Resources
compiled by Jan R. Markle
LINKS
Adbusters adbusters.org
Carolyn Baker carolynbaker.net
Climate Progress climateprogress.org
CollapseNet collapsenet.com
Democracy Now democracynow.org
Ecological Options Network eon3.net
Energy Bulletin energybulletin.net
James Howard Kunstler kunstler.com/blog
Mainstreet Moms themmob.org
Post Carbon Institute postcarbon.org
Sustainable Fairfaxsustainablefairfax.org
Transition Cotati transitioncotati.org
Transition Culture transitionculture.org
Transition Mill Valley transitionmv.wordpress.com
Transition Network transitionnetwork.org
Transition Palo Altotransitionpaloalto.org
Transition San Francisco transitionsf.org
Transition Sebastopol transitionsebastopol.org
TransitionUS transitionus.org
Websites on peak oil and climate change
Energy Bulletin’s Peak Oil Primer: Question & answer format explaining basic concepts of peak oil; news, articles, links to videos and other sites for further information. (EB is now part of Post Carbon Institute).
Commentaries by Richard Heinberg, James Howard Kunstler, John Michael Greer, Rob Hopkins, Sharon Astyk, Dmitry Orlov, Tom Whipple and others.
Post Carbon Institute, Sebastopol, CA: commentaries, articles, manifesto, newsletter, news. Fellows: Richard Heinberg, Bill McKibben, Rob Hopkins, Chris Martenson, Tom Whipple and others.
ASPO-USA, Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas-USA: daily and weekly news, commentaries, ASPO 2009 International Peak Oil conference, Oct 11-13, Denver, Colorado.
Richard Heinberg, author of – Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis (2009),
– Peak Everything (2007) , The Oil Depletion Protocol (2006), Powerdown (2004), The Party’s Over (2003); monthly newsletter, Museletter.
James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency (2005), World Made By Hand (novel, 2008); Kunstler’s blog.
ODAK: Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, Peak Oil Primer: clear explanation supported with facts; links to videos and presentations available online
Sharon Astyk: She’s a farmer, peak oil activist and mother in NY state. Her blog is Casaubon’s Book.
Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature (1989) and Deep Economy (2007), co-founder of 350.org.
David Holmgren, permaculture co-originator and leading sustainability innovator. His website, Future Scenarios, based on his book of the same name, sketches four possible scenarios that might result from the restrictions imposed by climate change and peak oil.
Automatic Earth, Nicole Foss (aka “Stoneleigh”): Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in the Era of Peak Oil (mp3), at Transition Network Conference, June 12, 2010.
Film list from TransitionUS, with summaries and links
Resources on the Transition Movement
What is a Transition Town?
by Jan R. Markle
According to Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition Movement, it is a community that has begun to think about this question:
“…for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?”
Since 2005, when the first Transition Town, Totnes, UK, was begun, Transition Towns has become a worldwide movement, having currently produced over 183 official Transition Towns in 15 countries, all springing from a “… few motivated individuals who began to think about the challenges and opportunities of peak oil and climate change.”
If you want to learn more about the Transition Movement there are many websites you can visit.
1. Rob Hopkins’ blog is Transition Culture.org.
2. Transition US, located in Sebastopol, CA is the group formed to network and inspire Transition groups forming in the US. Sign up and get their newsletter.
3. Transition Facebook group has over 2000 members. The group is listed as global.
And, if you haven’t seen the NY Times Magazine article, from 19 April 2009, that told the story of one of the first transition towns, “The End is Near (Yay!)”, here it is. It follows the progression of Sand Point, Idaho becoming a transition town.
In this recent TED Talk (video), Rob Hopkins gives a good overview of his approach as he speaks about the current challenge of diminishing oil and his Transition and resilience responses, July 22, 2009 (18 min).
Read his feelings about giving the talk at his blog, transitionculture.org.
Founder of Transition Towns, Rob Hopkins, has developed 7 principles on which the movement is based and he has a 12-step process that Transition Initiatives might follow as they progress towards community resilience. He has developed 10 steps toward the creation of an Energy Descent Action Plan.
Our American counterpart group is TransitionUS, which is located in Sebastopol, CA. Its goal is to network all the Transition initiatives in the United States. TransitionUS’ newsletter is both an email and an online publication and gives Transition groups helpful information, and photos, about what other groups are doing.
Visiting other Transition Initiative’s websites offers a look into how other communities in the US are organizing and which resources and online information they are finding useful.
Take a look at these Transition community websites, with their differing approaches, of some of our neighbors: Transition Sebastopol, Transition Cotati, Transition Santa Cruz, Shasta Commons, (Mt. Shasta, CA) and some more distant Initiatives: Transition Boulder County (Colorado), Sustainable NE Seattle, Transition PDX (Portland, OR), Transition Ann Arbor (MI), and Transition OKC (Oklahoma City, OK).
TransitionUS’ resource page lists books, videos, links, marketing materials and more for educating ourselves about the many aspects of the Transition approach for coping with peak oil and limiting carbon emissions.
TransitionUS has a recommended Reading List which covers many aspects of Transition: peak oil, climate change, energy descent, permaculture, food, localization and economics.
Resources for Groups Organizing towards Transition
TransitionUS Webinar #1 : “The nitty-gritty of getting Transition rolling in your community“ with Michael Brownlee of Transition Colorado, Oct. 29. Recording of this online meeting for Transition Initiative organizers.
TransitionUS Webinar #2: “Decision-making for Transition groups, Part one” with Star Hawk, Nov. 11. Watch a recording of this online meeting for Transition Initiative organizers.
TransitionUS Webinar #3: “Decision-making for Transition groups, Part Two” with Star Hawk, Nov. 18. Watch a recording of this online meeting for Transition Initiative organizers.
TransitionUS Webinar #4: “Working Groups” with Karen Lanphear, Tina Clark and Shaktari Belew, Dec. 2, 2009. Watch a recording of this online meeting for Transition Initiative organizers.
Thoughts on using WordPress.com to build your Transition website, by Jan R. Markle, TransitionPaloAlto.org, December 10, 2009.
“TRANSITIONS,” slide show presentation, by Bernie Stephan, of Transition West Marin.
TransitionUS also offers a forum which is for transitioners who want to communicate in a social networking format with other people who are working on transitioning their communities in the US.
The Transition Towns’ original Primer online gives a great overview of the whole transition process and covers similar material to that of Rob Hopkins’ book, The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, Chelsea Green Publishing (2008). Buy at your local bookstore to help keep your local economy alive or buy directly from the author.
Online version of the Transition Handbook, by Rob Hopkins.
Other Transition Links of Interest
Rob Hopkins’ blog, Transition Culture, talks about Transition recent issues and concerns. The latest, up-to-date, happenings as the Transition Movement moves forward.
Also, Transition Facebook group has over 2000 members. The group is listed as global. Transition West Marin on Facebook
And, if you haven’t seen the NY Times Magazine article, 19 April 2009, “The End is Near (Yay!)”, here it is. It follows the story of Sand Point, Idaho organizing as the first U.S. transition town.
Transition Times, Colorado Edition, an online publication with the latest stories on Transition in the US and the world. Published by Michael Brownlee, co-founder of Transition Colorado (formerly Transition Boulder County).
Excerpts: Currently there is no widely-available publication that gives ample coverage to issues of relocalization, food quality/security, healthy and sustainable business practices, and social responsibility and social justice, or efforts to deal locally with peak oil and climate change, reduce consumption, develop energy and economic alternatives, and build community. These are among the issues that Transition Times will address.
Wherever necessary, Transition Times will seek to support the development of original content, utilizing both known and little-known authors. Wherever possible, we will aggregate the best of existing content (including news, commentary, weblogs, multimedia, etc.) and bring it into Transition Times pages.
More UK-based Resources
Transition Towns also has a group, the Transition Network, whose purpose is to coordinate all the towns that are in the process of transitioning. Transition Network has a newsletter which is now online. If you subscribe, they will email you when a new issue comes out.
Another part of Transitiontowns.org is their Forum where discussion groups talk about their progress or problems. Groups such as: events, arts and crafts, business and economics, cities, education and universities, energy, food, health, housing, initiating and awareness raising, inner world and heart and soul, international, local government, transport, and mission, principles, structure and strategy. Even though largely UK-based, these can be a source of ideas for our working groups here in the US.
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