Transition is local communities taking action on the challenges they face by starting to find local solutions. Working together as a wider group, they want to find alternative, bottom-up ways of addressing the threat of climate change, and create links within the community between those who are already doing this work.
“Generally speaking, the Transition vision is of a move towards self-sufficiency at the local level, in food, energy and much else, but the specifics of what “getting it right” might look like were never handed down from above.”
Local, self-sufficient, optimistic: are Transition Towns the way forward?
Totnes became the first Transition Town in 2006 (there are now hundreds of transition initiatives which spread across the world). The initial impetus for Transition was Peak Oil: we are reliant on cheap fossil fuels, and without them we are at risk and vulnerable. Add climate change, and there is no longer a question that we must reduce our overconsumption of finite and damaging energy sources. Transition tries to find ways to live within and respect the biological limits of the earth. It rejects the idea of endless growth and replaces it with more of a circular economy, a regenerative and supportive model which respects and values our environment. And crucially, it inspires imaginative and brave ideas which see beyond how things are, to how they could be.
Links and further information
See the Transition Network website for more information about the movement, its history, who is involved, and why and how it came about.
There are a number of groups local to Aylesbury which have come together to make real change – below are just a few of them:
- Sustainable Tring (formerly Tring in Transition) – ongoing projects include a community food garden, energy action group, and supporting car sharing to reduce transport emissions
- Sustainable Chesham – working through setting up a community energy switch, promoting cycling as and cycling facilities, and establishing a repair café in the town
- Transition Town Berkhamsted – aim to build a vibrant local community which consumes less energy and is connected with nature. They campaign on local issues to support these aims.