Environment
From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2008
"Maleny As A Transition Town: how will it look?"
By Robyn Harper
The Transition Towns movement emerged in the UK as community initiative
to decrease dependency on oil, and adapt to and reduce effects of climate
change. Since the emergence of the first one in Totnes in Devon in 2005,
there are now over 40 different transition locales involved, including
the first outside the UK that was awarded Transition Town status last
year.... the Sunshine Coast!
The word 'transition' implies going from somewhere/thing to somewhere/thing
else. In this case, it means a community's gradual, strategic, shift
towards generating and securing its own local economy, energy, food
supply and environment, and movement away from reliance on food, services,
materials, money and power from far afield, which sends our wealth out
of the local community and burns up more fossil fuel.
With the wealth and diversity of organic, permaculture and co-operative
practices implemented throughout our local area, along with our plethora
of skilled artisans and innovators, the Sunshine Coast region, especially
around the Blackall Range, is perfectly poised to herald such a transition.
Many of the foundations in a town such as Maleny - Co-op capital of
the Southern Hemisphere - are already in place. So how will it look?
Picture this...
The health and wealth of the community can be further enhanced by growing
more of our own produce locally and organically, thus minimising transportation
and maximising nutrition. Food can be grown in hundreds of backyards
and community gardens, with fruit and nut trees along footpaths and
in parks, while sold or exchanged in local markets (or the Co-op!).
Local economy can be further strengthened by co-operative businesses
where the proceeds go back to the community and local shareholders.
More cashless transactions would be a feature, like the already established
LETS (Local Energy Trading System), and interest-free loan systems (micro-finance).
Electrical energy can be harnessed with photovoltaic cells on rooftops
and possibly wind turbines too; and who knows what other power sources
and inventions may emerge, when we focus on innovation? We'll see less
use of motorised transport and greater use of electric vehicles, with
power poles in the street for recharging. Wouldn't it be quiet!
Water can be collected conscientiously in tanks and reserves and when
disposed of, would always be utilised for a nourishing purpose. Stream
and river water could all be clean and drinkable by discontinuing the
use of herbicides and chemical fertilisers made with petrochemicals.
Packaging would be reduced to an absolute minimum by recycling our own
containers, with more foods and products being available in bulk. Completely
biodegradable, disposable packaging options are available now, in the
form of palm leaf plates and bamboo/starch containers. Human waste can
be processed locally with natural processes (e.g. composting toilets
or worm powered Biolytix systems) to reuse water and/or nutrients. Local,
sustainable businesses and industries will blossom and more people will
work from home.
Tree planting will have even higher priority, to give shelter to the
earth thus reducing radiated heat, increasing animal habitat, improving
soil quality, stability and moisture, improving river health and air
quality, and supplying some building materials when selectively harvested.
Skills from times past (and not so long ago in our community) can be
revitalised and shared to augment what we have gained through technology.
Already, volunteer tutors have put their hands up to teach: bamboo construction;
sustainable building methods; community micro-finance; green cleaning;
hand-stitching leather; hair-cutting; knitting; sewing; felting; home
vegetable growing; making string from natural fibre. Stay tuned to find
out when they'll be offered.
The Transition Town concept starts with a core group to steer progress.
On the Blackall Range, Sustainable Maleny has stepped into that role
with a core group of six, affectionately dubbed the Seed Pod. Monthly
general meetings give access for everyone else to jump on board, while
over 300 hundred others connect via the mailing list and still more
via the website.
Specific interest groups have grown out of the general meetings (see
mailing lists on website) and soon, further workshopping will happen
to initiate groups of interested individuals who will be able to assess
the local resources available in the different areas of community (e.g.:
environment, water, waste, food production, building, development, education,
government, transport etc.) that need management, and map how they can
be utilised and sustained...and then put it into practice to enable
transition!
This barely scratches the surface of the vast range of possibilities
but is a prosperous start, and many ideas have already germinated. The
road will have its bumpy parts, but it promises to be a greener, cleaner,
quieter and more collaborative one, rich with community interdependence.
Note: You can nominate Sustainable Maleny as your Community
Benefits recipient at IGA Maleny - it's an easy way to contribute!
• Next general meeting: 10.30 am 16 August, Old Witta School,
coinciding with the Blackall Range Growers' Market.
Check the website: www.sustainablemaleny.org
for update on planned September, public viewing of Australia Pumping
Empty with guest panel, and how to purchase The Transition Handbook
by Rob Hopkins.
Membership: Individual $10, Family $15.
Email: info@sustainablemaleny.org;
Telephone: 5499 9846.
[From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2008; published by
The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny,
Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@
serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]