Transition Town Berea

Local action, global networking, for a vibrant, resilient community

A Transition Initiative is a community working together to prepare for Peak Oil, Climate Change, and a Shrinking Global Economy.

Four assumptions guide the development of a Transition Initiative:

• Life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable;  better to plan for it
• Our communities lack the resilience to weather severe energy and economic shocks
• We have to act collectively, and act now
• A future with less energy can, if we fully apply our collective knowledge and skills, be preferable to the present.

More than 190 Transition Towns worldwide are working to increase their resilience – their ability to withstand external shocks – through actions such as developing a local currency, supporting farmers markets, promoting solar energy, renovating buildings for large reductions in energy use, and relocalizing their economies.

For more information on Transition Initiatives, we recommend:

• The Transition Handbook (2008) by Rob Hopkins, Chelsea Green Publishing, VT.
• The Transition Network
• Transition US

Transition Town Berea (TTB) was recently recognized as the world’s 134th transition initiative (13th in the United States). Spearheaded by Sustainable Berea, TTB is a community-wide effort to plan and implement Berea’s response to the growing economic, environmental and energy challenges.

In November, TTB presented for public comment and discussion an initial set of 36 actions that the community could take to increase its resilience. Some of the actions that are underway include:

Monthly re-skilling workshops and the publication of the 2009 Re-skilling Berea calendar.

The raised bed project has helped households and churches throughout Berea to create “gardens of eatin’” and is working to build and distribute 100 additional beds by October.

Assembly of a Berea Local Business Directory as a first step toward a Think Local – Buy Local – Be Local campaign.

The 2009 Berea Solar Tour, October 3, will be a chance to see how your neighbors are tapping into this plentiful resource, and to learn how you can, too.

To volunteer to help with one of these or other Transition Town Berea projects, call 859-985-1689 or visit here.