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Transition Towns
Kinsale:
the first transition town
The first Transition Town was Kinsale, an Irish town of 7000 people. The
Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP),
completed in 2005, laid the path for Kinsale to transition from high to
low energy consumption. The plan considered most aspects of Kinsale life
including food, energy, tourism, education and health. The EDAP was awarded
the Cork Environmental Forum’s prestigious 2005 Roll of Honour Award
and, even more importantly, was unanimously adopted by Kinsale's town
council at the end of 2005.
Totnes:
The table shows how the first British Transition Town, Totnes, started
its program:
| Late 2005 | Intensive
public program of awareness-raising about peak oil and climate change |
| Sept 06 | Official
Unleashing of Transition Town Totnes, attended by 350 in the Totnes
Town Hall |
| Since Sept 06 | Eight
film screenings (audiences up to 150) |
Seven
expert presentations (audiences 350). Subjects included peak oil,
food and farming, and climate change |
|
10
working groups are investigating low-energy solutions for energy,
health, food, the arts, heart and soul (the psychology of change),
local government, economics and livelihoods |
|
Examples
of community projects, events and workshop topics: • Seed sharing • Sustainable housing • Oil vulnerability auditing • Conversion to solar hot water • Nut tree planting • Garden swap: connecting aged pensioners with untended gardens to younger people wishing to work in a garden • Oral history on low-energy lifestyles from the past • Sustainable land management • Local food directory • Local currency pilot project (65 local businesses) • 10-week evening training course Skilling Up for Powerdown |
Business initiatives
A Transition Town builds a more localised future where production and
consumption occurs closer to home in order to mitigate against fragile
supply chains that are vulnerable to oil price surges. Businesses examine
their oil dependency in four areas:
- supply chain
- waste
- energy use
- markets
For example, Totnes businesses are working on oil vulnerability auditing and a business exchange which matches companies with complementary waste needs i.e. one company’s waste is another company’s raw material.
The
Role of Local Government
From the Transition Network website:
The role for local government that is emerging, favoured by government officials and transition initiatives alike, is "supporting, not driving". We always knew that local government would play a crucial role in Transition Initiatives in the UK and Ireland. And over the recent months, we're seeing that role emerge from both the existing transitioning communities and from new communities in the earliest stages of contact with us.
Totnes
The Town Council has officially endorsed the Transition model. Twenty-three
councillors from parish councils, Town Councils, the District Council,
plus the local MP, met to discuss how peak oil and climate change might
inform their work and decisions. Elected officials are working with transition
groups.
Penwith
Penwith District Council (PDC) has been a strategic partner of Transition
Penwith (TP) since the group was founded in November 2006. PDC provides
TP with resources such as venue, equipment, meeting rooms, marketing and
development support, partnership working and funding advice.
Australia
and further afield:
There
are 50 Transition Towns in the United Kingdom; internationally, 600 more
have registered an interest with the Transition Network. In Australia,
the Transition Town model has been adopted by the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
and The Blue Mountains. Thirty-six towns — including Armidale, Canberra, Castlemaine,
Brisbane, Hobart, Orange and Windsor — have registered an interest.
Support
The Transition Network is a UK charity that builds on the groundbreaking
work done by Kinsale, Totnes and other early adopters of the Transition
model. The network fosters international contact between Transition Towns
and is developing supporting material, training courses and other resources.
More
Information
Information in this document was sourced from the Transition Towns WIKI
website and the Network’s Transition Initiatives Primer, which can
be downloaded from the website.
Transition
Towns WIKI
Transition Culture
TT Sunshine Coast
TT Totnes
VIDEOS
Eat the Suburbs: Gardening for the End of the Oil Age
Rob Hopkins talking about transition towns
Rob Hopkins talking about transition handbook
Presentation on Transition by Naresh and Sophy from Transition Totnes