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Life After Oil: Designing the Transition A series of events of |
| “Peak oil” is the term for the end of cheap oil. Our contemporary society is leveraged upon a continuous stream of the stuff. But as prices climb, things are going to change... |
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In September 2008 we began a series of events exploring the Transition Towns concept that is catching on like wildfire in the UK. What Can We Do about peak oil and global warming? The answers are in our neighborhoods and communities. Through the Transition concept, we take a positive, forward-thinking view of what the future will hold for our area in the time beyond oil. |
| DESCRIPTION OF SERIES |
| Our Los Angeles series began in September, 2008. Read about how it got started. |
For our first event, we held a Sunday evening screening of The End of Suburbia, followed by a community discussion of what has been called "post petroleum stress disorder." When people learn the gravity and impacts of peak oil, it is a heavy shock to the psyche. Our event used exercises developed by Rob Hopkins to cope with the emotions.
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Nearly a week later we held a full-day Saturday session, providing an orientation to the Transition concept and including what were perhaps Los Angeles' first working sessions in a Transition direction. The day was divided into four sections: I. Understanding What Lies Ahead (global warming, peak oil, biocapacity) II. Possible Outcomes (per Holmgren, Heinberg, Macy) III. How Do We Get There From Here? (Timeline to Sustainability, the Transition Era, The Permaculture Flower, and the Transition concept) IV. Roll Up Your Sleeves (the working sessions)
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| A few days later, we held a World Cafe session, exploring questions akin to Hopkins p.185. This event also served to unify our local team and provide a forum to process the excitement over the success of the full-day session. |
| WHAT IS THE TRANSITION CONCEPT? |
The Transition concept is a proactive, grassroots response to the twin crises of climate change and peak oil (the end of cheap oil). Through the Transition movement, we Transition society from our current high-power, high-consumption lifestyle toward our inevitable lower-powered future. In the near future, forecasts are for great change: changes in the sedate, predictable weather patterns which humanity has counted on for centuries; changes in economic markets which have been built up upon the presumption of a cheap, abundant, expanding supply of fossil fuels; changes in our transportation habits, and the feasibility of globalization; changes in food supplies, water supplies, and more. The Transition model includes relocalization of our lifestyle habits, rebuilding our local economic base, reconnecting our local communities, and retraining people in the skills of a power-down life (a lifestyle that uses less oil, less gas, less electricity, less energy overall). The goal is to increase societal resilience, our ability to adapt and to weather the great changes ahead. There are now over 100 official Transition Initiative sites worldwide--in the UK, Australia, Japan, and more. Projects are in the works in hundreds more areas, including Los Angeles, Orange County, Central Coast and San Fernando Valley.
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| TRANSITION RESOURCES |
Peak Oil, Global Warming, Biocapapcity:
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Permaculture resources:
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Specific topics:
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| TRAINING FOR TRANSITION (OFFICIAL T4T TRAINING) |
From the Transition Towns website:
Training for Transition has been given in many different locations both inside and outside the UK. We are privileged to have one here in Los Angeles. Naresh Giangrande and Sophy Banks will be here from the Transition Network in the UK, to train us in how to set up and successfully run a Transition Town. This is the first scheduled official training in Southern California.* Space is limited to the first 45 registrants, and people from the entire region will be attending. Preregister now to reserve your place.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Southern California Transition teams are forming now in San Fernando Valley, Laguna Beach/Orange County, Torrance/South Bay, Pasadena area, as well as three on the "Westside" (Santa Monica, North of the 90fwy, and South of the 90fwy/Westchester). Come join us! |
| If the December dates don't work for you, there are tentative plans for another one on January 17-18, 2009 at Dancing Deer Farm, 2975 Vineyard Dr in Templeton, CA 93465 (watch http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionTraining for updates) |
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"Once you have glimpsed the world as it might be, as it ought to be, as it’s going to be (however that vision appears to you), it is impossible to live compliant and complacent anymore in the world as it is."
-Victoria Safford
Hopkins, Rob, The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience
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