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What is Transition?
The Transition model is a very simple framework that can be used pretty much anywhere to bring a community together to make it a happier, healthier and more sustainable place to live. The transition it's named for is from today's high fuel use, to a world with much lower fuel use, which will come our way as the planet's stocks of oil start to give out. This transition will happen whether we decide to think about it or not.
Thinking about this transition in advance has two huge advantages:
it will give us the chance to prepare for the very different kind of life we will need to adopt,
it will give us the option of not burning all the remaining available oil, which would almost certainly send the planet into a spiral of climate change, threatening all life on earth,
...and there are many additional benefits to living with much less fuel, just a few of which are: more local jobs, more empowered communities, better health, more fulfilling work, a sense of pride and more trust and generosity between people...
So Transition groups focus on finding ways to shift away from our dependance on oil, and towards the creation of strong communities where people find ways to live life more locally, create low energy solutions and make the places we live feel more vibrant, exciting and rewarding in the process.
Transition is also an international network of people who are working at a community level. There are already thousands of people in Scotland who are part of this network, and it's growing all the time.
There's a lot of information about Transition on the internet and elsewhere. Use it to get inspired and get things moving in your community. Don't use it as a set of rules that you might get wrong! Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition movement says: 'What is Transition? It is merely a pulse, a suggestion, a catalyst, an invitation.' Recently he began a list of the qualities of Transition:
* Viral: It spreads rapidly and pops up in the most unexpected places * Open Source: It is a model that people shape and take ownership of and is made available freely * Self organising: it is not centrally controlled, rather it is something people take ownership of and make their own * Solutions focused: it is inherently positive, not campaigning against things, rather setting out a positive vision of a world that has embraced its limitations * Iterative: it is continually learning from its successes and its failures and redefining itself, trying to research what is working and what isn’t * Clarifying: it offers a clear explanation of where humanity finds itself based on the best science available * Sensitive to place and scale: Transition looks different wherever it goes * Historic: it tries to create a sense of this being an historic opportunity to do something extraordinary – and perhaps most importantly of all * Joyful: if its not fun, you’re not doing it right
