I don’t want you to visit here and be brought down by the last bit of news about Peak Oil and Climate Change. And though there are so many amazing things to celebrate in the Transition Towns movement here in New Zealand and around the world, I am lost to define the extent of it by a post here and there.
So I would like to offer you this cut to the core inspiration, that expresses so much. Imagine.
Gift yourself these twenty minutes. And let Benjamin Zander share his two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it — and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.
It was cold and sunny, when 20 people gathered to plant out the first serious public orchard on Waiheke this afternoon. Two months ago the mulch had gone down on this property, which is public land and the site of the old Surfdale Post Office. It was a total celebration and spirits were high, knowing that we had planted more than a few (35) fruit and nut trees together. We had sowed some more seeds of self responsibility. Continue Reading »
I found this to be a confirmation of a non-institutional approach to organising, and perhaps helps explain why the Transition Town community has been created so much without having created any institutional framework.
Clay Shirky, a prescient voice on the Internet’s effects, argues that emerging technologies enabling loose collaboration will change the way our society works. It certainly feels like it to me. While we may stumble and trip along the path of embracing the technologies, when we persist and gain some competency with the tools available we seem to discover their potential. Some tools will be less impactful, others more significant.
I sense that the Transition community, is growing and finding what works for it, and it is enabling greater cooperation and sharing of ideas and practical means for building local resilience.
Last week, Somerset County Council voted unanimously to endorse a motion that they become the UK’s first ‘Transition Local Authority’. What this means is that SCC could start taking an integrated approach to its planning processes, putting peak oil and climate change at the heart of its forward planning. It may well also unlock funds for the many Transition initiatives emerging across Somerset. The proposal put before the Council ran as follows;
About three years ago I came across the second book by Robert A. Monroe, called Far Journeys.
It is an account of his out-of-body journeys over several decades, and the experience of others he has worked with in the Monroe research institute setup for the purpose of studying these astral travel phenomena.
One particular piece of wisdom which he recounts seems particularly relevant to us at this time:
The major underlying cause of human worry relates to the Law of Change. All human conflict relates to this law. Some worry that change will take place, others that it will not. Wars are fought to resist change or to accelerate it. At the individual level, this translates into various forms of indecision.
Most people think of surf when they think of Raglan.
Well read on…
Last night TT Raglan presented to the local Community Board on the subjects of Peak Oil and Transition Towns. The audience included the Raglan Community Board members, Deputy Mayor of Waikato District, Principal of Raglan Area School and about 80 members of the public of all ages and walks of life. We posted an invitation to the community via the local paper and more than half of the crowd was there solely for the presentation. Community Board Members were astounded at the number of people as they filed in.
We spent 10 minutes on oil offering a copy of The Transition Handbook to the first person that could find something in the room that did not rely on oil in any way for its presence in the room… needless to say I still have my copy of the Handbook. Then spent 20 minutes on Relocalization, TT and the myriad of possibilities and positive outcomes for our community. Toting TT as a global movement which is “inspiring, empowering and mobilizing WHOLE COMMUNITIES into action!” Also that we were very excited at the “… opportunity to turn paradise into utopia!”
All in all we had the room buzzing and this was the first public mention of TT in our community. Deputy Mayor was very supportive. We were approached afterwards by local radio for interview, the local paper will have TT as their feature story next week and a journalist from the Waikato times said there will be something in the Times before the end of this week!! We have set a first dedicated public TT gathering for the 27th of July.
We are stoked to be kicking up the dust in this neck of the woods!
I have had the pleasure of speaking with Susan Krumdieck on the phone, and appreciate her wisdom and approach to the challenges we face via her expertise in the broader discipline of engineering. Susan is making a profound contribution to the field of transition, so it was a delight to find this AEMS LAB website, where I discovered, amongst words like sustainability and transition engineering, this simple statement.
The Great Challenge for Change The defining moral issue of this time in history is how people will adjust their own expectations and demands in order to address global climate change, overpopulation, and peak oil. The greatest test of the character and adaptability of humanity will occur in the near future as societies re-discover and re-enforce the oldest and most fundamental rule of sustainable civilization; constraints exist.
Neighbours in several Auckland suburbs dream of living in greener, friendlier communities, reports Andrea Jutson As petrol prices surge to more than $2.12 a litre, groups of central-city Aucklanders are heading back to the past. Dianna Tawharu and Carolyn Cox of Westmere have started Grey Lynn 2030, one of several new groups aimed at turning inner suburbs into “transition towns’.
Waikato-based Green MP Nandor Tanczos will return to “grassroots” environmental work and do up his housebus when he leaves Parliament. Although a timeframe for his departure remained unclear this week, Mr Tanczos said he would be looking to get his “fingers in the dirt again” at home in Ngaruawahia when his political career ends…
…Mr Tanczos also identified a lack of national leadership on environmental issues, despite the efforts of his party, and described both National and Labour as “pretty much in denial” on issues such as climate change, peak oil and resource depletion, and their economic ramifications.
“The leadership is going to come from the community transition towns, communities setting up sustainable transport initiatives and increasing interest in things like permaculture design. So communities are doing it, and that’s really where I think my energies could be used.”
The Bay of Islands transition towns initiative got off to a roaring start last week with about 110 people packing the Wharepuke hall. It was clear there will be no shortage of people willing to climb on board the community campaign to become less wasteful and more economical. Kaitaia and Kohukohu are also making moves to join the transition town movement, which brings people together to explore how communities can respond to the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil…
All the Waiheke papers are featuring articles this week, on the partnership between Right House and Transition Waiheke, and urging people to fill in their Energy survey forms.
I am told the New Zealand Herald will be publishing a similar story in the Green pages on Monday.
Transition Nelson got front page coverage there this week, with a photo of Ted and his electric assist bike, which I did this story on him a while ago now.
From stuff.co.nz: “In April the Nelson Environment Centre received $152,000 from the Environment Ministry to support and develop Transition Nelson.
The Nelson group will be formally launched in September, but at its first public meeting, people had expressed an interest in food production.
Mr Howard said its meeting next Tuesday evening, therefore, would focus on opportunities to localise food again and produce it more sustainably.
The meeting would be of interest to people concerned about where their food came from, or those wanting to see more local food production.”
And back on Waiheke: Sue Kedgley from the Green Party came over last night to speak about food security in the face of global challenges, under the title: “Food prices going up and Quality going down.”
In her first sentence she referred to Transition Towns and after the talk, kept coming back to this community led model, over and over again.
I was deeply moved by this wonderful oratory and all it contained. In his valedictory speech to the NZ parliament Nandor left us with a prophetic message, and in no uncertain terms. I believe that in times to come we will look at his farewell speech as insightful and inspirational. I was delighted to hear Transition Towns mentioned as one of several grass roots community-led intiatives he honoured when talking about where the change is coming from.
Here is the full speech on video.
One of the first things Nandor Tanczos did when he entered Parliament was buy a watch. The last thing he did before leaving was to take it off, place it on his desk - and smash it to pieces with a mallet.
Because when I look at the state of our rivers, our atmosphere and our people, I don’t need a watch to tell me what time it is,” the departing Green MP shouted, as the handcuff that had chained him to the system shattered across the chamber.
About three years ago I came across the second book by Robert A. Monroe, called 
Most people think of surf when they think of Raglan.
All the Waiheke papers are featuring articles this week, on the partnership between Right House and 
Mr Howard said its meeting next Tuesday evening, therefore, would focus on opportunities to localise food again and produce it more sustainably.
One of the first things Nandor Tanczos did when he entered Parliament was buy a watch. The last thing he did before leaving was to take it off, place it on his desk - and smash it to pieces with a mallet.