Transition town

Totnes, Devon, England: a transition town

In 2004, permaculture designer Rob Hopkins set his students at Kinsale Further Education College the task of applying permaculture principles to the concept of peak oil. The output of this student project was the ‘Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan'.[9]

This looked at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of energy production, health, education, economy and agriculture as a "road map" to a sustainable future for the town. Two of his students, Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne, developed the Transition towns concept. They then presented their ideas to Kinsale Town Council, to which the councilors decided to adopt the plan and work towards energy independence.[10]

Hopkins moved to his hometown of Totnes, England, where he and Naresh Giangrande developed these concepts into the transition model. In early 2006, Transition Town Totnes was founded and became the inspiration for the founding of other Transition initiatives.[11]

In early 2007,[12] the Transition Network UK charity was co-founded by permaculture educator Rob Hopkins, Peter Lipman and Ben Brangwyn. Totnes based, it was initiated to support the Transition initiatives emerging around the world. It trains and supports people involved with the initiatives as well as disseminating the concepts of transition towns.[13]

In 2008, the number of communities involved in the project had increased with many localities in the process of becoming "official" Transition towns.[14] This was also the year that the Transition Handbook was published.[13]

The initiative spread and by May 2010 there were over 400 community initiatives recognized as official Transition towns in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Italy and Chile. The term transition initiatives became common to reflect the range and type of communities involved – e.g. villages (Kinsale), neighbourhoods of cities (Portobello, Edinburgh), through council districts (Penwith) to cities and city boroughs (Brixton).[15][16]

By September 2013, there were 1130 initiatives registered (462 Official, 654 Muller) in 43 countries.[17]

The Transition Network (TN) is a UK charity set up to support Transition initiatives. It has published books and films, trained people and facilitated networking.[13] The TN's website contains a listing of the initiatives that have registered, some of which are officially recognised.[23]

Some of the material has been translated and adapted to other languages/cultures, including Portuguese, Danish, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese and Irish.[24]

TN has run seven conferences: Nailsworth (2007), Royal Agriculture College, Cirencester (2008), Battersea Arts Centre (2009), Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2010), Hope University, Liverpool (2011), Battersea Arts Centre (2012)[25] and Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2015).[26]

In the United States, transition initiatives have been started in many communities. Transition US is the national hub with a stated vision, "that every community in the United States will have engaged its collective creativity to unleash an extraordinary and historic transition to a future beyond fossil fuels; a future that is more vibrant, abundant and resilient; one that is ultimately preferable to the present".[27]

The stated aim of Transition US is to be a resource and "catalyst for building resilient communities across the United States that are able to withstand severe energy, climate, or economic shocks while creating a better quality of life in the process". They plan to accomplish this by "inspiring, encouraging, supporting, networking and training individuals and their communities as they consider, adopt, adapt, and implement the transition approach to community empowerment and change".[28]

A large number of state sites have also been set up using the Ning social networking platform. These state sites, under the umbrella of a national Ning site, were set up to help facilitate, network, inform, monitor, and house regional and organizational transition initiatives. Thus, furthering the spread of the transition movement while networking related organizations, projects, ideas and activities.

Some projects use the TN's guide the '12 ingredients', or the 'revised ingredients', when setting up their group.[8][29]

The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resiliency by Rob Hopkins provides much of the framework behind the Transition Initiative and outlines ways for local Transition Towns to get involved.[31]

Communities are encouraged by The Transition Network to seek out methods for reducing energy usage as well as reducing their reliance on long supply chains that are totally dependent on fossil fuels for essential items[32] (see environmental calculator).

According to The Transition food is a key area for transition, sometimes the slogan "Food feet, not food miles" is used. Initiatives so far have included creating community gardens or replacing ornamental tree plantings with fruit or nut trees to grow food.[33]

Business waste exchange seeks to match the waste of one industry with another industry that uses that waste material, sometimes referred to as industrial symbiosis. It is suggested that this process can help companies increase profitability by reducing raw material and waste disposal cost, reducing carbon emission, making their by-products a source of revenue to be bought by other business.[34][35] It also suggests that repairing old items rather than throwing them away should be considered.[36]

The Transition Network proposes an alternative from business as usual, or from 'shocked/doomladen' reactions to peak oil and an end to unlimited economic growth.[37] According to Southend-on-Sea in Transition,

by shifting our mind-set we can actually recognise the coming post-cheap oil era as an opportunity rather than a threat, and design the future low carbon age to be thriving, resilient and abundant — somewhere much better to live than our current alienated consumer culture based on greed, war and the myth of perpetual growth."[38]

A theme of the Transition Network is acknowledging the emotional impact of changing to a low energy world. Some Transition Network groups have 'Heart and Soul' groups to look at this aspect.[39][40]

Transition towns aim to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and one way they do this is by developing a community Energy descent action plan (EDAP). As shown in the case of Totnes, the term "community" is broadly defined to include local people, local institutions, local agencies and the local council. Development of an EDAP requires the active engagement of local initiatives at a variety of levels.[41] The first comprehensive plan was created for Totnes in 2010, entitled Transition in Action: Totnes & District 2030.[42]

In France, where the movement is called Villes et Territoires en Transition, the association négaWatt provides a theoretical support to the transition movement.[43]

After the 2008 global financial crisis, the Transition Network added financial instability as further threat to local communities (alongside peak oil and climate change). It suggested a number of strategies could help, including fiscal localism[44][45] and local food production.[46] Further, it saw the creation of local complementary currencies as reinforcing moves toward sustainable low carbon economies as well as being socially beneficial.[47] Additionally, Hopkins also wrote that the movement does have an understanding of global economics and is critical of its systemic problems such as being "growth-based".[48]

Some transition towns have been involved in launching local currencies including the Totnes pound, the Lewes pound, the Stroud pound and the Brixton pound.

To help further these aims the Transition Network setup the REconomy Project, circa 2012.[49]

Launched in 2007, the Totnes pound, which was redeemable in local shops and businesses, helped to reduce food miles while also supporting local firms.[50]

In 2008, the idea was also considered by three Welsh transition towns, including Cardiff.[51]

The Stroud pound and Totnes pound became defunct in 2013 and 2019 respectively. As of November 2019, the Lewes pound and Brixton pound are active.[50]

A number of books have been published on specific topics, including: how communities can develop their Transition town initiative. Unless stated, the following books were published as a collaboration between Green Books and the Transition Network (under the label Transition Books):[53]

• The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience (2008) – by Rob Hopkins[31]
• The Transition Timeline: for a local, resilient future (2009) – by Shaun Chamberlin[54]
• Local Food: how to make it happen in your community (2009) – by Tamzin Pinkerton and Rob Hopkins[44]
• Local Money: how to make it happen in your community (2010) – by Peter North[45]
• Local Sustainable Homes: how to make them happen in your community (2010) – by Chris Bird
• Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future What We Can Do If Governments Won't (2010) – by Alexis Rowell[55]
• Transition in Action: Totnes & District 2030 – an EDAP (2010) Transition Town Totnes – (scripted) by Jacqi Hodgson with Rob Hopkins[42]
• The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times (2011) – by Rob Hopkins
• The Power of Just Doing Stuff (2013) – by Rob Hopkins

In 2008, the Transition Handbook was the joint 5th most popular book taken on holiday during the summer recess by the UK parliamentary MPs.[56]

Two films have been created by the movement about the movement. They document the progress of various initiatives:

• In Transition 1.0 (2009)
• In Transition 2.0 (2012) Emma Goude (Director), Transition Network and Green Lane Films (Production)[57]

• Surviving the Future
• Power Down
• Winning the Oil Endgame

• Green Drinks
• Open Source Ecology
• New Economics Foundation
• New Economy Coalition