I have recently come across the term transition towns in articles in the UK permaculture magazine. However, in neither the articles or your website is there a clear definition of what a transition town is, or what (if any) model is being used. I am interested in sustainability and developing the concept of more sustainable urban living to Wellington, New Zealand, where I live, but it would be useful to have a better understanding of what this approach entails. Just a thought! Keep up the good work, it sounds like an awsome movement. A few of my friends are currently exploring the idea of setting up a cohousing scheme in Wellington, using some kind of Community Land Trust model of ownership.

The best answer for me is a quote I saw on Permatopia website: “Use remaining oil for global Permaculture.” (If I’d written it I might have put “conversion to” in there, but then again it was in a diagram so maybe that didn’t fit.) In my education efforts here in Los Angeles, I try to go “paper free” as much as possible and try to reuse displays, reduce electricity, transportation, etc.

But this is still the Transition time, the era between, the time when we are transforming society from Outrageously Unsustainable toward Sustainability. While decreasing airflights as much as possible is a phenomenal model (we tried our family vacation on train this summer instead of flying), we still need to use some earth resources to get the word out. So I see the present use of internet, the use of recycled paper for wisely-chosen handouts, etc. as “investment” of our remaining oil resources in the education process of creating the conversion to that new lifestyle.

Rob – my hat’s off to you for doing your presentation via film rather than flying.

first i wanna congratulate to the transitional town iniative and the efforts you do in totnes.

on the other hand i wanna comment here the initiative to not going by plane anymore. i try to do the same (as well as reduce mobility at all). but a statement of renowned austrian scientist Marina Fischer-Kowalski on an austrian Radio Station twoday confuses me and my activities (as i’m also writing my blog). She states, that the internet already consumes as much energy as the air traffic.

so the question is: does posting on the internet reduce the effects of climate change.
I hope i do not tread on your toes with my argument. i really appreciate the initiative. Just there are still so many things to find out and one step we do leads to another step and all these movements are interconnected