The Transition Companion: Making Your Community More Resilient in Uncertain Times

Author:   Rob Hopkins
Publisher:   Green Books
ISBN:  

9781900322973


Pages:   320
Publication Date:   27 October 2011
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Transition Companion: Making Your Community More Resilient in Uncertain Times


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Overview

In 2008, the bestselling The Transition Handbook suggested a model for a community-led response to peak oil and climate change. Since then, the Transition idea has gone viral across the globe, from universities and London neighbourhoods to Italian villages and Brazilian favelas. In contrast to the ever-worsening stream of information about climate change, the economy and resource depletion, Transition focuses on solutions, on community-scale projects and on positive results. The Transition Companion picks up the story today, describing one of the most fascinating experiments now under way in the world. It shows how communities are working for a future where local enterprises are valued and nurtured; where lower energy use is seen as a benefit; and where cooperation, creativity and the building of resilience are the cornerstones of a new economy. The first part discusses where we are now in terms of resilience to the problems of rising oil prices, climate change and economic uncertainty. It presents a vision of how the future might look if we succeed in addressing these issues. The book then looks in detail at the process a community in transition goes through, drawing on the experience of those who have already embarked on this journey. These examples show how much can be achieved when people harness energy and imagination to create projects that will make their communities more resilient. The Transition Companion combines practical advice - the tools needed to start and maintain a Transition initiative - with numerous inspiring stories from local groups worldwide.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rob Hopkins
Publisher:   Green Books
Imprint:   Transition Books
Dimensions:   Width: 19.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 26.50cm
Weight:   1.160kg
ISBN:  

9781900322973


ISBN 10:   1900322978
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   27 October 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Forewords Introduction PART ONE: Why the Transition movement does what it does Chapter 1: The emergence of an idea: a potted history of Transition Chapter 2: Why Transition initiatives do what they do Chapter 3: Where we might be headed: the power of future scenarios Chapter 4: Resilience and localisation Chapter 5: A taste of a powered-down future PART TWO: What the Transition response looks like in practice Chapter 6: Framing Transition Chapter 7: The story of four Transition initiatives told using ingredients and tools PART THREE: How the Transition movement does what it does - ingredients for success Starting out 1. Coming together as groups 2. Inclusion and diversity Tools for Transition No.1: Permaculture design 3. Respectful communication 4. Forming an initiating group Tools for Transition No.2: Standing up to speak 5. Understanding scale 6. Measurement Tools for Transition No.3: Transition Training 7. Visioning 8. Arts and creativity Tools for Transition No.4: Running effective meetings 9. Awareness raising 10. Forming working groups8 Tools for Transition No.5: Forming a legal entity 11. Building partnerships 12. The evolving structure Tools for Transition No.6: Communicating with the media 13. Backcasting 14. Creating a space for inner Transition Deepening 1. 'Transition Towers' - having an office, or not? 2. Practical manifestations Tools for Transition No.7: Volunteers and volunteering 3. The 'Great Reskilling' 4. How we communicate Tools for Transition No.8: Financing your Transition initiative 5. Celebrating 6. Celebrate failure 7. How are we doing? 8. Local food initiatives 9. Momentum 10. Ensuring land access Tools for Transition No.9: Supporting each other 11. Personal resilience Tools for Transition No.10: Unleashings Tools for Transition No.11: Healthy conflict 12. Education for Transition Connecting 1. Forming networks of Transition initiatives Tools for Transition No.12: Street-by-street behaviour change 2. Involving the council Tools for Transition No.13: Becoming the media 3. Working with local businesses Tools for Transition No.14: Energy Resilience Assessment 4. Oral histories Tools for Transition No.15: Community brainstorming tools 5. Engaging young people Tools for Transition No.16: Meaningful maps 6. The role of storytelling Tools for Transition No.17: Speaking up for Transition 7. Pausing for reflection Building 1. Energy Descent Action Plans 2. Social enterprise and entrepreneurship 3. Scaling up Tools for Transition No.18: Community renewable energy companies 4. Strategic local infrastructure Tools for Transition No.19: Tools for plugging the leaks 5. Appropriate technologies 6. Community ownership of assets Tools for Transition No.20: Community-supported farms, bakeries and breweries 7. Strategic thinking Tools for Transition No.21: Peak oil resolutions Daring to dream 1. Policies for Transition 2. A learning network 3. Investing in Transition Epilogue: Where might all this be going? Appendices Notes and references Resources

Reviews

The biggest urban brainwave of the century. A visionary, practical blueprint that took root in a town and is circling the globe.This is a book that can change your life; our lives. Nick Crane - writer and broadcaster Transition is the most vital social experiement of our times. The Transition movement has already motivated thousands of people to begin to adapt their lives to the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change. Drawing on this collective experience, The Transition Companion offers communities a combination of practical guidance and real vision for the future. Tim Jackson - author of Prosperity Without Growth There is no more important journey we can undertake than the transition from our current fossil fuel dependency to locally based economic resiliency. This book is the ideal companion for that journey - optimistic yet clear-headed; informed by experience yet playful and encouraging. Hopkins's wisdom, creativity, and gentle humor pervade each captivating page. Richard Heinberg - Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute; author, The End of Growth What Rob Hopkins has done - in this book, and with the Transition movement - simply couldn't be more important. We're coming to a powerful crunch time for our civilization, and if you read this you'll be well ahead of the curve in understanding how to prepare your community. There's much beauty here, and hope. Bill McKibben - author of Eaarth


"""The biggest urban brainwave of the century. A visionary, practical blueprint that took root in a town and is circling the globe.This is a book that can change your life; our lives."" Nick Crane - writer and broadcaster ""Transition is the most vital social experiement of our times. The Transition movement has already motivated thousands of people to begin to adapt their lives to the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change. Drawing on this collective experience, The Transition Companion offers communities a combination of practical guidance and real vision for the future."" Tim Jackson - author of Prosperity Without Growth ""There is no more important journey we can undertake than the transition from our current fossil fuel dependency to locally based economic resiliency. This book is the ideal companion for that journey - optimistic yet clear-headed; informed by experience yet playful and encouraging. Hopkins's wisdom, creativity, and gentle humor pervade each captivating page."" Richard Heinberg - Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute; author, The End of Growth ""What Rob Hopkins has done - in this book, and with the Transition movement - simply couldn't be more important. We're coming to a powerful crunch time for our civilization, and if you read this you'll be well ahead of the curve in understanding how to prepare your community. There's much beauty here, and hope."" Bill McKibben - author of Eaarth ""I read so many books about peak oil, the state of the world, and environmental degradation that I often glaze over. This one is different. It has authority born from practical experience, with a musculature that is immediately engaging, even reassuring. It feels mature. The book is not afraid to catalogue the limitations and failures, even celebrate them, as well as the successes."" Maddy Harland - Permaculture Magazine ""This book ought to come with a warning: 'this book will leave you with no excuses left for not getting involved in Transition.' That sense of invitation is not accidental. Rob puts himself forward at the end of the book, describing The Transition Companion as ""the current thinking about what transition is and how it works - an invitation to pick it up, try it out, see if it works for you and, if so, make it yours."" Make Wealth History - October 2011"


Author Information

Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and of the Transition Network. He has many years' experience in education, teaching permaculture and natural building, and set up the first two-year full-time permaculture course in the world, at Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland, as well as coordinating the first eco-village development in Ireland to be granted planning permission. He is author of The Transition Handbook: from oil dependence to local resilience and The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times, and co-author of Local Food: how to make it happen in your community (all published by Green Books / Transition Books); also Transition in Action: Totnes and District 2030: an Energy Descent Plan (co-author), Woodlands for West Cork! and Energy Descent Pathways. The Transition Handbook has been published in seven other languages to date, and was voted the fifth most popular book taken on holiday by MPs during the summer of 2008. Rob publishes www.transitionculture.org, which has been voted 'the fourth best green blog in the UK'. He is the winner of the 2008 Schumacher Award, is an Ashoka Fellow and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, served as a Soil Association Trustee for three years, and was named by the Independent as one of the UK's top 100 environmentalists. He is the winner of the 2009 Observer Ethical Award in the Grassroots Campaigner category, and in December 2009 was voted the Energy Saving Trust / Guardian's 'Green Community Hero'. He lectures and writes widely on peak oil and Transition, and has recently completed a PhD on Transition and Resilience at Plymouth University. Central to The Transition Handbook and The Transition Companion is the concept of 'resilience', which refers to the ability of a community to withstand external shocks and stresses. Rob argues that just cutting carbon emissions is insufficient: we need to rebuild the ability of our communities to provide for their core needs, and doing so will create huge opportunities for local economic regeneration. His books are about hope and optimism, and their untapped potential for engaging people in repairing their communities, their towns and cities, and, ultimately, their planet. The Transition Companion expands on the ideas in the Handbook, combining practical advice on starting and maintaining a Transition initiative with inspiring stories about groups across the world who are putting these ideas into practice. Rob regularly features as a keynote speaker, and has participated at the following events: Community Land Trust Conference; WWF (talk to the various teams); Sustainable Consumption and Production Conference; Dorset Schools Eco-Summit; Eco-Build Summit; Prince's Foundation Annual Conference at St James's Palace; Skype presentation to the Nova Scotia Planning Directors Association (NSPDA) Conference; Skype presentation for the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) conference. He lives in Devon with his wife and four children. He has particular passions for cob building and walnut trees, and is staggered by the rate at which the Transition concept has spread.

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