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The Challenge:
The two toughest challenges facing humankind in the 21st century are climate change and peak oil.
While climate change is well known, there is much less public awareness of peak oil or about limits to other resources we rely on – safe water, clean air, soil nutrients, ecological diversity, even coal.
And yet, the imminent decline of fossil fuel availability that peak oil refers to may well prevent the economic and social stability that is essential if we are to mitigate the threats posed by climate change.
Yet we are pushing against the limits of the planet’s capacity to support life, which means creating stability may be our first and most urgent task.
Transition Initiatives represent one of the most promising ways of engaging people and communities to strengthen themselves against the effects of these two monumental challenges. The path is relocalization; its direction is a community life that is resilient, fulfilling, and socially connected.
Networking
Join us at our networking site to learn about events and resources and take part in conversations.
Cheerful disclaimer!
Just in case you were under the impression that Transition is a process defined by people who have all the answers, you need to be aware of a key fact.
We truly don't know if this will work. Transition is a social experiment on a massive scale.
What we are convinced of is this:
- If we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late
- If we act as individuals, it'll be too little
- But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.
Everything that you read on this site is the result of real work undertaken in the real world with community engagement at its heart.
This site, just like the transition model, is brought to you by people who are actively engaged in transition in a community, people who are learning by doing - and learning all the time - people who understand that we can't sit back and wait for someone else to do the work.
People like you.
Join us
Go to the Transition Bloomington social networking site where you can interact with others, watch videos, read articles, share stories, ask questions and get them answered
The Growing Family of Transition
Transition Bloomington is part of an international movement.
Begun in Totnes, England in 2006, the Transition concept has spread rapidly around the world. To date there are nearly 300 towns/cities/villages in the world who’ve officially joined the Transition movement; Bloomington is the 54th in the United States. This model is “going viral” and waking communities to the creative, joyous response we can realize.
History
The Transition movement emerged from the work of Permaculture educator, Rob Hopkins, and his students at the Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland. In early 2005 they created the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan, which was later adopted as policy by the Town Council. It was the first strategic community planning document of its kind, and went beyond the issues of energy supply, to look at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of food, farming, education, economy, health, and much more.
After moving back to the UK to complete his doctorate, Rob decided to take the Peak Oil preparation process beyond the classroom and into the community. He started Transition Towns Totnes in early 2006, and it took off like a rocket. It has since spread virally across the world as groups in other communities quickly copied the model and initiated the Transition process in their own locale.
The Transition Network was established in the UK in late 2006, to support the rapid international growth of the movement. In 2007, increasing high levels of interest in the States led to the launch of Transition US which was established as a national support network, in partnership with the Transition Network, to take on the role of providing co-ordination, support and training to Transition Initiatives as they emerged across the States. The process of “officiating” Transition Initiatives in the States was also handed over to Transition US.
Transition US is modeled on the Transition Network, visually represented by the image above. It is based on a living cell, a biological system, in keeping with the organic emergence of the Transition movement.
Various scales of initiative emerge organically (black circles in the center) at scales that feel most appropriate to them, guided by the Purpose and Principles of Transition. Regional groups may network together creating “hubs” of Transition Initiatives that work to common purpose.
In the diagram Transition US is represented by the white encircling ring that surrounds the individual initiatives and hubs. It functions like a cell membrane, enshrining the Purpose and Principles common to the wider Transition Movement and acts as a catalyst to keep the circle expanding as the number of initiatives it contains grows.
Transition US facilitates smooth and efficient networking between the various levels of initiatives and hubs, as well as between different interest groups, for example enabling various food, energy or economics groups to communicate, share good practice and organize national events. It also enables networking by geographical area, by culture and by size of project.
The role of Transition US is to continually review and collaboratively refine what Transition means, enabling the maximum amount of networking between Transition Initiatives and external partners and collaborators (represented by the white circles outside the encircling ring). The circles inside the outer ring represent emerging new strands to Transition, for example, Transition Consulting / Transition Local Government / Transition Universities