From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

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• From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

Sally Ludwig Chris Mills www.transitionguelph.or
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Peak Oil
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We are dependent on oil for

• Food production, processing and distribution
• Fertilizers
• 95 of transportation
• 65 of our total energy use
• Manufacturing and construction
• Plastics
• Road surfaces, shingles, tar, paint, lacquer,
  etc.
• Other sources of energy (e.g. electricity and
  natural gas, and including solar panels and wind
  turbines) make use of oil for construction,
  maintenance and infrastructure
• And many other products and services

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Economic Uncertainty
Climate Change
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The Transition Town Initiative

• Started in 2004 in the U.K.
• December 2007 about 25 transition towns
  (official and unofficial)
• December 2008 over 1000 worldwide
• Definition A Transition Initiative (like
  Transition Guelph) is a community working
  together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change
  squarely in the eye and address this BIG
  questionFor 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),
  drastically reduce our carbon output (to mitigate
  climate change, pollution and environmental
  destruction), and strengthen the local economy
  (to mitigate the effects of global economic
  uncertainty)?
• Transition Towns are scalable microcosms of
  hope Rob Hopkins

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The Transition Town Initiative
Transition Initiatives are based on four key
assumptions

• That life with dramatically lower energy
  consumption is inevitable, and that it is better
  to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.
• That our towns and cities presently lack the
  resilience to enable them to weather the severe
  energy shocks that will accompany post-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
  recognize the biological limits of the planet.
• As of January, 2009
• 106 official Transition Towns in the U.K. and
  Ireland.
• 21 official Transition Towns in the U.S.,
  including Boulder CO and Los Angeles CA!
• Hundreds more communities in Canada and the U.S.
  are mulling it over.
• 1 official Transition Town in Canada
  Peterborough ON.
• We want to be the next one! Transition Guelph
  has met all of the criteria and has applied to
  the Transition Network for official status.

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Resilience

• The capacity to respond creatively to change
• The ability of an ecosystem (from an individual
  person, to a community, to a whole economy) to
• Hold together and maintain its function in the
  face of change and shocks from the outside.
• Resilient systems can roll with external shocks
  and adapt as needed
• Benefits to a community with enhanced
  resilience
• If one part is destroyed, the shock will not
  ripple through the whole system.
• There is wide diversity of character and
  solutions developed creatively in response to
  local circumstances.
• It can meet its needs despite the substantial
  absence of travel and transport.
• The other big infrastructures and bureaucracies
  of the oil-addicted economy are replaced by
  fit-for-purpose local alternatives at reduced
  cost.

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Projects Initiatives

• Awareness-raising film nights, public talks,
  round-table discussions, workshops, displays.
• Re-localization food resources and distribution,
  energy, localized economy, sustainable building,
  strengthening neighbourhoods.
• Sustainable transportation infrastructure
  walkable city, bike paths, low-carbon public
  transit and goods transport, charging stations
  for electric vehicles.

• Re-skilling meaningful work for a lower-energy
  future.
• Community gardens. Backyard gardens. Fruit trees.
• Encourage CSAs and local organic farming.
• The Great Unleashing.

The Goal a community Energy-Descent Action
Plan (EDAP).
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Food Security
Energy
Trees
Transportation
Coping with Change
Neigbourhood Groups
Awareness-Raising
City As Ecosystem
Intentional Communities
U of G
Alternative Building and Retrofit
Youth Transition Guelph
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Food Security
Energy
Trees
Transportation
Coping with Change
Guelph Strategic Plan
Neigbourhood Groups
Awareness-Raising
City As Ecosystem
Intentional Communities
U of G
Alternative Building and Retrofit
Youth Transition Guelph
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The Vision
Guelph Strategic Plan

• Urban Design and Sustainable Growth
• Personal and Community Well-being
• Economic Opportunity
• Arts, Culture and Heritage
• Government and Community Involvement
• Natural Environment

• Livable city, low footprint design
• Re-skilling, meaningful work, healthy
  neighbourhoods
• Healthy, re-localized economy
• Heart and Soul
• Partnerships with neighbourhoods, local
  government, business
• City as ecosystem

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Potential Collaborations

• Community Services and Development
  Neighbourhood Support Coalition
• Community gardens, neighbourhood kitchens
• Perennial food and useful plantings
• City-wide planning for growth and development
• Creating and preserving food-production spaces
• Multiple-use community spaces
• Community Energy Plan
• Increase accessibility of energy and carbon
  auditing
• Conservation retrofits to all types of buildings
• Developing integrated-use models for
  sustainability
• In existing neighbourhoods
• In new developments, e.g. York Lands
• Strategic Plan
• Incorporate Energy Descent Plan in next update

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Transition Guelph Partner Groups

• OPIRG Guelph
• Guelph Environmental Leadership (GEL)
• Wellington Water Watchers
• Guelph Urban Forest Friends (GUFF)
• Guelph Civic League
• Council of Canadians, Guelph Chapter
• 10 Carden
• Appleseed Collective
• Eden Mills is Going Carbon-Neutral
• Guelph Enabling Garden
• Guelph-Wellington Coalition for Social Justice
• Guelph Youth Music Centre
• Networking with
• Ignatius Farm CSA
• Guelph Wellington Local Food Initiative
• Transition Town Peterborough
• Post-Carbon London

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Conclusion
We will be transitioning to a lower-energy
future, whether we want to or not
and its far better to ride the wave...
than be engulfed by it! Ben Brangwyn
(co-founder of the Transition Network)
Climate Change makes carbon-reduction essential.
Peak Oil makes it inevitable. Transition Town
Initiatives make it feasible and viable. We can
all have a part in creating a more resilient
community, and a better world!
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Thank You!from
Sally Ludwig Chris Mills Website
www.transitionguelph.org Email
info_at_transitionguelph.org