Global Dependency to Local Resilience
transition story.
2005 2006
3000 people 8000 people
“Inherent within the challenges of peak oil and climate change is an extraordinary opportunity to reinvent, rethink and rebuild the world around us.”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
transition handbook.
Peak OilClimate ChangeRelocalizationPsychological EffectsPermaculture12 StepsCollective WisdomReskilling
2008
“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.”
Malcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point
climate change.
“We have at most 10 years – not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions.”Director Goddard
Institute for Space Studies at NASA
James HansenJames Hansen
peak oil.
“It is quite likely that the time interval before the global peak occurs will be briefer than the period required for societies to adapt themselves painlessly to a different energy regime.”
Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg
r.o.i. vs. emissions.
“To save the planet, we do not need miraculous technical breakthroughs, or vast amounts of capital. Essentially we need a radical change in our thinking and behavior.”
Ted TrainerTed Trainer
renewables won’t save us.
western society is addicted to oil.
“The age of fossil fuels is about to end. There is no replacement for them at hand. These facts are poorly understood by the global population preoccupied with the thrum of daily life, but tragically, too, by the educated classes in the United States, who continue to be by far the greatest squanderers of fossil fuel.”
By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely
disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could
reach nearly 10 MBD.
JamesKunstlerJamesKunstler
energy descent.
“The Long Emergency is the end of childhood for us. And as humanity passes through this threshold to adulthood will be determined by us, and by other who are gathering in meetings like this all over the country and all over the planet.”
Michael Brownlee
Michael Brownlee
The challenge of global climate change makes a shift away from fossil fuels necessary for planetary survival.
Peak energy production means that the transition is inevitable.
Our only choice is whether to proactively undertake the transition now—or react to events later.
energy descent scenarios.
“The real issue of our age is how we make a graceful and ethical descent.”
Permaculture: Principles and
PathwaysBeyond
Sustainability
David Holmgren
David Holmgren
relocalization.
Local production of food, energy and goods.
Local development of currency, government and culture.
Reducing consumption while improving social and environmental conditions.
“The most radical thing you can do is stay home.”
Gary SnyderGary Snyder
resilience indicators.
FOOD PARKING VS. LAND
BUSINESSES &
PRODUCTSLOCALLY EMPLOYED
LOCALLY MANUFACTURED ESSENTIALS
LOCALLY USED
MATERIALS
mke
prioritization.
“Economic development, powered by cheap oil, has chewed up farmlands, devastated forests, made dead zones out of oceans, dried up aquifers, and has spewed vast quantities of toxins into our atmosphere, into our precious water supplies, fouling our biosphere – not to mention our own bodies.”
Great Unleashing
Sandpoint, ID
Michael Brownlee
Michael Brownlee
perma-essentials.
“Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of the landscape with people…”
Graham BellGraham Bell
transition assumptions.
By unleashing the collective genius of the community we can design ways of living that are more enriching, satisfying and connected.
Many skills for self-sufficiency have been forgotten and must be relearned.We need to act collectively and we need to act now.
Life with less energy is inevitable, and it is better to plan for it than be taken by surprise.
“In the face of almost certain uncertainty, our job is to rise to the occasion, to evolve…we will probably become some new kind of human at the end of it all-it is that big and that important.”
John L. Petersen
John L. Petersen
PAST ● PRESENT ● FUTURE
November 2008
“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.”
Malcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point
20 Holiday Handbook Gifts
January 20091st HUB Meeting
“Would you want it any other way? Would you want someone to come I with the answer and work it all our for you? It’s such an adventure working all these things out!”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
March 2009Birth of 1st Visible
Manifestation
“The future with less oil [and less energy] could be preferable to the present, if we are able to engage with enough imagination and creativity sufficient in abundance of the peak…”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
ALL PEOPLE’S CHURCH
May 2009The Great Blitz
COMMUNITY GROWERS
JARED C. BRUCE ACADEMY
FUTURE GREEN’S ROOFTOP GARDEN
“In the face of almost certain uncertainty, our job is to rise to the occasion, to evolve…we will probably become some new kind of human at the end of it all-it is that big and that important.”
John L. Petersen
John L. Petersen
June 20091st Steering Committee
Meeting
RelationshipsCathartic Discussions
Technology/How to get OrganizedOrg StructureNetworking
“Creating the world we want is a much more subtle but more powerful mode of operation than destroying the one we don’t want.”
Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson
July 20091st Sweet Water Organics Tour
“Only a culture awash with cheap oil could become de-skilled on the monumental scale we have.”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
October 2009350.Org ● Fruity Nutty
“[Transition] is not a process that comes along with all the answers. It is a process which is about getting people to thinking about the right questions.”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
November 2009Concordia Gardens
“The real issue of our age is how we make a graceful and ethical descent.”
Permaculture: Principles and
PathwaysBeyond
Sustainability
David Holmgren
David Holmgren
December 2009Power Down Saturdays
“To save the planet, we do not need miraculous technical breakthroughs, or vast amounts of capital. Essentially we need a radical change in our thinking and behavior.”
Ted TrainerTed Trainer
January 2010Training for Transition Towns
Delefield, WI
“All things are possible once enough people realize that everything is at stake.”
Norman CousinsNorman Cousins
Training for Transition TownsDelefield, WI
February 2010
“Inherent within the challenges of peak oil and climate change is an extraordinary opportunity to reinvent, rethink and rebuild the world around us.”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
March 2010
“The most radical thing you can do is stay home.”
Gary SnyderGary Snyder
“Meet Milwaukee’s Alders” Program
+ MATC Green Energy Summit
May 2010The Victory Garden Blitz 2010
“This is how we’ll change the world, real change, one garden at a time.” – Gretchen Mead, VGI Director
“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”
The Earth Charter 2001
The Earth Charter 2001
June 2010Power Down Week
“It is quite likely that the time interval before the global peak occurs will be briefer than the period required for societies to adapt themselves painlessly to a different energy regime.”
Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg
July/August 2010
“The Long Emergency is the end of childhood for us. And as humanity passes through this threshold to adulthood will be determined by us, and by other who are gathering in meetings like this all over the country and all over the planet.”
Michael Brownlee
Michael Brownlee
THE FLOOD OF THE CENTURY&
TM Water Working Group
December 2010TM Vision and Mission
Founding TruthsThis we believe:• We have become dependent upon fossil fuels in all aspects of our lives.• The ecology of our planet and its living things has suffered greatly during the age of fossil fuels.• Fossil fuels are a finite resource; the age of consumption enabled by fossil fuels is drawing to a close.• Alternative energy sources such as solar and wind cannot fully replace fossil fuels nor maintain a consumerist
civilization.• Together we are responsible for our own levels of consumption; together we are responsible for creating a lower-
energy future that will restore our planet and heal its creatures.• Powering down is necessary, inevitable, and can increase our overall well-being as we come together to produce a
just and sustainable world. Vision:This we hope for:Imagine a resilient and self-sufficient Milwaukee comprised of a diverse array of local communities, populated by neighbors working side by side to produce our own low-energy abundance. Envision a time when instead of striving separately to acquire more than we need, we have joined together to restore each other and the earth, achieving a just and peaceful community for today and a regenerative way of living for tomorrow and thereafter. Mission:This we will do:Transition Milwaukee is part of a global movement based on permaculture principles and the awareness of resource depletion and ecological devastation. It empowers people and their communities to create local responses to converging environmental, energy, and economic challenges.We will unleash our collective genius by educating and supporting each other, inspiring a network of neighborhood initiatives and work groups dedicated to building and fostering local resilience and community self-sufficiency as we progress towards sustainable practices.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN TRANSITION MILWAUKEE?
Transition Milwaukee – August 2011
• 450 On-Line Members/100 Active• 100% Volunteer Non-Stock Corp• Internally Focused Solidification
Phase• Developing a Board of Directors• Expanding the Steering Committee
"The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof."
Malcolm GladwellBarbara Kingsolver
“Animal Dreams”
“Most social-change organizations are understaffed and underfunded, and nearly all are negotiating steep learning curves.”
Rob HopkinsRob Hopkins
Checking the Boxes.
Paul HawkenPaul Hawken
Dynamic Governance ● Sociocracy
Dynamic Governance ● Sociocracy
Semi-Defi ned Structure
ADMINISTRATIONSTEERING COMMITTEE
• Organizational Structure & Incorporation
• Catalyzing & Encouragement (Neighborhood Groups)
• Outreach• Transition Training• Information, Resources,
Tools• Technology• Memberships• Training• Finance• Process/Procedure• Partnerships• Marketing & Media• Communications• Events• Meetings• Fundraising
SEMI-AUTONOMOU
SNEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS
Business &
Economy
Food
Arts & Culture
Reskilling
Education
HUB
Water
Shelter
Energy
Policy & Govnmt
Transportation
Health Care
Community Living
Community Partners
General Public
New Members
Government
Advisory Committee
GOVNG
BODYBoard Of Directors
Speakers Bureau
Regional Subject Matter Forums
www.transitionmilwaukee.org