The coming threat of both global warming and diminishing oil supplies has spurred more than 150 communities to begin seeking solutions on their own. The transition towns movement began three years ago in Totnes, England, and is now spreading globally as citizens take a close look at issues like energy, transportation, food, development, jobs and social solidarity in their own backyard.
Many of us feel almost hopeless in the face of these twin disasters-in-the-making. Individual actions feel futile, while large scale reforms by national government and corporations seem improbable at this point. But working at the scale of a neighborhood or town, we can make practical preparations for a challenging future at the same time as taking actions to overcome the problems.
That’s the message of Jay Griffiths, writing in Orion Magazine. Griffiths notes that the movement has fostered, “an interesting emphasis on ‘re-skilling’ communities” to engage cooperative efforts such as organic gardens, traditional “green” building methods and gathering together at the pub for conversation.
Another way to describe such actions is “commoning,” which means drawing on the power of social networks to solve problems and seize opportunities.
Transition towns vary in size from the small village of Kinsale, Ireland to the small city of Marquette, Michigan, to the London borough of Brixton.
For more information see the wikipedia article, an excellent overview article in Resurgence Magazinel and an earlier On The Commons report.