Recap and Connections

In some discussions I’ve had recently, it has become apparent that it is time to restate the reasons I started writing this column in the first place. We humans have put ourselves and much of the world in grave danger by refusing to live according to the rules that billions of years of evolution have established. We counter our problems with solutions based on our own version of reality. I, and many others, see that the source of our problems is our version of reality itself. So, as we speed toward the precipice, the only thing we can think to do is to step on the gas pedal!

The Transition Town concept, developed by Rob Hopkins in 2004, was an outgrowth of a permaculture project applied to other aspects of human culture in the community of Kinsale, Ireland. It was meant to address the dual problems of global peak oil production and climate change, and the necessity to become far more efficient and resilient in meeting our needs. Addressing these problems, it was thought, required change at the most basic cultural, institutional, and personal levels. How do you solve a problem if the tools you need to work with have yet to be invented? The solutions have to be based on practicality rather than theory because there is no theory. In struggling with the problem, it became apparent that each locality needed to approach their own plan from the ground up, utilizing the unique resources inherent in each community. In this way, a movement developed that prescribed certain ways to approach solutions but carefully avoided preconceived answers. Since we really don’t know where we are going, we need to cast our net widely to allow the greatest possibility that the best solutions will be discovered. In the years since, we have come to realize that there are many other aspects of our culture that are simultaneously leading us to oblivion: maintenance of military hegemony, need for a continually

expanding economy, consumer culture, income disparity, breakdown of our democracy, deficient education, the list goes on.

We on Vashon formed a study group a couple years ago and are now an official Transition Town, which means that a number of us are committed to encouraging our community to do the following: understand the urgency in which we need to act; to come together to create a vision of what we would like our future to be, given the changes that we judge will be shaping it; and to put together an action plan to get us there. We come to this task on the shoulders of many groups on Vashon that have been and will continue to be working on important aspects of this. We sponsored a series of films last winter to put our predicament in perspective and to suggest possible solutions. We have a lending library of great books, including the Transition Town Handbook and many others that will allow you to study all the facets of our current predicament. We will have information about using the library on our website. For now, contact me about taking books out. Hopefully, this column has helped some of you to see the scope and nature of our situation. Upcoming events for the fall to be announced.

You can read more at this site: www.transitionnetwork.org. From there you can follow links all over the world, including the US and our own site here on Vashon.

As you study this problem, you begin to realize that it has significant psychological, emotional, and spiritual aspects as well. When you realize that we need to grow in all of these aspects at the same time, both personally and communally, you begin to understand the nature of the task. In that spirit, here are a few other sites that may help you mull it over:

www.howtosavetheworld.ca/ This blog includes a substantial list of other sites. Good for freewheeling investigation of all the facets.

www.dark-mountain.net/blog/ This site offers literary insights into our current plight.

www.thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ John Michael Greer is an erudite student of human culture and will give you a lot to think about.

www.wiserearth.org/article/f9c7fbd7851e53acc231e8ea1c27f266 An article that I just discovered by M Earth in this paper in 2008. Thank you M Earth for putting that out there before our present group was tuned in!

www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=56 This article includes a number of websites that show you how to share with your neighbors. The website has much more worth reading.

www.vashonyardshare.grouply.com/ If you are looking for garden space or have space to offer, here is our own Vashon website.

www.transitionvashon.grouply.com/ Finally, our Transition Vashon website. Please join!

Be sure to join Welcome Vashon to celebrate 20 new projects, connect with others working on other projects, or suggest new projects, September 10, 9 -12 noon, at the O Space. Complementary breakfast and free child care. You can’t beat that!

Comments or questions?
terry@vashonloop.com