The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience

by Rob Hopkins

"We live in an oil-dependent world, arriving at this level of dependency in a very short space of time by treating petroleum as if it were in infinite supply. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities that will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials. They can also encourage the development of local currencies to keep money in the local area. There are now over 30 “transition towns” in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with more joining as the idea takes off. They provide valuable experience and lessons-learned for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. With little proactive thinking at the governmental level, communities are taking matters into their own hands and acting locally. If your town is not a transition town, this upbeat guide offers you the tools for starting the process."

Genres: Nonfiction, Sustainability, Environment, Economics, Politics, Climate Change, Ecology

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Rob Hopkins did his permaculture design course in 1992, and around the same time saw Bill Mollison lecture in Stroud, and both of these things dramatically changed his life. He became involved in the Bristol Permaculture Group, and at the same time did a degree in Environmental Quality and Resource Management at UWE Bristol. His dissertation, ‘Permaculture - a new approach for rural planning’ is on his website. He moved with his family to Ireland, where he began teaching permaculture and laying the groundwork for the ecovillage development he wanted to undertake.

He set up Baile Dulra Teoranta, the first company granted charitable status for an eco-village development in Ireland. In September 2005 he moved to Totnes in Devon, to begin a PhD at Plymouth University looking at Energy Descent Action Plans, refining the model in such a way that they can be done anywhere.

Reviews

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So, to what extent is Transition Towns like John Lennon's 'Imagine'?" This is the question that was posed by a Mexican reporter to Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement. That the 'Transition Town' of Totnes, Devon was even of interest to a Mexican reporter is a testament to how far-reaching and inspiring the concept is. Hopkins may have struggled to deftly answer the John Lennon question, but he writes with clarity and passion on the issues surrounding the Transition movement in this book.

The Transition Handbook provides both an overview of "the twin crises of peak oil and climate change" and practical advice for transition to a "lower-energy, more localised future". As well as providing the standard information about peak oil, the book also includes some charming twists. A psychologist explains our "addiction" to oil-fuelled, consumptive lifestyle, which uses the same instruction for overcoming the addiction that recovering drug addicts use. There is also a chapter that flashes forward to a hypothetical 2030 that shows how much things could potentially change if we join the Transition movement.

Hopkins cites resilience as the key part of a plan for the future. He comments: "We have become completely reliant on the utterly unreliable, and we have no Plan B." Instead of conventional environmentalism, Hopkins advocates thinking and acting locally: reinvigorating a sense of community; local growing and composting; and re-skilling, where we learn the basic skills our grandparents took for granted. He suggests we should design for an economic renaissance, albeit a local one.

It's hard not to be won over by the real sense of enthusiasm that Hopkins has for the Transition movement. Although packed with information, the book is a quick read. It is informative, funny and undeniably inspiring.

(Note: I read and reviewed this book for work. I still think it's a good read, though. The John Lennon thing makes me laugh every time I think about it.)

[Tinea · Rating 4 out of 5]

[If you're going to read this, be sure to skip right to The Transition Companion, which is the updated, expanded, and reformatted version of this same book based on another 5 years of experience.]

I love it. I love the book, I love the idea, I love the plan in action.

I'll start with the book. A thorough guidebook for creating a community response to climate change and peak oil based on a broad application of permaculture principles, starting from scratch. The arc of the book is just fantastic, and mirrors Hopkins' suggested steps for how to lead a town or neighborhood through the same process. He starts with a scary fact dump on our coming climate catastrophe: it's depth, it's breadth, it's intensity. From there on out, he only takes us upward. Hopkins is the leader of the posi posse! A good chunk of this book is laying out a vision for what "energy descent" could look like if we did it mindfully, purposefully, and slowly, beginning now (or like 4 years ago). I'm a sucker for doom and gloom, and usually I get bored with hippy bullshit. But Hopkins lays out the visioning in a way that totally captivated me. Yes! All these things like urban homesteading and cooperative workplaces totally rule!! I know that because it's sort of the thing I spend most of my time being passionate about right now, but I've been trained to think that really I'm pushing rocks up hills. I feel really enthusiastic about Hopkins visioning. And of course, I like how dedicated he is to the process, "visioning" being a role for a large group to collectively take on.

I love how he draws community participation, leadership, and ownership into the core of the infrastructure of the process, imbuing direct democracy and constant consultation with all stakeholders-- really reaching out beyond comfort zones-- into every single step. At the same time, Hopkins is practical: yes, meet with city councilors and business owners, and charm the hell out of them. Make sure they feel invested and respected so they don't become a road block. On that note, just gotta say props to the incredible wealth of authors and ideas represented within the text and quoted on the sidebars. Hopkins did his research and gave credit where due as far as I can see.

The Transition process is a great guide for starting any big project. It teaches how to engage big groups (educate and listen, host an incredible number of educational events, all of which need to also be participation events), how to figure out together where you want to go, and how to very practically unravel that idealistic dream into it's component steps, and their component steps, and onward all the way down to very realistic projects which, done now, will conveniently set up the next project, gradually building toward the final vision in a slow, flexible, but purposeful way.

I guess critically, I didn't see too much focus on anti-oppression, inequality and resource distribution, which surely impacts some of the meeting dynamics and exactly who is able to contribute. Transition is about localisation, so the ties to global justice were weakly laid out, and international solidarity could be added into the process.

The last few sections of the book tell tales of Transition Towns that are already being enacted. It was nice to see the way they move in different directions, the way that some projects get mired in design while others manifest physically almost immediately. It's important to balance those two. I'm working on a large-scale, city-wide organizing project right now, and by some fluke-- or perhaps, I suspect, because another organizer had already read this book-- we have in fact almost followed this process to a T. And so the project which was a fleeting suggestion in a meeting early last summer was organized through outreach for several months, and then 'unleashed' in a great social event cum structured brainstorm Bash in the fall. From then we've met regularly, formed working groups, and begun incredible long-term projects and visible short-term projects about which I'm really really satisfied. So for me this book was maybe a bit late to read, but definitely useful, life-affirming, and happy.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the Transition Town movement is one of the best things going right now: taking a realistic look at peak oil, climate change, and our long-term economic problems, and then finding ways for citizens to take collective action to address all of these together. The message is: think about the world you want to see - one in which these long-term dilemmas area addressed - and rather than wait for government officials or someone else to make it happen, make it happen yourself, with your family, friends, and neighbors.

And while other movements with a focus on self-sufficiency can often fall into unhelpful modes of hyper-individualism, I think the Transition movement manages to keep an eye on structural and systemic issues that reinforce the message that social change must be done together and must address the big picture while building finding solutions at the local level.

The book itself is practical, with introductions to the issues for those who are interested, a history of how the first Transition Town began, and descriptions of how you can get a Transition Initiative going in your town or neighborhood (from principles and organizing methods to group activities to help people learn about the issues).

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is somewhere near the radical end of environmentally conscientious living. The premise is that we are near, at, or past "peak oil," meaning we need to change how we rely on energy NOW. The main "tool" by which to minimize energy reliance is to develop communities that provide as much for themselves as they can. We still will probably buy computers and some tools and foods from other places, but most every community can provide *more* of life's basics "at home" than we currently do (food, clothing, energy, public transportation, etc).

I don't think ideas like this can effectively be legislated; it really is a collective result of many individual decisions. I get eggs from a friend, and milk from down the street. When I make those decisions, not only do I get fresher, more vitamin-dense milk and eggs, but I don't support the commercial egg and milk production, processing and shipping, with my dollars, anyway. It adds up.

I think local is the inevitable direction of the future, and not only because of "carbon" or "peak oil." We've become so "global" that we don't hardly know our neighbors. We're so stuck in a rut of entertainment that consists of innumerable cable channels, the internet, inane texting "conversations," stupid blockbuster movies, that if these technologies were cut off by power outages, we'd be totally clueless how to interact with each other! It's a little scary to me that our small-ish community is soon to be home of 2 super WalMarts - what will happen to many of the local and small businesses? Will our selection of food someday soon be dominated by what WalMart carries? Growing a vegetable garden and cultivating local food choices just seems so wise, *before* there are economic or environmental reasons to have them in place.

Not to mention local tastes better, has more nutrition, and usually comes with new friends.

Check out the transition website: http://transitionculture.org/

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone else here described this book as a "hippie-dippy community-self-help book for utopic apocolyptos." And while I won't go quite that far, I was very frustrated by this book. The author went on exhaustively - really, too much! - about peak oil and why it's important to develop local community living now, as much as we can. The big problem for me is that I already agree with much of that, but the book was very short on tips, objectives, and clear examples. Mostly it was about organizing and community-building, explained in what seem to me vague and overly-long terms. The community organizing and awareness is important, I guess, but really not what I was hoping for from this book. I guess I'll have to look for other sources on how to really develop a local community-based life.

[Zora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awww. This was sweet. I was all set to give it three stars – five stars if you live in England, and fewer if you live in the US , where this stuff won't work - but then I went and looked up his list of "cities that have a transitional initiative ." And almost all their websites had been inactive since 2010 , 2011, or 2012 . A really good idea, it seems to me, would last.

Something he says that is good to think about : the comparison of what we need to do now to what England was doing in 1944. Gas coupons, victory gardens, turning common space into common gardens, and an enforcement mechanism for misuse of gas coupons. People riding bikes. That's the image--those old war homefront TV shows we see so often--that we could be embracing.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always dreaming enormous dreams, such as giving this transformative book to ten carefully chosen people within every American town. Some of the 10 will already understand the exponential problems the world faces. Some will remember and miss “the way things used to be.” Others will see the vision as a reason to get up in the morning. All of the 10 will be willing to acknowledge the concepts of peak oil and climate change. All will recognize the opportunity to prepare for life beyond oil dependency and without government support. It will take the few a long time to convince the masses in America, because of the consumerist culture, which is all the more reason to get started. It is a race to build a new culture from within and right under the giant. This handbook has started a movement in Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Some towns in California and Vermont have already adopted its guidelines. Although many books have been written about sustainability and peak oil's effect, small town Americans need to read Rob Hopkins’ The Transition Handbook because the ideas are realistic, the approach is positive, and it is a holistic advance toward changes we require and deserve.
Hopkins writes from a wealth of experience and research. His profession being permaculture, he naturally understood relationship and interconnection, then applied these principles to ever-larger areas and facets of life, with the objective of creating a resilient and self-reliant community. This holistic thinking of sustainability goes so far as to introduce local currency as a way to keep local economy strong. After his involvement with organizing and creating the first Transition Towns in England, he certainly had information to share. The ideas presented in this book are the lessons learned from those experiences. The book is a reference and guide for those wanting to begin a community transformation. Together with the corresponding website it is the foundation of a contagious and collaborative movement positively affecting society.
The need for this transformation is based on the premise that when the effects of resource shortages hit, it will become increasingly difficult to make the necessary changes. Positive, planned, and preemptive commitments are essential because the alternative is a future of reactive actions that are theorized to be negative, unplanned, and bordering on the total collapse of society as we know it. By referencing many dissimilar studies pertaining to the earth’s predicted future, Hopkins logically interprets the best action plan from the overwhelming evidence that “a future with less energy… is inevitable” (p. 48). Once the evidence is in, and the decision is made, it is time to move forward, because as Richard Heinberg states in the last paragraph of his forward, “we have little time and much to accomplish” (p. 10).
Today, the methods some grassroots organizations utilize are designed to scare the populous into action. However, Hopkins believes it is more effective to promote “hope” and the ambition for “healthy functioning” communities (p. 49). Creating an excitement and the desire to live within a sustainable community is vital to the success of implementing Hopkins’ Transition.
Hopkins breaks the book up into three main sections, The Head, which is realizing the need for community based change, The Heart, which is the community vision, and The Hands, which are the manifestations of the vision. Each section contains realistic, optimistic and effective methods for solidifying the idea of “healthy functioning” into all aspects of one’s life. To foster true change Hopkins gathers information from many academic disciplines, creating a comprehensive action plan focused on achieving results.
One of the methods employed comes from addiction study research. Hopkins stress the importance of using the words “oil addiction” and the necessity to council and help people overcome this dependency. His methods have come together collaboratively and are intuitive, meant to get to The Heart of the matter. Hopkins’ book is full of these antidotes. Borrowed, adapted and well thought out, they help to manifest the transition to a life beyond oil.
Hopkins also makes wonderful use of analogies in this book. For instance instead of viewing peak-oil as a cliff we are about to fall from; view it as a deep pond of sticky oil. We have reached the bottom and are now rushing to get up for a breath of air. (p. 93) He offers observant and insightful suggestions on ways to consider the problems facing us and then deal with them in a constructive manner.
The style and formatting of the handbook complement the function; it is easy to reference key items you would need to begin a Transition Town. The margins present remarkable quotes, data, and excerpts from other research. Charts and photos help make complex ideas understandable and examples realistic. Group exercises and news clippings are given the space and attention to be effective.
Why pay increasingly more for less happiness all the while further degrading the earth? Perhaps for some the debate still lies in The Head. However, whether they think about it daily or not, individuals know that the earth is all we have, and that it is a closed loop system. People realize the industrial revolution created consequences. Most Americans are caught up in the busy life, without direction or a vision forward. This is where the Transition Handbook is helpful; it has already transformed towns in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and a few in Vermont and California. It suggests an answer, an option, of how to proceed to a healthy next era on earth with hope and enthusiasm. America should stop waiting around for the government to do something. Americans have the chance to bring power and control to the ground they walk on. The ideas contained within The Transition Handbook could become a reality. It only takes a few aware, concerned, and courageous people to begin. It is a positive and healthy choice. This is a movement of people, for people, by people. What could be more American than this?

[Nadir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book are excellent and other parts are tedious, hence my change from 4 down to 3 stars. The general gist of the book is still important, though - what can you do at the *community* level to prepare for changes in the economy/energy landscape. Resilience is the new term en vogue - what can your community do on its own? Any sources of food/dairy? Water? Heating? Textiles? To the extent that most or all of these things come to you from far away illustrates your vulnerability should systems of support slow or break down.

In this regard, starting on your own property is step 1, then encouraging and helping others to enter higher levels of independence becomes step 2, and at a certain point, it becomes self evident that making your community more self sufficient is step 3. This is going to require changes in areas one doesn't often consider - like zoning (e.g. some communities prohibit keeping chickens, rabbits, and bees - three forms of "livestock" that a sub-urban dweller would do well to raise.

So, this book is worth reading, but it's not precisely what I'd hoped for when I bought it. Still searching.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so affected my life that I've begun the process of bringing Transition to my home town by scheduling a training for 50 attendees. The trainers actually went to Britain and trained with the founder and author, Rob Hopkins. Rob tells a story about how we environmentalists usually approach change: he says, you tell someone about this nasty, cold, ugly, bed and breakfast situated behind a high rise in northern England on the wrong coast -- and then you tell your friend, "You REALLY REALLY don't want to go there." Instead, we should be painting such an enticing picture of a powered-down future that everyone will want to be a part of creating it. We could have more connected communities, better health, more exercise, more local food, relationships with those who produce the goods we use, fewer stress and diet-related diseases, and so on. Go to You Tube and watch a few videos of Hopkins talking about his simple, yet ingenious concept of Transition Towns. And then, read this book!

[Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is een boek dat erg belangrijk is. Het gaat over hoe we onze wereld minder afhankelijk van olie kunnen maken, en onszelf en onze gemeenschappen “weerbaarder” kunnen maken door ervoor te zorgen dat we lokaal nog allerlei nuttige zaken voorzien.
In die zin heb ik er van genoten, en het geeft ook héél wat tips hoe je je kan organiseren om dingen in beweging te brengen. Het optimisme (zonder naïviteit) is één van de pluspunten van dit boek.

Er zijn toch een paar zaken waar ik het moeilijk mee heb, vooral bij de onderbouwing van de argumentatie. Het boek is van een tiental jaar geleden, en de redeneringen rond piekolie (die op zich correct zijn), zijn wat geevolueerd. Zo heb je de crisis gehad, die roet in de argumentatie gegooid heeft qua olieprijzen (jammer), en hebben we, voor zover ik het kan nagaan, nog geen piekolie bereikt, ook al was dit “bijna het geval”.
Bovendien zijn de redeneringen vooral opgebouwd rond twee-drie bronnen, die wat je zou kunnen noemen, in het “kamp van Hopkins” zitten. Dit is geen boek dat de diverse standpunten engageert en een diepe discussie aangaat. Dat maakt het nog geen slecht boek, maar ik vond het wat tekort schieten.
Een tweede punt is het verhaal rond lokaal werken, kopen en zelfs geld uitgeven. Dat is een erg mooi stukje in het boek, en eerlijk gezegd ik kan me vinden dat iedereen weer zelf wat begint te doen aan zijn voedsel – het lijkt me een heerlijke ontstresser. Maar niet alles kan lokaal gedaan worden, en misschien is het zelfs efficienter dat er bepaalde streken zich toeleggen op bepaalde gewassen in plaats van dat iedereen het zelf probeert. Samenwerken in een regio of land is geen schande – te lokaal gefocaliseerd zijn kan ook nefast zijn. En bovendien merk je toch dat jobs niet altijd meer lokaal zijn. Een zekere mate van transport enzovoort blijft nodig.
Een laatste puntje is rond “paarden” en de fascinatie van de auteur hoe goed dat precies voorheen was. Het is misschien wat anekdotisch, maar waarom is dat een “goed teken” voor lokale weerbaarheid en transitie? Het lijkt me onrealistisch – en dat brengt me bijna bij een ander punt: er zijn een aantal evoluties rond elektrische voertuigen die ondertussen extra mogelijkheden gebracht hebben. Als je het boek leest moet je het dus ook aanvullen op dit punt met andere zaken bv van op Internet.

Moet je dit boek lezen? Jazeker, het is goed. Zeker als je al in die richting aan het denken bent. Laat mijn kritiek je niet afschrikken, ik ben het zelf met een heleboel zaken eens.

[Matthew Gallant]

Not the book I wanted it to be. Heavy on seeding organizations / getting the community interested, light on permaculture principles / concrete steps and goals. Also the emphasis on “peak oil” has aged very poorly.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a handbook for a practical development of a community spirit for personal responsibility for make global environmental changes through local action. This is both a lot of weird juxtapositions: "a practical development of spirit", "a community spirit for personal responsibility", "personal responsibility for global change", and the most natural practical response in the world to just about everything people don't like about life: "I hate this thing that is going on everywhere, so I'm going to come up with some things that I like that seem to go in the other direction and get my friends, and their friends, to come along and we'll see if we can cobble that together into a different way of doing things".

With a book of this title, we have to talk about what it is not. This book is not a complete handbook on how to make a successful transition from a standard Western community to a locally resilient community with a complete adopted plan for "powering down". I wouldn't get on this guy's case though, because it has never been done. It is a guide for getting communities excited to start a transition journey and start undertaking a variety of useful initiatives in that general direction. This book is a handbook for starting a sustained engagement with a transition process, and as such is a guide to psychology, community development, and public relations. If you want some nuts and bolts on what the necessary skills to power-down are, you might be better of reading on permaculture directly. I think those readings would be complimentary; I think reading this first will give you a taste for that kind of thing while providing some context for doing that in society. If you are looking for an example, checklist, template, or process for a workable energy descent plan itself, the goal of the transition process, might end up looking like, this book also isn't for you, as it doesn't provide one (it does, somewhat irritatingly, provide in the appendix a homework assignment to create one).

So, if this book really doesn't address how to make the move oil dependence to local resilience, why bother? What this book will provide is a great three part push for yourself to make a personal engagement with climate change and reductions in energy return for the energy applied, in the form of (three parts) 1) coming to a sober recognition of the facts 2) seeing that it really might be personally better and 3) engaging the people around you in imagining a self-sufficient and engaged region.

But, that's not the fun part. The fun part is holding a lot of great events and listing to people about what they think needs to change, and systematically letting them steer things towards doing it. It is true that it isn't pure method: it has some suggestions about some specific things you'll need to worry about (Energy, Food, Housing, Interpersonal stuff, Economics, Conflict resolution) and even some specific advice in some areas.

The right way to read this as some folks saying "We're going to have to live differently, so why don't we have some nut trees! A lot of people like nuts, they will be great to have around. Also, don't you want to learn some old fashioned skills? Build up a sense of accomplishment and might be really useful. Also, you should have some local money with local landmarks or historical figures or whatever, that promotes local businesses. We're all going to be more useful in a variety of circumstances, and listen to each other more, have some great local gardens, and basically have some wonderful celebrations with each other at every stage along the way. Also, you should get a bicycle, they are great; maybe some solar panels too if it makes sense". I mean, it sounds like a pretty good time. It's kind of like a book of sustained eco-partying.

The edition I read was published in 2008, and apparently it was only in about 2004 that the author started trying to do these sorts of initiatives, though he was already coming to these activities having taught permaculture and so having a fair amount of experience in training, promoting, organizing, and having some expertise in the root facts. So, it seems to be going well; these seem like pretty positive preliminary results.

So, even though this book delivers far less than its title promises, I'm going to rate this pretty high because it is kind-spirited, and I like that.

[Alex Furst · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience by Rob Hopkins.
3/5 rating. 213 pages.
Book #37 of 2020. Read June 11, 2020.

The first section is the "head" where he lays out the science behind what is happening to our climate and our ability to retrieve and refine oil. This makes it abundantly clear that society is going to have to decide that we are willing to make some change to our lives. As Charles Wyman once said: "It's always going to be difficult to come up with sustainable ways to support our unsustainable lifestyle." Rob talks about the interconnectedness of peak oil and climate change. And how the only way to go forward is simultaneous long-term solutions. Building more resilience into our system is Rob's dream. This would require us to focus more on local agriculture, skills, and products, as well as a more diverse, modular, and loosely-linked system.

Rob then goes into the "heart" section where he lays out some of the amazing ideas and visions that are available for us to achieve if we move towards a more resilient, ecological, and environmentally-focused society.

Rob finishes by talking of some of the early successes of the Transition movements and what this movement could mean to our communities and the world.
He dreams of a world where: "We will see a flourishing of local businesses, local skills and solutions, and a flowering of ingenuity and creativity. It is a Transition in which we will inevitably grow, and in which our evolution is a precondition for progress. Emerging at the other end, we will not be the same as we were; we will have become more humble, more connected to the natural world, fitter, leaner, more skilled and, ultimately, wiser." This book is definitely not for mainstream environmentalists, but if you are truly looking to move us beyond oil and to make a real impact before climate change forces us to make moves we will not wish to make, you should read this uplifting book of how as localities we can turn the page from our current society, to a much more beautiful, vibrant, and connected place.

Quotes:
"Rebuilding local agriculture and food production, localising energy production, rethinking healthcare, rediscovering local building materials in the context of zero energy building, rethinking how we manage waste, all build resilience and offer the potential of an extraordinary renaissance - economic, cultural and spiritual."
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein
"Tar sands are akin to arriving at the pub to find that all the beer is off, but so desperate are you for a drink that you begin to fantasise that in the thirty years this pub has been open for business, the equivalent of 5,000 pints have been spilt on the carpet, so you design a process whereby you boil up the carpet in order to extract the beer again. It is the desperate, futile action of an alcoholic unable to imagine life without the object of his addiction, and is only viable because oil prices are high and natural gas prices are cheap (high oil prices being the only one of the two we can depend on)."
"It's always going to be difficult to come up with sustainable ways to support our unsustainable lifestyle." (Charles Wyman, New Scientist)
"Humans are only fully human when we are involved with each other, and the majority of us find happiness most easily through collective achievement. If we join our neighbors in the adventure of building a local economy that supplies and supports us all, true happiness, deep joy, is waiting to be found."
"We had a very clear example of this in Totnes when we asked the Regional Development Agency if they would fund our Local Food Directory: we were told that they couldn't, because under the rules of the World Trade Organisation they are unable to fund anything that promotes the idea that local produce is in any way superior to internationally sourced produce."
"Food is the most sensible place to begin rebuilding community resilience, but building materials, fabrics, timber, energy and currencies follow soon after."
"To save the planet, we do not need miraculous technical breakthroughs, or vast amounts of capital. Essentially we need a radical change in our thinking and behavior." - Ted Trainer
"Ultimately, any response that is sufficient to the scale of the challenge is about coming home, about being aware that we are a part of the networks around us, and that we need to nurture and rebuild them, rather than imagining that we can survive independently of them."
"Creating the world we want is a much more subtle but more powerful mode of operation than destroying the one we don't want." - Marianne Williamson
"When we express our concerns, we talk ourselves into addressing them. When we give voice to our visions, we identify the destinations we want to move towards. And by describing the steps we can take, we prepare ourselves for action."
"Throughout history, the really fundamental changes in societies have come about not from the dictates of governments and the results of battles, but through vast numbers of people changing their minds, sometimes only a little bit." - Willis Harman
"What would this project need to achieve to make your participation 100% worthwhile."
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
"It is important that people can see where they are going and that they like what they see. If we present people with a vision of disaster and social collapse, what incentive do they have to do anything? This is not to say that we should not aim to raise awareness and talk about the issues, but at the same time, simply presenting people with bad news and expecting them to respond by engaging boldly and imaginatively is unrealistic in the extreme."
"Innovation requires a good idea, initiative, and a few friends." - Herb Shepard
"The concept of waste is essentially a reflection of poor design. Every output from one system could become the input to another system. We need to think cyclically rather than in linear systems."
"I can't save the world on my own. It will take at least three of us."
"The place we could finish up could be so much nicer than the one we've got now!" - Tony Juniper
"We will see a flourishing of local businesses, local skills and solutions, and a flowering of ingenuity and creativity. It is a Transition in which we will inevitably grow, and in which our evolution is a precondition for progress. Emerging at the other end, we will not be the same as we were; we will have become more humble, more connected to the natural world, fitter, leaner, more skilled and, ultimately, wiser."

[Aleksandar · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels strange reading this book 10 years after it has been published. I don't think I've read anything that has aged so poorly so quickly, particularly regarding all the predictions regarding fossil fuel supply and culture change. It also feels like the book was written too soon, within 2 years of the first Transition Town launch. I suppose one of its goals was to inject fuel into the Transition movement, which I'm sure it did in its time.

However, reading the book now... it's all quite sad considering we are nowhere near where the author thought we would be in 2018. Both in terms of peak oil and global cultural advances made. It seems like we've only had more of the status quo for the past decade, with no visible significant changes in any direction. I know it was meant to be inspirational, but I'm full of doubts after reading it.

Still, the main premise is sound, as well as the solution in terms of focusing on the local. I myself live in a form of Transition community, so all of this makes sense to me. But having read the book, I don't think I've picked up on much applicable knowledge, at least not applicable to our context in south-eastern Europe.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book primarily serves as a conversation starter in mainstream environmentalist circles. It does a good job of envisioning a sustainable future for Western civilization and provides an almost too optimistic vision of a pathway to it, but is still confined by many of the existing flaws of mainstream environmentalism. It manages to overcome societal nihilism and all the rampant pessimism that many environmental authors like Jensen rely on as well as avoiding the naivete and lack of pragmatism that environmentalists on the opposing end of the spectrum fall into. However, it fails to reconcile the issues of privilege and race that mainstream environmentalism usually falls flat on.

[Mina Villalobos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked to read a bit more about the way a city can work as a transition town. Definitely a very different way of living, and something I would like to to see applied in my city, but a bit hard to imagine how to even get started in such a disconnected place. It was a very enthusiastic read, though it felt very unfinished. It's definitely a process, so that's why it read that way, but it failed to fully engage me through the book.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to the Transition Town Movement, its aims, principles, and methods. Like the whole movement, I think the main weakness is a lack of any analysis of power relationships in society - but it's still good stuff.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tantalus never had it so good. Author Rob Hopkins is writing from the perspective of one of the primary architects of a nascent transition movement, an effort to restore resiliency to local communities facing the double threat of peak oil and climate change. He draws a very clear picture of these threats, how they are inextricably interlaced, and the demented feedback loop which they've established. He also makes a compelling case for the need to reclaim the sort of resiliency -- on multiple levels -- which communities enjoyed in the past. He paints a picture of localities which are as self-sufficient as possible forming loose networks with one another in order to facilitate limited regional, national, and even international trade, while eschewing the model of perpetual economic growth which has been engendered by the age of cheap oil. The idea is that each community, using local resources, can develop its own food systems, its own lower-energy economies, local trade, local building practices, local conservation, local currencies, and so on. If such a model could be adopted on a widespread scale, so the theory goes, our remaining, rapidly dwindling supplies of fossil fuels could be judiciously applied towards vastly scaled-down infrastructure.

All of this sounds wonderful and is certainly welcome by anyone harboring a concern for the future of our race and our planet. Hopkins even lays out some guidelines for how such a transition effort can be implemented, drawing on numerous such actual efforts in the U.K. at the time he wrote this book in 2008. It has now been nearly 15 years since the first of these efforts was launched, and, as with so many grass-roots environmental projects, the movement has slowly lost momentum, to the point where even its early founders and advocates have no choice but to own up to the its failures (https://transitionnetwork.org/news/it...).

On the one hand, it is hard to deny that something very much like the transition movement is our best, perhaps our only, hope for a non-apocalyptic future. On the other hand, however, the central problem seems to be that the global population has, very nearly en masse, internalized a warped set of values which preclude the implementation of such solutions. This is really a simple issue at its heart: There are clear solutions, but the overwhelming majority of people are not willing to adopt them for a variety of reasons. Most of these boil down to a state akin to mass hypnosis, in which the confluence of various forces has ensnared a great deal -- a critical mass -- of the global population. In short, it would be necessary to deprogram the majority of the human race and instill in them a radically different value system, a world view as foreign to their current one as could possibly be. The author quotes the Dalai Lama in this regard, and this quote handily sums up the core nature of the challenge:

"We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time.

"We have more degrees but less sense;
more knowledge but less judgment;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicines but less healthiness.

"We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our new neighbor.

"We built more computers to hold more copies than ever,
but have less real communication;
We have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.

"These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
Tall men but short characters;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.

"It’s a time when there is much in the window but nothing in the room."

Until we are able to wake up, as a planet, we will continue to sleepwalk towards a dangerous precipice. And the fear is that we will only wake up when we feel ourselves falling. This is not to say that we should be complacent or apathetic. It's merely to say that without a widespread awakening, all of Rob Hopkins' wonderful ideas will remain just that: wonderful ideas without practical use.

It is worth noting that in the years since this book was written there has been an increased awareness of social inequities related to race, economic class, political power, and social status. Hopkins addresses none of these issues directly and, in fact, discourages an us-vs-them mentality. However, given how the power dynamics of our socio-political landscape have evolved so alarmingly in the 15 years since he wrote this book, it may be that this was a crucial misstep on his part. Perhaps efforts toward establishing resilience and efforts to topple the power structure can both exist? And maybe, just maybe, this is the ingredient missing from the transition movement?

[Andrew Liu]

The book describes "Transition Towns"—towns/cities "aiming to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit... guides you in how to start such a transition in your own community. One of my favorite parts of the book is a list of ~190 communities which have started transition efforts, including 6 near Boston! (I joined the Facebook group for one of them based in Hardwick, Vermont.) Another one of my favorite documents, not in the book but related, is the plan for Montpelier, Vermont, to reduce their carbon and energy intensity substantially: https://www.dropbox.com/s/buev54i9fgw.... I'm particularly interested in learning more about efforts to localize agriculture, as food seems key, and I've read that at least 90% of New England's food is imported (not sure if that's true, but if it is, that's really high!).

[Logan Streondj · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pretty good overview how this man got some people together to talk about what to do about climate change and peak oil, with various crafts and activities.
I know a similarly structured group in my area, and like the one he describes it likewise suffers from being mostly for old people that have time to sit around chatting and playing games together.
Unfortunately it ignores things like carrying capacity, and promotes unsustainable urbanism, but I guess that's mostly from ignorance, so can give it a pass. They try to improve the sustainability of urban areas, which is good, but can't be sufficient.
And does nothing to address any concerns of younger generations who are struggling to have roof and food.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peak Oil & Global Warming are the two key issues addressed in this book, as they are key in our time. A major change is underway. We can either let disaster rule the day, or we can take charge and make the changes necessary to get through with resilient communities intact. This is a book about communities that have taken up the challenge. We get a glimpse of what they are doing, and some guidance as to how to make that happen locally. The way ahead may be difficult, but we can get there safely together.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you buy into the idea of peak oil or not, transitioning our yards and local communities into resilient, productive spaces is useful for an uncertain future. As Bill Mollison has said, "The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children." This book gives you the tools to take this concept to your community. In fact, it inspired me to start a community food forest, which had a big impact on those who participated.

[Florence Millo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated. Useless. Pie-in-the-sky.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good preparation for times without fossil fuel!

[Rockbandlive · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining.

[Moe]

a topic that desperately needs evangelising, this manual approaches from a positive viewpoint. Unfortunately, it is repetitive and poorly written with aggravatingly slow pacing.

[Hugues Le Gendre · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est un livre qui me remue profondément. À un chapitre de ma vie où je prends part dans une communauté à « échelle humaine », cela fait naître en moi des aspirations de transition pour nous…

[Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not much of a ‘follower’ which is another way of saying that I’m fairly cynical, rarely accept things on the surface, am constantly seeking conceptual consistencies that are hard to find. One of the very few models I have embraced whole-heartedly and return to again and again in my thinking is that of permaculture, a philosophy of relationships between living things (humans included) that makes so much sense as a substitute for the way we ARE relating with our environment that it’s simply mind-boggling that it’s not more widely accepted.

But, now, I’ve found another (related) framework for thinking and talking and acting on our concern for the future of the world we live in. It is laid out in the book The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins. There are flaws in the book, I won’t deny that, but they exist mostly because the very concept is in the process of evolving, has only been tested in relatively few communities – though it is growing virally, as well it should. Transition is not a prescription but more a template for building the kind of resilience into communities that might allow us to move past dependency on oil – which is an absolute necessity for both the climate and for human economies – and to do it with genuine enthusiasm and engagement. Yes, the predictions are scary, but Transition even addresses that: how hard it is for people to change, what ingredients are necessary in a movement that goes beyond the gloom and doom prescriptions that, while true, actually paralyze people into inaction. This model is based on a broad knowledge base, championed by people with a long history of activism in hugely diverse areas of thought, and is experiencing unparalleled success in the communities (mostly in the U.K.) where it has been introduced.

Even though I’ve been involved in sustainability activism most of my adult life, I was highly inspired by what this book and concept have to offer. I’m looking forward to learning more.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Kunstler's The Long Emergency and Heinberg's PowerDown, this was exactly the right book to lift my mood and give me hope that life after peak oil doesn't mean we all have to stock up on ammunition and run, every family for itself, for bunkers in the hills. But the second half of the book is definitely a handbook for people who are already members of Transition groups or towns, or are trying to get them going, and is focused on bringing people into such groups through exercises in explaining climate change, exploring peak oil concepts, and building group cohesiveness, rather than instructions on how to get actual projects started or how best to use skills, materials, and resources in a post-carbon world. I think the The Transition Handbook is certainly a useful read, but its usefulness will vary depending on how involved the reader is in planning for a post-carbon world. For someone who is just coming around to the idea of peak oil and the world that may follow, this is probably jumping twenty steps ahead. The idea of a Transition group could probably be adapted to fit the ideas of general permaculture (a subject I'm just learning about as well), but I would recommend first visiting TransitionNetwork.org to become acquainted with the movement before buying this book.