Concerned about climate change and spiralling energy use?
Want to create a more sustainable future for your children and grandchildren?
What is a Transition Town
Initiative?
A Transition Town Initiative (which can involve a
suburb, town, city etc) is a community-led response
to the dual pressures of climate change and fossil
fuel depletion. Transition Towns involve ordinary
people finding ways of being sustainable and
resilient. There are now thousands of Transition Town
Initiatives throughout the world.
The Transition Towns movement provides a model
for organising a shift towards sustainable living.
The Transition Towns model is underpinned by an
understanding that we need a planned transition to
a society that is not dependent on fossil fuel energy,
and in fact uses less energy generally. A key idea in
Transition Towns is “energy descent” - managing a
reduction in energy use.
The Transition Towns model is initially promoted
through talks, films, information sharing and
meetings. Through these activities, the aim is to
engage a group of people in the local community (or,
ideally, the whole community) in practical initiatives
to reduce energy dependence and encourage selfsufficiency.
Transition Town initiatives act as catalysts for change.
They focus on the positive - on ideas, solutions
and action strategies from and for the community.
Transition Town initiatives are encouraged to engage
with local government, and to link in with other local
initiatives that promote self-suffiency, community selfreliance and sustainability (such as local permaculture
groups, LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems)
groups and Community Supported Agriculture
projects). What is peak oil?
Peak oil is the simplest label for the problem of energy
resource depletion, or more specifically, the peak in
global oil production. Oil is a finite, non-renewable
resource, and Peak Oil is about the end of cheap and
plentiful oil, the recognition that the ever increasing
volumes of oil being pumped into our economies will
peak and then inevitable decline.
Our industrial way of life is
absolutely dependent on an everincreasing supply of cheap oil.
From the start of the 1900s, plentiful oil allowed
industrialised society to massively accelerate its
“development”. From that time, each year there has
been more oil (apart from the two oil shocks in the
1970s when Middle East crises caused worldwide
recessions). And each year, society increased
its complexity, its mechanisation, its globalised
connectedness and its energy consumption levels.
The problems start when we’ve extracted around half
of the recoverable oil. At this point, the oil gets more
expensive (in cash and energy terms) to extract, is
slower flowing and of a lower quality. Then, for the first
time in history, we aren’t able to increase the amount of
oil available for consumption.
The peak in oil production does not signify ‘running
out of oil’. We’ll never run out of oil; there will always
be oil left in the ground because either it’s too hard
to reach or it takes too much energy to extract. But
it does mean the end of cheap oil, and a need to
prioritise its use.
Yes I’d like to get involved
The Transition Towns Initiative Mitchell would love to
have you involved in planning for a more sustainable
future.
You can email us at [email protected], call us on
0404 740 261, or complete the following and send
it in to us at 36 Hadley Drive, Wallan 3756 and we’ll
contact you:
Name
Address
Phone
Email
mitchell
N
TRA
Transition Towns
Initiative Mitchell
Where can I get more
information?
The Transition Towns Initiative (TTI) Mitchell is a group
of individuals interested in planning a more sustainable
future for the Mitchell Shire. We have adopted the
Transition Approach with the aim of reducing carbon
emissions and preparing our communities for a future
without cheap energy.
Download the Transition Initiatives Primer (introduction
booklet) produced by the Transition Network which
provides resources and support to Transition Towns
Initiatives worldwide.
For some examples of other Transition Towns Initiatives
in Australia, check out:
For more information about peak oil and climate
change, and possible solutions go to:
The Sunshine Coast Transition TTI (the first in Australia):
www.transitionsunshinecoast.org
www.futurescenarios.org
www.energybulletin.net/primer
www.permacultureprinciples.com
Transition Town Boroondara
www.transitiontownboroondara.org
Bega Valley NSW Transition Town
www.thebegavalley.org.au/ttbega.html
T
SI
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TOWN I N
IT
IA
TIV
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www.transitionnetwork.org/resources/transition-primer
mitch e ll
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S
RAN
IT
ION
TOWN I N
IT
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TIV
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email us at [email protected]
or call 0404 740 261
From oil dependency to
community resilience...