Transition Towns

Website: http://transitionza.ning.com

As per the website, the goals of the Transition Towns initiative are as follows:

• “To empower communities to respond effectively to energy and infrastructure limitations as well as rapidly increasing fuel prices.
• To educate towards a reduction in consumption, energy efficiency and conservation awareness.
• To build community consciousness and strengthen the local economy through supporting local initiatives.”

These goals are modest compared to those of several other organisations that wish to completely remake our society. This is the strength of Transition Towns. By starting with the present social structure and focusing on those aspects that are most in need of attention, it lends itself to immediate use and attracts greater participation than initiatives that aim at a comprehensive but distant solution.

Longer term, the solutions that this initiative produces are likely to point us in the direction of one or more of those comprehensive solutions. This doesn’t mean that participating in it has been without value, however. On the contrary, doing so would provide worthwhile, if not essential, stepping stones to lifestyles and social structures that are radically different from the present.