Update on NZ Transition Towns by Inspiring Communities

Transition Towns is an allied, growing movement pushing to move from oil dependence to local resilience.

The Transition Towns website www.transitiontowns.org.nz is chock full of handy hints, blog comments, ideas and actions from local initiatives as well as a national overview. We also feature below a small excerpt from Transition Town Opotiki, as another example of what determined and resilient communities are achieving.

Idea on alternative currencies, particularly Time Banking (see Project Lyttelton’s website www.lyttelton.net.nz).
If you are in Wellington between 6-19 September, visit the Transition Towns Expo at St Paul’s Cathedral, Molesworth Street.

This is just one example of the reach and people energy of Transition Towns.
A key comment on the Transition Towns website is:
“We don’t look for anyone to blame or anyone to save us, but believe our communities have within themselves the innovation and
ingenuity to create positive solutions to the converging crises of our time. We believe in igniting and supporting local responses at any
level and from anyone – and aim to weave them together into a coordinated action plan for change towards a lower energy lifestyle”.
How does it work?

Transition Towns started in the UK and is spreading throughout the world including New Zealand.
The Transition Towns website talks about local initiatives being at the
heart of the TT movement. They can be towns, villages, cities, islands
or any other geographically defined settlement. What they all have in
common is the aim to increase the resilience of the communities living
within.
Belief in moving from oil dependence to local resilience and the 12
Step Plan (www.transitiontowns.org.nz/12steps) are the connecting
features of Transition Towns.
Transition Town – Opotiki
In Opotiki a group of people have formed a Transition Town collective and are working actively with local organisations and networks on practical projects. Local teacher and mother, Kazel Cass, presents a weekly article in the Opotiki News, sharing information and also stories about
fantastic local initiatives. Recent articles include:
· How the local marketplace, where residents sell produce, crafts and second hand
goods, adds vibrancy and promotes sustainable practices
· How one NZ heritage variety apple, Monty’s Surprise, has many times the anti-cancer properties of supermarket varieties; and how local students at Opotiki College are propagating and selling Monty’s Surprise saplings to raise funds for an energy efficiency makeover for the school
· How trading and exchanging goods and services locally can help create resilience to the whims of the money markets, how time-banking works, and how to join or get more information from the new Eastbay TimeBank
· How the Zespri Youthbank initiative established seven years ago is helping grow a culture of  community service and giving among young people. In one Opotiki example a small grant has helped buy gardening tools for a new Garden Club. People can learn practical gardening skills and help to create an edible and floral landscape. Mary-Jane Rivers and Barbara McLennan. Sourced from Transition Towns website and Opotiki News articles

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