The next ten years will not be the same as the last ten years. Peak oil. Climate change. Increasing energy costs. Economic instability. Resource depletion. These are just a few of the most pressing issues of our time.
The Transition Initiative movement, which is spreading quickly around the world, provides a foundation upon which to build a promising future together that is more fulfilling, creative, and sustainable. Transition is a process for strengthening community resilience and building sustainability in a post-peak oil world that is uniquely designed by each community based on their local needs and resources.
The Transition Initiative movement began in Totnes in Devon, England in 2005 and has now spread to hundreds of initiatives in 30 countries around the world. These initiatives are based on the premise that we are moving into an increasingly uncertain future, whether because of the exploding debt accumulation in the global economy, the impending peak in world oil production, or the impacts of climate change that we are already seeing around us. The Transition movement argues that our communities have become alarmingly dependent on fragile supply chains for most of its basic and essential needs such as food and energy; that is, they are less resilient, and have lost the ability to respond to shock from the outside at exactly the time when we need them to be more resilient.
Examples of projects undertaken by Transition Initiatives include promotion of local food production and distribution, community-owned energy production, education and skills development for local self-sufficiency, developing transportation alternatives, and building cohesiveness in the local economy.
It makes more sense to plan for future uncertainties than to be taken by surprise by them. It is also better to work as a community and to do so sooner rather than later. Communities that pro-actively empower themselves can adapt successfully to changing times.