Transition Culture

15 Dec 2009

Transition Town Kinsale wins the 2009 FEASTA Award

The Anne Behan Community Sustainability Award for Transition Initiatives on the island of Ireland

This award presented by Feasta, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability celebrates communities and groups who are using the Transition Process to meet local cultural, social, and economic needs in ways which strengthen the bonds of the community, build its resilience, economic self-reliance and protect and enhance its natural environment.

‘Sustainability is a concept more than a strict code. It refers to responsible and ethical methods of practice in economic, social and environmental management. In many ways sustainability refers to new methods of old practices. It is often misinterpreted as relating solely to the environment, but in practice, it is an integrated approach to all aspects of life – economic, social, environmental and cultural.’
Anne Behan, 1959-2004

Transition Town Kinsale is the winner of the 2009 FEASTA Anne Behan ‘Community Sustainability Award’ for Transition Initiatives on the island of Ireland.

Transition Town Kinsale is a voluntary community initiative working to help make the transition from a dependency on fossil fuel to a low carbon future. What began in Kinsale in 2005 has become a model and inspiration to the Transition movement internationally. The judges were impressed with how the TTK project helps meet local needs using local resources in a sustainable way and that it has broad-based local support and involvement. The innovative thinking of TTK and the work done in conjunction with other groups in the community was noted. Feasta recognise the work that Transition Towns Kinsale has done to help build the resilience and sustainability of the community around it.

Transition Town Kinsale will receive a bog oak bowl, hand turned by Ken Maye, Anne Behan’s husband, and mounted by him on a modern oak base to represent the old and the new in harmony. Feasta will provide a briefing or speaker for an event for TTK in 2010 and Transition Town Kinsale will also receive a sustainability resource pack from Feasta.

Feasta. The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability

The Anne Behan Community Sustainability Award for Transition Initiatives is presented every year by Feasta, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, to the community in Ireland which, in the opinion of a panel of judges, has done most to build local resilience, economic self-reliance, to strengthen itself socially and culturally and to protect and enhance its natural environment.

The word feasta (pronounced fasta) is taken from an old Irish poem that laments the decimation of the forests. It means ‘in the future’ and Feasta sees itself as a collective thinking process about that future. The organisation was launched in Dublin in October 1998 to explore the economic, cultural and environmental characteristics of a truly sustainable society – and to disseminate the results of this exploration to the widest relevant audience. You can read about Feasta’s activities in more detail at www.feasta.org and find out how to join in. You can download many of Feasta’s publications for free, including online books, briefing papers, government submissions, and multimedia material. You can also read about the research and education projects that Feasta is currently involved in, and participate in our online discussion forums.

‘In many ways sustainability refers to new methods of old practices. It is often misinterpreted as relating solely to the environment, but in practice, it is an integrated approach to all aspects of life –economic, social, environmental and cultural.’

Anne Behan, 1959-2004

Eligible Groups:
Transition initiatives on the island of Ireland that can demonstrate they have made a contribution to the resilience, economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability of their community.

Criteria for Appraisal:

• Started the Transition Process
• Evidence that the project meets local needs using local resources in a sustainable way
• Evidence of broad-based local support and involvement
• Evidence of innovative thinking
• Groups that have worked in conjunction with other groups in the community and/or neighbouring communities will be favoured.
• The judges are looking particularly for communities that have strengthened more than one aspect of local life by taking the integrated approach, which Anne Behan favoured and which the Transition Process advocates.

The Award was launched at the Irish Transition Gathering 2009, which was held at the Convergence festival 2009.
A presentation to Kinsale will be made at the Irish Transition Gathering in 2010

For application forms for the 2010 award e-mail info@feasta.org

Anne Behan Award
The Anne Behan Community Sustainability Award was first given in 2005 in memory of a member who died in 2004. The next award was due to be given in 2007 but has been postponed. The award goes to the community in Ireland which, in the opinion of a panel of judges, has done the most during the previous few years to build its economic self-reliance to strengthen itself socially and culturally and to protect and enhance its natural environment. The first award went to the Truagh Development Association.