The Transition Town initiative has been a fast-growing movement in the United Kingdom for over a year, with more than 50 towns currently signed up. Now the United States is catching up as Boulder, CO becomes the first official transition town in the country.

The Transition Town movement started in Kinsale, Ireland when permaculture teacher Rob Hopkins started thinking about the possibilities of applying permaculture theories to entire towns, instead of just to individual plots of land. Hopkins’ Energy Descent Action Plan provides a blueprint for towns hoping to transition to a more sustainable way of life.

Boulder County Going Local is an ambitious effort to prepare the area for the ramifications of climate change and peak oil.



BCGL was only named an official transition initiative earlier this month, but it’s getting started with a bang. The organization has already launched a series of talks and workshops to teach residents how to survive with local resources entitled “The Great Reskilling”. Planned events include “High Altitude Gardening”, “Garden Design and Planting A La Permaculture”, “The Bountiful Pantry”, and “Solar Greenhouse Design”.

It is sobering to think about how few survival skills most of us have. Perhaps if more transition initiatives like Boulder’s take off, we can relearn the skills that fossil fuel-based industrialization has rendered useless.

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