Transition Town: A Tonic for the Peak Oil Blues
Alex Munslow
The term "Peak oil" warns of the end of cheap and
plentiful energy. An expanding world population of 6.5 billion suggests a limit
for growth will eventually be reached (if it hasn't been already) and no
combination of current alternative energy sources will sustain the world's
accelerating thirst for power. As oil production inevitably declines and
resources become scarce, the world faces a turbulent descent. We depend on a
globalized economy that is completely reliant on ready supplies of this
non-renweable resource. But envisioning a life without the luxuries afforded by
abundant oil can quickly lead one to denial. It's much easier to absolve our
responsibility to some higher authority – the government, the oil companies,
technology, God.
The exact tipping point in world oil production cannot be
plotted exactly until a clear decline can be seen, by which time it will be too
late. Experts analyzing this situation are divided between "early tippers"
and "late tippers" – those who think world oil production has already
peaked, or is about to peak in the next few years, and those who believe there
are decades left. The Hirsch Report, a US Energy Department study into the
effects of Peak Oil, claims that without at least a decade of preparation, the
world economic, social and political cost would be "unprecedented."
Without this "timely mitigation," confronting the effects of Peak Oil
and climate change will be like trying to put up a new tent in the dark. If
government reports warn us that at least a ten-year transition period is
required if we are to survive the energy descent, the burning question is: When
do we begin the transition?
The Transition strategy begins with the formation of a small
steering group (designed with its own demise from the beginning). In the early
stages, local awareness is generated by a series of lectures, film viewings,
and meetings. Compelling Peak Oil documentaries such as The End of Suburbia and
The Power of Community serve as tools of mass tribal initiation at these
gatherings, awakening people to the challenges of the coming crisis. After the
town hall screenings, local audiences are encouraged to discuss the issues
raised by the films and suggest ideas and solutions to their own community's
oil dependency.
Existing local environmental and community organizations are
invited to jointly organize events that respond to these issues, with smaller
groups assigned to specific concerns such as food security, waste and
recycling, education, housing, transport and local economy. By a combination of
serendipity and synchronicity, these roles are generally filled by the
appropriate people at the required time. The momentum behind the project builds
up over a period of months until the official "Unleashing" event
finally launches the plan to the general public.
In order to assist communities working towards these goals,
the Transition Network was set up by activist Ben Brangwyn to support and train
town leaders as they adopt Transition Initiatives. Through its work across the
UK, the Transition Network aims to "unleash the collective genius"
within communities, leading to a more resilient and fulfilling lifestyle. Last
September there were only two Transition Towns in the UK; inspired by the
successes of Kinsale and Totnes, there are already around 90 towns now at
various stages of transition, from "mulling it over" to fully
"unleashed."
The Transition Town strategy avoids an "us and
them" mentality, building bridges between community members and local
government. The approach developed to relocalize the Totnes economy was
endorsed by the Town Council, and a new local currency called the "Totnes
Pound" is accepted by many local businesses and shops. Strategies like
this may one day stop the flow of money out of local communities, providing a
protective buffer between a healthy local economy and fluctuations in the
national currency.
Transition Town meetings often employ the self-organizing
method of "open space." According to this arrangement, attendees are
invited to create the agenda and host their own discussion groups, within which
participants freely move about. Whoever shows up to the meeting are the right
people; whenever it starts is the right time; and when it's over, it's over.
Those who attend have chosen to be there and are willing to contribute. Each
group records the conversations, and at the end of the day, the full group
reconvenes for feedback and comments, which are then made available via an
internet wiki.
Transition Towns provide training and courses to facilitate
what has become known as "The Great Re-Skilling." This begins by
interviewing the elders of the community. To return to a lower energy future,
it is necessary to engage with those who directly remember a lower energy
society and re-learn skills that their generation took for granted. To
instigate change, it is important to first understand the psychological
barriers to transformation. The Transition Town model offers a set of creative
tools for communities to engage with the dual problems of both Peak Oil and
climate change. It deals practically with the physical manifestation of the
problem and can be conveyed very simply to a large number of people at once.
Cheap oil has allowed western societies to cut through the
intricate web of beneficial relationships that once held communities together.
Transition Town is a grassroots movement of people learning to relate to each
other again. Behind the descent plan is the belief that with creativity and
imagination, and under a well-designed strategy, the future without oil could
be preferable to the present.
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