community groups have gotten together around the world to change this in their home towns and reclaim some local functionality and autonomy.
The world at large is a very uncertain place these days and those at the helm of these unwieldy operational structures seem less than connected. In fact most of the time they are completely disconnected from the web of life that sustains us all.
Mineral mining corporations act with impunity on the basis of antiquated laws put into place two centuries ago. They blast open mountains with total disregard for wildlife, water quality, fisheries and human populations downstream.
Petroleum monopolies sabotage alternative energy solutions and surround us with products creating false dependencies on everything from hand creams and cosmetics to car parts and gasoline. This dependency continues into the transport of all goods and most services. And from production to transport, petroleum monopolies lay a wide trail of air, water and land pollution resulting in environmental destruction, (i.e.: tar sands, ocean oil spills and climate change.) Our massive dependency is like an addiction and keeps a very few families extremely wealthy while leaving the rest of us craving for more.
But it's not just corporate pollution and environmental destruction that concerns transition town folk. Our money system is as precarious as a high wire act with out tethers or nets. And it too is world wide now. If one part falls as a few banks in France did in 2007, then the whole cookie crumbles from Canada to New Zealand and it's local folk, as usual, who suffer the results.
So, local folk are the ones who have decided enough is enough and have started to take the helm in their own communities through the Transition Towns movement. And this isn't so extreme really. It was not all that long ago that little villages and townships throughout this country had a fair degree of independence. They created and traded their own foods stuffs, sewed their own clothes, raised barns together, and taught their own children in one room school houses.
Here in San Luis Obispo, our Transition Town movement is working so we can begin to reclaim some of our own autonomy on a local level. A number of sub-groups address different aspects of our disconnected urban lives.
There is a group for local economies considering micro lending for small local businesses to unburden ourselves from the overbearing and often uncooperative mega banking systems. They are also exploring local time swap systems. These time banks allow someone who walks a dog for a neighbor to receive a hot fresh meal cooked by another person which may then be delivered to their house bound grandmother.
There is a political action group helping to get local government officials, who are more closely aligned with interconnected values, into city and county government decision making positions. Their current focus is on our County Board of Supervisors.
There is an education and outreach group who helps children and adults to understand the potentially devastating implications of business as usual, (i.e.: fast food burgers destroy rain-forests which create our atmosphere and the air we breathe.) And they give options for local alternatives that are more holistic, for instance they might suggest getting lunch at a locally owned vegetarian restaurant, because the head chef uses only local and organic produce. The web of life is interconnected.
There is also a community group. They tend to the cohesiveness of the transition town meetings themselves so that the members and attendees can feel a growing sense of community and feel supported in their visions for positive change. This group also helps to create a celebratory atmosphere of closeness in the meetings. We all do better when we are having fun.
There is the self governance group that is working to prevent the havoc that large corporations can impose on local communities when they invade an area for economic advantage and leave behind a trail of pollution or urban sprawl or environmental destruction for locals to grapple with in their wake. Fracking comes to mind. And there is the energy group working to conserve energy and create renewable resources on the local level so we can be more energy self sufficient.
So if you don't already have a transition town group in your area, consider forming one and enjoy the company of a delightful group of people working together for positive community-supporting change. Check out the world wide web for information on how to get the ball rolling.
© 2012 Josephine Laing