What is a transition initiative?
Transition initiatives aim to tackle the combined challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change. One of the ways they attempt to do this is by planning a community's 'energy descent', a planning process which reduces a community's energy requirements. This is sometimes known as an 'Energy Descent Action Plan' (EDAP). Transition initiatives also aim to increase a community's resilience - which is it's ability to cope with outside shocks - by producing more locally and reducing a community's reliance on fossil fuel energy.
What is Peak Oil?
A vast majority of people in the developed world rely on oil - and the cheap energy it provides - for their way of life. Not only is it used for obvious things like fueling cars and transporting goods, it is also used for things like large scale agriculture (pesticides) and plastics. If we didn't have oil we wouldn't be able to live the way we do now! Following the discovery of oil we have increased our use over time (roughly following the left hand side of a bell curve). Scientists have realised that, because oil discovery declined many years ago, production will peak in the near future. This point is known as Peak Oil and it signifies the point at which we have extracted approximately half of our planet's oil reserves. Declining oil production has implications for us all especially bearing in mind the increasing demand for oil. Although Peak Oil can be a bit scary when you learn about it, if our communities and governments plan accordingly, everything will be just fine!
What is local resilience?
Resilience is about having a community that can supports itself and cope with outside shocks. One of the benefits of the cheap energy we have enjoyed over the last hundred years is the amount of leisure time it has afforded modern day society. Cheap energy has also enabled a centralised production system where a lot of the essential things we need to survive are produced a long way away and transported to where they are needs. This has turned large part of society from producers into consumers. Rising energy costs will force us to rethink the current system and come up with an alternative that uses less energy. Another down side to 'the age of oil' is that we have lost many of the skills we used to have (useful things like growing vegetables and mending things!). These skills are important to us when it comes to coping with outside shocks and being more self reliant. Rebuilding local resilience enables our communities to deal with any challenges that we might face in the future. It will also bring us all closer together as communities which will make us happier!
How does transition work?
Transition initiatives try to connect communities and local councils with the joint goal of planning energy descent and rebuilding local resilience. One of the ways they do this is by forming working groups on the main issues - like food/agriculture, energy, transport, education, and health - and getting together to try and plan a way forward. Is there an area you're interested in that you'd like to make a contribution to? If so, come along to our next meeting and see what it's all about!
