Criteria sent off!

Well, today I sent off the criteria we needed to meet for Eudlo to become a Transition Town. Here is the list direct from the Transition Town WIKI site.

These criteria are developing all the time, and certainly aren’t written in stone.

1. an understanding of peak oil and climate change as twin drivers (to be written into constitution or governing documents)

2. a group of 4-5 people willing to step into leadership roles (not just the boundless enthusiasm of a single person)

3. at least two people from the core team willing to attend an initial two day training course. Initially these will be in Totnes and over time we'll roll them out to other areas as well, including internationally. Transition Training is just UK based right now, but that's going to have to change – we're working on it.

4. a potentially strong connection to the local council

5. an initial understanding of the 12 steps to becoming a TT

6. a commitment to ask for help when needed

7. a commitment to regularly update your Transition Initiative web presence - either the wiki (collaborative workspace on the web that we'll make available to you), or your own website

8. a commitment to make periodic contributions to the Transition Towns blog (the world will be watching)

9. a commitment, once you're into the Transition, for your group to give at least two presentations to other communities (in the vicinity) that are considering embarking on this journey – a sort of “here’s what we did” or #here's how it was for us" talk

10. a commitment to network with other TTs

11. a commitment to work cooperatively with neighbouring TTs

12. minimal conflicts of interests in the core team

13. a commitment to work with the Transition Network re grant applications for funding from national grant giving bodies. Your own local trusts are yours to deal with as appropriate.

14. a commitment to strive for inclusivity across your entire initiative. We're aware that we need to strengthen this point in response to concerns about extreme political groups becoming involved in transition initiatives. One way of doing this is for your core group to explicitly state their support the UN Declaration of Human Rights (General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948). You could add this to your constitution (when finalised) so that extreme political groups that have discrimination as a key value cannot participate in the decision-making bodies within your transition initiative. There may be more elegant ways of handling this requirement, and there's a group within the network looking at how that might be done.

15. a recognition that although your entire county or district may need to go through transition, the first place for you to start is in your local community. It may be that eventually the number of transitioning communities in your area warrant some central group to help provide local support, but this will emerge over time, rather than be imposed. (This point was inserted in response to the several instances of people rushing off to transition their entire county/region rather than their local community.)

In exceptional situations where a coordinating hub or initiating hub needs to be set up (currently Bristol, Forest of Dean, Brighton&Hove) that hub is responsible for making sure these criteria are applied to all the initiatives that start within their area.

Further criteria apply to initiating/coordinating hubs – these can be discussed person to person.

16. and finally, we recommend that at least one person on the core team should have attended a permaculture design course... it really does seem to make a difference.

Once you can demonstrate to us at Transition Network that you're on board with these, you open the door to all sorts of wonderful support, guidance, materials, webspace, training and networking opportunities - not all ready right now, but we're working on it.....

Welcome

Hi,

Welcome to the blog of Transition Town Eudlo. We are one of the first Transition Initiatives in Australia and we are looking forward to moving our community from oil dependency to local resilience.

We'll post all the happenings, what's on, how it is all developing... whatever unfold from our transition experience.

There has been an active group of people working on positive solutions to climate change and peak oil in Eudlo for the past year, we are now morphing into a Transition Town.

Sonya - Co-ordinator

The town of Eudlo

Eudlo, [Indigenous Australian for fresh water eels], is located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, about half way between the towns of Palmwoods and Mooloolah. Settled in 1891 as a timber and cattle town, Eudlo now consists of a primary school, general store, post office, tennis courts, a volunteer rural fire service, a town hall and an enthusiastic and active relocalisation action group that will celebrate its first birthday this month (July 2008).

Eudlo lies on the national rail line, so we are well positioned for a future using less energy. We have access to fertile soil, good rainfall, established local food growers and experienced and active permaculturists living in the area. Eudlo does not have any town water or sewage systems, so has avoided the population and development explosion currently happening in surrounding Sunshine Coast towns.

Existing group
Eudlo started a peak oil/climate change/relocalisation group in July 2007. Since then we have developed many successful initiatives including;
Bulk buying dried organic goods, oil, tahini etc etc
Seed saving group
Share/swap/barter excess fresh produce from our gardens
Bulk buying/delivery of things like mulch, mushroom compost
Permablitz working bees at member’s homes- helping others establish home food gardens
Emergency support phone list (in case of cyclone, storm, flood)
Car pooling (happening informally among members)

Exciting new initiatives just started;
Establishing a co-operative based on the Maleny (Sunshine Coast, Queensland) model

Initiatives in the pipeline for Transition Town Eudlo;
Working with the local town hall committee to establish social gatherings for the community
Establishing the Eudlo Grain Growers Group (EGG) – researching suitable grains to grow here in the community, growing and distributing them
Buying a community grain mill (engineering a pedal powered one)
Establishing an edible landscape plan for the local park
Working with the local Buddhist Centre (Chenrezig) to develop meditation/discussion groups on change in the context of peak oil and climate change – offering support through change process
Working with council on bikeways, pathways, and a paved town centre for pedestrians
Exploring ways to create a social hub – eg through a co-operative, café, guest speakers, music etc in the heart of the town

The Eudlo group is very active and we have been working well for the past year. People have taken on individual projects they feel confident doing and passionate about. We have permaculture educators, alternative health therapists, home birth and home schooling people, a dietitian, and a regional Transition Initiative Coordinator in the group, which has a vibrant multicultural mix of Spanish, Japanese, Canadian, Swiss, English, Australian, and Creole/Mauritius. We have a lot of relevant expertise in our community.

2006 census – Eudlo statistics
Size 17 sq kms
Population 852
Vehicles - number of cars 303
Household numbers - Predominantly one or two people households
Housing - Predominantly separate houses – owned or being paid off
Religion - Buddhism followed closely by Christianity
Average annual rainfall (over past three years) – 1550mm
Closest major town – Nambour – pop 9774 – 20 minute driveHeight above sea level – rail station in town centre is 27 metres above sea level