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Update1 May, 2011
What is a Transition Town?
The Transition Town movement is rapidly growing with more than 100 towns and villages in the UK and a growing number in other countries now actively involved. Locally movements are under way in Long Ashton, Pill/Easton, Nailsea, Clevedon, Weston, Wrington, Thornbury, Bristol...
The movement is motivated by the twin problems of peak oil and climate change which will increasingly impact on the way we live our lives.
What is Peak Oil?
Oil extraction peaked in the USA in 1970. The North Sea oilfield peaked its production in 1999.
Worldwide the discovery of new oil fields is failing to match the declining output in existing oil fields. Many oil experts now believe that the worldwide peak in oil production has already past; the consensus view is that it will happen in 2010.
Why is peak oil important?
Oil and oil-derived products are an essential part of daily life. Agriculture is heavily dependent on oil-derived fertilisers and oil-based transportation to provide the food we eat. Pharmaceuticals, clothing, and plastics, are heavily reliant on oil as a source material. Economic growth around the world is fuelled by a growth in available oil supplies. As oil becomes more scarce the cost of all these products will initially rise and eventually they will themselves become more scarce.
What about Climate Change?
Climate change and peak oil are different phenomena that are happening at the same time. Using oil along with other fossil fuels is a major cause of increasing greenhouse gases and climate change. Acting together climate change and peak-oil could increase problems such as food shortages. Reducing our dependence on oil will also help to combat climate change.
What is resilience?
Since the war, with the increasing globalisation of production, little that we use is now made close to where we live. In the event of shortage of fuel for transport or major drought in food producing areas of the world we could find ourselves short of essential food or other resources. Being more resilient requires us to think about how we as a community would cope if these things happened and to make changes to the way we live both individually and as a community to safeguard us from the worst effects.
What diffrence can we make here in Portishead?
To quote the Transition Towns website
( http://www.transitiontowns.org/ ):
"If we wait for the governments, it will be too little, too late; if we act as individuals, it will be too little; but if we act as communities, it might be just enough, just in time."
How will Transition Portishead work?
It is up to to us as a community to decide how best to meet these challenges. Portishead is an active vibrant community with many societies pursuing a multitude of activities. We believe the best way forward is to harness all this energy and get the town moving forward together to find solutions to these problems.
If you are interested and would like to find out more please contact us.