writeaboutwarming

My apologies for taking so long to write this article. I hope you'll find it worth the wait! November 19, 2009 – I’m learning more about Transition Towns (see my Oct. 20 blog). Read on to learn more about the concept and its current status. First, though, let’s get started with some transition vocabulary. Two ideas that are central to understanding this grassroots movement are relocalizing and permaculture. Relocalization is, in fact, the United States’ own version of transitioning. While transition takes its name from the need for communities to make the transition from being carbon-based to post-carbon, relocalization focuses on the need for communities to make basic goods and services available locally. This, in turn, necessitates re-skilling. More vocabulary! Let’s go back over this paragraph and make some sense of it. What is meant by saying that a community is carbon-based? Simply this: communities throughout the world derive their energy from fuels containing lots of carbon:...

October 19, 2009 – Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of Transition Towns. I hadn’t until very recently. I’d like to share the little bit I know, because I think this is an idea whose time has come. The idea is that people with an awareness of the changes underway in our world should begin discussions on the local level about surviving global climate change. Because members of communities bring varying talents and knowledge to the table, each can make a contribution to the common good. To my mind, a big piece of the puzzle will consist simply of people sharing their tools and appliances with one another, rather than each household needing to own one. Carpooling trips to the grocery and pharmacy would be a good place to start. Banning leaf blowers would be a simple way to reduce a neighborhood’s carbon footprint, as would the use of non-motorized lawn mowers. Growing food organically where grass used to grow would be an improved use of lawn space. Eliminating association bans on cloth...