What Are Transition Towns?

Transition is an international movement that aims to inspire and support communities in the transition from oil dependency to relocalised economies and respond to climate change.

Since 2006 the moment has rapidly grown and there are now over 25 Transition related groups in Greater London (see London Transition for a list) and around 300 official initiatives worldwide.

What is Transition Town Stoke Newington about?

Our aim is to empower ourselves and our community to deal creatively and positively with the environmental and social challenges that lie ahead. We will do this by first raising awareness of those challenges, which include climate change, peak oil and economic uncertainty, and then unleashing the collective genius of the community to come up with our own solutions.

We believe that a Stoke Newington which is less dependent on fossil fuels and less destructive to the environment is not only possible but that it can be a place that is more abundant and fulfilling to live in.

We are striving to include all parts of our community, working together towards a collective vision – a future in which we all have a say in designing and a stake in creating.

Along the way we will be enabling the re-skilling that is needed, knowledge sharing, forming subgroups with specific interests, networking with people and organisations, putting together an energy descent plan for Stoke Newington.

And having a lot of fun.

What does Transition Town Stoke Newington do?

Our events group organises monthly social events where we invite speakers to talk about subjects like local food production and recycling and show films like No Impact Man and A Crude Awakening. Our food group is building a community vegetable garden on Yoakley Rd (just off Church St) and is starting a food coop for organic groceries.  Our buildings group is actively working on building efficiency projects and ran draught busting workshops last winter. We have a new inclusion group looking at strengthening our links with the wider community and and some new activity is happening in groups like transport.

So, if you would like to get involved please come along to one of our meetings (check the events calendar) or help by joining  one of our current projects (check the Open Space Group discussions)that have come out of our May 15th Open Space Event.

Where can I find more information?

Transition Bloomsbury has a great introduction to climate change and peak oil.

TT Kingston has a fantastic video overview of their projects and vision:

Also check out this talk from Rob Hopkins which neatly summarises what Transition is all about:

Rob hopkins speaking to Transition Derby

And Rob also blogs regularly at Transition Culture.