Why I Believe in Transition – TRANSITION IN ACTION SOCIAL NETWORK

Why I Believe in Transition – TRANSITION IN ACTION SOCIAL NETWORK.

Climate change: Mountain plant communities moving down despite climate change, study finds – latimes.com

Climate change: Mountain plant communities moving down despite climate change, study finds – latimes.com.

No civilisation by 2100? | MetaFilter

No civilisation by 2100? | MetaFilter.

Global warming: Impact of receding snow and ice surprises scientists – CSMonitor.com

Global warming: Impact of receding snow and ice surprises scientists – CSMonitor.com.

Hydrofracking: What is it and why should you care?

Hydrofracking: What is it and why should you care?.

An intro to the process and problems. The more I look into fracking, the more I am reminded of one of the central tenets of peak oil: as conventional fossil fuels reserves are exhausted, producers will turn to more expensive and destructive methods. Fracking certainly fits this profile, and will likely increase as time goes on.

What is Transition, and Why Should You Care?

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. -Buckminster Fuller

Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly in opposition to something. It’s easy – there’s so much to oppose. Mountain Top Removal, sprawl, logging, hydrofracking, ocean overfishing, global warming….

But I have learned that sometimes, when you oppose something, you give it more power. Humans have a tendency to dig in, rationalize, and support their positions – right or wrong – when they are challenged. Fighting a new surface coal mine is a vital act – but sometimes we need to look around at other ways to tackle the problems we face.

Transition is another way to fight pollution, global warming, and urban sprawl. It is a way to build grassroots, community level power. It is a way to make communities and cities more sustainable and deepen community connections.

It is a way to lessen income disparity and create a more just society.

And it is a way to make our communities more resilient: ready for oil shortages, climate change, water shortages, and any other curveballs the 21st century wants to throw at us.

That may seem like a lot of expectation, but really, transition is just a different way of looking at and tackling the seemingly insurmountable problems we face.

Some links:

Transition US

Transition Towns Wiki

Transition Culture

The Transition Towns Movement: Its Huge Significance and a Friendly Criticism

How do I deal with community supported agriculture flakes? – food agriculture CSA | Ask MetaFilter

How do I deal with community supported agriculture flakes? – food agriculture CSA | Ask MetaFilter.

Some advice on how to deal with folks who order from a CSA and then don’t pick up.

Is Wild Weather Evidence of Climate Change? – ABC News

Is Wild Weather Evidence of Climate Change? – ABC News.

I have no doubt that global warming will increase extreme weather events. But it’s worth noting that many of these disasters are not caused simply by heavy rain and snow – they are caused by human behavior.

Take mudslides, for example. Yes, rain softens the ground. But other factors are generally in place: poorly chosen locations for houses, heavy logging, etc.

Likewise with flooding in Australia. I don’t know the geography of the area, but I do know that roads and parking lots create a faster water flow, leading to increased flooding frequency.

Minnesota: MDA Considering Criminal Prosecution of Consumer

In my last post I mentioned the possibility of a buying club for organic, local food and other products. This story, Minnesota: MDA Considering Criminal Prosecution of Consumer, is an interesting example of what can happen to folks who try this sort of thing.

It looks like the MDA (Minnesota Department of Agriculture) is doing what they are supposed to do: investigating a possible outbreak of foodborne illness. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Running Moo – Shine, or, How to Buy Raw Milk

Today I rode along with my dad as he went to pick up some raw milk. Raw milk is not technically legal to sell because it is not pasteurized and thus “unsafe” but you can work around that by buying a “Cowshare.” Basically you pay for part of a cow and then you can get part of what the cow produces. Is that communism?

I knew we were going to pick up some raw milk but I didn’t know exactly how the deal was going down. I was a little surprised when we parked on an urban street downtown, in front of a row of houses.

“This is kind of shady business, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yes it is. You best have a gun on you when you go in,” replied Dad.

But there was no drama. We walked around the side of one of the houses and found several coolers. The top of each one had two names written on it, and when we opened ours we found 4 bottles with our name, full of raw, unhomogenized milk. Dad replaced the full bottles with 4 empty ones, to be filled for next weeks drop, and off we went.

This was the first time I have “bought” raw milk, and the system is a simple, elegant one. The farmer gets his money up front, then also gets a weekly fee from each [cow]shareholder. Then he (or she) simply brings the milk to a designated central location and the shareholders are responsible for picking up their own products.

I am not sure if any system like this is in place in Knoxville, where I live. But the experience got me thinking about setting up something similar on the neighborhood level. I also started thinking about buying clubs, where a group of people (neighbors, ideally) buy bulk quantities of various commodities at wholesale prices.

It would not be too hard to implement, if you could find enough motivated people who were willing to pay up front. The work would be finding those people. You could buy all kinds of things: produce, raw milk, soaps, rice and grains, etc. The process would save money, save packaging, save gas and time spent on trips to the store – a great step toward neighborhood resilience and sustainability.

CSA (community supported agriculture) systems could be set up this way as well at the neighborhood level. Neighbors would pay up front for their produce, and the farmer could deliver to a central location each week instead of delivering to each household.

Any thoughts?