What is a Transition Town?

So just what exactly is a Transition Town?

A Transition Town is started by a small group of people (you only need four people to get started) who are concerned about climate, energy, oil, resource, economic and food issues and want to do something constructive and positive about it. They are sick of the gloom and doom and want to be part of something positive, something that offers real solutions.

It comes out of permaculture - which is a grassroots movement of people who study and practice the design and implementation of sustainable systems.

While permaculture is well-known as a food production method, those very same principles of sustainability, energy saving, waste reduction and functional resource use can be applied to any system - a transport system, waste system or a regional food supply system.

So Transition Initiatives take those same principles and start looking at their local area - whether its a town, village, city, street, workplace, church, school or an organisation and look at how they can start turning their supply and production systems into resilient systems.

What does this look like on the ground?

Well, using Eudlo as an example, we discussed what we needed here and the idea of an organic food co-op came up and attracted a lot of interest.

A local food co-op would reduce food miles, reduce costs for customers, reduce packaging and waste... so the idea fitted very well with those sustainability principles.

In a nutshell and based on what we've seen happen here on the Sunshine Coast over the past three years that this idea has been out there, a Transition Town is really a catalyst.

A catalyst for bringing people together, specifically people who want to live more simply, more locally and step a little (or a lot) off the consumer treadmill. People who want to be inspired by others in the community and who want to make meaningful community connections. Transition Towns are also a catalyst for reskilling the community and equipping them for a future with less oil.

So whether you want to learn how to knit, how to preserve food, how to grow your own food, how to build a chook tractor... a local Transition Town can help you.

If you want to see if other people in your area are interested in bikeways and walkways, whether people would like to share in a bulk buy of rainwater tanks or solar panels... a local Transition Town can help you.

If you want to learn how to seed save, about permaculture, or about Local Energy Transfer Systems (LETS), what to do with a glut of mangoes... if you can teach a skill or learn a skill... Transtion Towns can be the catalyst for that to happen.

If you want to find out if there is a local organic food box system or Community Supported Agriculture near you, how to start a community garden, where to buy native trees, where the best local produce markets are and when they are on... a local Transition Town can help.

In Eudlo a lot of people come to our meetings to find out what is happening and what's on in the community... Transition Towns don't just make things happen, they let people know what is already happening in their local area.

We sit around, have a coffee, catch up with what's happening both in the community and in our groups and we'll probably be doing some seed saving too, just to keep busy!

Our groups include;
Eudlo Permablitz Team
The Eudlo Food Co-operative
The Eudlo Steam Team
Eudlo Seed Savers' Group
Eudlo Beekeepers' Collective
Waste Busters
Eudlo Transport Solutions
Permaculture Eudlo
Eudlo Market Team
Solar Cooking Group
Eudlo Health Hub
What's On? Eudlo Networking Group
Energy Descent Action Planning Team
EGG (Eudlo Growers' Group) (coming soon)
Community Harvest Project (coming soon)

We meet on the first Sunday of the month at Sweetheart's Cafe in Eudlo.

Other Transition Towns on the Sunshine Coast are at;
Nambour
Cooran
Eumundi Markets
Maleny

If you're interested in starting a Transition Town in your local area, we have a weekend workshop on how to do just that coming up in June at Eumundi. If you'd like infomation on that, please email us at transitiontowns@yahoo.com.au

cheers,
Sonya
Transition Town Eudlo
Coordinator