Councils To Accelerate Transition Town Process In Victoria?

After wondering for some years why relocalisation and Transition Towns seem to cluster in Queensland I hear parts of Geelong are now involved AND that the Municipal Association Vic (MAV) is holding a public meeting to investigate the ‘building of community resilience’ through this process.

What Will This Meeting Investigate?

The MAV is looking at the bottom up process in response to Climate Change and Peak Oil – identified in 2006 in Kinsale, Ireland and now a worldwide movement – PLUS the possibility of linking community planning processes with Transition Initiatives.

The MAV’s John Hennessy states in his advisory email that the organisation recognises that eventually everything occurs at the local community level so planning a better future could/should start here.

There are currently over 500 community plans in Victoria.

The Meeting Agenda

1. Introduction

2. The journey of Transition Neighbourhood Bell (Bell Park and Bell Post Hill – two of the most diverse and multicultural suburbs in the Geelong region): Andrew Lucas founder of Victoria’s first Transition Town.

3. Community resilience and Transition Towns: Peter Kenyon of the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. (Initiatives For Development of Enterprising Actions and Strategies)

4. The role of local government in promoting Transition Towns/Communities across Victoria

5. Next steps

Who Should Attend?

Anyone with an interest in the future of communities and the role of LG in that future: Councillors, CEOs, officers.

Cost?

FREE, but please email John Hennessy JHennessy@mav.asn.au if you plan attending.

When?

Thursday, June 4 at from 10.30am to 3pm

Where?

The Spring Street Conference Centre, corner Spring & Flinders Streets, Melbourne

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A Bit About Transition Towns

John Hennessy says the Transition Town movement is

“an inspiring vision and action plan for how a community can transition to an energy lean, carbon constrained, and re-localised future that is abundant, sustainable, pleasurable, and resilient…

Transition Initiatives are based on 4 key assumptions:

· That life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable, and that it’s better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.

· That our settlements and communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany climate change/peak oil.

· That we have to act collectively, and we have to act now.

· That by unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our energy descent, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching and that recognise the biological limits of our planet."

Very positive to see a Local Government organisation not just one council behind this initiative.