It hardly needs saying but...
Over the last 200 years the world has exploited and become increasingly dependent on oil: whether as fuel for transport, or as the base for all sorts of substances and materials, petroleum is the foundation for much of modern living. Think about the way we plan our communities, for example – we close local schools, shop in large supermarkets, live miles from where we work and plan mega-hospitals all on the assumption that fuel and transport will continue to be cheap and available.
The impact has been to increase the demand for oil and our use of all forms of energy dramatically. The issue is that this level of energy use is unsustainable. There have been heated debates for years about just when oil will run out – but the real crisis will begin when demand begins to outstrip supply, prices begin to rise and availability becomes increasingly restricted. This point is called ‘peak oil’ and recent studies suggest that it is imminent:
“A peak in conventional oil production before 2030 appears likely and there is a significant risk of a peak before 2020”
Scarcity will change our lives long before oil runs out completely.
Transition towns
The Transition Town movement was born in response to this threat. Its aim is to prompt communities to start to think about the place they want to become when energy in general – and oil in particular is – no longer cheap and plentiful.
One of the attractions of the approach is that it is practical – there is a route map available for planning for transition – inclusive and positive. It seeks to empower people by engaging them in positive planning. It has become a runaway success with, worldwide, almost 250 towns listed as ‘official’ transition towns on the website.
Although there is a route map, the transition approach is not prescriptive. It is important that every community makes its own plan. As a result the approach can provide a broad umbrella for a range of local initiatives from a focus on local food, to the supply of renewable energy. Equally starting transition town planning doesn’t require that you know all of the answers, only that you are willing to think about how life will be lived when energy is limited and providing for yourself locally becomes more vital:
It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change? They begin by forming an initiating group and then adopt the Transition Model with the intention of engaging a significant proportion of the people in their community to kick off a Transition Initiative. A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question: "for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?" After going through a comprehensive and creative process of:
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