Carolyn Steel As peak oil and climate change threaten our way of life, transition towns look to the future

Join the transition from fear to hope

03 October 2008

Do you live in a transition town? And if not, why not? Transition towns are the hottest new trend in urbanism. Or rather in post-urbanism, since their guiding principle is to find ways of living in the cities we’ve already built as the oil that feeds them runs out, and inconveniently heats up the planet in the process. Transition towns aim to keep communities functioning in the face of peak oil and climate change.

For those yet to encounter this phenomenon, I recommend tuning into The Archers, where attempts to turn Ambridge into a transition town have gripped listeners all this year. Or better still go along as I did recently to listen to the movement’s founder, Rob Hopkins. Not since Billy Graham filled and thrilled Great St Mary’s in Cambridge in the 1970s have I experienced such an evangelical frisson. An understated individual with the looks and demeanour of Wallace from Wallace & Gromit, Hopkins is nevertheless able to hold a room, and is picking up disciples faster than many a professional preacher. From its origins as a humble university experiment three years ago at Kinsale in Ireland, his transition movement has gone global, with towns as far afield as New Zealand and Japan officially “unleashed”.

What is a transition town? The central premise is that the vast majority of cities we inhabit were built during a period referred to by political economists as the oil age. For roughly 200 years, it has made essential tasks like farming and transporting food — once thankless and back-breaking — seem easy, even rewarding. That this happy interlude is about to come to a crushing halt is unarguable. The question is: what are we going to do about it?

While greenfield eco-town schemes acknowledge the need for a radical new urban/rural model, transition towns address a far thornier problem: how to retrofit the sprawl we built when sustainability was still an obscure 14-letter word beginning with s.

Hopkins’ answer is for local communities to come together and start transition initiatives, responding to the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change.

At the movement’s core is the energy descent action plan, designed over the course of 15-20 years to reduce carbon emissions and increase local preparedness for the day the oil runs dry. This might involve growing more local food, recycling waste and improving skills such as cooking, sewing, handicrafts and mechanics — all with the support of the local council. Totnes, Hopkins’ home town and the first to declare itself a transition town, has issued the Totnes pound to boost the local economy and aims to become the nut-tree capital of Britain.

If all this sounds a bit William Morris, it is — and none the worse for that. Utopian visionaries from Plato to Howard have dreamed of creating local, equable, sustainable communities.

At the transition town meeting I attended, four of us —a journalist, a housewife/activist, an ethical food trader and me — turned out to live in a variety of post-codes within Westminster. Transition town Westminster may well be the result.

Get the latest stories first with BD newsletters. Click to signup
							WHAT ARE THESE?

| DISCUSS IN BD'S FORUM | SUBSCRIBE TO BD

---

We want to hear from you
You can be as critical or controversial as you like, but please don't get personal or offensive, and do keep it brief and relevant. Remember this is for feedback and constructive discussion!
Comments may be edited if they do not meet these guidelines.

Tell us what you think

You must fill in all fields marked *

Story date 3 October, 2008

This field is for security, please leave blank.

Your Name*

Your Email*

Comment*