[Dialogue] Transition Initiatives Movement and ICA

[Carleton Stock]

July 18 and 19 I participated in a Transition THRIVE course at the ICA Office in Chicago.  I wanted to write about the great opportunity and hope I see in collaborating with this decade-old movement from the UK called Transition Town or Transition Initiative who led this course.  Transition is about enabling local communities to make the transition from dependency on fossil fuels to resilience and sustainability especially in regards to renewable energy sources. (google transition town).  ICA Chicago has been partnering with T.I. over the past year in planning and implementing the Accelerate 77 project in all the communities of Chicago to help them prepare for a future without fossil fuels and to create stronger, more resilient communities in these revolutionary times.  All efforts are now being directed toward a huge Share Fair on September 15 in Chicago to showcase environmental projects in each of the 77 clusters.  Student interns from six area universities have been instrumental in doing the research and making the contacts in these communities this summer.  I was able to sit in on a weekly reporting session where I witnessed the incredible maturity and skill and commitment of these students!  Ellie and I will both be volunteering in August and September for this event.

I see what the Transition Movement is doing as a continuation of what the Institute has always been about.....the resilience and sustainability of local communities.  The added dimension of course is the environmental one which has come to the fore in recent years as it has loomed larger and larger in scope and consequence.  The three forces that are driving T.I. are: climate change/global warming, the unsustainable use of natural resources (the end of cheap oil), and unstable economies.  There are 428 T.I. in 34 countries in 13 languages and 117 in 32 states in the U.S.  See if there is one near you.  There are no official ones in Missouri where we live but we are working on becoming the first (Ferguson, MO).  It combines our  four decade plus commitment to community transformation with our deep commitment to caring for the earth and all creation.  And there is an urgency to it all.  How to turn the Homo Sapien from a destructive force on the planet to a constructive force before the planet can no longer support the species.

There is also a spiritual dimension to all of this.  Some call it the New Cosmology and the effect on humans who have consciousness of the 14 billion year history of the universe and the incredible interconnection of all beings in this universe and particularly on this planet. We are indeed one. This should sound familiar to those who know anything about the Institute.  The Spirit Movement of old was about buiding the New Religious Mode and the New Social Vehicle begging of course a 21st century update.  This is just a brief sketch of the possibilities I see in this partnership.  I could go on.  Hope it makes sense!  Have any of you run into this Transition Town Movement where you are?  See you in September!
Grace and peace,
Carleton Stock
St. Louis, MO USA

 
 
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