What is Transition Shire about?

CANWin’s Transition Shire Wingecarribee (TSW) is a grass-roots initiative that aims to engage with all members of our local community to begin visioning and thinking about how we might be able to create together a sustainable future.

While our society is totally dependent on the ready availability of cheap oil and fossil fuels, Peak Oil and Peak Energy categaorically herald the beginning of the end of the Oil Era (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak_theory). But how will we wean ourselves off our oil addiction? Will we make a concious decision to adapt to the challenges of dwindling oil, or will we continue to cover our eyes and ignore the elephant in the room? Peak oil and climate change, considered together, are perhaps the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. Although they pose monumental threats to our security and safety, they also offer us a tremendous opportunity to start re-evaluating the way we live our lives and to imagine a new future for our communities.

Transition Shire News

Read about local transition initiatives in the Transition Shire News.

Click here to read the March 2010 of Transition Shire News

Click here to read the Oct-Nov 2009 issue of Transition Shire News

Click here to read the June 2009 issue of Transition Shire News

Click here to read the February 2009 issue of Transition Shire News

If you would like to be kept up to date with the latest news and events from the Transition Shire Wingecarribee (TSW) team via our monthly 4-page e-newsletter please contact Maree at gmbyrne@bigpond.net.au

TRAINING FOR TRANSITION

next at Newcastle, February 27 & 28

a 2-day workshop can be offered to any group of 10 or more at no cost to the hosting group except for expenses.

Object: to inspire, encourage, & inform people in the Transition process.

The Transition Town movement offers an opportunity to create a future that is abundant, sustainable and resilient as we stand at this critical time. Our response to the global challenges of climate change and peak oil will shape the lives of generations to come.

Transition Shire Wingecarribee recently hosted the national Transition Training workshops given by the UK trainers who have prepared local groups to deliver this exciting program which offers an inspiring vision and action plan for the transition to a low-carbon future in socially connected, resilient communities.

What you can expect at your Transition Training Workshop:

• an in-depth experiential introduction to Transition

• an inspirational/energetic boost that will empower and propel you as a powerful Transition catalyst in your community

• connection with others who are responding to the call for Transition

This 2-day fundamentals course is designed for people thinking of creating a Transition Town group or those already in a group working towards becoming a Transition Town,  It is for those wishing to know how to set up, run, and maintain a successful transition initiative in their locality. The course is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of Transition.
For more information and to book in your workshop, please contact:
Sandra Menteith, Transition Shire Wingecarribee.
menteith@bigpond.net.au 0403 790777.

On completing the course participants will:

• have a clear understanding of the context for transition towns, and the transformational possibilities that arise from the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil
• know what the TT model is including an in depth look at the key steps, from inspiration, setting up the initiating group, all the way to having active and effective working groups
• have experienced a joint visioning process
• understand how to organise effective meetings such as public talks, open space days and small theme working groups
• understand the purpose and principles of an Energy Descent Plan
• have formed useful contacts with other Transition initiatives, and met some of those involved in Transition Australia Network
• have a plan of action for themselves and their locality
• be equipped with skills ,resources and support to take their plan forward.

This training will follow the transition model in paying attention to both the outer work and the inner work necessary for a successful transition process. This will be a participatory process, with delegates invited to share their own experience and learn from the many different transition initiatives represented at each course.

More detail on the Training for Transition workshop can be found at www.transitiontowns.org (click on link on left for Transition Training)

Transition Training hosted by Transition Shire Wingecarribee 10th February 2009

Highlands Hosts National Gathering

Communities sowing seeds for positive future

Creative juices flowed, practical skills were honed, and wisdom was shared this past weekend at Kerever Park as Bowral hosted the first New South Wales seminar on training for transition. The two-day workshop was designed to inspire, encourage, and inform people who wish to undertake the Transition process.

The Transition movement became an election issue in Wingecarribee during the last council elections, as it became apparent that the rise in energy costs due to oil shortages and carbon trading would eventually require the community to become more self-reliant for food, energy and the many goods and services that a community needs to survive and thrive. The word, transition, refers to the process of becoming more resilient in the face of the challenges ahead.

Australia became the latest stop for British trainers imparting the skills and knowledge required to facilitate the transition here, following visits to the U.S.A, Canada and New Zealand, and prior to stops in China and Japan. CANWin, through its Transition Shire Wingecarribee task group, organised the two-day seminar for 33 participants from South Australia, Victoria and several areas in New South Wales, including six from Wingecarribee.

Recognising that many more people are wanting to become involved in Transition in their own localities, the UK pair will lead a national four-day Train the Trainer workshop, commencing on Wednesday at Kerever Park, to catalyse the formation of an Australian network of trainers, who will take Training for Transition to other areas. Transition Shire Wingecarribee will have three people at this seminar and, plans have been made to run at least four local weekend seminars in 2009, starting the first weekend in April. Already enquiries have been received from neighbouring shires.

The Trainers, Naresh Giangrande and Sophy Banks, were part of the formation of the first Transition Town in Totnes, England, and now find themselves working full time training people for Transition around the world. From that first Transition Town, two years ago, there are now 121 localities that have been formally recognised by the international Transition movement, including 12 in Australia, and several hundred more that are working toward recognition.

When asked what kind of people were interested in training for transition, Sophy Banks replied,  People who care about the well being of their families and communities, those who are interested in the changes that are already happening in the world and want to find creative, positive responses rather than letting the future happen to them! “.

Transition workshop coordinator, Sandra Menteith, said that she expects the first Training for Transition weekend workshop on the 4th and 5th of April to fill quickly. Those who wish to register their interest or get more information can contact Sandra at menteith@bigpond.net.au or 0403 790777.

Here we stand at a fork in the road…and we have a choice: Do we continue down the path we are used to, with all our associated bad habits in tow, all our business-as-usual tactics, towards a future that ignores all the warnings and leads inevitably to a crash-and-tumble jolt to the system? Or do we choose the other path, the path that calls for proactive planning and local visioning for a gentle descent into a post-carbon, post-petroleum future that actually results in a livelier, safer and more connected community?

It is as if we are paddling out at sea with a big swell moving in behind us. Do we anticipate what’s coming and catch the wave, riding it skilfully and safely to the shore? Or do we ignore it at our peril and let the dumper slam down on us with all its terrifying and awesome strength?

The choice really is ours.

Join us in creating a new vision for the Wingecarribee!

For more information about the global Transition Movement, check out www.transitiontowns.org

Watch this space for updates on what TSW is doing in our Shire and how you can get involved! More soon!

GREAT NEWS!
TRANSITION SHIRE WINGECARRIBEE NOW HAS ITS OWN FORUM WHERE PEOPLE CAN SHARE THEIR IDEAS ABOUT HOW WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER AND CREATE THE VISION WE WANT FOR OUR SHIRE’S FUTURE.
Join in the forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/T_S_W