We've done a few local fairs this summer and we've all experienced the stuttering silence - or doom laden spluttering - emerges when someone asks you to tell them what Transition is all about.
It's oil, it's climate, it's food, it's resilience...and it is, but it can be a muddling message and a very hard sell.
At our last meeting we tried to tell each other, in 30 seconds, what we thought Transition meant. It was illuminating. I'll admit I failed - took too long and made a little speech (I make speeches) others of us did better with some really positive, punchy messages.
We thought we could build positive messages around these words and phrases. The top ones were:
• Way of Living
• Cares about the future
• Personal aspect
• Health
• Responsible
• Neighbours
• Skills
• Expensive energy
• Creative spirit
• Community
• Help yourself
• Sustainable
• Empower
Other Positive words were:
• ‘about’
• Resilience
• Approach
• Local food
• Local
• Come together
• Their resources
• Concerned
• Reconnect
• Opportunity
• No need to wait
• Food, fuel, transport
We went away thinking about the messages that we could craft with these. We also thought that, in those first thirty seconds at least, we should avoid these 'negative' words:
• Peak oil
• Chaos
• Prepare
• Survive
• Scarce
• Transition
It would be interesting to know what others think?
I should say, it helped at the Eco-fair at the end of September. The mayor liked his 15 second message, and asked us to mail him more information.
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