By Ande Finley
Special to the Islands’ Weekly
“Imagine a community, imagine a world… where how we live nourishes the earth, helps people realize their potential, and creates joy in community.”
This is how Transition Fidalgo and Friends describes itself on its home page. Sponsored by the Islands Energy Coalition, Lopezians were treated to a discussion led by three women from this fledgling organization that grew out of Skagit Beat the Heat founded in 2006 to raise awareness of global climate change.
Developed in 2006 by Rob Hopkins to equip communities for the dual challenges of peak oil and climate change, the Transition Town movement started with the historic step taken by the Kinsale [Ireland] Town Council to adopt Hopkins’ plan and work towards energy independence.
It has since expanded worldwide, claiming 397 initiatives in 34 countries. These homegrown efforts look to a sustainable future beyond fossil fuels and see it as a welcome opportunity rather than a threat.
“What I love about the Transition approach,” said Patrick Holden of United Kingdom’s Soil Association which campaigns for planet-friendly food and farming, “is that it is inspirational, harnessing hope instead of guilt, and optimism instead of fear.”
In Washington State, there are already ten Transition Initiatives. Each community is encouraged to develop its own unique response to issues. Fidalgo sponsors “Eat Your Yard” classes, Seventh Generation community suppers, and skill-sharing classes.
Whidbey is forging ahead with establishing its own local credit union, has a group discussing the future of clean, alternative transportation, and has set up the Whidbey Community Exchange to re-vitalize the local economy with a goods and services trading system.
Olympia-Climate Action is working to build a just and sustainable food system. Snoqualmie Valley is holding a New Livelihoods Jobs Fair.
Response here to the Fidalgo group was strong. Twenty-five attendees expressed a variety of passions and it was clear that Lopez had many pieces already in place that would easily fit into a Transition model — Locavores, Take Back the Dump, Islanders for the National Conservation Area, Community Trails Network, the Islands Energy Coalition and the many projects of the Lopez Community Land Trust.
It remains to be seen whether a future Initiative will be confined to the Lopez community or encompass all of the San Juans.
Dovetailing with this momentum, the Lopez Locavores will be kicking off a film series with “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil,” on Sunday, Nov. 20, 4:30 p.m. at the Lopez Center with a discussion to follow. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the institution of the US embargo, Cuba was cut off from its only source of cheap oil and forced to make radical changes in every aspect of lifestyle and economy.
The creative resilience of the only country that has faced such a crisis in real time gives us an invaluable look at challenges and solutions in a post-oil world. As one reviewer raved, “….we have a lot to learn from this unlikely role model.”
For info, visit www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/.
