Who are we?
Beeston in Transition are a group of local people trying to raise awareness about climate change and peak oil. We aim to help the transition of our community to one that is less dependent on oil.
Our vision is for a strong, vibrant local community which is resilient to the challenges of adjusting to a low fossil fuel economy, a community where much more of our food is locally grown, where our streets are more child friendly and where we know our neighbours and support our local businesses.
We hope to do this by inspiring the residents of Beeston and surrounding areas to work together and do more on a local level - sharing skills, knowledge and resources for the benefit of us all - and having fun in the process.
If you are interested in learning more or want to get involved, please get in touch here. Alternatively, why not pop along to our next event or meeting. More details here.
(Photo above from our food fuddle planning event in Nov 08. More info on this event on our blog. Photo courtesy of Lewis Stainer)
What is transition about?
Transition groups are being established across the country. It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?
Transition groups try to increase the resilience of their communities (to mitigate the effects of peak oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of climate change.)
They undertake a range of activities, including:
- awareness raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon
- connecting with existing groups in the community building bridges to local government connecting with other transition initiatives
- forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics & livelihoods, etc)
- kicking off projects aimed at building people's understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement
- eventually launching a community defined, community implemented "Energy Descent Action Plan" over a 15 to 20 year timescale
This results in a coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life that strives to rebuild the resilience we've lost as a result of cheap oil and reduce the community's carbon emissions drastically.
Transition groups also recognise two crucial points:
- that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
- if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.
There are lots of resources about transition on the web. A good place to start is the Transition Nottingham website here or the national Transition Network WIKI site here.
What is peak oil?
Basically, Peak Oil is when the demand for oil outstrips the supply and instead of being cheap and plentiful, it becomes scarce and expensive. And as we all know, when the cost of oil goes up, the cost of everything else follows.
In a worst case scenario, the effects of Peak Oil could be devastating. These include starvation as the cost of basic foodstuffs spirals out of control and the increased likelihood of conflict over control of resources as they become more and more scarce.
A growing body of geologists and oil experts have calculated that the peak will occur any time between 2006 and 2012 - so we need to do something now!
There is more information about Peak Oil on the websites listed on our links page.
And finally...
The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.
John Schaar