REBUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND SELF-RELIANCE

INSPIRATION SUPPORT TRAINING NETWORKING

“The uncertainty of our times is no reason

to be certain about hopelessness.”

Vandana Shiva

Useful Reading on Peak Oil and Climate Change

The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience–Rob Hopkins

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century –James Howard Kunstler

The Last Oil Shock: A Survival Guide to the Imminent Destruction ofPetroleum Man –David Strahan

The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times –Albert Bates

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines andPowerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World –Richard Heinberg

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change–Elizabeth Kolter

The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth –Tim Flannery

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming andWhat We Can Do About It –Albert Gore

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet –Mark Lynas

Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning –George Monbiot

www.TransitionTowns.org www.TransitionUS.orgwww.TransitionCulture.org www.TransitionUS.Ning.comwww.TransitionNetwork.org www.TransitionColorado.Ning.comwww.PostCarbon.org www.GlobalPublicMedia.comwww.EnergyBulletin.net

2415 Nineteenth Street Boulder,CO 80304303-494-1521 Info@TransitionBoulderCounty.org

www.TransitionBoulderCounty.org

This is a publication of Transition Boulder County, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. ©2008 Transition Boulder County

REBUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND SELF-RELIANCE

TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEAK OIL.

BRINGING THE HEAD, HEART AND HANDS OF COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

TO MAKE THE TRANSITION TO LIFE BEYOND OIL.

imeMeeting theChallengesofOurT

The End of the Age of Cheap OilThe impact of burning fossil fuels on our climate is nowobvious to all except a few die-hard skeptics. Our streets arechoked with cars. We are fed, clothed and warmed not by theproduce of the land around us but by food, goods and fueltransported hundreds or even thousands of miles– a systemwhich is entirely dependent on abundant supplies of cheapoil. While a few optimists still talk about 10-20 years, a grow-ing number of experts say cheap oil could be gone within justtwo or three years. With oil so deeply embedded in our wayof life from transportation and food production to consumerproducts, the end of the age of cheap oil will have a severeimpact on the lifestyles we have become accustomed to.

Why Transition Initiatives?TheTransition approach empowers communities to squarelyface the challenges of peak oil and climate change, and tounleash the collective genius of their own people to find theanswers to this momentous question:

For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how are we going to drastically reduce carbon emissions (in response to climate change), significantly rebuild resilience (in response to peak oil), and greatly strengthen our local economy(in response to economic instability)?

Transition Initiatives make no claim to have all the answers,but by building on the wisdom of the past and accessing thepool of ingenuity, skills and determination in our communi-ties, the solutions can readily emerge. Now is the time for usto take stock and to start re-creating our future in ways thatare not based on cheap, plentiful and polluting oil, but onlocalized food, sustainable energy sources, resilient localeconomies and an enlivened sense of community well-being.

The Viral Spread of Transition InitiativesAt the forefront of this new approach is a growing band ofcommunities who are adopting the Transition Model as theydevise an entirely new way of thinking, living and workingtogether to make our local communities more resilient andmore abundant.

Since the “unleashing”of Transition Town Totnes, Englandin the summer of 2006, the Transition concept has spreadrapidly around the world. To date, there are over100 officiallydesignated Transition Towns (or cities, districts, villages, orislands) in the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand,Australia, Chile, Japan, and the U.S.; Transition BoulderCounty became the first Transition Initiative in North Americain May 2008. There are some 900 additional communitieswho are in various stages of becoming Transition Initiativesor considering whether they’re ready for this journey, andmore join their ranks nearly every day.

Preparing for Energy DescentThe aim of a Transition Initiative is to pull the communitytogether to explore the practicalities of rebuilding local re-silience and reducing carbon emissions. Typically, solutionsinvolve rebuilding a community’s capacities to meet its ownessential needs in food, energy and economy, and togetherthese strategies will form the backbone of the local EnergyDescent Action Plan. This timetabled roadmap will definethe strategic steps leading towards a life that has minimalreliance on fossil fuels and dramatically reduced carbonemissions, and one that profits from the abundance ofresources and capabilities within our communities.

First Steps to TransitionTransition is an empowering collaborative process, designed to engage the entire community. Here are some of the initial steps:

❖ Set up an Initiating GroupEstablish a team to drive the project forward during the initial phases

❖ Raise Awareness Films, events and talks by experts can alert the community to the potential effects of both peak oil and climate change –the former demanding a drive to increase community resilience, the latter a reduction in carbon footprint

❖ Lay the FoundationsBuild connections to existing complementary initiatives and network with existing groups

❖ Organize a Great UnleashingA memorable event that announces your Transition Initiative tothe entire community

❖ Form Sub-groupsSet up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects

of local life, tapping into the collective genius of the community❖ Use Open Space

An innovative meeting technology that brilliantly encouragesand captures all the creativity, intelligence and problem-solvingideas of the participants

❖ Develop Visible ManifestationsProve to everyone around you that your Transition Initiative hasthe determination and skills to implement practical solutions

❖ Facilitate The Great ReskillingThe Transition Initiative can reverse the “great deskilling”of the last 40 years by offering training in the vast range of lost practical skills – repairing, construction, growing, etc.

❖ Build a Bridge to Local GovernmentGet your local council on board and they’ll provide significant support

❖ Honor the EldersThese may be the only people in your community who know what a lower energy life is like; their involvement is crucial

❖ Create an Energy Descent PlanAfter about a year, you’ll be ready to develop the strategic plan …and then the real work of transitioning to a life beyond oil can begin

The two toughest challenges facing humankind at the beginning of the 21st century are climate

change and peak oil. While climate change is well documented and very visible in the media,

there is much less public awareness around the issue of peak oil. And yet, the imminent

decline of fossil fuel availability that peak oil refers to may well prevent the economic and

social stability that is essential if we are to mitigate the threats posed by climate change.

Transition Initiatives, designed to achieve relocalization at the community level, currently

represent one of the most promising ways of engaging people and communities in strengthen-

ing themselves against the effects of these two monumental challenges, resulting in a life

that is more fulfilling, socially connected and resilient.

INSPIRATION SUPPORT TRAINING NETWORKING

Fifty years ago, the world was consuming 4 billion barrels of oil per year

and the average discovery was around 30 billion.

Today we consume 30 billion barrels per year and the discovery rate is

approaching 4 billion barrels of crude per year.”

Asia Times, May 4, 2005

‘‘

Transition Boulder County is a non-profit organization whose mission

is to catalyze, inspire, encourage, network, support and train communities

in Boulder County as they consider, adopt, adapt and implement

Transition Initiatives.”‘‘