Fwd: A transition effective, delightful, profound...
Carol Hiltner
carol.hiltner at gmail.com
Sat Jan 17 17:53:27 PST 2009
Hi Peggy!
Rebecca Campbell, a Seattle-area activist, sent me a link just today for
www.transitionculture.org <http://www.transitioncultures.org>, which has the
same mission. I'd be glad to put you in touch with her, and/or get her
permission to put her e-mail address on the listserve. Although my focus is
on Altai in Siberia, I myself will be in Seattle for the next several
months, and would be glad to add my creativity here!
Best!
Carol
On Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Peggy Holman
<peggy at opencirclecompany.com>wrote:
> Has anyone been involved with the Transition Town movement? It is
> apparently large and growing. It starts off "when a small collection of
> motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared
> concern: how can our community
> respond to the challenges and opportunities of Peak Oil and Climate
> Change? (see Tom Atlee's article below)."
> And Open Space is a central organizing practice for them.
> I'm curious whether anyone from this community has been a part of this
> remarkable experiment.
>
> appreciatively,
> Peggy
>
> Here are some excerpts from http://www.transitiontowns.org/:
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> What is a Transition Town (or village / city / forest / island)?
>
> It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within
> a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community
> respond to the challenges and opportunities of Peak Oil and Climate Change?
>
> ... [They embark upon] a process of:
>
> * awareness raising around Peak Oil, Climate Change and the need to
> undertake a community-led process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon
> emissions
> * 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
>
> ... The community also recognises two crucial points:
>
> * that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability
> on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to
> do the same on the downslope
>
> * if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood
> that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected,
> more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted
> treadmill that we find ourselves on today....
>
> ______________________________
> Peggy Holman
> The Open Circle Company
> 15347 SE 49th Place
> Bellevue, WA 98006
> 425-746-6274
> www.opencirclecompany.com
>
> For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
> www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook
>
> "An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get
> burnt, is to become
> the fire".
> -- Drew Dellinger
>
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *Tom Atlee <cii at igc.org>
> *Date: *January 11, 2009 2:29:02 PM PST
> *To: *cii at igc.org (undisclosed list)
> *Subject: **A transition effective, delightful, profound...*
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Dec '08 - Jan '09 CII fundraiser progress report:
>
> Funds raised so far: $8192 // Target: $36,000
> Percentage of needed funds raised so far: 22.8%
> People on List: 1838 // Days left: 20
>
> +++ Thank you to the 55 people who have responded so far! +++
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> If you value our work, please participate with a donation.
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>
>
> The concept of energy descent, and of the Transition
> approach, is a simple one: that the future with less oil
> could be preferable to the present, but only if sufficient
> creativity and imagination are applied early enough in
> the design of this transition. -- Rob Hopkins
>
>
> Dear friends,
>
> I've been hearing more and more about a sustainability program called
> Transition Towns in recent months. And it is not just me: it has gone
> viral. It is being initiated in communities around the world at an
> ever-accelerating rate. At the time of this writing, there are 126
> communities who qualify as Transition Towns (see <
> http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionCommunities>) --
> despite the considerable criteria involved (see <
> http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/Criteria>). Beyond that,
> there are about 600 more communities seriously considering it, all laid out
> on Google Maps <http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/Mulling> to
> help everyone find each other and start new groups...
>
> (Note: The links above are from the excellent Transition Towns wiki, which
> is a delightful portal through which to explore this topic.)
>
> First worked up as a student project in the UK in 2005, Transition Towns
> has spread around the world in 3 years, entirely from the grassroots, truly
> viral. I feel like a late-comer. It is almost embarrassing to be writing
> to you about it now, in 2009, but I figure the world can use all the help it
> can get right now, and building resilient communities is a "the more the
> merrier" kind of undertaking.
>
> The Transition Town movement is sometimes called the Transition Initiatives
> movement because it has come to include cities, colleges, islands, and all
> sorts of other communities in addition to towns.
>
> And it is no surprise why it is spreading so rapidly. Not only are these
> folks incredibly pleasant, upbeat, and savvy about the use of the internet,
> but the Transition Towns initiative offers a refreshingly creative channel
> for people's growing unease about the slow-motion collapse of the old
> structures and systems we've come to depend on. It offers an inspiring,
> fully adaptable and evolving positive vision of incremental change toward
> sustainability that any community can realistically and pragmatically
> implement -- one that can be launched by any group of ordinary citizens.
> The Transition Town (TT) approach not only faces global-impact challenges
> squarely, but suggests that we can "build ways of living that are more
> connected, more enriching and that recognize the biological limits of our
> planet."
>
> While Peak Oil and Climate Change are understandably
> profoundly challenging, also inherent within them is the
> potential for an economic, cultural, and social renaissance
> the likes of which we have never seen. We will see a
> flourishing of local businesses, local skills and solutions,
> and a flowering of ingenuity and creativity. It is a
> Transition in which we will inevitably grow, and in which
> our evolution is a precondition for progress. Emerging
> at the other end, we will not be the same as we were:
> we will have become more humble, more connected to
> the natural world, fitter, leaner, more skilled, and
> ultimately, wiser. -- Transition Towns Handbook
>
> Perhaps most remarkable is that the Transitions Towns approach engages
> people NOT by scaring them out of their wits or telling them what to do, but
> by providing powerful motivations, possibilities, and ways for them to
> explore creative local responses for and among themselves. There is no
> blueprint. The guidance provided involves tools, ways of talking and
> co-creating together, visons, and links to other people and resources
> engaged in this effort. What we do with all that is up to us.
>
> Transition Town (TT) initiatives are formally about the "localization" of
> communities to prepare for disruptions arising from the twin crises of
> (a) PEAK OIL -- not running out of oil, exactly, but when the world's
> demand for oil exceeds its ability to produce it (and the current low price
> of of oil will not last long: see <
> http://my.earthlink.net/article/bus?guid=20090106/4962e550_3ca6_15526200901061823557235>)
> and
> (b) CLIMATE CHANGE and the extreme weather and other disruptions that
> accompany it.
>
> However, there are other crises that effective localization and community
> resilience programs like TT can also prepare us for, from economic
> depression (which we're already tasting) to the disappearance of government
> services in a flood of red ink (see <
> http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/01/08/deficit-projection-stuns-congress>
> and <
> http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/01/07/in-red-states-seek-tax-hikes/>)
> to solar flares disrupting our power grid and electronic control systems (an
> eventuality NASA has deemed possible by 2012 <
> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C478024%2C00.html>). We have
> gotten ourselves into a kind of addictive dependence on globally vulnerable
> systems whose potential (likely? current?) collapse dictates a prudent
> (inevitable?) turn towards relocalization and resilience.
>
> As peak oil expert Richard Heinberg points out, the sooner we start
> learning to live without oil and the vast supply networks it feeds, the
> easier it will be for us when the current set-up is simply no longer an
> option.
>
> So all this community preparation would be a great idea, regardless -- and
> I'd want to spread the word for that reason alone. But when I researched
> the TT approach, I found something even more intriguing to me, personally:
> the Transition Towns process uses two of my favorite processes -- Open
> Space and World Cafe. In fact, I even discovered that the most visible
> co-founder of this movement, Rob Hopkins, wrote in his Masters dissertation
> "Energy Descent Pathways: Evaluating potential responses to Peak Oil"
> <
> http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/system/files/msc-dissertation-publishable-copy.pdf
> >
>
> "'[F]or many commentators, the need for engagement
> points inexorably in the direction of new fora, such as focus
> groups, citizens juries or panels, round tables, "visioning",
> and new consensus conferences, in which, with no technocratic
> monopoly of information, the necessary deliberation can take
> place'. This arises from a growing realisation that environmental
> values are not preformed, rather that they 'emerge out of
> debate, discussion and challenge, as [people] encounter new
> facts, insights and judgements contributed by others'."
> "[Tom] Atlee's concept of 'co-intelligence' offers a tool for
> harnessing the power of communities to implement change.
> He defines its aim as being 'to increase the capacity of a
> society as a whole to act in a co-intelligent manner' and
> recommends the use of a wide range of facilitation and
> empowerment tools to enable this. 'Our goal...' he writes,
> 'can become the creation of ways in which people can
> collaboratively arrive at solutions to their (and our) collective
> problems'. Some of the mechanisms cited by [Gene] Rowe
> and [Lynn J.] Frewer, most notably Open Space Technology
> and World Café, are also advocated by Atlee, and are
> increasingly being used around the world by groups working
> to initiate relocalisation projects." (p. 41)
>
> Wow. It made my day to find that my work played a role in inspiring and
> informing this intiative that just might make a decisive difference in how
> things turn out in our world.
>
> But back to the Transition Towns movement. It has much to teach us.
> Here's my take on one set of its core principles:
>
> The key to sustainability is RESILIENCE -- resilient communities, resilient
> people, resilient cultures, resilient systems. Resilience, TT folks like to
> point out, means a community or system can bounce back after challenges and
> shocks -- everything from food-supply interruptions to economic downturns to
> energy crises. Resilience is in many ways the healthy counterpoint to
> obsessive efficiency. Resilience makes healthy systems in which
> life-serving productivity arises from their well-being and responsiveness.
> Obsessive efficiency, in contrast, makes productive systems at the expense
> of well-being, degrading people and trashing ecosystems to maximize
> production and monetary profit. When productivity is defined as units
> produced and profits made per hour, rather than as life-value added, it
> becomes the enemy of life. The effort to create resilient Transition Towns
> is an effort to make an evolutionary leap into a kind of economics that
> focuses on supporting and adding value to life, not only in the OUTCOMES of
> productive activity, but in the vitality of the activity, itself.
>
> Three requirements for resilient systems are Diversity, Modularity, and
> Tightness of Feedbacks.
>
> DIVERSITY is about the variety of a system's elements and parts. It shows
> up in the idea that every vital function should be performed by more than
> one entity (redundancy, which is essential for resilience) and that if a
> community includes diverse people pursuing many various approaches to
> challenges and providing different sources of resources, it can keep
> functioning even if some of its parts fail. And if one approach doesn't
> work, there's a good chance another will. When you want to nurture
> diversity, you help people do what they are individually and collectively
> passionate about and good at rather than formulating and managing master
> plans into which you engineer human cogs. This kind of "follow your energy"
> self-organizing dynamic is where the Open Space process shines.
>
> MODULARITY means that the whole scene works largely through groups or
> communities who are
> (a) able to perform all the needed functions and
> (b) networked so they can share experience and information.
> This is an alternative to having everyone dependent on centralized
> governance and vast and vulnerable supply networks that pull everyone down
> when they collapse. Modularity enables the system as a whole to better
> re-organize in the event of a shock.
>
> TIGHTNESS OF FEEDBACKS refers to how quickly and strongly one part of the
> system can respond to changes (good or bad) in another part. This factor
> involves good communication systems and, more importantly, local-ness. The
> more local our interactions are, the more the results of our actions are
> obvious to ourselves and others, and the more readily consequences can
> inform and shape our individual and collective responses through learning,
> answerability, corrections, rewards and penalties, and all the other forms
> of feedback.
>
> Rob Hopkins stresses that Transition Towns is about cutting carbon and
> building resilience. Cutting carbon and building resilience. They go hand
> in hand, each inadequate by itself, each helping the other, each with long-
> and short-term implications.
>
> There is MUCH more to the wisdom and practical know-how contained in the
> Transition Team materials, but I'll leave it for you to discover. I've
> included a number of further links below -- including links to the basic TT
> primer and Rob Hopkins' extensive TRANSITION HANDBOOK -- mostly sent to me
> by people on this list (Thank You!).
>
> I have a feeling that in the not too distant future a majority of folks
> reading this will be involved, one way or another, in Transition Towns. The
> time is very very ripe.
>
> Coheartedly,
> Tom
>
> =======================
>
> For a quick, clear, and compelling introduction to the Transition Town
> movement see this great article from the Christian Science Monitor*
> <
> http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/09/11/communities-plan-for-a-low-energy-future/
> >
> and this great introductory talk by TT co-founder Rob Hopkins, about 6
> minutes long
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0>
>
> For some no-talk inspiration about community engagement for the kind of
> world we dream of, here's a wonderful slideshow -- with great music -- about
> the many Transition Town communities being formed in New Zealand. It's
> about 4 minutes long:
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APMTXrIL48A>
>
> Here's an excellent talk by Rob Hopkins, about 18 minutes long
> <http://www.ifg.org/programs/Energy/triple_crisis_av/panel5/3rob-v.htm>
>
> Here's a PDF file about the Transition Network (14 pages), "Who We Are and
> What We Do":
> <
> http://www.transitionnetwork.org/Strategy/TransitionNetwork-WhoWeAreWhatWeDo.pdf
> >
>
> And here's a PDF file (51 pages) of the Transition Initiatives Primer:
> <http://transitionnetwork.org/Primer/TransitionInitiativesPrimer.pdf>
>
> These PDFs contain information and guidelines that show a lot of wisdom
> about the psychology of an enterprise like this, and about connecting and
> partnering with different segments of the community, including local
> governments.
>
> Here is the Amazon Link for The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins:
> <
> http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Handbook-Dependency-Local-Resilience/dp/19
> 00322188/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227893553&sr=8-1>
>
> Rob Hopkins' blog http://transitionculture.org/ includes, among much else,
> an engaging account of his own family's efforts to give up their addiction
> to "the car".
>
> Here are a recent set of videos, about ten minutes each: Rob Hopkins,
> co-founder of the Transition Towns Movement, speaking at the Positive Energy
> Conference in Findhorn this past Spring. They are short and very enjoyable,
> instructive, and inspiring.
>
> First segment
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizxt14aPM8
>
> Second http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLsmR21gnk
>
> Third http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjGDtHGd9c
>
> Fourth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciZc5vv5-yY
>
> Fifth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0GYI5CJTkw
>
> Sixth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db9KpaELhCg
>
>
> -----------
>
> * NOTE: I wanted to feature that excellent Christian Science Monitor
> article on Transition Towns (ironically dated September 11, 2008) -- in its
> entirety -- but the Monitor has done something with its website that makes
> it impossible to cut and paste that article (and others?), so all I can give
> you is the link and hope that you will take the trouble to click it. I do
> highly recommend it.
>
> PS: In researching this, I ran across this stunning fact: "Americans drove
> 100 billion fewer miles in the 12 months ending in October than they had the
> year before, a decline of about 3.4%, the Transportation Department reported
> Friday. Miles driven fell by 9 billion miles, or 3.5%, to 250 billion miles
> in October compared with October 2007. So far in 2008, miles driven have
> fallen 3.5% to 2.45 trillion miles."
> <
> http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/energy/americans-drive--billion-fewer-miles-past-year/>.
> I'm boggled that people can throw around numbers like billions and
> trillions when talking about miles driven. I then stumbled on a chart
> showing miles driven each month from 1983 to 2007
> <http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/05/06/nothing_but_flo.html> which
> shows the yearly average was at 3 trillion miles per year for both 2006 and
> 2007 and will -- thankfully, painfully, undoubtedly -- be much lower for
> 2008. At 20 miles per gallon (about average for the US), that's 150 billion
> gallons of gasoline burned by American drivers during each recent year. If
> I were the earth, I'd be getting hot under the collar, too... It is high
> time to get our act together. And it adds immense poignancy to Rob Hopkins'
> blog entry on his own efforts to give up driving
> <
> http://transitionculture.org/2009/01/07/five-months-and-counting-the-realities-of-giving-up-driving/
> >
>
>
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> Tom Atlee • The Co-Intelligence Institute • PO Box 493 • Eugene, OR 97440
> http://www.co-intelligence.org • http://www.democracyinnovations.org
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